The Method
If you pick up a book on Reiki or surf the net, you are going to come across a plethora of information
on Reiki as a complementary or alternative therapy. Reiki can most certainly be used in this way, but
given the mass of excellent information that there is out there on this particular aspect of the subject,
there seems little point in rehashing this definition here. In my teaching of Reiki, although considerable
time is given over to developing skills, knowledge and understanding in this area, I am much more
concerned with instilling in my students an understanding of and commitment to Reiki as a method of
personal development - which is in fact the ultimate in healing. This is I feel of much greater
significance for the wellbeing and spiritual evolution of humanity as a whole. I say 'spiritual evolution'
but actually I simply mean the evolution of the mind.
In working with Reiki in the first instance as a method for the realization of personal perfection we are
much more able to bring peace, health and love to many, many others than by simply focusing on an
engagement with Reiki as a therapeutic process. In using the method with a significant emphasis on its
application as a form of hands on therapy, we are doing great work in alleviating the suffering of the
individual that is under our hands but in working with Reiki as primarily a way of generating within us a
state of mental equipoise, serenity, wisdom and compassion, we begin to influence not only those who
come to us for the touch of our hands, but also every other living thing within our orbit.
If you have ever met or been in the presence of an advanced spiritual practitioner (the religious
persuasion of which is not relevant), you will know what I am talking about with regard to this sphere
of influence. Reiki being an energy-based discipline, we often refer to that which causes the powerful
calming effect that is generated by the mind of the practitioner as a field of energy. As we work with
the method on ourselves, we begin to develop and expand this field. At first it may not seem very strong
and only detectable by those with highly advanced abilities in sensing these types of energy. With
further work on ourselves however as we engage with the methods and discipline more deeply, we
begin to notice the effect that our mere presence can have on those around us. The field of energy
becomes positively palpable. It becomes more and more easily detectable by those that are ordinarily
much less sensitive to its presence. Its influence grows tremendously and all benefit.
Reiki is not a method for equipping the ego with a way of 'healing the world' or 'changing the world' or
'accessing spirits'. It is a simple and profound method of improving the lot of the individual that receives
the attunements or initiations. It is a method for self-perfection in the here and now, in this lifetime if
we so choose. It is a method that can take us to enlightenment. It is a method however that requires
hard work, dedication and a life-long commitment. To see Reiki as no more than a complementary
therapy is to limit it's potential. In contextualizing the ability to heal individual others within the
opportunity for helping others to realize their own state of perfection (and thus health) we truly start to
unravel the potential of the Reiki method.
As we work with the method in this way we expand our abilities in the field of therapeutic applications
of the Reiki energy and can bring healing to many, many people.
All-That-Is
There is another way that we can approach the unravelling of meaning around the word 'Reiki':
Reiki is the basic building block of all matter. It is that which animates all living things and is as Daniel
Reid noted in Chi Gung - Harnessing the Power of the Universe in relation to this concept :
" ...the fundamental functional force that drives all activities and transformations in nature and the
universe, from the galactic to the microscopic, from the birth, growth, decay and death of stars to the
formation and dissolution of atoms, molecules and cells in the human body."
Reiki then IS everything. It is the energy from which everything manifests. It is birth and death,
creativity and destructivity. There is nothing of which it is not. Everything that the mind can conceive
of is within the definition of what Reiki is and the mind itself is no more than an expression of Reiki as it
tries to come to understand itself. As James E Bleicher has noted:
"Mind is thus a still higher level of complexity than life because it represents the control of life."
Mind is in fact the functional concept that underlies the existence of Reiki and is also a manifestation of
the outcome of Reiki. Mind not only controls life, it is that which brings life into existence and is also
the result of the creative process itself. It represents a classic chicken and egg dilemma. Mind and thus
Reiki can be seen then as omnipotent and omnipresent and omniscient.
It is that which is described in the Tao Te Ching as being 'the one that gave birth to the two'.
Standard scientific methods are currently not capable of measuring the energetic nature of the Universe
and everything in it in a meaningful way and confirming absolutely the model described here. However
there is enough evidence within Quantum physics and particularly that area dealing with the theories
regarding the existence of multiple dimensions (membrane theory) most noticeably in the work of
James E Bleicher to substantially underwrite the basis for working with this concept of Reiki. There are
many other examples of where science supports the contentions of the ancient mystics and sages in
their formulation of a working model of the universe and man's place in it, but as yet science itself has
proven woefully incapable of pulling together this mass of data into a meaningful all-embracing concept
of the true nature of the universe.
To really understand Reiki in a meaningful way however we need to forget the scientific method.
Whatever science ultimately has to say on the subject of Reiki and the nature of the universe, it will only
ever feed humanities intellectual hunger. It is not possible to know Reiki in this way. De-constructing an
apple in a laboratory does not tell you how good it tastes.
To understand what 'Reiki' really is there is a need to let the meaning held within the word permeate the
deeper recesses of the mind-at-rest, the mind in meditation and let the true essence of Reiki emerge into
the light of consciousness.
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