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COMPOSITION OF FENG SHUI
Feng shui is a discrete Chinese belief system involving a mix of :
GEOGRAPHY
Geography (from the Greek words Ge (γη) or Gaea (γαια), both meaning
"Earth", and graphein (γραφειν) meaning "to describe" or "to
write"or "to map") is the study of the Earth's features and of
the distribution of life on the earth, including human life and the
effects of human activity.[1] A literal translation would be "to
describe the Earth". There are at least four traditional views on
geography among geographers where emphasis is on the spatial
analysis of natural and human phenomena (geography as a study of
distribution), on area studies (places and regions), on man-land
relationships, and earth science (study of the earth, its waters,
and the atmosphere.)
RELIGION
Religion is a system of social coherence based on a common group of
beliefs or attitudes concerning an object, person, unseen being, or
system of thought considered to be supernatural, sacred, divine or
highest truth, and the moral codes, practices, values, institutions,
traditions, and rituals associated with such belief or system of
thought. It is sometimes used interchangeably with "faith" or
"belief system"[1], but is more socially defined than that of
personal convictions. The development of religion has taken many
forms in various cultures. "Organized religion" generally refers to
an organization of people supporting the exercise of some religion
with a prescribed set of beliefs, often taking the form of a legal
entity (see religion-supporting organization). Other religions
believe in personal revelation and responsibility.
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PHILOSOPHY
The word philosophy comes from the ancient Greek words philo-, to
love or to befriend, and, -sophia, to be wise. It can be construed
then either as the love of wisdom or the wisdom of love. The answer
to the question "what is philosophy?", has almost as many varieties
as there are philosophers.
In the contemporary English-speaking world it is often used
implicitly to refer only to analytic philosophy and, on the other
hand, in non-English speaking countries, it often refers implicitly
only to continental philosophy. This modern-day division of analytic
and continental philosophy (confined largely to academia) is
problematic for understanding the current use of the word,philosophy
since both of these two areas talk of philosophy in general but are
often only referring to that school. The easiest clue to indicate
which of these philosophies is being referred to by the word
philosophy is to note the language used. But modern usage of the
term is much broader than this rather academic division.
Since the ancient Greeks invented the activity known as philosophy,
it behooves us to ask what they meant by it. Human curiosity and the
compulsion to ask questions has always existed. But the Greeks were
perhaps the first to explicitly ask: Is the world (of which we are
also a part) intelligible? And if so, how? They answered in the
affirmative through the human capacity to reason. Their view of
reason rested in the creation of concepts using the deductive method
operating on the data provided by the senses as its basic material,
and then reasoning further from this conceptual base. They invented
the concept of philosophy to designate the whole endeavor of making
sense of all aspects of existence. As a consequence the ancient
Greek philosophers identified philosophy with rationalism. But
rationalism is only one possible answer to the question of
intelligibility. Throughout the history of human thought since the
Greeks many thinkers have argued that aspects of reality are not
intelligible in a strictly rational sense. A range of answers to
philosophical questions were subsequently proposed that fall
somewhere on a spectrum between the two poles of rational and
non-rational. As a consequence modern usage no longer limits the
term philosophy to the original ancient Greek idea but has broadened
the concept as covering the entire spectrum of thought on these
questions.
Mankind only began to philosophise, Aristotle considered, after all
of the normal necessities of life had been achieved. For him then it
is a non-practical kind of leisure activity. However, Socrates
before him considered it to be the most valuable and, in that sense,
most practical activity.
Philosophy as a concept and a subject encompases all of knowledge
and all that can be known including the means by which such
knowledge can be acquired. The ancient Greeks organized the subject
into five basic categories: metaphysics, epistemology, ethics,
politics and aesthetics. This organization of the subject is still
largely in use today and can be profitably used regardless of where
one's answers to specific philosophical questions lie.
