Today’s message is one that reflects some of the private conversations that so many of us have had with God. Whether we pray on our knees, talk to ourselves while driving, or cry quietly and simply ask ‘Why?’, today’s message touches on many of the questions that we so often don’t know how to answer, but that seem to come up again and again as we experience humanity.

Some people try to explain that evil does not exist, or that it is merely a psychological factor. But this is not so. The evidence of evil is here in this world. We cannot deny it. If there is no evil, why would Jesus pray, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil”? He is praying plainly that evil does exist.

So the truth is, we do find evil in this world. And where did it come from? God. Evil provides the opportunity for us to recognize and experience goodness. Evil had to be, if there was to be any creation. If you wrote a message with white chalk on a white board, no one would see it. So without the blackboard, the good things in this world wouldn’t be visible. For instance, Judas was Jesus’ best publicity agent. By his evil act, Judas made Christ eternally famous. Jesus knew the role he had to play, and all that was going to happen to him in order that he might demonstrate the love and greatness of God. A villain was necessary to this enactment.

Perfection is not to be found in this world

It’s hard to know where the dividing line is between good and evil. Certainly it is terrible that bacteria kills billions people every hundred years, but think of the chaos of overpopulation. And if everything here were good and perfect, no one would leave this Earth of his or her own accord; no one would want to go back to God. So in a sense, misery is your best friend, because it starts you seeking God. When you begin to see clearly the imperfection of the world, you will begin to seek the perfection of God. The truth is that God is using evil, not to destroy us, but to make us disillusioned with His toys, with the playthings of this world, so that we might see Him.

This is why the Lord Himself permits injustices and evil. But I have said to Him, “Lord, You have always been perfect. How do you know what suffering is? Yet you have put us through these tests; and you had no business doing it. We didn’t ask to be born as mortals and to suffer.” (He doesn’t mind that I argue with him. He is very patient.) The Lord answered, “You don’t have to go on suffering; I have given everyone the free will to choose good instead of evil.”

So evil is the test of God, to see if we will choose Him or His gifts. He created us in His image and gave us the power to choose for ourselves. But we so often don’t use that power consciously. At night, when we leave our bodies during sleep, we all return to our Godlike states. But in the daytime, we become devils – not all of us, but most of us – the unconscious among us. Why not live in tune with God in the daytime, for then we shall know no fear, we shall know no evil. It is easy to say this, but how easy is it to put into practice?

While evil in itself is something we don’t want, yet it is like a poisoned honey, it is palpable, it is tasty. At the table, we are tempted to eat too much, and to eat the wrong things. Then we begin to get fat here and there, just where we don’t want it. In response to our wrong actions, Nature takes revenge and seems to be poking fun at us all the time. It is indeed a funny world! But the results of our wrong actions don’t seem very funny to us! Believe me, I know! This is why many of us quarrel with God and scold Him, “Why have you created all of these terrible temptations that your children succumb to? Why have you made them so pleasurable?” Well, the lesson is simple: the Law of Cause and Effect.

So, since there is no perfection in this world, why continue to seek it here? You may find a little short-lived pleasure, but mostly you will find suffering and injustice. Pain was given to make you know when something is wrong with the body. But when the pain of cancer comes, there is no reason in it. The sufferer has no relief from his pain, and he doesn’t know why he has to suffer. And there are those who need money and can’t get it, and those who don’t need it who easily acquire more. Those who have much want still more; and those who have nothing want just a little, but can’t get even that. Isn’t this true? Why these injustices? Some people are as healthy as can be, and some are always sick. But health or disease doesn’t necessarily determine whether or not you are happy. St. Francis suffered much of the time, yet he was healing the sick and was filled with the joy of God. Suffering has a different meaning for you when you have attained the freedom of God. But you have to attain that freedom first.

We must learn to work without desire, and to live in this world without attachment. As soon as you are caught up in desires and attachments, you will have all the evil that is coming to you. That is why the Gita says “O Arjuna! No (compelling) duty have I to perform! There is naught that I have not acquired! Nothing in the three worlds remains for me to gain! Yet I am consciously present in the performance of all actions.” Those who want to be liberated must do likewise, engaging in service-ful, joyful, and non-attached activity. Most people willingly work hard for money, but they won’t make even a little effort for their salvation. We must work for God. The way to do this is to stop cooperating with evil and to behave as God would have us behave.

We must love one another. Sometimes it is not easy, but to love your enemy means to choose not to become another person’s enemy. By a thought, any one of us could destroy another, but why would we want to? Jesus had that power. When his enemies taunted him to save himself from the cross, he said, “Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then shall the scripture be fulfilled, that thus it must be?” He conquered by love. If the ordinary man is slapped, the great desire is to slap back. Therefore, God does not give His divine power to those who are spiritually weak, because they would misuse it. The desire and the strength to forgive comes from attunement with God.

How few you find in this world who are sincere and who want to be your friend for your sake, and not for something they can take from you. Those sincere souls are most enjoyable. Greater than all riches is true friendship. If you can be a true friend to people, you will find God. If you sincerely love people, you can know them, just as when you look through a clear glass, you can see what is in the glass. But your perception of people is unclear unless you love God, and unless you love others with the love of God.

“I can give my life for a sincere soul”

In this world, we will all eventually learn that we must be fearless, sincere, and surround ourselves not only with those whom we can inspire, but with those who can inspire us as well. When we attain heightened levels of clarity, we can begin to help those who are ‘evil’, but trying to do this when we are not yet strong enough ourselves will weaken us. So many of those who try to reform others become infected with their evil.

If you have a mind that absorbs everything like blotting paper, you must keep that mind free from evil influences. Just as blotter paper that has become snaked with spilled oil will no longer absorb water, so must your mind first be saturated with good until it becomes impervious to evil.

Be strong in your own goodness, and try to be helpful to others. The man who only looks out for himself and his own family won’t find much happiness. If he doesn’t think of anyone else who might be suffering, he denies himself the joy of helping another, so his own cup of satisfaction will remain small.

