Date: Sun, 17 Oct 2004 18:32:59 -0400
Sent To: AdvancedReikiTopics@yahoogroups.com
Symbols: Part Three By: Reverend R Clark <clark@acceleration.net>
Symbols: Parts: One, Two, Three, and Four.
Greetings Will and ALL!
At 05:14 PM 10/14/2004, Will Beckwith wrote: The point of my comment isn't whether it is possible to work without symbols -- because it is -- but whether it is *necessarily* "more advanced" to work without them.
SYMBOLIC SHORTCUTS?: From my other studies over the years, I believe that symbols have an inherent power through years (in some cases, hundreds or thousands of years) of use. The symbol takes on something of a life of its own because of so many people focusing energy, attention and intention into it. That means that for a beginner in energy work, there is a jump-start to what they are doing because of the in-built power and energy of that symbol -- Jung's terms, the way it has become a part of the collective unconsciousness.
- I pray I never gave the impression that I felt that the symbols giving way to what they stand for was anything but my experience, no political positioning or spin. It was really puzzling at first because I don't generally forget my Tools, something I need to do the things I feel are important and drawing these I could do in my sleep. Interestingly when I connect with the energy the symbol stands for, it seems easier to visualize the symbol. Ain't that a switch <grin>?
SYMBOLS AND PSYCHOLOGY: One more thought I wanted to throw out is to remember in your teaching especially the psychological differences between people. I use Carl Jung's psychological types and the Myers- Briggs Type Indicator a lot in my counseling work (and in teaching -- I give workshops on this subject).
- I've felt this to be true about many vibrational levels that there are well worn paths, ruts even that guide our feet as we trod. When chanting on the drum, certain rhythms and cadences for the specific moment have a sort of timeless quality to them and a sense of a long and deep memory of history is evoked. On the more sensational side, I think Terrence McKenna used to write about how sacraments, different plant entheogens had potentiated their own specific state of consciousness. Another idea with wOw factor, is there are rumored to be "devas" something like "sub-collective consciousnesses" for large groupings like species and lately I'm told other collectives of animate nature and even unmoving ones like buildings and abstractions like "bodies of thought." There is so much more here than what meets the eye <grin>.
About 65% of *all* people are "wired" psychologically from birth in a way that makes the use of symbols in a clear, orderly fashion not only natural to their way of thinking, but in some cases, essential.
The remaining 35% think in abstract, intuitive ways and working without concrete symbols according to a set routine is often more natural and confortable to them.
The way Mrs. Takata presented Reiki was very much in accord with the 65% Sensing/Concrete perception of reality. Many of the branches of Reiki that have come later grew out of the Intuitive/Abstract (35%) way of perceiving the world. That means that we are not talking about what is "better" here, but differences in the way people think and act brought about by their unique psychologies. No matter what school or system of Reiki you are teaching, it is possible to help your students better learn the basics if you take some of these innate differences into account.
- That would be me. I am just slightly on the left hand side of being ambidextrous (literally, "both right hands") and find the Zen mind is at play more often than not. Except for chanting and making coffee in the morning (when I am in that Catch-22 state of needing coffee to make coffee) I find that I seldom do anything in exactly the same way twice. They say we cannot put our foot in the same river twice, as both the foot putter and the river change.
My 2%, self-expressed.
- We must consider our audience, for true. The willing student is a challenge for us to put things in a form they may deal with effectively.
Thanks for Everything!
One Love, R
“If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.”
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Symbols: Continued on Page Four.
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