Reiki Help Blog :: Oasis Reiki Dojo

Global shifts are happening at an accelerated rate and bringing all of us right into the midst of events happening thousands of miles away through worldwide communications, fueled by new technologies and social networks. Some of these shifts are downright scary, especially on the surface. Some are happening right in our own communities.

From a spiritual wisdom perspective, the case has always been made that change and balance during change source inside an individual. On the other hand, activists of every stripe rely mostly on outer action. A third approach is engaged spirituality which can be defined as tapping spiritual truths while responding to titanic shifts.

The inner and outer worlds aren’t separate. This is the holistic truth. They interpenetrate and influence each other. One can’t get away from the other. We’re living in an age where meditation alone won’t solve our challenges. And outer action alone has never been a complete solution. Blending the two appears to be the skillful means. Humanity has been creating civilizations and building societies for thousands of years. Being active in the world seems to be rather well-known to us, although we’re not always that good at it. What seems to be less well-known and practiced is the inner realm of stillness. So let’s learn about it.

Would you like to save the world from the degradation and destruction it seems destined for? Then step away from shallow mass movements and quietly go to work on your own self-awareness. If you want to awaken all of humanity, then awaken all of yourself. If you want to eliminate the suffering in the world, then eliminate all that is dark and negative in yourself. Truly, the greatest gift you have to give is that of your own self-transformation. —Lao Tzu

Worldwide challenges demand our unrelenting will and presence. Corrective, preventive and innovative action must be taken collectively. Where such redeeming ideas originate is the larger question. Lao Tzu offers this (italics are mine):

Humanity grows more and more intelligent, yet there is clearly more trouble and less happiness daily. How can this be so? It is because intelligence is not the same thing as wisdom. When a society misuses partial intelligence and ignores holistic wisdom, its people forget the benefits of a plain and natural life. Seduced by their desires, emotions, and egos, they become slaves to bodily demands, to luxuries, to power and unbalanced religion and psychological excuses. Then the reign of calamity and confusion begins. Nonetheless, superior people can awaken during times of turmoil to lead others out of the mire. But how can the one liberate the many? By first liberating his own being. He does this not by elevating himself, but by lowering himself. He lowers himself to that which is simple, modest, true; integrating it into himself, he becomes a master of simplicity, modesty, truth. Completely emancipated from his former false life, he discovers his original pure nature, which is the pure nature of the universe. Freely and spontaneously releasing his divine energy, he constantly transcends complicated situations and draws everything around him back into an integral oneness. Because he is a living divinity, when he acts, the universe acts.

Action is invaluable to change. There is no change without action. At the same time, action by itself is without a living spirit. It falls short and can even reverse progress. The wellspring of ideas behind our actions must also be considered clearly. Action has wise ideas or ignorant ideas behind it. We have to find ways to increase the percentage of the former.

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When it comes to healing the past, there are two main approaches:

1. In time
2. Outside of time

As humans, we live in time. As beings, we live outside of time. It’s a challenge to reconcile the two even without the need for any healing. The need for healing is there for everyone, just as surely as the need to breathe or drink water. How can the past be healed, so the present is free?

The transcendental approach to healing, which is outside of time,  would say that time doesn’t exist, that you are pure awareness expressing in the now. This is true. Making this truth a realized part of our expression isn’t so straightforward. The outside of time approach also says that all past suffering dissolves as if it had never been, once the delusion of time and identification with ego is removed. When delusion is removed, we’re in our natural state which is already healed, has no need of healing, or can be said to be healing itself. And what the body and/or personality was traumatized by is unimportant as both body and personality are illusions too.

In truth, you are Spirit. The body has been projected by the mind, which itself originates from Spirit. —Ramana Maharshi

Well and good. The being part of us gets this, can live this. The human part of us is a different creature. There actually isn’t a dichotomy between the two, except in perception. At the same time, most often it serves us well to address our human directly. Our human is beautiful, creative, powerful, a miracle of creation. It also suffers. It has needs and desires. It gets trapped.

It gets trapped by time and memory. It’s influenced by genetics and environment. It’s a product of culture and history. Our human has in its past specific events that are crying for healing. We have to “go there” and acknowledge them. This isn’t necessarily analysis, although that can occur and can be useful. Better though, is being present with the suffering, and awake to any insight that may arise. Ignoring wounds that happen in time is dangerous for most of us. We haven’t developed enough knowing to rely on transcendental truth.

Ignoring such wounds creates a shaky foundation. Our functioning in the world becomes unsteady and unreliable. And perhaps most importantly, we’re miserable without healing.

If you’re consciously on a spiritual path,  then you have a way to integrate wisdom and truth with healing in time. The trick to healing in time is to get in and get out, to not become attached to the past. The span of time between in and out will vary. Often it’s a layered, spiral journey. As long as it’s traveled consciously and with nonattachment, the safety of your spirit is available to you. You engage the past together with your transcendental knowing. You engage it to emerge free from it, not to dwell in it.

All I am is loving awareness. I am loving awareness. It means that wherever I look, anything that touches my awareness will be loved by me. That loving awareness is the most fundamental “I.” Loving awareness witnesses the incarnation from a plane of consciousness different from the plane that we live on as egos, though it completely contains and interpenetrates everyday experience. —Ram Dass

The advantage of having a spiritual basis for healing is that until you’re strong enough to acknowledge the pain, there’s a way for you to create spaciousness and be at peace to a certain extent; to feel some relief before delving deeper. Some form of emotional nourishment is needed before we can have presence of mind and resolve to heal in core ways.

Then you get to the healing itself, with this caveat:

We start to see each experience as a teaching to be brought into awareness and loved until we are free from being captivated by the experience. As we begin to awaken, experiences lead to reflection and contemplation. —Ram Dass

The healing work done at the level of details in time is invaluable. This is the balanced way of the spiritual walk through life. If ignored or only dabbled in the result often is that higher dimensional life never becomes available or it crumbles in on itself because a foundation was never laid. Once core healing takes place, and it may have to over and over again, then spirituality and your practices become solid and unwavering.

Ultimately, healing in time and outside of time support each other for your greatest benefit. There’s some overlap and each helps the other. The more you heal, the more pronounced is your living of wisdom; and the more you evolve spiritually the easier it becomes to heal. Physical, emotional, and mental healing leads to clarity with truth. Spiritual healing leads to erasing our ignorance of unity. Separation is exhausting.

Each separate being in the universe returns to the common source. Returning to the source is serenity. —Lao Tzu

Each post for the Reiki Help Blog can take anywhere from 1-5 days to write/research, proofread/edit, and post with an appropriate image and formatting. If you leave this space with any value, knowledge, joy or understanding, please consider making a donation of your choice.

Donate to this blog. Thank you!