The Cosmic Motion Picture

There is another angle to duality, or good and evil. If a movie producer made motion pictures only from select angles, and showed them in the film houses morning, noon and night every day, he would soon have to close-up business. He has to produce variety in order to attract people’s attention. The bad man makes the hero look so much better! And we like plots that are filled with action. We don’t mind looking at exciting movies about danger and disaster because we know that they are only movies. I remember one time when I was taken to see a movie in which the hero died; it was such a tragedy! So I stayed and watched the next showed until I saw the hero alive again, then I left the theater.

If you could see what is going on behind the screen of this life, you wouldn’t suffer at all. It is a cosmic motion picture show. This movie that God is projecting on the screen of this Earth has no value once you see what goes on behind the screens. Look at the beam of God’s light that is projecting these scenes onto the screen of life. See the pictures of the whole universe coming from this beam. See beyond the illusion.

Another time, I was sitting in a movie theater watching an exciting drama on the screen. At a certain point, I looked up into the projection booth and saw that the projectionist wasn’t interested in the picture, because he had seen it over and over again. Instead, he was reading a book. The projection machine was doing its job; there was the sound, and the beam of light was casting the realistic pictures onto the screen. And there was the audience, caught up in the drama. I thought, “Lord, You are like this man, sitting here in the booth, absorbed in your own nature of bliss and love and wisdom. Your machine of cosmic law is throwing on the screen of the universe scenes of jealousy, of love, of hatred, of wisdom, but you remain uninvolved in your plays.” From age to age, from civilization to civilization, the same old pictures are shown over and over again, only with different characters playing the parts.

When I took my gaze from the beam of light that was casting the scenes on the screen, I looked at the audience and I saw that they were going through all the emotions of the actors in the movie. They were suffering with the hero and reacting to the evil of the villain. To the audience, it was a tragic experience. To the operator in the projection booth, it was only a picture. And so it is with God. He has created pictures of light and shadows, the hero and the villain, good and evil, and we are the audience and the actors. It is only when we identify with the play that we get in trouble!

Without shadows existing alongside the light, there could be no picture. Evil is the shadow that converts the one beam of God’s light into pictures or forms. Therefore, evil is the shadow of God that makes this play possible. The dark shadows of evil are interspersed with the pure white beam of the virtues of God. He wants you not to take these pictures so seriously. The director of a movie sees the murders and the suffering and the comedy and the drama as a means to create interest for the audience. He stands apart from the play and directs and observes it. God wants us to behave with detachment, realizing we are only actors or observers in His cosmic show.

Though God has everything, it can still be said that he has some desire: He wants to see who will remain un-intimidated by this picture, and who will play his part well and come back to Him. You can’t run away from this universe, but if you act in this play with your thought fixed on God, you will be free.

If you feel like saying to God, “Lord, this is a motion picture to you, but it is terrible to us”, He may reply, “I make you realize it is a dream every night when you go to sleep. You simply forget this in the daytime.”

For him who realizes God, there is no evil

The way to supreme happiness will not be found by the scientists nor the material-minded people alone, but by those who follow the masters who say: “Go back to the booth of the Infinite from which you can see the projection of all these cosmic motion pictures. Then you won’t be troubled about God’s creation, God’s play…”

When you are part of the delusion, you suffer.
When you stand aside and watch it, you cannot suffer.
When you are an observer, you can enjoy this play.

And with that, a little story to end today’s message:

A king fell asleep and dreamed that he was poor. He was crying out in his sleep for just a penny for some food. Finally, the queen woke him and said, “What is the matter with you? Your treasury is full of gold, and yet you are crying for a penny.”

Then the king said, “Oh, how silly of me, I thought I was a beggar and was starving for lack of that penny.”

Such is the delusion of every soul that is dreaming it is a mortal, subject to the nightmarish evils of all kinds of disease, suffering, troubles, and heartbreaks. The only way to escape this nightmare is detaching from the dream images of this world. It is because you have your attention on the illusions that you suffer. If you give your heart to man, or to drink, or to greed, or to drugs, you will suffer. Your heart will be broken. The more you seek peace in God, the more peace will devour your worries and sufferings. Suffering comes when the evils of the world are let in. When we learn to be spiritually tough, we enable ourselves to be filled with joy, and thus, evil-free.

Mastering the Law of Manifestation is one of the most essential spiritual practices for a student on the path. Following are many principles that serve as the foundation for mastery of this important law.

1. The first part of the Law of Manifestation is that we must learn to manifest with all three of our minds – the conscious, subconscious and superconscious minds – using them in perfect harmony, balance and integration.
2. Awareness that we ARE the soul and NOT the personality is essential. If we manifest from the consciousness of personality, we will see ourselves as separate from our brothers and sisters – indeed, from creation itself. That is an illusion.
3. Do no be attached to what you are praying for or are trying to manifest, or you will end up repelling it from yourself. Make your choice for manifesting a preference, not an attachment.
4. Surrender your prayer request to God and leave it in God’s hands, accepting whatever comes your way. A very useful mantra that I use to assist me in the process of manifestation is: “In the name of God, I place … on the Alter of the Divine, and ask the Masters of Love and Light to take care of the situation in a way that benefits the Highest Good of All.” With these words, you express your preference, and then surrender to the outcome that is for the greatest good.
5. All that exists is perfection. God created us and we are perfect.
6. The thoughts and images that we hold in our mind create our reality. God’s universe is abundant and limitless. We attract either poverty or abundance, depending on the attitude we hold.
7. Have faith. After we pray, know that our prayer has been heard and that God’s laws have been invoked.
8. Everything in God’s universe is energy, and all energy is God. All we are really doing in working the Laws of Manifestation is changing or transferring energy from one form to another.
9. The Laws of Manifestation operate whether we are consciously aware of them or not. Whatever we give the subconscious, it will use.
10. Every moment of our lives, we are working the laws of manifestation, even when we are not praying, willing, visualizing or affirming. Every thought that we have in our mind as we go through our daily life as well as when we are sleeping is part of this process.
11. It is important to receive as well as to give.
12. Gratitude is of utmost importance. Be humble and thankful for the abundance that God has bestowed upon us, no matter what it is.
13. Failure is not a possibility. How can we fail with God, the soul and our personal power?
14. To have all, give all to all. We must keep our abundance in circulation. When we become selfish and stop giving, then the Universe becomes selfish and stops giving to us.
15. Words have power. Every word we speak is a decree of manifestation.
16. Positive affirmations produce positive results.
17. Love yourself through the entire process.
18. Avoid talking about what you are trying to manifest in your life. This can dissipate the energy.
19. Know that you possess all. Always!
20. Ask only for what you need.
21. Tell your subconscious mind what to do.
22. Be of service and focus your love on humanity.
23. KNOW that miracles happen…trust!
24. Be specific in your visualizations and affirmations.
25. After prayer, comes acceptance. This is essential. After praying, accept your prayer as answered. Don’t just believe that it is answered; rather, KNOW with every cell of your being that it has been answered. SO IT IS!

