APPRECIATING THE TEACHINGS

Many of you may have been wondering why there have been no newsletters recently. Wendell Berry wrote that teachers are everywhere, but what we need to be is a learner.

The start of this year has had me “live in interesting times”. I do not make New Year Resolutions, but I do have ideas I want to follow, projects I would like to complete, and other hopes and dreams.

John Lennon wrote in one of his songs (Beautiful Boy) “life is what happens while you are busy making other plans”.

As a Reiki Practitioner/Teacher, I am often helping others understand the transience of life, Usui-Sensei’s diary quotation “Like stars, mists and candle flames, mirages, dewdrops and water bubbles, like dreams, lightning and clouds, in that way I will view all existence”. Things are in constant change. Ah, but how do we make that work in real life?

Many years ago I read that the nearer we get to enlightenment the more curve balls the Universe throws our way. All are designed to help us understand the work we need to do on our Path to Enlightenment.

In theory, all these things are easier said than done. Working through “interesting times” really brings home what is meant to be learned. To enable the challenge to be met I have become that learner Wendell Berry wrote about. I have learned I cannot do things by half. It really is all or nothing.

For instance, it is not just about saying Metta for people we dislike, it is about living that whole idea of compassion for others. It’s about truly trying to understand that person’s humanity, their needs and wants. It’s about acknowledging they too are looking for answers, trying to find their own happiness and the way out of their suffering. All of which IS easier to say than to put into action.

As one of my items on 2022’s wish list is to live more fully in the teachings of Reiki. I cannot say I have welcomed the lessons with joy, but I have tried to practise what I preach when I am teaching, and embrace “interesting times” with the openness Usui-Sensei encouraged.

“I am open and willing to learn whatever it is that I may need at this exact moment in time” is not a chant, but an affirmation that I am working with, not just first thing in the morning, but as often as I need throughout the day.

Thank you for your patience and I wish you strength to deal with your own curve balls.

 

REIKI SHARES

The next Reiki Shares will be via Zoom on

Saturday 26 March 10-11 am

Saturday 30 April 10-11 am

Carole is at the moment undertaking training in using Reiki for self-healing and also a longer programme of Hatsurei-Hô. In her usual fashion she will hope to bring her learning into the Reiki Shares.

All Reiki Shares are at Shoden level (or Reiki I if you have trained in Western Reiki) as it is always good to go back to basics and to discover the levels we have not previously discovered. They are also designed to be simple enough to put into place in our everyday life.

 

ARE THE ANSWERS STILL THE SAME

As most people who know me know, Albert Einstein is a hero. Here is a little story about him.

In 1951 he was teaching at Princeton University and had administered an examination to an advanced class of physics students.

On the way back to his office, his teaching assistant, who was carrying the completed examination papers, asked him “Is this the same examination paper you gave this class of physics students last year?” He responded that it was the same examination. The teaching assistant wanted to know how he could give the same examination to the same class two years in a row.

His answer was simple. “Well, the answers have changed.”

I think this is very much like Reiki. It does not matter to which level we progress, even if Shoden is as far as we go, when returning to a Kokyû Hô we have not done for a while it is different. The outcome of the routine is not the same.

We morph over time – well, Spacetime in Einstein’s words – because time exists in Space as do we. In that spaciousness, we develop and grow. We are changed because we have entered Spacetime, entertained a routine, however basic, and emerged differently. Our Energy has changed, our thinking has changed, maybe our brain has changed and maybe our Soul recognises we are one or two steps closer to enlightenment. All because the answer may be different. Pay attention!

 

THE ANSWERS ARE DIFFERENT – MARK 2

Albert Schweitzer once wrote that some people harm their Souls – without being exposed to great temptations. They simply let their Souls wither, because as they grow older they do not pay attention to the things that may have meant a great deal to them.

In science, this comes under the Law of Entropy – things do not continue to thrive if we leave them unattended.

The Third Blessing in Reiju is about bringing the Fullness of Mind to our lives so we can bring our Inner Wisdom to bear on life, moment-by-moment, and in this way we gain ‘protection’ from the conditioned habits and patterns that cause suffering and pain.

This does not just reflect on Reiki. It reflects in all aspects of life. If we do not bring new Energy to bear on our lives, then we deteriorate in every aspect of our lives.

We need to revisit our “examination questions” as encouraged by Albert Einstein, so we can maintain the 3P’s – Practice, Patience and Perseverance.

