One day a young man, who was happily married and the father of two small children, said to his wife. "This is now the third year that I have been passed over for promotion at work, and everyone looks at me as if I'm a failure."
"But yor're not a failure," his wife said to him. "You have a good background, a degree, all the training you need, and you're working in a fast moving company. Your turn for promotion will come in good time."
But promotion didn't come and the young man felt secretly obsessed with the idea that his life was stagnating. He confessed his fears to an old college friend, who jokingly remarked: "Maybe you need some Feng Shui."
The casual jibe bit deep and the young man began tracking down what he could find on the subject - some magazine articles and two books in a local bookshop. Being a computer specialist himself, he also found the Feng Shui network on the internet. Without telling his wife what he was doing, he began to make suggestions for reorganizaing their home.
"I'm not too happy about that pond in the back garden," he announced one morning at breakfast. And a couple of weeks later he told her: "I think I'll rip out all those rocks from the rock garden we have out front."
Naturally his wife was more than a bit perplexed since they had both put a lot of effort into the landscaping around their home, but the young man was intent and set about the changes, all the while keeping his thoughts to himself.
Three months later, he returned from work one day with the good news that his boss had asked him about his career plans. There was going to be a structural reorganization in the company and they were looking for experienced staff to take on new responsibilities. "Change is in the air." said the young man to himself.
A week afterward, however, he began to notice a subtle change in the atmosphere at work. He was a man to whom people were naturally drawn, but now he sensed a slight coldness and started to find it harder and harder to get his hands on information he needed. His boss, too, notices the change: "Is there something wrong that we need to talk about?" she asked him in her perceptive way. The young man had no answer.
For the first time he had deep misgivings about dabbling in Feng Shui. "Maybe I've been like the sorcerer's apprentice," he muttered to himself, "and I've unleashed something I can't control."
She sat down beside him, asked what had got into his mind, and by dint of persistent questioning extracted a confession. "I'll ask my cousin, Jean, what to do," she told him. "Her new husband comes from the Far East and she told me had an uncle who knew all about this sort of thing."
"Very difficult to practise Feng Shui perfectly from book," said the uncle, once he had been persuaded by his new niece to come over to the couple's house, "It is something you study for years." He continued: "Feng Shui is like a diamond. When you cut a jewel, you must pay attention to all the facets. They are like little mirrors, reflecting the light of the diamond. They also reflect the light of each other. If you want to bring out the brilliance of the stone, all the cuts must be harmonious."
"So was what I did wrong?" asked the worried young man.
"No," said the uncle, "a diamond is still a diamond. But it one cut is not so well made, then it affects the light coming from the rest of the facets. Nothing you did was wrong. You just need some help to complete the work on your diamond!"
Then, much to the amazement of the young couple, the uncle reached into his little bag and drew out a beautiful Lo Pan, the Feng Shui compass. Only a master is fully trained in the art of the Lo Pan. Under the careful eye of this remarkable gentleman, they went through the whole house, examining it room by room.
"You should reposition the television and the stereo system in your living room and take down that painted mask you have on display over your fireplace. You'd be better off without all those houseplants in the bedroom. Take the mirror off the wall and put it on the inside of your clothes cupboard door. Get a side table for your bed and put your reading light on it, instead of having it on the headrest of your bed."
"Finally," said the uncle, "I suggest you change the color of your front door and sleep with your head at the other end of your bed. Are you willing to do these things?"
The couple, rather overawed by the suggestions, nodded: "We'll do it."
"But not till I return," said the uncle. "You must do all this work on the correct day at the correct time. That is very important. Without the correct timing, your diamond will be like a stone in the dark. When I come back I will also bring a small crystal that I will place in your front room."
It was not the sort of advice that the couple expected and they harboured the fear that if they made these changes, their friends would quietly shun them for being superstitious.