WE ARE GOD, AND WE ARE ONE WITH GOD. HOW CAN OUR PRAYERS NOT BE MADE MANIFEST?

In celebration of spring, you are warmly invited to come join in the reflection of the Spirit. This time of rebirth and new awakenings is a perfect opportunity to widen our eyes and open ourselves to seeing more of our Selves. For the next 8 weeks, we will embark on the Literary Exploration of Sadhana, the Realisation of Life by Rabindranath Tagore. Every week, you are most welcome to share your reflection of each of the 8 chapters of this illuminating tome.

The Literary Exploration Series is an opportunity to delve into the world of an author who had the courage to explore the esoteric and share his or her experiences with the world. The first book in this series is entitled Sadhana, the Realisation of Life, first published in English in 1913. Rabindranath Tagore, Asia’s first Nobel laureate, wrote this collection of stories that, as I understand them, aim to demystify the relation of the individual to the universe. They speak of soul consciousness, the ego, love, beauty, and that which has no beginning nor end.

If you would like to read more about the author prior to beginning this audiobook exercise, you are most welcome to begin your introduction to Rabindranath Tagore here. You can also find links to each of the 8 chapters of Sadhana, the Realisation of Life here. Every week for the next 8 weeks, we will reflect upon a single chapter until we reach the end of this literary exploration. You are welcome to join in at any time, and are warmly invited to write about your reflections here by commenting on the weekly posts.

During this first week, we will be reflecting upon Chapter 1: The Relation of the Individual to the Universe.  You may wish to listen to the chapter in full before reading the following reflection, or you might prefer reading the comments below prior to listening to it for yourself. The choice is yours.

Chapter 1: The Relation of the Individual to the Universe

Link to chapter: click here
Length of chapter reading: 38:06 minutes

A beautiful experience – and by that, I suppose I mean the experience of listening to Rabindranath Tagore’s The Relation of the Individual to the Universe, as well as the actual experience of realising life. Although I am not certain the extent to which I have realised my own life, I have to believe that this book comes to those who are ready to reflect upon the process. And, to reflect upon this grand theme of existence, I suppose that one would have had to have already recognised it at some point.

“…for we can never make anything truly our own except that which it truly related to us.”

If it is already related to us, then making something our own is simply the process of recognising a part of ourselves that was there all along.

“We can look upon a road from two different points of view. One regards it as dividing us from the object of our desire. In that case we count every step of our journey over it as something obtained by force in the face of obstruction. The other sees it as the road which leads us to our destination, and as such, it is part of our goal. It is already the beginning of our attainment, and by journeying over it, we can only gain that which within itself it offers to us.”

The way I see it, the first point of view is the definition of effort – fighting against obstruction. The second is the process of going with the flow.

“The man of science knows in one aspect that the world is not merely what it appears to be to our senses. He knows that earth and water are really the play of forces that manifest themselves to us as earth and water. … Likewise, the man who has his spiritual eyes open knows that the ultimate truth about earth and water lies in our apprehension of the eternal will which works in time and takes shape in the forces we realise under those aspects.”

An example of how perception has the power to divide, in this case, the worlds of science and spirituality.

“In art, we strive for originality and lose sight of truth which is old and yet ever new. In literature, we miss the complete view of man which is simple and yet great but he appears as a psychological problem or the embodiment of a passion that is intense because abnormal and because exhibits in the glare of a fiercely emphatic light, which is artificial.”

It is simple to underestimate simplicity.

“Where man tries to push himself to eminence by pushing and jostling others, to achieve a distinction by which he prides himself to be more than everybody else, there he is alienated from that spirit. … in the pursuit of wealth, you really give up everything to gain a few things…”

It is not ‘lonely on the top’ because no one else is good enough to be there with you. It is lonely because on your perceived climb up the ladder, you have forgotten who you are and how to connect to the essence of your Being. We are only alone when we forget that we have our Selves, and within our Selves is the Oneness of All.

“We are immersed in His consciousness – body and soul. It is through His consciousness that the Sun attracts the Earth. It is through His consciousness that the light waves are being transmitted from planet to planet. Not only in space, but this light and life, this All-feeling Being, is in our souls. He is all-conscious in space (or the world of extension), and He is all-conscious in soul (or the world of intention).

“Thus, to attain our World Consciousness, we have to unite our feeling with this all-pervasive infinite feeling. In fact, the only true human progress is coincident with this widening of the range of feeling. All our poetry, philosophy, science, art and religion are serving to extend the scope of our consciousness towards higher and larger spheres. Man does not acquire rights through the occupation of larger space nor through external contact, but his rights extend only so far as he is real, and his reality is measured by the scope of his consciousness. We have, however, to pay a price for this attainment of the freedom of consciousness. What is the price? It is to give one’s ‘self’ away. Our soul can realise its ‘Self’ truly only by denying its ‘self’.”

