Lighting the Path Less Taken

I CAN'T SAY ENOUGH ABOUT THIS WONDERFUL MAN AND HIS IMPACT ON REIKI.
THIS WORLD WE LIVE IT NEEDS MORE HUMANS LIKE HIM TO HELP AND HEAL AN ALREADY FLOUNDERING WORLD. IT BREAKS MY HEART TO READ THAT IN ORDER TO SUPPORT HIS FAMILY HE MUST LEAVE HIS PATH A WHILE BUT WE KNOW HOW HARD THE ECONOMY IS...
I WILL WISH HIM WELL AND HOPE HE WILL CONTINUE TO WRITE EVERY NOW AND AGAIN THE NEWSLETTER FOR HE IS A SHINING LIGHT IN THE WORLD OF REIKI AND IN THE WORLD AT LARGE,
I HOPE YOU WILL READ AND ABSORB HIS WORDS...THEY ECHO MY FEELINGS DEEPLY.

http://www.reikidharma.com/

ReikiDharma Newsletter Volume 28, November 3, 2009

Dear Friends!

After a delightful trip to Tokyo, Kyoto and Kuwait, I would like to talk to you again. This time the issue burning in my heart is Reiki and transformation.

But before we begin, a few words about my current book project. My latest book titled “Das ist Reiki” (This is Reiki) was published in Germany by the Windpferd Publishing Company a few weeks ago. It is the culmination of my work, my love- song and legacy. And most of the credit for it goes to you who have read and supported my books over the past twelve years. I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

In the past few years it has become apparent that I am not able to support my family with my Reiki practice anymore and therefore must find a new job. But before I retire from teaching Reiki gradually over the next eighteen months, I want to share with you all that I know, and this is the result.

The new Book

In the first part of the book you will find all of the Reiki History that has been proven up to this day. It is filled with beautiful photographs, calligraphies and new info on the founding fathers and mothers of Reiki. In this part of the book you will find everything I know about Reiki history in one document.

The second part is concerned with the sacred Reiki places, Usui Sensei’s birth village Taniai, Mount Kurama in Kyoto and his memorial at the Saihoji Temple in Tokyo. For those of you who teach and practice Reiki this will be a lovely reference that invites the fragrance of Usui Sensei and his work into your heart and the hearts of our students.

The third part is on the historical, cultural and religious background of Reiki in never before in-depth detail. This will help you drink the Reiki basics from the original source.

The fourth part is about Reiki practice, mainly on the art of Byosen and other Japanese Reiki Techniques. The material will help you enhance your practical skills when working with your clients.

If you read German, please let me know what you think of it. The book has 260 pages, one hundred photographs and besides what is mentioned above, it features interviews with Chiyoko Yamaguchi, Fumio Ogawa as well a wealth of information coming from Kimiko Koyama, the previous president of the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai and Tadao Yamaguchi, the founder of the Jikiden Reiki Institute. The first feedback from readers has been very kind…

Good News: The book will be published by Lotus Press, Wisconsin in English in 2010. As soon as we know the publishing date, we will let you know.

Reiki and Transformation

Reiki is born out of a transformation- experience and leads to it again. We are not in the business of curing a headache or two, but in the business of finding our true essence and helping our friends to do the same.

The word Reiki, as you recall from a previous newsletter, originally means “Soul Energy”. Soul energy neither needs transformation nor improvement, it is perfect the way it is. But we have lost our connection with the soul, and are invited to return to it with Reiki.

All along the Reiki path we are reminded again and again of our destination. In the second degree, the meanings of the symbols guide us on our way home. The meaning of the distant healing symbol can either be understood as “ natural, essential being” as “man and god are one” or as “The original human has the right mind”. The meaning of the power symbol is “ direct (connection with the) soul”. The Mental healing symbol means “Senju Kannon”- the Buddha of love and compassion.

All of these phrases talk about our predicament: We have gone astray and are asked to return home, to our essential being. When we are in direct connection with our soul, we are whole, happy and healthy.

As I mentioned above, the essential being does not need to be worked upon- it is how it should be already. But you are unaware of it, because you are identified with the small mind, with your ego. The ego is born out of past experiences and future projections, which makes a lovely couple: fog and smoke…

The good news is that neither fog nor smoke really do exist: they are nothing but a dream. This dream is re- invented every time you separate yourself from the world. The medicine for this illness is awareness of your essence and the will and constant choice not to allow the mind to cut you off from the Universal Being. Know that you are held in the arms of the Universe as her beloved child.

Everything that creates suffering for you and for the people around you is the small mind, the ego. Stop inflicting suffering upon yourself and upon others and you are free.

All that is needed for you to do is to pay attention to your essence, to your inner emptiness, and the celebration that awakens in it the moment you begin to be aware of it.

Developing awareness

However, before venturing into the unknown, I suggest that you develop awareness first. Only after awareness has arisen it is safe to undertake spiritual endeavors.

The small mind

The awareness I am talking about begins with understanding the workings and the nature of the small mind. This small mind is you, your ego, the psychological and emotional self. The small mind is in you and on a spiritual journey this is seen as an obstacle on the path. At the same time it is an essential stepping- stone. Only one who has lost his way, can come home…

The small mind been created by your conditioning. This conditioning is not personal, but collective. Your culture, your religion, your language, your parents and teachers, all the people you have interacted with in this life and all the previous ones have created your personality. You may think that it is “yours” but when examining it carefully you see that all that is yours is pure Silence.

Removing obstacles and disarming negativity

Imagine that your kitchen garbage bin is full. Do you hesitate to dispose of it? No way! Please empty you inner garbage bin right now, in this moment- and you are free. Read the following text out loud if you like, I wrote it for you:

The Embrace

Don’t resist my embrace today- it is a special day. Though I know that I will return to you, I hesitate to go before you have answered my call. You think that eternity is your playground and that you can postpone our meeting for another day. But another day is always now, and tomorrow hides in the secret chamber of today.

Your own desire is tiresome; it keeps you away from me, because you know what I know. You know that there is no way to avoid your own liberation, and you know that it is your own hand that hurts you so deeply. The wings of freedom are already spread in anticipation, and the wind is blowing in the right direction.

Your resistance, you think, is your greatest treasure. You hold on to it with all your might and you defend it with a bleeding heart. Today I ask you to surrender what you will never need again: I am asking for a single breath to melt in my embrace. It is a special day today.

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The big Mind

The big Mind is in you and you are in it- like a fish swimming in the deep blue sea. Part of that primordial awareness has been implanted into each being and this corresponds to and is in accordance with the powers of the Universe that surround us. Through this inner “seed” you are connected to the whole. This seed is like the clear blue sky, that simply is- whether obscured by clouds or not. In some cultures it is called Soul, and others it is called God, Divinity, Enlightenment…and all of that is the collective treasure of humankind. Let’s claim it…

With love and gratitude from Athens, your friend

Frank Arjava Petter

Copyright©, by Frank Arjava Petter 2009

Personal News

We have moved to Greece and if you are in need of a vacation for body/mind and soul… please visit us. We will let you know as soon as we have found a suitable place.

Workshop News

In December 2009 I will teach one last Reiki Master/ Teacher course in Germany.

Tadao Yamaguchi in Germany

Tadao Yamaguchi will teach again in Germany in June 2010. Please scroll down for further Info and reserve your space quickly.[/i]