When we pay attention to how different the answer becomes if we devote just a little time to a basic aspect of Reiki, day in, day out, over and over again, things change.

Try starting your day with “For today only – now – I am in balance. I quieten my Mind and experience Peace” – for 1, 2, 3, or 4 weeks. What is different?

If that doesn’t feel enough, you can add: “My life is my work, I am diligent in my practice. I reach in and reach out for Oneness. I give thanks for the abundance of life.”

Like breath-work, this repetition, over and over again, means we begin to approach life differently. Here are some examples I have heard over the years to prove the point:

In a life that is tossed on an ocean of difficulties, feeling I start the day in balance brings different thinking to my problems

When working with a contentious work colleague, knowing I reach in and reach out for Oneness means I look for the things we can agree on and I can build from there

When work is going far from the way I had planned, I just remember my life is my work, and I am diligent in my practice. I can breathe in and breathe out and settle my thoughts and my fears. Now I can make a more skilful choice

If I did not believe in, and give thanks for abundance, I would not have the home with a garden in a place I have dreamed of. I would still be raising myself and my children in the back bedroom of my parent’s home

All because the answer is different. Pay attention!

 

NEART

We do not commonly consider the Celtic races as indigenous, but if we do a bit more scratching at the surface then the concept of Neart arises.

Neart in Gaelic is “pith, force, might, Energy, power, vigour, vast quantity, number, superabundance”. MacLennan’s Pronouncing and Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language suggests that it has a spiritual meaning, signifying that at the Heart for all things there is a fundamental Energy that instils everything with potential and possibility. It can be referred to as Divine Love.

There is no dualism in Neart. It holds all things together, In and Yo, in its flow. In other Celtic literature, Neart could be representative of the Polynesian concept “mana”, or Life-Force, which leads on to the Sanskrit Prana and then to the Japanese “Universal Life-Force” with which we are all familiar – namely Reiki.

This is the Energy of “all 10,000 things” showing the common ground of indigenous paths and their Wisdom Traditions that every one of us is a custodian of in the immensity of Spiritual Wealth.

Other aspects of this concept are familiar too. Faith (The First Blessing in Reiju) – the essential key to enabling anything to happen – our ability to have Faith in ourselves, to use this flow of Energy. Intentions or lack of them, enable or disable the flow of Energy. This Faith, as we learn from Reiju, is about believing in the possibility, the coincidence, the synchronicity that leads to abundance in all its forms. It is saying “yes” to the Universe from deep inside.

Maybe it is all the sensations of Reiki or maybe it is just ‘knowing’ – having the Insight of Wisdom that recognises the ‘trail’ Divine Love leaves – like in Harry Potter, The Half Blood Prince, Professor Dumbledore speaks of the fact that magic leaves its mark and if you look for it with the intention of finding it, you will.

Divine Love moves through the world, creating a sense of presence that anyone looking for it can evidence. It does not require us to look for ‘miracles’, but the more we consider how the world mirrors the power and creativity of Divine Love, the more we find it. If we write a gratitude diary/journal, then we are recording these ‘miracles’ in that.

Neart is about living life through positive values and optimism or hope. Each of us needs to prime ourselves – as we would prime a lamp in the olden days (except for some of us, the ‘olden days’ are part of our youth!) – we create Space in ourselves for abundance to happen. We find ways of gathering our Great Bright Light and sharing it with others; we participate in Metta; we offer Compassion to others.

For those who choose to access the Energy of Neart, in all its forms, then we choose a way to nourish our Souls, to keep on accessing the Energy that brings us blessings AND is a blessing itself.

 

ARE YOU PAYING ATTENTION?

Intuition is something that Reiki Practitioners develop as they become more familiar with Reiki Healing Energy.

Scientific evidence suggests that we do not pay as much attention as we could to what our intuition tells us.

Take, for instance, the test given to people familiar with a deck of playing cards. If people are given a deck with a wrong card in it (say, a black Queen of Diamonds or a red Ace of Clubs), only a small number of the subjects will spot this.

Scientists suggest from this test that most of us are trained to see what we expect to see, and so powers of observation are less accurate, and erroneous aspects slip past our consciousness.

This raises the question how many other things simply fail to impact on our awareness?

Joseph Chilton Pearce thought that if we truly apply ourselves to our craft we are able to pick up what he calls ‘cracks in the cosmic egg’ and we are more able to be truly faithful to things as they are, rather than what we might hope, wish, or be trained to believe they are.

Would you be one of the few who would spot an erroneous card?