Sedonut and Coffee, Part 2

If it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic.  —Lewis Carroll

Scrutiny unnerves sensitive New Agers. But rather than being champions of honesty — or standing up for their claims of higher truth — they run, they make a lot of noise, and they make idle threats.

It must be very tiring to have to be that evasive.

They have excellent reasons for behaving this way. There is a lot of deception and fraud in their claims.

Here is the critique that had Czarny leafing through the copyright laws.

What She Says	Reality Check
Every Feng Shui audit will be different. However, the basic "ailments" are usually found in most stores...	You can't have it both ways. If every audit is different, then you won't find the same "ailments" in most stores. Authentic Feng Shui's 144 possible structural signatures and 216 possible orientations do not mean that most buildings have the same "ailments."
…the way of wind and water, the natural forces of the universe. … Hawaiians and the Native Americans practice … this science.	They don't know the definition? They certainly don't know science, as there is no evidence water is a universal force of nature. Wind comes in many forms -- space weather, geomagnetic storms, and normal heat transfer on the planet. That does have a certain claim of universality, but not the way they tell it. New Agers take John Michell's "A View Over Atlantis" far too seriously. They want to believe that every culture has some form of feng shui. Chinese geomancy is a separate practice from Feng Shui. It typically involves mediums. and young boys who interpret the behaviors of the mediums. Using "geomancy" to mean "feng shui" is saying that feng shui is earth divination. Very few people move their furniture around to foretell the future.
The science of Feng Shui uses the eight-sided BaQua shape and the corresponding eight stations of life ... These physical locations house energy that you have created for that station of your life.	How to spot McFengshui: a lot of talk about corners, even where there might not be any The "BaQua" and the "eight stations of life" have been sold as "Feng Shui" to people who buy anything that sounds reasonably exotic. Both of these concepts were invented by Thomas Lin Yun. In the 1980s he founded an American church called Black Sect Buddhism. This BaQua is just a stop sign with some ideas written on its edges. It has no historical connection to feng shui. Although claimed as "physical locations," such things don't exist, just as humans do not have eight "life stations" filled with "energy." Which brings us to a good question: What "energy" are they talking about in relation to the contrived "life stations"? New Age energy, of course. New Age Energy isn't measurable by any known scientific instrument and is believed to be not only the source of life, but of health as well. -- Robert Todd Carroll (The Skeptic's Dictionary) In New Age thought, "energy" is personal motivation. "Energy" also suggests the "vibe" or "vibration" sensed by someone (which supposedly indicates their sensitivity). Czarny's comments on "energy" contain no facts. If their version of feng shui resembled science of some sort, there would be more facts and less indoctrination in church dogma. Feng shui is definitely not a science the way these people practice it.
Exterior Audit Review the location ... in reference to ... an electromagnetic field that can cut or enhance the energy .... Any cutting field should be cured.	You can't find an electromagnetic field without instrumentation (a "BaQua" won't work). You cannot pick up the "vibration" of the field. It's physically impossible. It's scientifically impossible.You can use a compass (Luopan or otherwise), and certain types of meters. Hire an electrical engineer or electrician to perform this task — not a feng shui (mal)practitioner. You should not give any money to anyone who thinks that electromagnetic fields can "cut or enhance the energy." An electrician or electrical engineer works with science. They can define their terms and explain what they do in very simple language. Feng Shui (mal)practitioners cannot define their terms and explain in simple language what they are doing. They may be annoyed or confused or offended (or all three) if you ask them to explain in simple terms. If you can convince them to use simple language, they generally must resort to using New Age psychobabble and a lot of mentions of energy (which they do not define). The authors seem especially devoted to William Spear's version of Lin Yun's eccentric notions of what traditional practitioners call sha qi. However, their version doesn't match what is defined in authentic feng shui as sha qi.
