Articles about Reiki - Thoughts and Philosophical Reflections
About strengths, weaknesses and Reiki
The five concepts as questions
Surrender - in a breath
The palm leaf prophecies
Reiki in Japan
About strengths, weaknesses and Reiki
This is about comparison with others and criticism. Criticism naturally involves judgments, coming from relative perceptions. I sense my neighbor always relative to me, sometimes stronger, sometimes weaker.
How did I get a sense for my strengths and weaknesses in the first place? At the very beginning, there were probably environment signals, perhaps even criticism given by a close relative. Such criticism should not necessarily deserve mayor attention. Often it says more about the perspective of the critic. Am I »weak« when I do not follow social standards, when I do not fight, not win, not succeed, not gain recognition, when I am sick?
If I criticize, I come from the position of strength or from the position of a victim. Often, both is the same. From the position of strength - how much fear is present, to trap into a similar awkward situation? Doesn't this sound like victim consciousness mixed with an undeserved feeling of luck, fortune, coincidence, being spared (so far)? Is there an insecure feeling of relief that it did not hit me (so far)? How would I behave in such a miserable situation as the other is in? What does the person being criticized show me in reality?
As a critic I show strength. Maybe I once defeated others. Certainly I have defeated »weaker persons«! My strength is my weakness! Would I fight against a stronger one? Even more challenging - would I fight against myself, facing my own fears and and other well covered weaknesses?
Anyone who believes he is strong - is already weak. And what about those feeling weak? Maybe you have fought and lost? Weren't you strong then? Maybe you have realized that a fight was useless? Weren't you wise then? Where is the weakness then? Maybe a situation requires training in non-resistance or adaptation? It is not always the fight, that overcomes an alleged weakness. It can be more of a battle to change the personal point of view.
Suddenly strengths and weaknesses loose their emotional load. It makes me strong, to get in touch with my supposed weaknesses, to address the situation. It is like bringing a »dark side« to the light, and uniting with it is like uniting with a part of my self, then this part is no longer hidden in the darkness, the concepts dissolve.
Reiki is extremely valuable in this process. I have found a tool that releases positive and negative charges (judgements) from all areas of life. With Reiki I feel what it means to be »Son of God«.
Axel Ebert • August 2004
The five concepts as questions
The miraculous medicine for all diseases
At least for today, do not be angry.
Do not worry.
Do your work with appreciation.
Be kind to people.
Every morning and evening, join your hands in meditation and pray with your heart.
State in your mind and chant with your mouth.
For improvement of mind and body.
Usui Reiki Ryoho
The founder
Mikao Usui
With his 5 concepts or principles Mikao Usui, founder of Reiki, has left a highly philosophical legacy, how the recipe for a satisfied life looks like. During the Reiki seminar I explain in detail, why Reiki is so helpful if someone wants to live these concepts, therefore attain happiness in life. In this article however I want to emphasize that to live these concepts, Reiki is no prerequisite. Lets take a closer look, even if you do not have Reiki.
How would it feel like, to have a knowing with deep inner certainty, that only the »now« matters, that sometimes things just happen, that I do my best and leave the rest to providence, that I am grateful to others? I will feel at home in those concepts. I will have found the miracle medicine for all diseases and the secret method to invite happiness.
Affirmation around these concepts could be useful to manifest this state of mind. I suggest to rewrite the concepts as positive questions, and this will be great food for the mind.
Here is the hint given by Andreas Ackermann, a Swiss mental trainer: »From sales training we know, that statements and arguments are way less effective then asking pep questions. The brain is much more comfortable with questions than with arguments and statements. If the brain already solves the questions than why not bypass statements and ask questions straight away? Try for yourself: 'Why am I happy, healthy and wealthy? Why do I get so many interesting and lucrative offers?' And so on. The key is not to find answers, but to initiate processes - and so there is no rational search for an answer. And now imagine what you initiate when you ask yourself 'Why am I always losing? Why does it always hit me? Why am I always sick? Why do I always meet the wrong boyfriend?' Until today that worked pretty well - don't you agree?«
Let us write down and ask. If you got Reiki 2 - use the symbols on top.
- Why is this day so important to me?
- Why am I satisfied (do not get angry)?
- Why am I confident (do not worry)?
- Why am I thankful?
- Why do I do my work with appreciation and why am I kind to others?
- Why do I practise Reiki?
And on the spur of a moment I might ask myself: and why not? I do not know why I behave so, but it is good the way it is.
