Reiki Help Blog :: Oasis Reiki Dojo

The Holidays inspire charitable giving and care for others. These days there are so many ways to give. Recently two Twitter-driven causes brought this point home. One was an effort by Epic Change to raise enough funds in 48 hours to build a new school in Tanzania. With a separate site setup called TweetsGiving, Epic Change was able to raise $11.131 in 48 hours with a simple #tweetsgiving tag driving traffic to the donations site and the power of retweeting! And it was also a micro-giving effort with only $10 being asked of each donor. Of course some gave more. Kudos to @sanjspatel and @StaceyMonk.

Another micro-donating effort is being lead by @pistachio. She’s only asking for $2 donations to charity: water, an organiztion I wrote about here as part of Blog Action Day. $2 a piece to raise $25.000.

I’m writing this to bring attention to how easy it is today to be charitable, not just seasonally but at any time and how it can be meaningful and not just duty or admonishment. I would also like to speak to a certain thinking that is prevalent in spiritual communities. The thinking goes somewhere along the lines of “change in the material world takes too long; in truth poverty is nonexistent; what you focus on grows; we must work in consciousness to change the paradigm and not reaffirm poverty, but instill the truth of abundance that is our very nature.”

After fifteen years of working directly with consciousnes and spiritual energy, I’m viscerally aware of the power of transformation that originates in the inner planes. This has been called ‘subtle activism’ and it is indeed an approach that many still must adopt. Consciousness is primary, there’s no doubt about that. What changes in consciousness, changes out in the world. Yet my spirituality is a practical one and so I wrote the following open letter and offer it here for your consideration. I also encourage you to visit the links above and participate according to your heart.

We live in the dimension of form. Our origin is elsewhere. We are Spirit manifest in matter. To manifest Spirit fully in matter we have divine tools, and earthly tools. It’s the balanced use of both that brings success.

As the vanguard in subtle activism, we also have to consider how we frame our approach for the mainstream. Remember the tragedy that took place at Columbine High School? At the time many in the spiritual community said things like: “Those who passed chose to do so. They contracted to leave the planet. All is in divine order.”

It’s pretty obvious what the response would be from those parents, peers and school staff who went through that experience, if this was said to their face. It would be perceived as cruel, lofty, unrealistic; there would be backlash and outrage.

The existence of divine order behind seeming tragedies is a truth. That some of us ‘contract’ for certain experiences has truth in it too. But it can’t be said out loud, not until the general consciousness of society has reached at least a modicum of the paradigm that these truths espouse.

And we don’t know specifically what the subtle elements are; perhaps there’s order, perhaps there’s evil, in the act not the doer. Does it all come out in the wash in the end? Perhaps.

Point is, while some of us have an awareness, or even working knowledge of Reality, many are serious about how real reality is to them, and that’s fine. Matter does have a reality. It’s not the ultimate, but knocking your knee on a sharp corner really hurts! Even for us ‘elevated’ types, losing a child is not and should not be a small matter to be rationalized by clinging to our paradigm. We are Spirit and Human. Leaving the Human out of the equation simply doesn’t work.

As humanity finds itself in the midst of many tough and complex challenges, the teamwork of Spirit and matter applies also in the larger context of societal and global improvement. A paradigm shift necessarily takes place in consciousness, but it’s utterly pointless to stop there. That’s equivalent to promising you’ll do something and not doing it. Right thought and speech must be followed by right action.

Recently, Blog Action Day put a lens on Poverty. While it’s true that our true self and the nature of the Universe is like Goddess Lakshmi, i.e., there’s no concept of lack whatsoever, it seems implausible to expect an emaciated, under and malnourished child or mother to be comforted by or even consider this. We don’t live by bread alone but by bread alone do we also live. Even those of us who have the material necessities to be able to put aside time to contemplate and embody the lack of lack, often find that we aren’t able to.

What can be done? Join forces. First feed a hungry belly, then ensure the future supply of food, and then teach the underpinnings of a philosophy that will eradicate hunger permanently if enough people subscribe to and energize it continuously.

We congratulate ourselves too quickly for being the vanguard of a consciousness-molds-matter paradigm. Firstly, there are advanced beings very involved with the Earth plane who have been, since antiquity at least, wielding powerful subtle tools to dawn another higher age. So far it hasn’t quite manifested. When it comes to consciousness shaping matter in the dimension of form there can be considerable lag time. There is also Divine timing.