Poetry, philosophy, science, art and religion are all mechanisms through which we are invited to expand our awareness – to open our Eyes and see more of that which is hidden from the physical eyes. It is like the proverbial buffet table:

“Treat these words as various dishes laid out on a buffet table. Pick and choose what looks and tastes good to you. It is for you to decide what food agrees with your digestive system. None of this is for your acceptance or rejection. None of us get brownie points for what we believe to be true; only for what we apply.”

Devotion to one religion, admiration for one poet, appreciation of one artist or one school of scientific thought is constructive if we realise these beliefs for the duration that they benefit us and are willing to eventually let them go for new realisations. It is attachment to any one philosophy, to any one belief or perspective that is futile to the development of our World Consciousness.

“Compared to his ego, the rest of the world is unreal, thus in order to be fully conscious of the reality of All, one has to be free himself from the bonds of personal desires. This discipline, we have to go through to prepare ourselves for our social duties, for sharing the burdens of our fellow beings. Every endeavor to attain a larger life requires of man to gain by giving away and not to be greedy and thus, to expand gradually the consciousness of one’s unity with All, is the striving of humanity.”

Knowledge only becomes power when it is shared. I must be humbly honest with you that I do not know why I am writing this blog, where it will lead me, or what I am supposed to do with it next. But, what I do know, unequivocally, is that we are all meant to share with one another. It is not to teach, to preach nor to dictate that I write these words. It is to serve. It is to enable the sharing of experiences, of perceptions and of stories in order to broaden the collective perspective.

The attunement process is a ceremony of spiritual awakening that symbolizes the creation of a new connection between you and the Universal Source of Light that aligns you with your Highest Good. You can imagine it as being similar to the process of turning the dial on a radio to find a station. During an attunement, you are ‘tuned in’ to a different station. In other words, you are being attuned to a higher frequency.

A Reiki attunement must be given by a Reiki Master. A Reiki Master is someone who devotes themselves to attaining and maintaining a very high frequency of energy respective to the general masses. A Master’s connection to the Universal flow of energy is high enough that he or she can create a stronger connection between you and the Universal flow. After the final attunement, a person is technically labeled a Reiki Master, but the process of attaining Master-hood takes an undefined amount of time, depending solely on the person.

One of the unique characteristics of Reiki is its tradition of attuning people to the different levels of vibration that are represented in each degree. During the first degree, you receive four attunements and the second and third degree each require one attunement. Attunements are short ceremonies in which the Reiki Master performs a sequence of acts that connect you to a greater flow of energy. The ceremonies create an energy pattern around you when the Reiki Master imprints symbols into your aura. Your energy frequency immediately adjusts to the higher frequency represented by the Reiki symbols. The attunement is permanent.

Remember the definition of Reiki. It means ‘Universal Life Force Energy’. When someone says that they work with Reiki energy, it doesn’t mean that they are accessing a special kind of energy.

I work with Reiki energy = I work with Universal Life Force Energy

There is no distinction between ‘different types of energy’. There simply is energy, or there is no energy. There is no ‘good energy’. There is no ‘negative energy’. Once you realize that everything is energy, you begin to fully understand what the attunement process is and what being a Reiki practitioner means.

There are many sources that will tell you that the purpose of an attunement is to allow you to access ‘Reiki energy’ in order to heal a person or a situation. This is misleading. The purpose of an attunement is simply to give you greater access to the Universal flow of energy. What you choose to do with this new connection is up to you although it is important to recognize that wanting an attunement in order to heal others or to heal a situation are secondary desires.

You will not be able to heal anyone or anything until you begin to heal yourself.

To heal means to balance.

Until you balance yourself, your ability to balance elements around you is limited.

Enlightenment is a two-way process. You are invited to share your experiences of attunement with others who have gone through it and/or who have questions about it by adding your comment here Why don’t I start by sharing an attunement experience with you…

I was attuned to master level in Toronto, Canada – although I was slow to start and tried to ignore that inner voice for as long as I could…because of fear.

My whole attunement process took approximately 2-3 years. I had intensive periods of lessons and attunements with my teacher. These were followed by longer periods with little-to-no contact with him during which time I was encouraged to put the teachings into practice and to observe the changes that were to take place within myself, in my life and to those around me.

I was not encouraged nor deterred from giving Reiki sessions to others. My teacher was supportive throughout the process. I was often reminded that free will was a governing Universal Law and I had the choice each step of the way.

As I became more and more comfortable with the changes that came with this process, I began to hear that little voice in my head more often…although I wasn’t as afraid of it anymore. I noticed myself being inspired to try new things and face fears that I knew were holding me back. I took Kundalini Yoga classes which I thoroughly enjoyed, and opened a Reiki practice that allowed me to give Reiki sessions and attunements to others.

After about a year and a half of advertising myself as a Reiki practitioner – all in the name of empowering others with the benefits of Reiki, I decided to close down shop. My personal experience made me feel that offering Reiki in exchange for money tainted the process and actually limited to flow of energy. This is my experience, and I am by no means saying that this will be the case for everyone.

Since my first attunement, I progressively learned more about energy and made the conscious choice to apply what felt right. After experimenting with different approaches, I decided that rather than singing in the streets about the ‘miracle of energy’, I would respect the fact that everyone chooses for themselves and took the indirect route of simply providing the information to others through my site.

The origin of Reiki can be traced back thousands of years to ancient Tibet. The technique was reintroduced in the mid 1800′s through the experiences of Dr. Mikao Usui of Japan. Historically, the tradition of Reiki was passed on through word of mouth. Regardless of our current methods of communication, there is a great desire to keep the mysteries of Reiki secret.

Dr. Usui’s story…

Dr. Usui was the head of a Christian Boys School in Kyoto, Japan. In 1822, after giving a sermon, Dr. Mikao Usui was approached by two seminary students who asked him to explain how Jesus did the miracles of healing and whether or not he could perform the same miracles. Dr. Usui was not able to give the students an answer.