Namaste
Axel Ebert • January 2006
Surrender - in a breath
»Train yourself to let go - of everything you fear to loose.« (Yoda)
Today I believe I understood the essence of breathing. When I realized this I simply had to laugh. Although I had practiced yoga for 24 years, somehow I never really did it. 24 years for a 5 Minute lesson. My breathing exercises were like the Reiki we call unconsciously given. I was hunting for the perfect cycle 4-16-8-8, which stands for in-hold-out-hold in seconds. I improved to 5-20-10-10 and soon after to 6-24-12-12. From there, there was no move in time extension and - as you might already guess - in joy, and over all these years the benefits I gained from this »trying« were rather limited.
A few months ago I heard the yogis would have a saying »Perfect Breath - Perfect Health« and my mind got busy in the background. Where lies the essence of this perfect breath? Is it really in this rhythm or in who can hold longest?
This breath indeed is the breath of life! When I breathe in I let the whole divine energy and existence enter and fill my self, my body, my mind. This breath connects my body with my higher self. The deeper and more complete I am breathing in - the closer I come to my true spiritual nature. Fully assimilating this breathing in is to approach my own divine nature. It is that breath that connects the apparent with the unknown. When I am able to fully unite and digest this gift then I become ready to let it go. This let go is surrender; it is absolutely necessary and has to be complete. I have no right to keep what I was granted as a borrowed good. Everything on earth follows the sacred »law of return« for which gravitation can be considered a minor sample case. When I breathe out I surrender to this law. I enter the world and I let my self be absorbed by this whole divine manifestation. The deeper and more complete I can let flow these cycles the more I am one with the universe and myself.
It is my opinion that this full surrender requires an intuitive action and understanding that has to take place first. And this is the complete absorption.
Doing my exercise with this focus I instantly felt joy in my breathing. I became energized, unexpectedly in this clarity. A small pain in my left hip joint disappeared, which had bothered me for a few months. I suddenly felt dizzy because there was this unusual freshness. Soon after I met a very charming girl and this awoke feelings of love inside me to a level I had never known. To say in other words: my being extended and harmonized with the full breaths.
With this discovery my breathing cycles became not only deeper but also longer than ever before. Now I can see it. I was hunting for a goal that could not be reached. This goal is not a goal but an effect of not trying, an effect preceded by proud absorption and devoting surrender. I am not on earth just to surrender. But surrender is a natural part of it.
The physiological explanation of the yogic statement above is, that the bodymind is scanning the existence from the lowest frequency (bones) to the highest (chakras). Maintaining health requires the awareness of what happens. How could a person with shallow breath cycles possibly be healthy and use their full potential?
My breath is my continuous witness of how much I am ready to absorb and surrender, of how much divinity I put into my actions. It is not the multi-tasking that creates this consciousness but the opposite. In the Far East they say:
- I play when I play.
- I sleep when I sleep.
- I eat when I eat.
- I breathe when I breathe.
So let me say:
- I let this universe enter my being when I breathe in.
- I surrender (let myself enter the world) when I breathe out.
Namahá
Axel Ebert • February 2006
The palm leaf prophecies
I understand there are different libraries at various places. In India they say if it is your destiny you will find your leaf(s) without searching.
In Bangalore I found an interpreter who was pretty precise in my past and hobbies and also what might happen in the future. On the other hand some things did not happen as predicted.
From my visits (2) I value most that I was given suggestions which lead me to unexpected ways, and also the understanding that everything is happening for a reason was great.
On the other hand I find it important not to put too much emphasizes on the interpretations. It could nurture a victim consciousness instead of working with the moment and loving myself the way I am (the receipt for happiness).
My palm leafs were written on in Sanskrit from long time ago. I had to tell only date, time and place of birth. The predicted arrival date in my library then gave the clue, if there was a leaf for me.
Reiki in Japan
What is the essence of Reiki? What is just form?
