Although many factors influenced the horrible abuses that were perpetrated on the Iraqi prisoners and detainees in Abu Ghraib prison, what if, from an energy perspective the abuses were karmically unavoidable, incited by the imprint of past memories stored in the prison's structure itself?
According to the 4000-year-old principles of Feng Shui, the Chinese believe that all of life's circumstances and events, for better or for worse, are shaped by the quality of the invisible flow of energy, called chi, that exists in a space or dwelling. The chi of one's environment is comprised of a very sensitive and porous energy field, one that is easily imprinted upon by the events and energetic patterns of all that it is exposed to.
When the chi of an environment is left uninfluenced, it tends to remain neutral; but, when it is exposed to any type of stimuli, it becomes energetically charged and magnetized, able to draw to it people, events and situations of a similar composition.
If the chi of an environment is harmonious and balanced, it generates a positive energy flow that can create peace, prosperity and an overall sense of well-being. However, chi that is exposed to negative events, people or even intense emotions can act as a catalyst triggering additional anger, fear and similar behavior. Why? Because chi is a form of energy, and once created, energy can never be destroyed, only transmuted. Left to its own devices energy will not change on its own; it requires an external catalyst in order for its energy field to shift or somehow be altered.
In a home environment the quality of its Feng Shui is created through many of these same principles. When individuals vacate a home, they leave behind both the house's chi and traces of their own energy, too. The overall vibration of the home holds the energy patterns of all the successes, failures, joys, sorrows, and issues of the prior owner. Without any restructuring, the energy field will remain intact, even long after the occupants have vacated the premises.
Energetically, all events that occur in that space are embedded in the walls and imprinted in the chi of the environment. These Feng Shui concepts hold true for all dwellings, prisons included. The chi of the Abu Ghraib prison energetically recorded a myriad of horrible abuses of a regime gone by. Referred to as the "Predecessor Law," this key principle is one of the main pieces of criteria that are factored into making a Feng Shui assessment.
The Predecessor Law urges all prospective renters, buyers and individuals purchasing anything ranging from homes and land to cars and antiques, to thoroughly research the status of the prior occupants/owners before any purchase is transacted. A "good" versus "bad" Feng Shui Predecessor Chi evaluation would be determined by the circumstances surrounding the prior owners' motivation for initiating the sale or vacancy. Sold or vacated properties due to a job promotion, increase in income, or a growing family are all generally considered a good omen. Vacating a space due to a bankruptcy, failed health, or because of wartime is usually not a good Feng Shui indicator.
From a Feng Shui perspective, when the U.S. decided to use the Abu Ghraib prison camp for their own interrogation and imprisonment needs, they walked directly into the Predecessor Chi of Saddam Hussein and all the prior horrors that occurred in that prison. Tortures, screams of agony, and hopelessness are some of the most intense energies known to man and can indelibly imprint a human's body as well as an environment's energy field.
We first told ourselves, then the rest of the world, that we were invading Iraq so we could help stop all the abuses. Eighteen hundred photographs later, we told another story. Images of rampant abuse, humiliation, and disregard for human life were some of the exact atrocities that initially bolstered our argument for going to war with Iraq.
The now infamous Abu Ghraib prison has come to serve as a reminder of the darker side of our own human nature. And in spite of the embarrassing hypocrisy, it's reassuring to know that the universe doesn't show favoritism and still considers all forms of injustice wrong, answering to a much higher authority than the soldiers and military officers who "shocked and awed" the civilized world.
And although prisons everywhere are natural breeding grounds for misconduct and abuses to occur, not every soldier or guard will succumb to abusive acts when exposed to energy fields that contain violence. The personnel who would most likely be at risk for this type of behavior are those individuals whose own lives or family histories include some prior exposure to emotional, physical or sexual violence. Left unaddressed, these life-altering experiences can deeply imprint on the human soul and psyche, somehow finding ways to resurface in an effort to be finally heard, just as we witnessed through the "talking" prison walls at Abu Ghraib.
From the perspective of the Predecessor Chi theory, the soldiers who were involved (directly and indirectly) in the abuse scandal had to have personal energy fields that were somehow vibrating in "sympathetic resonance" to the same energy field that existed in the prisoners they abused, as well as in the surrounding prison walls.
And although when two similar frequencies come in contact with one another they can often trigger a parallel set of circumstances, the option to choose a different response is always available to us through our innate birthright of "free will."
Abu Ghraib held up a very big mirror and reflected back to us all of the mini-prisons that we have constructed within ourselves, and that are also equally in need of transformation. And to the degree that we are willing to claim and weed out the violence, hatred, powerlessness, and abuses that exist within our own lives, we can collectively transform the Feng Shui of not only the prison, but also of similar energy fields that exist elsewhere in the world.
Cinder block by prison cinder block we can begin to dismantle the energetic matrix that has held in place decades of suffering of the Iraqi people under Sadaam's regime.
This healing process can be initiated without the use of bombs, bulldozing equipment, Feng Shui crystals, or wind chimes, but by simply having Abu Ghraib prison officially declared a sacred healing ground, and not even consider the possibility of building another prison there. (A military judge just declared the prison a crime scene, which precludes its being razed until after the investigation.)
If eventually reconstruction is permitted, a healing possibility exists: With spiritual representation from all countries that have been somehow involved in the war, we can instead construct large, powerful monuments created from the recycled pieces of the prisons walls and build a beautiful place where all can come and pray for world peace.
For all energy fields, both positive and negative, can never be annihilated, only transmuted; and compassion and love possess the only energy fields that are strong enough to bring down those infected prison walls and shift the chi of a wounded nation.
We said we came to Iraq stop the abuses. Abu Ghraib prison might just offer us the opportunity to truly do so, as over time may it come to symbolize the beginning of true peace in Iraq and help serve to always remind us what the chi of the prison walls wouldn't allow us to forget.