The confrontation with the students became a turning point for Dr. Usui as he began his lifelong quest to uncover the source of ancient healing techniques. He left Japan, came to America and studied at the University of Chicago where he earned a Doctorate degree in Theology. He searched the scriptures to uncover the secret of how Jesus and his disciples healed the sick and performed miracles, but he did not find the answers he sought during his time in America.

Upon his return to Japan, it occurred to Dr. Usui that the Buddha performed the same miracles as Jesus. He, too, had a great control of energy and channeled the power of God and the Universe. Dr. Usui began asking the different Buddhistic sects if they could perform the miracles of healing the body that Buddha performed. The Buddhists felt that healing the Spirit and healing the body was not always directly connected. They concentrated on the Spirit, and not on the body. They left the healing of the body up to those in the healing arts.

Dr. Usui eventually found himself at a Zen monastery. He asked the head monk: “Do the Zen know how to heal the body?”

The monk explained that they concentrated on healing the spirit and there just wasn’t enough time to teach the physical healing of the body.

Dr. Usui requested that he be admitted to the Zen monastery so that he could study the Buddhist scriptures in search of the key to physical healing. He was admitted and so began his study.

Dr. Usui first studied the Japanese translations of the Buddhist scriptures but did not find the explanation he sought. Then he learned Chinese so that a wider range of Buddhist writings would be available to him, but still to no avail. He was later guided through his meditations to learn Sanskrit so that he could read the original Buddhist writings. After reading the teachings of the Tibetan Buddhistic Sect, he discovered what he felt to be the keys to healing. Dr. Usui found the symbols, formulas, and description of how Buddha healed.

Nearing the end of his search, Dr. Usui had uncovered the knowledge he was seeking but he still did not have the power to heal. He discussed this with his old friend, the monk; they meditated upon the path to take. They were told that Dr. Usui should go to a designated place upon the holy Mount Kuri Yama. There he was to fast for twenty one days and meditate to seek the power to heal; during this time he would receive enlightenment and Spiritual clarity.

Dr. Usui climbed Kuri Yama to a certain level and found a place that faced east. Since he had no calendar, he gathered twenty-one small stones and placed them before him. Every morning he awakened before the sun rose and would throw away one of the twenty-one stones to keep count of the days.

Each day he meditated and fasted. On the twenty-first day, Dr. Usui awakened to a darkened morning. It was like a new moon day, when no light shone in the heavens before the breaking of dawn. When he awakened he could not even see his hand in front of his face. He found his way to his meditation spot and picked up the last stone. Dr. Usui prayed before throwing the last stone off the side of the mountain. He asked God for confirmation of his findings and asked to be given the enlightenment of how to use it.

As he threw the final stone off the side of the mountain, a light appeared far off in the east. It became brighter on its approach , frightening him. Dr. Usui fought the urge to run as a voice in his head reminded him, “You have searched for years and years, and you have meditated and fasted for twenty one days. You have asked for enlightenment and confirmation, and now you want to run away from it?”

Dr. Usui quieted his intellect and said, “No, if that light is for me, I accept the enlightenment.”

The light became very bright and streamed across the heavens and hit him directly in his third eye. For a moment he thought he had died and ascended into heaven because he had never before been in such a euphoric state. He saw many bubbles in all the colors of the rainbow, and then a powerful white light, followed by golden Sanskrit letters, the secret formula of the Universal Life Force and how to contact it. They came to him one by one, commanding him to memorize and preserve them.

Finally the bubbles, the light and the Sanskrit letters disappeared. Dr. Usui felt rested and full of life and energy. He jumped to his feet. He wanted to hurry back and tell the monk his exciting news. In his rush, he stubbed his toe on a rock. He reached down to comfort the pain and to stop the bleeding. He found that the pain and the bleeding quit very rapidly and realized that something was different about the energy in his hands; they had become very hot.

After healing his toe, Dr. Usui continued his pilgrimage down the mountain. Soon he began to feel hungry, so he stopped at a home that served travelers and ordered cold rice and cold tea. In a few minutes, a Japanese girl with a bandage wrapped around her jaw brought Dr. Usui his meal. She told Dr. Usui that her tooth had been aching for days. Encouraged by his own phenomenal pain relief Dr. Usui asked, “May I give you a healing?” She accepted his offer gladly. He put his hands around her jaw and within moments the pain and swelling started going down. She was very happy and went to tell her father.

Dr. Usui ate his meal and went to pay the papa san. He reached into his pocket to get some coins out, but the papa san said, “Thank you, sir monk, but I cannot accept the money. You have rendered unto my daughter a service for which I do not have the money to pay. Please accept the food in exchange for the healing services that you have rendered.” Dr. Usui accepted the food in exchange for his services and continued his journey home.

Upon returning to Kyoto, he went to tell his friend, the monk, what happened. He asked for advice on what to do now that he had received the keys and the energy of healing. He wanted to learn more about its use and how to develop it and as such he was directed by the monk to meditate on it.

From his meditation, Dr. Usui was guided to go to the beggar kingdom in Tokyo. This kingdom was controlled by a beggar king. Dr. Usui went to see the beggar king and asked if he might live there to heal the sick and the afflicted. The beggar king admitted him, but did not believe Dr. Usui would succeed in healing the beggars.

For the next seven years, Dr. Usui worked on healing the sick in the beggar kingdom. He worked from daylight to dark, healing the young and old alike and saw many beautiful results take place. He began to understand how Reiki flowed through him into others, and how the body became well.

One afternoon, Dr. Usui took a walk to the edge of the beggar kingdom. He saw a young beggar who looked familiar. He asked if the beggar knew him, and the beggar said, “Of course, Dr. Usui. Do you not remember me? I am one of the first beggars you healed.”

Dr. Usui said, “I healed you and you are still a beggar?”

The beggar looked back at him and said, “Oh, Dr. Usui, yes, and I did just what you told me. I went out to the temple to receive a new name, went to society and began dealing with my karma, doing just what you told me to do. I even got a job and soon married, but it was too much responsibility. So, I decided that I would rather be a beggar. That way I wouldn’t even have to be responsible for myself.”