Secondly, we’re pitiful in our understanding of time. The wisdom of India tell us that the world is created, destroyed and recreated every 4,320,000 years (Maha Yuga). Ours is a materialistic age, the Kali yuga which lasts 432,000 years. While it’s important to vibrate to higher truth and hopefully be wayshowers, it’s equally important to take care of what’s in front of us here and now, because some of this is on a cycle that has its own clock. In the meantime people are starving.

One last point to consider is that when someone perishes from violence or hunger, the entire vibration of that experience remains on the Earth, and travels with that soul on its journey. Inevitably the soul reincarnates, bringing that vibration back into the Earth plane. In its nonphysical journey and when embodied again, this soul specifically passes the vibration of its demise down its bloodline to its family. This happens both in biological DNA and spiritual DNA. Thus there’s a very substantial and chronic vicious circle.

And thus we must join Spirit and matter in addressing all such concerns. Someone can pass over with a full belly or in peace, while the right consciousness emerges in the dust of this Earth. Physical, material action has a huge place in circumventing the vicious cycle as described above, and we are here to serve.

President-Elect Obama, and Health and Human Services Secretary-Designate Tom Daschle are requesting public commentary during the month of December, as they draft a proposal for health care reform.

This is a prime opportunity to speak out about the importance of holistic health as a vital component of health care reform in the USA. If you’re a Reiki practitioner or maintain your all-around health and wellness through other natural and holistic or integrative ways you may submit your ideas directly at Change.gov in the Health Care Agenda section. Read below for some core ideas that you may want to mention.

First, if Reiki is important to you write as a health care consumer and not as a practitioner. State your preference that Reiki is reimbursed by insurance. Emphasize that you would like to have full access to Reiki Training and healing. Definitely mention that Reiki is already recognized by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the government’s health agency. Make sure that you include a link to the NCCAM’s Reiki Backgrounder.

You may then want to mention any or all of the following, as a way to start changing the health care paradigm:

1. Health care must promote health and wellness, not merely manage disease.
2. Preventive care is more than screenings. It includes a positive program of wellness, with a healthy diet, exercise, mental and emotional health, and natural methods that support the body’s inherent self-healing powers.
3. Health care must include full freedom of choice regarding health care options. Each individual should be free to choose from the full spectrum of health care modalities, without interference from the government restricting particular methods.
4. We must champion the needs of children in any health care program. Of particular concern is the increasing use of pharmaceutical drugs with children, rather than preventative measures such as good diet, counseling and assistance for at risk-children, and a full spectrum of educational programs that include artistic expression, physical exercise and creative play.
5. It is a matter of social justice that every citizen have access to basic health care regardless of financial status. However, universal coverage without reforming the way health care is delivered will endanger the economic health of the country. Cost containment is not simply a matter of eliminating waste and profiteering. It also requires a de-emphasis on high-tech “sickness care” and a new emphasis on health promotion.
6. A diversity of health care options, especially those that are holistic and preventative in nature, would actually lower our nation’s cost for providing universal coverage and result in a far healthier population.
7. Health care reform means ending medical discrimination against holistic health practices and natural health supplements, to allow truthful health information to be freely given in regard to the health benefits of natural remedies, to allow holistic health practitioners to freely practice without fear of prosecution.
8. Research funding for the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (National Institutes of Health) should be massively increased.
9. An Integrative Medicine Advisory panel should be created to advise legislators and policy-makers on ways to bring holistic and integrative medicine practices into any Health Care Reform legislation that is drafted. Such a panel should draw on the expertise of such organizations as the Preventative Medicine Research Institute (Dr. Dean Ornish), the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine (University of California in San Francisco), Duke Integrative Medicine Center, The Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona, Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine (San Diego), and other similar centers.

Go ahead and include your bullet points in comments here. The health care debate will go beyond December and we can build a unified set of ideas here, that can be used again and again in future communications with any administration.

In the meantime Click here to share your comments with the Obama/Biden team.

I credit Richard Katz and Patricia Kaminski for some of the points made here.

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The first part of this post ended with:

“Yet, there is a greater field which enables us to experience and share finer, elevated feelings. Love, kindness, compassion, empathy, or as the Dalai Lama calls it “warm-heartedness” all come from a spiritual field that encompasses and influences us. Of course to really receive this benefit, we must put in the time for sincere spiritual practice.”

Now we will look at some of the subtleties involved in energetic integrity, through the lens of Oneness. Oneness is an essential model of reality that can be quite heady, so let’s simplify and break it down. Oneness says:

1) You are one with yourself.
2) You are one with others.
3) You are one with your environment (where you live and work).
4) You are one with Nature and all of its lifeforms.
5) You are one with the Planet.
6) You are one with the Cosmos.
7) You are one with the Divine.