In spring 2008 I travelled to Japan to learn Japanese Reiki (Usui Reiki Ryoho) first and second degree with Tadao Yamaguchi. Tadao's mother has learned Reiki from Chujiro Hayashi, that's why they call their teachings Jikiden - direct. I am not sure about my motive. On the one hand I have practiced Western Reiki in the lineage of Takata and the Reiki Network for 8 years; I have become a Reiki master because of my inner knowing that Reiki works, the greatest gift I have been awarded in life. On the other hand there is this curiosity. The unexplainable is attractive for exploration. I guess it is a kind of network tradition to look behind the scenes. Will I find confirmation of our teachings, methods and of course our symbols? Why do I challenge my concepts about Reiki? Why do I question my perceptions? It turns out, destruction is on its way. Typically Reiki, I would say. Because the way Mrs. Takata taught the symbols and attunements differs from what her teacher Chujiro Hayashi has done in Japan. Talk about the disruptive feminine! This I mean highly philosophically because without Mrs. Takata, Reiki would not have been so popular.
As already mentioned - the initiation is different. It feels very good. I am deeply touched. I learn that Hayashi gave the attunement ritual in a single initiation, that he repeated this initiation several times.
Japanese Reiki is described essentially the same way we do. However, the concept of regular self-treatments has not so much emphasis. In my opinion nothing is more important, so here I am really happy about Takata's and the Reiki Network teachings, possibly as modification of what was taught before.
The purpose of the 3 Reiki symbols is quite similar, more restricted and clearly demarcated. The techniques of application, the symbols themselves and their mantras are all different. I see the roots of the symbols, which lie in Sanskrit, Chinese and Japanese calligraphy, and the derivation from origin to symbol make sense; it also feels good. From experience I can say the symbols work.
On the other hand, from experience I can say that the symbols and initiations in the Western Usui Shiki Ryoho also work. It is obvious that some applications over time have been added and others have changed.
So I feel great disturbance, as symbols are so significant in Reiki. We know that certain sequences of certain lines create a certain effect. As C.G. Jung states - symbols are energy fields that release and transform other energy fields. Here I am deeply shaken and so is my concept of symbols. How could I follow a different rule and still achieve the same thing?
In questioning my concepts about symbols I find a manipulative part. It is the »achieving« part, making me belief I would, by using patterns, be able to manage and control my environment, making it safer for example, switching on Reiki in another person and so on. Ultimately this thinking is manipulative. Control does not exist, and I cannot achieve anything. If I would have control I would have it forever, otherwise it would not be control. It would also mean nobody else could have control, what a contradiction! Control would also require me to be separate from my environment, otherwise how could I control it? I must admit my perception of the environment has an effect on me. My reaction will change my environment.
Actually I am nothing more than an observer within the system, so I am part of the formula I want to change. This is like an equation with more than one unknown, so it has an infinite number of solutions. The way I look at my world (address the moment), the same way the rest of the formula has to balance that equation. Reiki is a specific way to look at life, recalling concepts of unity, harmony and primordial consciousness. If that is my focus, the effect is inevitable. With symbols I do not create or move anything, I just use them as a means, or tools, to focus on Reiki, to recall Reiki. It is like a rock painting I want to see in a dark cave. I could use a torch with a yellow handle, or I could use a torch with a red handle instead. This is how I feel when I read about discussions amongst Takata's students, regarding whose Reiki is most authentic. Now the irony of life says hello because, it turns out, that all students were rather far from the Japanese way, where to see the paintings a green candle has been used instead.
The same way religions fight for being true or not, one could fight for the Reiki symbols being true or not. But also to truth applies the above said. I could only recognize truth if I were separate from it. Being part of the formula, I cannot recognize truth, I can only observe and address the observed. The consciousness is my key. The misperception of truth and correctness of tools, I believe, is related to the misperception of separation. It is the most undermining belief system, to be separated from the world, to have an identity. From this belief, all others arise. If I could just experience being great, unimportant and ALL-ONE! From misperception of the opposite - the awareness of separation - follows the urge to importance, the addiction to do something, having to manipulate.
Take another example. I could write »love« or any symbolic message using Japanese or Hawaiian or any other language. The clue of addressing would mean I have to know what is behind those letters I write, and then all that happens is I recall and focus on the essence behind the word "love", for which I have to learn the alphabet I want to use, for which I have to have a deep understanding for what »love« is about. I could use the Japanese symbols for it, or the Takata symbols. Keeping the million-times-applied symbols in use makes good sense, because there is a strong matrix behind them. It squares the sum of the knowledge of the individuals and creates less efforted work.
When a student and I come together in an initiation into Reiki, with both tools I can draw the attention to Reiki, and the student will become aware of Reiki. I am not switching Reiki on, but consciousness meets, the student wants to experience Reiki and I use my torch or candle to show and change focus, change the formula.
Nothing much done. Something unimportant and great happened ...
Axel Ebert • June 2008