Dr. Usui was greatly upset, and thought, “What a terrible thing I have done. Perhaps the churches were right, the physical is not enough – the spiritual has to also be healed. Never again will Reiki be given away, always will there have to be an exchange of energy.” He decided to immediately leave the beggar kingdom.

As he walked back to the monastery, Dr. Usui was greeted, in Spirit, by the teachers who had greeted him on Kuri Yama. At this time he was given the Five Spiritual Principals of Reiki:

These five principals created significant changes in Dr. Usui’s subsequent healings. He realized that he had been giving healing away without requiring the healee to take any responsibility for the healing or for maintaining the healed state. There had not been an exchange of energy for the services rendered. The new teaching provided spiritual concepts to be integrated with the physical aspect of the Reiki energy.

Dr. Usui got a torch and lit it, and went walking in Kyoto. He was stopped and asked why he was carrying a lit torch in the middle of the day with the sun brightly shining above. He replied that he was searching for people with hearts full of love but who were sad and sorrowful and did not know the true light. He invited people to come and hear about Reiki. In this way he started teaching Reiki throughout Japan and gathered a following of sixteen teachers. During these travels he met Dr. Chujiro Hayashi, a Naval Commander in the Naval Reserve. He came from a well educated and well to do family. He met Dr. Usui in the marketplace holding a lit torch announcing his lecture at a nearby temple. Dr. Hayashi was very impressed with the sincerity and conviction of Dr. Usui. When asked by Usui to accompany him in his travels, Dr. Hayashi agreed. And they traveled together teaching and healing. Dr. Usui made his transition in 1893, after asking Dr. Chujiro Hayashi to see that the Reiki teachings were preserved.

Dr. Hayashi continued in Dr. Usui’s tradition, traveling, teaching and dedicating his life to Reiki. He opened a clinic in Tokyo near the Imperial Palace. It consisted of eight beds in a large room, two practitioners per patient. One would treat the head and the other would be on the right treating the stomach area, then both would treat the patient’s back. The practitioners all worked here doing healings. They would also go to the homes of sick people for house calls.

This was just prior to World War II when it became clear that Japan would enter the war. Being a Reserve Officer, Dr. Hayashi knew he would be recalled to duty and would therefore become responsible for killing many people. He felt this would be impossible based on his spiritual convictions and decided to end his life. Before passing on, he trained two Japanese women. One of these teachers stayed in Japan. The other, Mrs. Hawayo Takata, of Hawaii, was made a Reiki Master in 1938, prior to Dr. Hayashi’s death.

<h4>A brief story of Mrs. Takata…</h4>
Mrs. Hawayo Takata was born in Hawaii, on Kauai, on Christmas Eve 1900. Originally of Japanese descent, she went to Japan in the 1930′s to inform her family of the death of her sister. While there she became very sick and was hospitalized. The doctors were going to operate, and as she was being prepared she kept hearing a voice saying “Operation not necessary.”

Eventually she jumped off the table asking “Is there another way?” The doctor had a sister who had been cured of dysentery at Dr. Hayashi’s clinic and suggested Mrs. Takata talk with her. The sister brought Mrs. Takata to the clinic and her treatments there began. After Mrs. Takata became well she wanted to learn this healing method for herself. However Dr. Hayashi was not willing to teach her because she was a foreigner. Through the good graces of her doctor, Mrs. Takata was able to persuade Dr. Hayashi to train her in Reiki. This training took a year and brought her to what we would now call Reiki Level II. Thereafter, she returned to Hawaii.

In Hawaii she learned the lesson of having the recipient perceive value in receiving treatments. She treated a neighbor but did not charge, and this neighbor did not value the treatments and did not become well. She treated another relative and this time charged, and this relative did stay well. Thus the tradition of charging for Reiki treatment was reinforced.

In November 1936, Dr. Hayashi came to Hawaii for a speaking tour to promote Reiki. During this time he trained Mrs. Takata to teach Reiki, thus making her what we now call a Reiki Master. Before leaving Hawaii he asked her to come to see him when he summoned her.

As dangers of World War II neared Japan, Dr. Hayashi appeared to Mrs. Takata in a dream asking her to come to Japan. Upon arrival in Kyoto, she found her teacher taking his naval uniform out of storage. With the coming war he knew it was a matter of time before the Navy would call him out of retirement and he would be asked to perform actions he was not capable of doing due to his spiritual development. At this time he passed the leadership of Reiki to Mrs. Takata. He gathered all the Reiki Masters, announced that Mrs. Takata would become the leader of Reiki, and then revealed he would kill his physical body by bursting three of his blood vessels. And as he continued speaking to this group on Tuesday, May 10, 1940, the blood vessels burst and he died.

Mrs. Takata returned to Hawaii and continued using and teaching Reiki. Eventually she moved to California, using and teaching Reiki. She did not teach other masters until 1975, and before her own death in 1980 she trained 22 Reiki Masters. Mrs. Takata initiated the following 22 people as Masters: George Araki, Dorothy Baba, Ursula Baylow, Rick Bockner, Patricia Bowling, Barbara Brown, Fran Brown, Phyllis Furumoto, Beth Gray, John Gray, Iris Ishikuro, Harry Kuboi, Ethel Lombardi, Barbara McCullough, Mary McFadyen, Paul Mitchell, Bethel Phaigh, Shinobu Saito, Virginia Samdahl, Wanja Twan, Barbara Weber Ray, and Kay Yamashita.

There are many Reiki Masters in the world today. These individuals dedicate and commit their lives to living, being and perpetuating the universal life force of Reiki. The honor of assisting in the harmony and balance of the Universe and providing others with a means of balancing their body, mind and spirit is what Reiki Masters are ordained to do.