You may be thinking, “This sounds nice but what does it mean?”

1)  You are one with yourself, a holistic being composed of:

• An energy template
• A physical body
• Emotions
• Mind
• Spirit

These are designed to work seamlessly as one unit, as long as you are alert, awake and present to each one. Everyone has natural strengths. Some are athletic, some intellectual, some great meditators, some show good emotional intelligence. It doesn’t make for a well-rounded and happy life, however, if your meditation doesn’t also lead to the ability to balance your checkbook, your intellect gets in the way of opening portals of perception, or you are a mindless jock.

Self-awareness and the insights it yields which lead to integration is what truly unifies you. You become aware of the parts that need attention, bring them up to speed and integrate all parts into a smooth-functioning whole.

We also tend to abandon ourselves as a result of wounds. You have to journey back home to yourself and once again inhabit all the parts of your being.

2) You are one with others, even though encased in your skin it looks like you’re separate, with several feet between you and everyone around you. How much more this distance seems when people are many miles away or from different cultures of which you know nothing. Right?

Without getting into all kinds of esoterica, let’s see how it’s true that you are one with others: Every single person in the world wants to be happy, healthy and safe. Beyond culture, status, education and career we all want the same core conditions and qualities. It couldn’t be simpler.

3) You are one with your environment (where you live and work), which retains the emotions and thoughts of everything that is experienced there. The spaces we occupy become part of us. Your cubicle, bedroom and living room say a lot about you. Often outer space reflects inner space. If you’re not in energetic integrity with yourself, your outer environments will also be disharmonious. Similarly, cleaning, clearing and beautifying a room will have a positive mental and spiritual effect. There’s a relationship between the human and the spaces we occupy.

4) You are one with Nature and all of its lifeforms, because life is a circle. Where do dead animals go, an elephant for instance? First on the scene are larger scavengers: jackals, vultures, and hyenas that possess a unique ability to crunch and digest bones. Then come smaller carrion-eaters, including insects. The excrement from the scavengers and the detritus from their endless feeding fertilizes the soil beneath and around the carcass. This causes vegetation to grow and draw a veil over the final residue; instead of the body being lowered into the ground, the ground rises over the body.

Humans are inextricably linked to this circle and are at the top of the food chain, which really means we have more responsibility, not just consumptive and destructive power.

5) You are one with the Planet, for without the Earth you would not exist! It is the Earth that provides the surface and gravitational pull on which you build your home. It is the Earth which grows your food. It is the Earth on which roads are built so you can visit family. It is the Earth and its atmosphere which gives you water, of which you are composed in two thirds. You can breathe on Earth.

You are one with the Earth. Your body is composed of elements all found on Earth.

6) You are one with the Cosmos. Yes it’s vast. Yes it’s unknowable. Yes it makes you feel like a speck. You’re still one with it. What else could be the truth about this? You’re swirling in it on your own planet. A planet that was born from cosmic forces. The cosmos prettifies your night sky and gives you a sun to make life possible. The cosmos provides a continuity too, a reassurance. Sirius the “dog star” (brightest star in our sky) is nine light years away;  Orion Nebula is 1500 years; Andromeda Galaxy 2.5 is million years.

As you begin to open your portals of perception, it becomes increasingly tenable that the universe is not random. There is meaning and order in the universe and thus in life. Loss of meaning is a sure way to step out of energetic integrity. The void created by not having a sense of belonging is many times filled with a hungry attitude of “those with the most toys win” and all manner of addictions and personal aggrandizement.

And this continues to reinforce a deeply entrenched material consciousness in the human psyche. A material consciousness that refuses to at least consider the possibilities of Oneness.

7) You are one with the Divine. A living master, Dattatreya Siva Baba says, “Love is God.” In other words when you feel love, you experience God. The word “God” is a button-pusher for many, but everyone can accept and relate to love.

The Divine is unlimited and doesn’t have to be “God.” You can relate to the Divine in any way that is comfortable for you. This doesn’t mean that you’re deluded into declaring that a self-destructive behavior is your Divine! Creativity, skills and talents, beauty, great art and music, loving sex, charity, good leadership, solid education; there are just so many ways to be Divine.

Everything you’ve read here so far is an expression of the Divine. To be fully human is to be One! If we stay in separation we victimize ourselves and remain small. A small worldview produces small results, and keeps you stuck in unnecessary and unreal drama. Drama is a fool’s trap. Drama is a blame game. When you point the finger, three fingers are pointing back at you, and you have the option of pointing your thumb UP.

There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it’s going to be a butterfly.

–Buckminster Fuller