Feng Shui And The Power Of Symmetry

As a Feng Shui consultant, I place a high value on aesthetics in the home and workplace. Beauty, as I'm fond of saying, is food for the soul. Even if using no other criteria for filling your home, use beauty as your measure. Being surrounded by beautiful items that lift up your spirit as you gaze upon them has to be good Feng Shui, right?

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, of course. Forget about the dramatic changing ideas about what constitutes the ideal beauty, like sparse or opulent, slim or plump, because there seem to be some universal principles that underscore many of our concepts of what is beautiful. One of the most powerful of these concepts is symmetry. Regardless of fashions, symmetry is almost a sine qua non feature.

For symmetry, read also harmony and balance. Don't we often seem to be in a tug of wills with our clients, whose lives are often out of balance and who most likely live in asymmetrically designed homes? Lopsided dwellings, lopsided lives. Our professional goal is to restore balance.

Apparently, science is also proving that symmetry is a survival trait. We seem to have innate preferences for the symmetric. Biological research shows that we value people more if they are symmetrical - that their left and right features seem largely equivalent. Symmetrical people are consistently rated as more attractive. Even babies look longer at the faces of symmetrical people. But why?

Evidently, symmetry is an indication of good, healthy genes. Uneven conditions, left and right, reflect the rough development of the entity, and the difficulty the genes had in coping. Asymmetry, if you like, show the battle scars of the genes.

So, symmetry implies health. Health is very attractive. Our attraction to those we find beautiful carries with it an inbuilt health assessment, beneficial to the survival of our species. All species, actually, because symmetry is a near-universal aphrodisiac. Would it surprise you to know that we subconsciously even elect our leaders, based on physical symmetry? Bill Clinton appears so symmetrical, that he is rated as a near-perfect example.

In one of those studies that make you wonder how they ever arrived at such a testable hypothesis, they found that the partners of highly symmetrical men achieve orgasm more frequently. No other predictors were as strong as symmetry for this result - not the man's status, experience, ore even the couple's ratings of their feelings of love.

This finding is founded also in biological functioning. Without getting into the technicalities, through orgasming more with symmetrical partners, it increases a woman's chances of having a symmetrical child.

The inherent nature of symmetry is also supported by research in physics. From Fibonacci numbers and the principles of chaos theory, to astronomy and subatomic research, symmetry underscores the relationship of elements to each other. Scientists believe that symmetry is at the heart of their understanding of the universe.

Now, what has all this to do with Feng Shui? Well, it clearly demonstrates a strong subconscious pull towards symmetry. There is something powerfully satisfying in symmetry even when it is in external objects, art, objects, and even music. And let's not forget architecture. Historically, dwellings and important buildings have been symmetrical. Particularly those that we admire. Think of the Acropolis, Mayan temples, the Versailles.

Asymmetry as a fashionable quality is only a modern feature. It attracts, only because it breaks from our expectations. Strong asymmetry, however, is very difficult to live with. As Feng Shui consultants, we are confronted with this all the time.

Symmetry is another manifestation of the balance of Yin and Yang, of the unimpeded flow of ch'i. This is another instance of science supporting Feng Shui.