Human beings live between Heaven and Earth, nourished by Yang and Yin energy.  The energy of Heaven comes downward from above, manifesting as sunshine, rain and so on.  The energy of Earth rises upward from below, manifesting as food, water and other nourishing products.  Heaven (yang) energy implies dynamic expansion while Earth (yin) energy implies collection, connection, cooperation and nourishment.  Without the effects of Earth’s energy that emerges to balance the outward expansion of Heaven’s force, there will be conflict and strife.  What are the most powerful factors in manifesting Earth energy, the energy of connection and cooperation?  The answer is trees, forests and all vegetation.  The places that tend to have more conflict in the world are just those places that lack forests, or that have undergone recent, sudden deforestation. In modern history, there are positive correlations between the depletion of natural forests and the general level of strife and chaos in the world.  This is the source of the problem.
In the arenas of politics, economics or other specialized spheres, there is constant effort to control chaos and conflict.  The emphasis is not on how to solve the issues but on how to not create further problems.  Due to this, there will always be an uphill battle to find a fundamental solution to today’s issues.  From a feng shui perspective, the best solution is found in Mother Nature.  We must look at it from an energy (chi) level.   Chaos and conflict means there is too much Yang energy so it is necessary to increase the nourishing Earth or Yin energy or increasing energy for cooperation and support.  How do we go about this? We must begin by planting trees and establishing greenery all over the world.  In the meantime, where forests are abundant, water will be abundant. And water, to the planet, is like blood in the human body.  
The global warming and the increase of CO2 is the modern urgent concern.  While people search for different ways to find solutions, which are often complicated, we should just ask our Mother Earth for a solution.   According to a scientific study, 20% of CO2 is attributable to deforestation, which is more than all of the world’s cars and trucks combined.  Let us stop and take the time to think.   How much of a positive impact will there be in solving the CO2 issue if instead of deforestation, we increased forestation?

Shan-tung Hsu Feng Shui, Yin-yang

A good old friend, an architect, came to visit from out of town.  He brought along a few house models to discuss the design from a feng shui perspective.  My friend is a Black Feet American Indian, who is tall, handsome and a gentlemen.  In contrast to his commanding physical presence he creates intricate and beautiful beadwork.

There is a special bead-ring he designed showing five different color figures:  white, black, yellow, red and brown.  Each color represents the different colors of people in the world.  The design of these five people, hand in hand, symbolizes world peace.  He had shown a similar bead-ring to me a long time ago and I always remembered it because it impressed me so.  During lunch, he showed me another bead-ring that he recently made.  While I was admiring it, putting it on my finger, he said, “I do not want to give it to you because there is some flaw”.  I smiled, put the ring back on my finger and said “it is mine now”.

People are always looking for perfection, appreciate perfection and have difficulty accepting imperfection.  If a beautiful blue and white, Ming dynasty vase has a small chip or has a fine hairline crack, the commercial value will drop dramatically. This is true for many objects.   Why is it, that a vase with a small chip, no longer looks beautiful to us anymore? Why can’t we enjoy something with flaws, even though we are aware the world is full of imperfections?

Navaho and Hopi Indian tribes, purposely leave some flaws and mistakes in their work when weaving carpets or straw baskets.   It is their belief that only God can make perfect things.  This is an attitude of humbleness, the wisdom of learning to accept and enjoy imperfection.

We tend to focus too much on small flaws, and lose sight of the whole picture.  This habit can be seen in our daily lives through our actions toward others, material things and events in our life.  For example, we may think, “this is a beautiful piece of pottery, too bad it has a chip at the bottom” or “he is a nice boy, unfortunately he does not have much patience” or “the party was just perfect, except the soup wasn’t hot enough”.  We always pay more attention to small mistakes, and lose sight of the whole picture.  Such thoughts add to the stress and unhappiness of our lives.

It is inevitable that in life, we will always encounter some flaws, mistakes and imperfections.  If we can learn to accept small flaws, learn to appreciate the beauty of imperfection, we will be a person with more tolerance and compassion and at the same time be more loving.  In turn, it will make us more relaxed and happy. So give yourself and others a break from time to time, as only God can make things perfect!

Shan-tung Hsu Spiritual