"I thought that at first, myself," cousin Jean told them, "and I had real trouble accepting what my husband started to tell me about all this sort of thing. But really, now I see it as a kind of cultural problem. Everyone is looking at the same world and deling with the same realities, it's just the way of seeing that is so different."
The couple decided to go ahead with the changes (and, incidentally, they were right to take the pond out of the back garden). And, as the uncle assured them, it was only a matter of weeks before things picked up.
"We feel so different in the mornings," they told Jean. "It's as though we have slept so much better and we've been having fewer arguments with the kids. Going to work seems less of a burden and the atmosphere has really improved. And now it seems like major new responsibilities - and more money are definitely on the cards."
"I feel as though we should pay your uncle," said the young man. "I read that Feng Shui men command very large fees."
"They do," said Jean. "In fact the advice you got from my uncle was probably priceless. But I asked him if he would do me a favour, now that I've married into his family... On the other hand, if you'd like to show respect for his culture, you can make a heart-felt offering as a sign of your gratitude and put it in a little red envelope for him."
A week afterward, however, he began to notice a subtle change in the atmosphere at work. He was a man to whom people were naturally drawn, but now he sensed a slight coldness and started to find it harder and harder to get his hands on information he needed. His boss, too, notices the change: "Is there something wrong that we need to talk about?" she asked him in her perceptive way. The young man had no answer.
For the first time he had deep misgivings about dabbling in Feng Shui. "Maybe I've been like the sorcerer's apprentice," he muttered to himself, "and I've unleashed something I can't control."
She sat down beside him, asked what had got into his mind, and by dint of persistent questioning extracted a confession. "I'll ask my cousin, Jean, what to do," she told him. "Her new husband comes from the Far East and she told me had an uncle who knew all about this sort of thing."
"Very difficult to practise Feng Shui perfectly from book," said the uncle, once he had been persuaded by his new niece to come over to the couple's house, "It is something you study for years." He continued: "Feng Shui is like a diamond. When you cut a jewel, you must pay attention to all the facets. They are like little mirrors, reflecting the light of the diamond. They also reflect the light of each other. If you want to bring out the brilliance of the stone, all the cuts must be harmonious."
"So was what I did wrong?" asked the worried young man.
"No," said the uncle, "a diamond is still a diamond. But it one cut is not so well made, then it affects the light coming from the rest of the facets. Nothing you did was wrong. You just need some help to complete the work on your diamond!"
"You should reposition the television and the stereo system in your living room and take down that painted mask you have on display over your fireplace. You'd be better off without all those houseplants in the bedroom. Take the mirror off the wall and put it on the inside of your clothes cupboard door. Get a side table for your bed and put your reading light on it, instead of having it on the headrest of your bed."
"Finally," said the uncle, "I suggest you change the color of your front door and sleep with your head at the other end of your bed. Are you willing to do these things?"
The couple, rather overawed by the suggestions, nodded: "We'll do it."
"But not till I return," said the uncle. "You must do all this work on the correct day at the correct time. That is very important. Without the correct timing, your diamond will be like a stone in the dark. When I come back I will also bring a small crystal that I will place in your front room."
It was not the sort of advice that the couple expected and they harboured the fear that if they made these changes, their friends would quietly shun them for being superstitious.
"I thought that at first, myself," cousin Jean told them, "and I had real trouble accepting what my husband started to tell me about all this sort of thing. But really, now I see it as a kind of cultural problem. Everyone is looking at the same world and deling with the same realities, it's just the way of seeing that is so different."
The couple decided to go ahead with the changes (and, incidentally, they were right to take the pond out of the back garden). And, as the uncle assured them, it was only a matter of weeks before things picked up.
"I feel as though we should pay your uncle," said the young man. "I read that Feng Shui men command very large fees."
"They do," said Jean. "In fact the advice you got from my uncle was probably priceless. But I asked him if he would do me a favour, now that I've married into his family... On the other hand, if you'd like to show respect for his culture, you can make a heart-felt offering as a sign of your gratitude and put it in a little red envelope for him."
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