Metaphysics is concerned with the nature of existence in the most
fundamental sense. It attempts to answer the question as to what are
the most fundamental attributes that all existing things share, if
any, as well as fundamental questions concerning how they relate to
one another. Epistemology is concerned with the nature of knowledge
and how man can know things. As such certain aspects of the
functioning of man's mind is included -- his rational faculty
(particularly his conceptual capacity) and how it functions as well
as his emotional nature. Ethics is concerned with the nature of
values and in particular how this concept applies to man and his
relationship to the external world and to other men. Politics is
concerned with the behavior of men toward one another in the social
context. Hence the first question of politics as a philosophical
subject might be: how should men deal with one another in such a
social context? Thus it can be seen that politics is really a
sub-category of ethics since ethical criteria must be used in order
to answer its questions. Aesthetics is concerned with man's artistic
creations. It also involves choice, i.e., value criteria and as such
can also be viewed as a sub-category of ethics.
There are a number of broad approaches to the subject as a whole
which vary according to the traditions of people all over the world.
One notable approach is that of Western philosophy, a school of
thought originated by the Greeks and developed in the West(discussed
above). Eastern philosophy is considered its counterpart since
subjective non-rational criteria are largely used to evaluate and
resolve issues. The methodology of philosophy is itself debated
within the field of metaphilosophy and epistemology.
MATHEMATICS
Mathematics (colloquially, maths, or math in American English) is
the body of knowledge centered on concepts such as quantity,
structure, space, and change, and the academic discipline which
studies them; Benjamin Peirce called it "the science that draws
necessary conclusions".[1] It evolved, through the use of
abstraction and logical reasoning, from counting, calculation,
measurement, and the study of the shapes and motions of physical
objects. Mathematicians explore such concepts, aiming to formulate
new conjectures and establish their truth by rigorous deduction from
appropriately chosen axioms and definitions.
Knowledge and use of basic mathematics have always been an inherent
and integral part of individual and group life. Refinements of the
basic ideas are visible in ancient mathematical texts originating in
ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Ancient India, and Ancient China with
increased rigour later introduced by the ancient Greeks. From this
point on, the development continued in short bursts until the
Renaissance period of the 16th century where mathematical
innovations interacted with new scientific discoveries leading to an
acceleration in understanding that continues to the present day.
Today, mathematics is used throughout the world in many fields,
including science, engineering, medicine and economics. The
application of mathematics to such fields, often dubbed applied
mathematics, inspires and makes use of new mathematical discoveries
and has sometimes led to the development of entirely new
disciplines. Mathematicians also engage in pure mathematics for its
own sake without having any practical application in mind, although
applications for what begins as pure mathematics are often
discovered later.
AESTHETICS
Aesthetics (also spelled esthetics or æsthetics) is a branch of
philosophy called value theory or axiology, which is the study of
sensory or sensori-emotional values, sometimes called judgments of
sentiment or taste. Aesthetics is closely associated with the
philosophy of art.
ASTROLOGY
Astrology is a group of systems, traditions, and beliefs in which
knowledge of the relative positions of celestial bodies and related
information is held to be useful in understanding, interpreting, and
organizing knowledge about personality, human affairs, and other
terrestrial events. A practitioner of astrology is called an
astrologer, or, less often, an astrologist. Historically, the term
mathematicus was used to denote a person proficient in astrology,
astronomy, and mathematics.
Although the two fields share a common origin, modern astronomy is
entirely distinct from astrology. While astronomy is the scientific
study of astronomical objects and phenomena, the practice of
astrology is concerned with the correlation of heavenly bodies
(which historically involved measurement of the celestial sphere)
with earthly and human affairs. Astrology is variously considered by
its proponents to be a symbolic language, a form of art, science, or
divination. The scientific community generally considers astrology
to be a pseudoscience or superstition as astrologers have failed
empirical tests in controlled studies.
The word astrology is derived from the Greek αστρολογία, from άστρον
(astron, "star") and λόγος (logos, "word"). The -λογία suffix is
written in English as -logy, "study" or "discipline
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