Back in January,  I wrote a post based on an article I read in the first 2009 issue of O Magazine. This afternoon, I found a torn out page from the magazine on my desk with some of my notes on it and it reminded me that I had read something else in that issue that moved me. Timothy Hutton (p.57) was reflecting upon an aha moment he had in his life and he wrote, “…I realized I didn’t have anywhere I actually needed to be; therefore, it was time to be somewhere else.” I’m not sure I agree…

I’ve moved around a lot in the short time I’ve spent renting room on this planet, and not just the kind of moving around that backpacking adventurers do during a summer of freedom. No, the kind of moving I decided to do was a bit more expensive, emotionally arduous and uprooting – I moved my home many times, changed addresses, purchased mailboxes, rerouted phone numbers, the whole lot.  If there was a reward program for Ikea customers I’d have the international platinum account! And I’ve done it more than once.

Why am I bringing this up? Because moving around means that at some point, you’re faced with the “cliff moment” – there are either two places you can go if you find yourself on the edge of a proverbial cliff: either jump off the cliff into the unknown and just do your best to keep the faith that you made the right decision, or start retreating from the edge and go back to what you know. When faced with that decision, you may find yourself wondering what there is to gain, and what there is to loose. In the process, you might ask yourself, “Is there anything left for me here? Do I have any unfinished business left to complete?” Reading Hutton’s statement brought me back to the cliff moments in my life and got me reflecting on how I see myself and the world around me when faced with those questions.

How do you know whether there is anywhere you actually need to be? The only way I can imagine answering that question is by looking deep within myself and listening to see if you hear from that little voice – intuition – because asking myself whether I still have appointments to make or whether I’m willing to leave a good friend behind just doesn’t seem to generate the ‘right’ kind of answer.

How do we know whether there’s somewhere we actually need to be? How can we know whether there’s someone out there, either in a nearby city or in the apartment right next to ours who needs help that we are able to give? How do we know? So many of us have become so focused on ourselves and on how to survive the times that we have completely forgotten to ask how we can help. It scares me sometimes. Am I losing my faith in humanity? Or am I coming to an age where these questions are naturally on one’s mind? I don’t know…

But what I feel is that if we ask for guidance, become and remain open to divine intervention for the Highest Good and act when the Universe requests our assistance, then perhaps we will discover a purpose where we didn’t think one existed… Or perhaps not, but that process of deep reflection and openness to whatever answers come from within is important, I think. Perhaps…we might just discover a new reason for being…wherever that may be…

So tell me, how can I help?

“Rei meaning “a ray of light” or “universal soul” and Ki meaning “universal life force energy” or “radiating energy”.

When the Japanese characters are combined, they present the concept of “universal life-force energy”.

The history of Reiki is a story of a man discovering his ability to connect to a powerful source of energy and transferring it through himself to others.  Over time, Reiki has become known to many as a healing art.  People associate it with a therapy that involves the ‘laying of hands’ on the body and healing physical ailments.  In many ways, these things are true, but Reiki encompasses much more, and you will learn as you begin to experience the process, that there are many unspoken benefits that must simply be experienced in order to be understood.

What Reiki Does

Reiki works on all levels affecting us. It will naturally begin to assist you in releasing limiting belief structures about yourself and the world around you. Instead of dwelling in the past or worrying about the future, you begin to embrace every aspect of the now and live in the moment. Emotional outbursts stabilize, and you become less vulnerable to the shifts of your ego personality. Your motives and the motives of others become clearer, and you better understand how things happen for a reason. Your thoughts don’t run aimlessly in your mind and you learn how to focus energy specifically on those thoughts that you want to become your reality. Those affected by increased flows of energy often choose to no longer allow fear to run their lives and they gradually detach from dependencies.

When you integrate your mind, body and spirit into one harmonious flow of energy, you begin to leave behind the fears and ego-centred motives of a world of pain, and enter into a higher state of consciousness that brings health and prosperity to all facets of your life.

Physically:

Reiki speeds the mending and recovery process.

Why?
Everything is energy. Your body is simply energy. If there is a blockage through which energy cannot flow freely, an imbalance exists. Your body will (at first) gently tell you that you have created an imbalance by exhibiting pain. When you sense pain, you can choose to ignore it or to heal it. You can also choose to recognize that your body has communicated an imbalance, and with the ability to tap into a greater flow of energy, you can choose to rebalance yourself. When you bring balance back to yourself, any imbalance that existed is released.

Mentally:

Reiki relieves stress (stress=imbalance), and softens a crisis mentality by alleviating the mental pressure without losing the integral importance of the lesson.

What does that mean?
You will see things differently. You will begin to see a bigger picture of any situation: your point of view, the perspective of others, and any other factors that are involved in any situation. You will understand why you are creating your thoughts, the way they develop and how to identify them consciously before you freely release them. You will notice that you have more choice about what you think and do because you will be able to approach any situation at a slower speed (so to speak) and decide what to do before you are in the middle of things and feel like there is no way out.

You will understand why people act the way they do. You will find it easier to be compassionate and understanding. You will catch yourself in a moment of wakelessness and see that you always have the choice to do what benefits the Highest Good. You will ultimately be able to understand why things happen the way they do, and what you can learn from every experience.

Emotionally:

Reiki helps to resolve tangled emotions and purifies your emotional state of being.

Why?
Your emotions are a very big part of who you are. Sometimes it’s tricky to maintain a balanced emotional state, and there are even people who ‘loose their mind’ because they let their emotions run wild. Reiki helps harmonize emotions in two ways. When participating in a session, you subconsciously train your thoughts to calm your emotions. This will allow you to identify your emotions clearly, sensing which feel right and which feel out of place. The unconscious process that takes place when you tap into a more powerful energy flow also works on balancing you while you sleep. The process is gentle and healing.

Spiritually:

Reiki opens us to the presence of the divine. Aligning us with our spirits is one of Reiki’s most profound affects. The process attunes us to our own spiritual being and puts us in harmony with the Creative power.

What does that mean?
This is the most abstract benefit of Reiki. To explain this concept, let us work from the outside in. You have a body, but you are not your body. When you have a feeling about something, or when a creative idea comes into your mind it is not because your finger or your knee told you so. Thoughts of inspiration and guidance come from a very special place. They come from the real you, that little voice inside of you that is heard only when you are still enough to listen. Reiki creates a clearer connection to the real you, connecting you more closely to your spiritual self.

