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Practitioners emphasize that feng shui is not simply
a unique decorating style, but rather a time-tested discipline with
specific guidelines involving geographical, psychological, philosophical,
mathematical, aesthetic and astrological concepts in relation to
living space and energy flow.
But it's important to remember that the impact of
feng shui on the quality of one's health, finances and social relationships
has not been proven.
"It's not completely bogus," says Dr. Michael
Shermer, publisher and editor in chief of Skeptic magazine. "Obviously,
there are ways to structure rooms, the interiors of buildings and
so on to help make these more efficient, easier to walk through,
to make them feel better psychologically."
However, making these changes has nothing to do with
the energy flows of feng shui, but more to do with ideas advanced
by the ancient Greeks, he adds.
"And to the extent that feng shui is successful,
it might simply be that it's tapping into those basic principles.
Some of it certainly can make sense, because it's been around for
so long ... and it might even have hit upon some basics having to
do with human perception or aesthetic appreciation," he says.
"But it's often right for reasons other than those practitioners
think are going on."
For
example, individuals who report improvement in their sense of well-being after
having a feng shui consultant rearrange their living spaces could be merely reacting
to the perceivable changes made to their environment -- the removing of clutter,
the placement of new decorative elements, the improved aesthetics -- and experiencing
a placebo effect, says Shermer. Given that they'd hired a
professional and had their surroundings altered according to an "ancient
scientific practice which seeks to improve the human condition through the manipulation
of physical space," they might, on some level, be predisposed to associate
any subsequent positive experiences they have in their lives directly with feng
shui.
"The human mind is a simplifying device which, for better or worse,
tries to reduce the number of variables, and it's uncomfortable with complexity.
We like simple black-and-white explanations, and feng shui taps into that,"
says Shermer. "But is there really a scientific, widely
applicable formula in feng shui that's capable of doing all of the things it claims?
The answer is no."
A matter of feng shui interpretation
And here's another interesting phenomenon: Experienced feng shui
consultants working according to its allegedly set principles and
guidelines often not only disagree, but contradict one another.
"There is nothing scientific
about feng shui at all. It's just a very old Asian superstition," says James
Randi, former magician and demystifier of paranormal and pseudoscientific
claims. "It's never been established to work -- and, in fact, it was proven
to be (bovine waste) by Penn and Teller on their (Showtime) television program."
The episode, which featured a segment dedicated to feng shui,
illustrated the variability of outcomes of the so-called science by showcasing
how three separate experts rearranged the furnishings within a single California
home. Even though each relied upon long-established guidelines advocated by the
ancient discipline, all came up with completely different configurations of the
furniture. Particularly revealing were the conflicting opinions regarding what
colors and arrangements promoted positive energy flow within the living space. | 
