Illness in the United States is showing a pattern: Chronic illnesses are rising. Diabetes, cancer, coronary artery disease, hospital acquired infections, mental illness, childhood obesity and autism--all are increasing in the population. These changes are occurring in a culture that seems to be genuinely concerned about its health, a culture that diets, works out and whose insurance industry and government actively promotes healthy lifestyles. What possible explanation is there for this increase in disease despite sincere and advanced efforts to prevent it? Perhaps it is those very advances themselves. Parallel to this rise in disease is the rise in construction and technology, a growth in our industrial and living complexes unparalleled in history. More, these chronic illnesses seem to be exclusive to these growth areas throughout the world. The social and economic burdens of these illness trends may soon overwhelm the society's ability to respond. Clearly something must be done.
Civilization has been know to be a detriment to man in the West ever since Rousseau. The relationship we have with our environment, how our new world relates to our old world, can no longer be ignored. The interactions within these worlds would be denied only by the most uneducated. From psychology to entangled particles we have demonstrated our integration. Yet some of the more established Eastern societies have recognized this interdependence for centuries and we should call on their wisdom. I am speaking, of course, of the ancient Chinese Feng Shei.
Feng Shei (literally wind-water) is a Chinese belief founded in Taoist thinking and refined for 3000 years. It recognizes the interactivity of creation seen in the relationships among the five elements of fire, water, earth, metal and wood. The various combinations and mingling of these elements also interact with the surroundings and contribute to the health and well being of communities and individuals. Who hasn't walked into a room and felt welcomed by its structure --or not? Why are some towns charming and some not? Feng Shei takes these subjective feelings further so that structure, color, architecture and placement of all man's interventions work with, not against, the energy of nature. Man's energy and work would thus conform to the harmony of nature, not oppose it. Feng Shei is time honored and proven effective in countless experiences over eons.
This country has been built and developed without respect to nature for too long. Clearly our inharmonious relationship with the world is beginning to bear poisonous fruit in our health, our happiness, our lives and our international relations. And certainly things are getting worse. A serious crisis demands a serious response. My solution is Feng Shei credits. This would apply from suburbs to operating rooms. Communities developing without respect to Feng Shei would pay a tariff that would be redistributed to communities that observe Feng Shei techniques. Corporations and companies would do the same. Such an approach would favor developing nations which do not have existing inharmonious infrastructures and penalize those richer countries with existing offending infrastructures who can better afford the penalties for past failures and the overhead to update them. Feng Shei experts could act as administrators and, in the capitalistic tradition, a public market for Feng Shei credits could emerge.
The discomfort of the nation is palpable. We are at the tipping point. Undoubtedly there will be skeptics, conservatives content with what we have called "progress", fearful of change. And there will be many who will oppose these changes because they have something to lose, something personal to put before the whole. But we are in grave danger. Who can deny a malaise is abroad in the land? A renowned and revered culture offers us the solution, a culture so large it is, in itself, a consensus. Only reactionaries and xenophobes can disagree. We must act, and now.
Civilization has been know to be a detriment to man in the West ever since Rousseau. The relationship we have with our environment, how our new world relates to our old world, can no longer be ignored. The interactions within these worlds would be denied only by the most uneducated. From psychology to entangled particles we have demonstrated our integration. Yet some of the more established Eastern societies have recognized this interdependence for centuries and we should call on their wisdom. I am speaking, of course, of the ancient Chinese Feng Shei.
Feng Shei (literally wind-water) is a Chinese belief founded in Taoist thinking and refined for 3000 years. It recognizes the interactivity of creation seen in the relationships among the five elements of fire, water, earth, metal and wood. The various combinations and mingling of these elements also interact with the surroundings and contribute to the health and well being of communities and individuals. Who hasn't walked into a room and felt welcomed by its structure --or not? Why are some towns charming and some not? Feng Shei takes these subjective feelings further so that structure, color, architecture and placement of all man's interventions work with, not against, the energy of nature. Man's energy and work would thus conform to the harmony of nature, not oppose it. Feng Shei is time honored and proven effective in countless experiences over eons.
This country has been built and developed without respect to nature for too long. Clearly our inharmonious relationship with the world is beginning to bear poisonous fruit in our health, our happiness, our lives and our international relations. And certainly things are getting worse. A serious crisis demands a serious response. My solution is Feng Shei credits. This would apply from suburbs to operating rooms. Communities developing without respect to Feng Shei would pay a tariff that would be redistributed to communities that observe Feng Shei techniques. Corporations and companies would do the same. Such an approach would favor developing nations which do not have existing inharmonious infrastructures and penalize those richer countries with existing offending infrastructures who can better afford the penalties for past failures and the overhead to update them. Feng Shei experts could act as administrators and, in the capitalistic tradition, a public market for Feng Shei credits could emerge.
The discomfort of the nation is palpable. We are at the tipping point. Undoubtedly there will be skeptics, conservatives content with what we have called "progress", fearful of change. And there will be many who will oppose these changes because they have something to lose, something personal to put before the whole. But we are in grave danger. Who can deny a malaise is abroad in the land? A renowned and revered culture offers us the solution, a culture so large it is, in itself, a consensus. Only reactionaries and xenophobes can disagree. We must act, and now.
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