Original goodness. How come we don’t hear that more often? We certainly hear its opposite in many world religions, and also most psychotherapy which is based on pathology. Perhaps we don’t hear it more often because it’s easier to believe it doesn’t exist. Afterall if it exists at all it’s buried somewhere in the coal of our being. It’s hidden under many layers of protective armoring. We have all encountered suffering and threatening situations and have had to come up with survival or coping strategies. What we may not remember is that none of this changes our essential nature.
There’s an equally hidden motive force within us that seeks something worthy and true. In this seeking we may end up with the teachings of Reiki. Reiki is primarily a practice of wisdom and compassion. It answers our longing for freedom. In that answer we find our original beauty, goodness, nobility, and blessedness. It’s inevitable that we find these qualities of our true nature because they are woven into the fabric of our being. And so starts a sacred relationship with ourself.
Finding the sacred is the purpose of the various practices and trainings of Reiki. Each of these helps us recognize and uproot unwholesome patterns that create suffering and develop wholesome patterns instead. The emphasis in Reiki on training and practice, together with growing insight and understanding gives us a bedrock that is very reliable and nourishing. Through a practical and inspirational set of practices and further training, Reiki returns us to our innate wisdom and compassion, and directs us toward unity.
In Reiki when we meet each other we put palms together over the heart and bow in gassho. There are entire societies that practice this as routine. Gassho means to put the two palms together. It signifies the oneness of all beings. It’s the natural expression of reverence and gratitude. It’s also a sharing of love and in that, resonance. We acknowledge the healed version of the person, the seed of healing that coexists with all that is unhealed.
We also gassho at the start and end of all Reiki practices when on our own, bowing to the already healed, whole and divine being peering from behind all that’s unhealed in ourself. It seems that the world wants us to give too much attention to our protective armoring of fear, depression, confusion, aggression and worry. We all have areas that can be improved. However, we start with a recognition of an abiding goodness and wholeness.
As with any authentic wisdom teaching, Reiki gives us the opportunity to make the coal of our being the diamond that it really is, through the applied pressure of practice over time.
The word “Buddha” comes from the root buddh, which means to wake up. A Buddha is someone who is awake. When Buddhists greet one another, we hold our palms together like a lotus flower, breathe in and out mindfully, bow, and say silently, “A lotus for you, a Buddha to be.” This kind of greeting produces two Buddhas as the same time. We acknowledge the seeds of awakening, Buddhahood, that are within the other person, whatever his or her age or status. And we practice mindful breathing to touch the seed of Buddhahood within ourselves….
Our true home is in the present moment…The miracle is to walk on the green earth in the present moment. Peace is all around us—in the world and in nature–and within us–in our bodies and our spirits. Once we learn to touch this peace, we will be healed and transformed…We need only to bring our body and mind into the present moment, and we will touch what is refreshing, healing, and wondrous.
— Thich Nhat Hanh
Each post for the Reiki Help Blog can take up to 7 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!
Authentic Japanese Reiki Master Teacher / Healer at my Oasis Reiki Dojo – Available globally. Meditation, Healing, and Spirituality training and services. Meditation Guide. Intuitive Coach. Spirituality Writer. Photographer. Poet. Artist. Dad. Plant-based.
Thanks for this reminder Pamir. You have a unique way of saying this that I enjoy!
Yer welcome, good person. 🙂
Original Goodness! What a wonderful phrase! I wish we could all be brought up with this concept, rather than the oh-so-prevalent religious concept of “original sin.” I can only imagine the difference it would make if the belief in “original sin” was replaced by “original goodness.”
Yes, I do believe we are born with “Original Goodness” or what I call the Divine Essence, yet tragically it can be squashed, shattered, and sometimes irrevocably broken by experiences at the most acutely vulnerable stages of life. Childhood experiences are immensely powerful.
For some it’s possible to rediscover the Divine within, for others it never happens. For some the coal never has the chance to become a diamond. This is the most tragic consequence of all.
Thank you so much for the love, gentleness, and caring energy you transmit through your site. I feel the authenticity of your desire to uplift and heal other beings.
Welcome motherwintermoon! Thank you for your kind words.
Foundation is so very important in everything. We wouldn’t construct a building on shoddy foundations, so why do we think building a human being is going to work at all when s/he is being torn down from the get-go?
The weight of human mis-perception that we’re somehow flawed is a heavy weight to carry & throw off. It causes much unnecessary suffering & can lead to many other shadow aspects. It’s not that we don’t have opportunities for growth, it’s that in essence (as you say) we are good & whole & beautiful.
The pronouncement of any authority figure in childhood that we are this or that becomes our reality because we are innocent & too receptive then. Once we believe it becomes self-talk & thus even heavier. Fortunately we have a motive evolutionary force within us & awakening happens!
Pingback:Carnival Of Healing #142 - A Wealth Of Health!
There’s an awesome book called “The Continuum Concept”, by Jean Liedloff.. was my bible all through my parenting years.
Jean refers to that goodness as “inherent rightness”…that when parents act out of this assumption, as they do in the Amazon tribe she spent time with, humans grow up a lot differently than in a culture that assumes inherent anti-sociality.
Great stuff.
Welcome Gina! Indigenous cultures have it all over us so often…with all our sophistication, technology and high art, we’re not as good at this thing called life in many regards.