...located in a strip mall .... The main entrance ... places this store in ... the wealth corner. ... there is a main fountain ... that creates and draws energy ...	The authors claim to know where the wealth is. They offer their opinion as evidence. You are taking this statement on faith, because it cannot be proved. Because a science works with things that can be measured, these people are not using feng shui as a science. Mysterious properties of water Interestingly, the fountains are identified as generating and absorbing some kind of "energy." Does water emit and attract simultaneously? How do Cuneo and Czarny know that what they say is true? (And how do you know?) The traditional definition of feng shui is that energy riding the wind stops at the boundary of water. Notice the definition doesn't mention water generating energy because that quality is not something associated with water (we are not generating energy by using turbines and the tides). Feng shui is "wind (yang) and water (yin)." Water is yin and receptive -- wind (yang) stops (yin) when it encounters water (yin). Fountains produce water vapor and negative ions. However, Cuneo and Czarny cannot claim negative ions as their alleged "energy" unless they can also explain how water manages to draw in the ions and emit them simultaneously. Water in a fountain needs a pump to circulate. A pump draws electrical current to perform this task. If water could "draw energy" in a usable and recognizable form, it could be capable of storing that energy so that a pump could draw on the water's stored energy to generate the power it needs. That is, the pump would be powered by the water. If you could buy a pump that performed this miracle, everyone would have one!
The cross members in the store front windows ... must be "cured" ... [because they] cut and drain the energy of the employees .... [the cure is achieved] by placing red dots at the intersection of the horizontal and vertical mullions of the windows inside the store. The color red holds the energy field [so that it cannot] move out ...	This is New Age physics: wishful thinking, sympathetic magic, and a lot of fraud. How do they know that "energy" cannot move as a result of the placement of a red dot? What sort of energy are they talking about? How do they know they are correct in making these statements? This is indoctrination into a belief system; it is not science. Science would say that if the energy field cannot be defined or measured, then there is no evidence that it exists. Chinese and modern science are in basic agreement on how energy works; the use of red dots echoes the beliefs of medieval Western physics and sympathetic magic.
The suite number ... adds up to seven which means spiritual lessons. If we add the number one ... new sum equals eight, which means prosperity.	Western numerology is not a part of Chinese science. Yet here it is being sold as feng shui! Cuneo and Czarny are familiar with Western occult lore and New Age psychobabble. To them, that is feng shui.
... the Sha energy (hard cutting energy created by wind, cars, and people) enters ... This energy will disrupt the positive Chi ... placing a BaQua Mirror inside the store, above the door facing outside .... the BaQua Mirror will transmute hard Sha into positive Chi before the Sha enters the store.	Wind is not "hard cutting energy." Wind is the yang component of winds and waters, which is feng shui. Yang is the "positive Chi." Here is a quote from one of the classic Chinese texts that is explaining qi flow: The flow of qi pertains to yang and the accumulation of qi to yin. More flow means less accumulation and more accumulation means less flow. The state between flow and accumulation is constantly changing. — from the "Illustrated Supplement to the Classic of Categories" Science is certain that matter cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be transformed --but there's no evidence that mirrors can do the transforming. Only in folk beliefs and fairy tales do mirrors have such miraculous abilities.
Interior Review ... facility shape, life stations, cutting edges and energies, dispersing energies, unbalanced energies .... energies that have fields that cut the electromagnetic field of the store and cure them.	Notice there is no definition of a "cutting edge" or of "cutting edges and energies," "dispersing energies, unbalanced energies," or of the "cutting" of the "electromagnetic field of the store." How do Cuneo and Czarny know these "energies" exist? They don't -- because they have no way of measuring them. You must take this on faith. That is, they are selling a belief system.
Facility Shape This facility is an "L" shape. ,,, complete the missing corner ... making it a square. However, we do not have access .... The cure ... is to place mirror squares opposite one ... [to] divide the facility making two complete rectangles.	An appalling mixture of Black Sect Buddhism belief, William Spear's version of Black Sect theology, and the opinions of Cuneo and Czarny. The Black Sect concept of Feng Shui uses mirrors as some kind of generic panacea. Why is it vitally important to insist that people perceive this building as a rectangle? What is wrong with reality?
When you enter any facility, always move in a clockwise direction. Healthy cells move in a clockwise direction and pathology moves in a counterclockwise direction. Make sure that the layout of your store encourages this direction of movement.	"Were they looking at a tissue culture when they came up with this?" blurted my astonished physician, an internist and specialist in infectious diseases, when he was asked about this assertion. My doctor says that he's unaware of this kind of cellular behavior, and that it could only be determined with a tissue culture. He passed the statement off as classic granola-type thinking: flaky, fruity, and nutty. After his astonishment subsided, he did state that abnormal cells display reverse polarization. However, reverse polarization is not the steaming lump of bovine byproduct Cuneo and Czarny expect you to accept. Based on Cuneo's assertion that he is a student of Black Sect Buddhism and its Feng Shui beliefs, how did he manage the idea of the "clockwise" movement for energy, cells or whatever? Lin Yun specifically teaches that his version of the universe rotates in a counterclockwise movement -- that is, you should be moving just like the abnormal cells. What is Cuneo trying to tell us?