The beneficial affects of Reiki are only limited by the person who is receiving. When you realize the limitless potential of Reiki, there is nothing that can prevent you from achieving what you now see as the impossible.

I’m not someone who signs up for a lot of e-mail newsletters. I enjoy subscribing to blogs because of their variety of content mixed with the personal musing of their authors, but newsletters usually seem to be filled more with advertisements and event announcements then meaty content. I suppose I liken them to weekly columns (blogs) vs. the classifieds (newsletters).

That is, with the exception of one ‘newsletter’ that I have been receiving for years. Once a month, a new Beacons of Light – Reminders from Home broadcast pops into my inbox. The delivery usually comes at a time when I get more emails than I want to read, obligations demand more of my time than I am willing to give, and ‘work stuff’ outnumbers the ‘fun stuff’. Regardless of all that though, the Beacons are always a welcome change of pace.

Rather than being a traditional newsletter, Beacons is a transcript of a channel that is conducted monthly. It’s delivered in numerous languages (and they’re even looking for more volunteers to translate the messages and make them more accessible to others) and are even in video format now. I like to digest it word by word, at my own pace, sometimes reading it once over during a three day period as I reflect upon its multi-layered messages. All this isn’t to say that I resonate with all that is presented in the broadcasts, but I do find comfort in reading a story, experience or perception shared by someone else that so closely resembles my own. In a world that still places so much emphasis on the physical, it can be easy to wonder if you’re ‘crazy’ for feeling that something ‘different’ is happening in the world lately.

I believe in magic. I know it to be true. Synchronicity is magic. Love is magic. Dreaming is magic. Perhaps you will find magic in this month’s broadcast too…

I understand something now that I didn’t understand as I was in the midst of the experience itself. You see, I have recently experienced the Shakti energy in my life. It cleansed, it took away, it cleared out the energies that would not be able to support the higher vibration that I am moving toward, into and through. Shakti (Kundalini) is the destroyer as Shiva is the creator. At some point, the two energies meet, they mingle and dance together until the time for the second comes. The second, the Shiva, the creative part of the journey – it has started for me again. I reached a point in which I was loosing the spark of joy, my passion for things was fading, I was seeing the loss around me, the sacrifice, the cost of change and transformation, and I was getting too tired. Too tired to hold on to what was no longer there, so tired of feeling the pain of loss, and too tired of trying to fit the old me into the new place in which I have found myself. Then I prayed. I prayed for the Universe to guide me to the passion and the joy and the creativity of life once again. Not even two days later, I felt the spark again! I felt it, and because I was so afraid of not feeling joy in each day, I drank in this new vital energy and ran with the inspirations I was given. Sometimes action takes courage, and at other times, it just takes the intention to want to change – the knowingness that there must be change.

One of those sparks was this blog. I have been pushing writing out of my life the moment I felt the strength of the written word. I think the potency…the power…the alchemical magic of writing was so overwhelming that I just simply wanted to run away from it…because I didn’t understand it…I didn’t know where to begin… But, when someone with the inspiration to create blocks off every outlet to express creativity, there is an eventual suffering – a suffering that comes from not letting creativity flow and blossom and heal everything it touches. It is magic, and magic deserves to breath, it deserves to be honored.

I have been asking for the opportunity to shine light everywhere I can. I believe this is part of one of my sacred contracts in this life. I have been waiting for the opportunity, but because it meant so much, on so many levels, when it did come, it scared me away with its possibility! The power – my power – my Higher  Power – was showing itself to me, and I ran away. I have been carrying this fear with me for a very long time although I still don’t really understand why because shouldn’t something so beautiful and so magical as the awareness that anything is possible be, in theory, easy to embrace? After all, isn’t that what we all want? Some proof that there is more? Some sign that we CAN?

Lord, use me as an instrument of thy peace so that I may assist you in bringing Heaven to Earth.

When I was living in England, I would say this prayer to myself as I walked to work each morning. It would help me find peace when I was nervous, or stressed, or sensing that I was loosing perspective of the bigger picture. Maybe it can help someone else out there, so I share it with you now, in this moment.

So…I fill my cup with LIGHT and FUN and LAUGHTER and I sip from my cup as much as I want…because…I am amazing, I am brilliant, I am the Creator of my existence and all my choices reflect my Brilliance because I am in Command!!!

Love and Light!!

The first ever mention of energy and its power as a life giving force can be dated back to 500 B.C. when the Pythagoreans wrote of a light that had the potency to produce various changes in the human body, including the cure of disease. Over 5000 years of ancient Indian spiritual tradition speaks of a universal energy called Prana that can be transferred from individual to individual. The Chinese refer to Ch’i as the vital energy of all matter that encompasses two polar forces, the yin and the yang. They believe that balance of the polarities results in health and that imbalance leads to illness. Even the ancient theosophy of the Kabbalah talks about an astral light that emits a life-giving force. These are just a few of the many names for energy.

There is no negative or positive energy. There is simply the relative lack of energy and the relative existence of energy. Energy can be a color, a sound, or a thought. Energy connects all things. All things are made of energy. Energy is all around us, and it supplies us with the strength to keep living our lives and loving our families. Essentially, we are all energy.

Difficulties arise when we create an imbalance of energy within ourselves. There may be times when you feel drained because of your stressful schedule, or you may feel sluggish because you don’t eat properly. You may sometimes even find yourself spending time with people who somehow manage to ‘suck the life right out of you’. All of these are signs that you are creating an imbalance of energy. When your energy is imbalanced, something will feel off. If you allow the imbalance to persist, it may even lead to illness.

When you integrate your mind, body and spirit into one harmonious flow of energy, you leave behind the fears and ego-centred motives of a world of pain, and enter into a higher state of consciousness that brings health and prosperity to all facets of your life. By replenishing your energy levels, the cycle of understanding through knowledge and experience shortens.