A Basic Undestanding Of Qi [气] I

Qi is an omnipotent, omnipresent, universal field. Everyone, everywhere, everything tangible and intangible is subject to its influence, whether willingly or unwillingly, knowingly or unknowingly. In any one year, things resonating with the predominant Qi, directly or indirectly, will tend to manifest. Usually, public figures (esp. politicians, movie stars, sportsmen, religious leaders, etc.) are the immediate ones in its line of fire, since news of these people are inevitably more worthy for headlines, and hence carry greater weight in forming our collective memory of the year.

Nonetheless, the manifestations may be for better or for worse, or sometimes for both better and worse! Whichever way the pendulum swings depends very much on what has been going on before. It must be understood that an occurrence is never an independent impromptu incident, but rather the outcome of a string of related incidences, culminating at a time when it resonates with the predominant Qi. For instance, a crook may be perpetuating his vices freely seemingly above the laws, but it is only so because his time is not yet due. There will definitely come a time when he resonates with the predominant Qi, and the laws eventually catch up with him. Conversely, an honest businessman may be diligently working his stuff but producing mediocre results. However, when the time comes and he happens to be associated with the predominant Qi, it can jolly well be his breakthrough year. All the hard work prior to this merely strengthens his foundation so he is ready for the big break. Hence, it pays to consistently invest our best efforts at all times for all things. Most importantly, much as we are subject to the pervasive influences of Qi, we still retain our free will to decide and to act. We are afterall master of our own destiny!

Qi by itself is neutral, there is nothing good or bad about it, it is simply nature. ‘Good’ and ‘bad’ are really just two sides of the same coin, both are equally likely to come by. What we desire we term as ‘good’, what we do not we define as ‘bad’. Feng Shui [风水] is simply one of the means to manipulate the probability of either happening. The context in which Qi manifests also plays a part in this regard. Say in nature’s transpiration cycle, rains may bring forth devastating floods where the rivers are congested, but in a drought stricken region, it is god sent. If we take a step back and reflect upon things, ‘bad’ may not be that ‘bad’ afterall for we can learn from our mistakes. On the contrary, ‘good’ may not be ‘good’ at the end of the day if we become complacent and slack. Our attitude matters！