Of Fridges & Wishes & Feng Shui & Quantum Physics
By Mary Warner
The fridge broke down. Two months after the warranty expired. Go figure. It was the compressor. The manufacturer said, “Sorry. Nothing we can do.” The repair would cost over three-hundred dollars. Whew! For a little more, we could purchase a new fridge with a stainless steel front. It would match our new gas range and be bigger than the white, still-new-looking, old one. And, it would be under warranty. Okay. We got the new fridge.
***
If wishes were horses, then beggars would ride.
But wishes are horses, my dear, you see,
So decide, baby, ride baby,
Set yourself free.
***
I have a wish – To be a well-published and well-paid writer. Bold, n’est çe pas?
***
Along with acupuncture, feng shui ranks up there as one of those “ancient Chinese secrets” that is recommended for better living. Feng shui (pronounced fung schway) is the artful arrangement of living environments for the prosperity, happiness, good health, and increased fortune of the occupants.
Some of the tenets of feng shui are simply common sense. For example, it is a bad idea to leave the toilet seat up as it can lead to a loss of prosperity. Think of it. How many of us have accidentally dropped an item into the toilet while performing our daily ablutions?
Other principles of feng shui, like using round or undulating shapes to enhance the career area of the home, are more obscure; their rationale lost on those unfamiliar with feng shui.
As a practice and life philosophy, feng shui is both complicated and fascinating. It can also be harrowing. Did the misplaced vacuum cleaner contribute to the unexpected sucking of money from our checking account?
***
Have you heard of the movie, “What the Bleep Do We Know?” If not, rent a copy and be prepared to watch it at least ten times. It’s deep, mind-blowing. The movie alternates between a storyline that stars Marlee Matlin and a discussion of quantum physics by various experts. Ms. Matlin’s character experiences and illustrates the “woo-woo” aspects of quantum theory.
According to “What the Bleep”, all possible realities, or parallel universes, are potentially open to us. In the field of quantum physics, this theory is called the Many Worlds Interpretation. The act of focusing narrows us to experiencing only one of those realities at a time.
From my understanding of quantum physics, the notion we call time is nothing more than a passageway from one space to another. Imagine time as a line connecting two points in space. At one end of the line, you are one thing. At the other end, you are something else.
Hang in there. This is going to get exponentially more complex. Imagine there are an infinite number of lines shooting to an infinite number of spaces. Lines run parallel to each other, as well as intersecting each other. I like to think of the relationship of time to space as an infinity weaving, with lines of time running forever in all directions connecting all spaces.
From the past to the future, every possibility for our lives is laid out. Take one line and become a doctor. Take another and become a criminal. One line holds the potential to become both. Fate and free will exist together. If you decide to stay on a particular time-line, your outcome is assured. That’s fate. However, you can always change your mind, refocus, and head down a new line with a different outcome. That’s free will.
Time is relative, so how quickly we reach the outcomes of our choices is up to us. The more definitively we choose a particular goal, the faster we travel the appropriate time-line to the chosen result. We must be adept and have conviction to do this well. Most of us are wishy-washy, however, and don’t know what we want. Time serves as a safety mechanism, as well. If we could get immediately from one space to another without the interceding time, we may choose unwisely, winding up with a result we do not intend.
All manner of conscious beings and their matter-filled creations share these lines of time. Fulfilling our wishes, reaching our greatest goals, is rarely a problem-free activity. Sure, you wish for a loaf of bread, and if you have the money, off to the store you go, and, if the store has its usual stock of bread, you pick a package, pay for it and pouf! Your wish is granted. Pretty straight forward most of the time, unless, on your way to the store, an SUV flies through an intersection and smacks your car and you wind up in the hospital. No bread for you today.
Complicated, long-term wishes are even more easily fouled up, with detours and obstacles jostling one away from goals. Take my wish to become a well-published and well-paid writer. First, I had to decide that I wanted to be a writer. All sorts of factors played into this decision. Can I write? Can I write well? Do others encourage me in my endeavors? Do they read my work? Do they like it? Self-doubt can knock me off this path.
Once I get clear about my intention to become a writer, I have to devote time to writing. I must go from the space of non-writing, down the time-line, through the space of the composition process to reach the space of a finished piece. Household and work responsibilities divert me from this time-line unless I focus and let my writing come first.
Next on the path toward wish fulfillment, I need to tackle that whole business of getting published and paid. All manner of forces work against this part of my wish. There are tons of fabulous writers out there to compete against for limited publishing opportunities. Only a fraction of them get paid for their work, let alone paid well. Without the appropriate connections to publishers, my row is harder to hoe.
These are obstacles specific to becoming a well-paid and well-published writer, but there are also seemingly unrelated inanimate objects that might get in my way. According to feng shui, if I have clutter, or the wrong shapes, colors or elements in my fame and wealth areas, the fulfillment of my wish becomes more difficult.
If you’ve been paying attention, you had to know that I’d return to the fridge eventually. Now’s the time. The refrigerator sits in the wealth section of my house, but borders the fame area. The best colors for the wealth area are purple, red, and green. Red and green also work for fame. Unfortunately, the old fridge was white and the new fridge is black with a stainless steel front. Neither matches the color requirements for wealth or fame.
In feng shui, shapes and the elements of fire, water, metal, wood and earth are spread among and enhance various areas of the home. Water is said to bolster wealth. The color black and mirrors or shiny surfaces symbolize water, both found in the new fridge. Fame is boosted by columnar and rectangular shapes, and a fridge is nothing if not columnar and rectangular. So far, so good. However, fame is fed by the fire element and this watery, black, vaguely mirror-fronted fridge that is cold to boot extinguishes that fire. With the elements canceling one another out, is the new fridge helping or hurting me on the time-line to fulfilling my wish? It remains to be seen, but, if you are reading this in a publication with a circulation greater than one, I’d say replacing the fridge helped.
July 16, 2005
The Woo Woo Teacup Journal 