Maeda's SIMPLICITY

Cheap Feng Shui

Today I asked my doctor how she feels about being one. Her reply came without hesitation: "It's intellectually stimulating, but you deal with real issues -- people die. And you're emotionally attached to them, and it's not easy." She then went on to say, "I tell my students that you have to be emotionally attached to your patients to truly give good care as a doctor." I found this level of commitment very heartening.

I related back to her a funny story I was told by Gary Chang whom I know from my Philips affiliation on their Simplicity Advisory Board. Gary said how in China, many building projects involve feng shui Masters. I remember being captivated by the ideas of feng shui while watching TV shows in Japan about their various theories and shiny tools. There are probably similar TV shows which air in the States on home/living channels but I don't get cable TV.

Gary told me how there are "budget" feng shui Masters that operate on sketchy principles. For instance, when a client is told that there are certain feng shui principles that are being violated, and then the client says back, "That's too expensive to fix. We can't do that!" -- the feng shui Master replies, "No problem. We can fix it with a ceremony." I imagine that the ceremony cost is cheaper than the cost of editing the building, so the wheels of business roll on. In contrast, Gary said that the best feng shui Masters demand X from a building, and X is delivered at any cost.

Emotional attachment to whatever job one has is expensive for all parties. Sound business principles would say that emotion shouldn't enter the equation of transactions. But although we might think that some emotions seem irrational, it is entirely rational to have emotions.

How much are emotions worth? Can they be bought? It seems unlikely -- especially if those emotions are genuine. Something you can't buy with money; yet you would easily pay for. I guess you've just just got to be lucky in life to find genuine experiences. The best way to do that I figure, is to live as long as you can.