Life Station Review Cutting Edges Disbursing [sic] Energies	To disburse is to pay out (as from a fund, for example), or expend. What a lovely Freudian slip, considering their earlier assessment that the mall entrance and the placement of the fountains put the business in the "wealth corner." They may stay up late putting this stuff together, but not without help from William Spear's "Feng Shui Made Easy."
Unbalanced Energies There are rooms ... considered a hallway ... several ailments "to be cured". ... hallways are long narrow spaces, Chi can be turned into Sha. The "cure" for this is to hang a half moon and sun or chimes in the center of the hallway.... [to] catch ... Sha and transform it ... into Chi.	Notice that Cuneo and Czarny never explain how "chi" turns into "sha."Probably because the authors are unaware that qi is sheng qi (their version of "chi") and sha qi (what they call "sha"). Cuneo and Czarny also fail to explain how long, narrow spaces turn sheng qi into sha qi --and how a tinkly chime can miraculously turn it back again. Nor do they explain how the chime can "catch" sha. How do they know this is possible, and how do they know when it is happening? How are they measuring the change, and how do they tell the difference between the "sha" and "chi"?
The entrance to each room ... considered a doorway.... [and they] are unbalanced because they are on only one side. This will unbalance the energy of the whole store. .... place mirror squares on the wall opposite the doorways.	Notice that Cuneo and Czarny never explain why things are "considered" to be something they aren't, when it was decided to ignore reality, and who decided. Isn't it interesting that although mirrors are said to be like "aspirin" and an effective treatment against intruders, Cuneo and Czarny use mirrors to "balance" this "energy" they never define, in an area where sha turns into chi and back again. Mirrors are indeed miraculous -- "floor wax and dessert topping," as the old joke says. How Cuneo and Czarny know all of these things are happening? How do they know that their bizarre balancing act works -- or that it is even necessary? And how do you know this is not just the Emperor's New Clothes?
All ... changes will have positive effects on customers, employees, and ... profitability. The more "cures" you put into effect, the more Chi will be available and the better the results will be.	Cuneo and Czarny need to publish the metrics that prove how many "cures" were put into use and that prove "positive effects" were achieved solely from their efforts. Did the cures, as promised here, actually make the store more profitable? Or is this just one big psychobabbly fraud? Feng Shui is Chinese for con job.  -- Penn Jillette The FTC defines these claims as false advertising. The Lanham Act covers such unfair and deceptive commerce as practiced by these two. Any of these fraudsters' competitors or customers can complain to the FTC about the false advertising. All you have to do is provide proof of the following: Cuneo and Czarny made false statements of fact about their services ("will have positive effects on customers, employees, and ... profitability") The false advertisements actually deceived or had the capacity to deceive a substantial segment of the market for such services (if you accept their indoctrination then you are deceived). The deception was material (you can measure profitability; if it fails to improve based on their claims then the store owner was deceived). The falsely advertised product was sold in interstate commerce (they offer their services — and this article as advertisement -- on their website). The plaintiff (whoever files the complaint) was injured as a result of the deception (if the store's customers, employees, and profits did not improve as promised, for example). To show an injury you do not need an actual loss, just a reasonable basis for the belief that those who file the complaint are likely to be damaged as a result of the advertising. A violation of the Lanham Act would require these (mal)practitioners to pay lost profits to the store and any competitors who filed a claim, an amount equal to three times the amount of the damages, and attorneys' fees. "The more Chi will be available"? The statement is false because it's not possible in our universe. It would violate the First Law of Thermodynamics.
Feng Shui is an accurate science, but it does not take a degree to practice it - just a commitment to yourself to do it and watch your life change.	As if people would find an "inaccurate science" useful? There is no evidence that feng shui, as envisioned by Cuneo and Czarny, has accuracy in any part of its methodology.