07.08.09
Catholic Nuns and Reiki
I just read an article that says the Catholic Church is trying to ban nuns (and all Catholics) from practicing Reiki: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/02/us/02nuns.html?pagewanted=1 (bottom of page 2) There is even a link to a manifesto detailing the Catholic Church’s position on Reiki: http://www.usccb.org/dpp/Evaluation_Guidelines_finaltext_2009-03.pdf. It was officially generated by the Committee on Doctrine of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
The manifesto basically says Reiki should be shunned by Catholics because it is unscientific and unChristian. Oh how they SOOOO do not understand!
First off - um….saying a piece of bread and wine is literally transformed into the body and blood of Christ during the Catholic Mass IS scientific?? And that Christ literally rose from the dead IS scientific?? Where is the proof? If you want to go with scientific, you have to go with it all the way. No picking and choosing allowed!
Then - SINCE WHEN is offering healing to those in need not Christian?? As a Reiki practitioner since the early nineties, I can definitely tell you offering Reiki is about the most “Christian” thing a person can do! You see, it is very similar to prayer. But - there is a difference.
When sending Reiki the sender has to be conscious that the effect he or she is hoping for may not be the result. Reiki always goes to the “greater good.”
In prayer, I am pretty sure most believers feel they are praying for a specific thing - that someone heal from an illness, that it not rain tomorrow because they are having a picnic, that they win the lottery. Well, all these may not be for the “greater good.” Maybe the ill person needs to learn something from their illness, maybe the picnic needs to not happen in order to allow the people to do something else they need to get done, maybe the hopeful lottery winner needs to learn something about values.
Contrary to the Bishops’ accusation, it is SOOO not true that “for the Reiki practitioner the healing power is at human disposal.” In Reiki it is a core teaching - at least in the way I was trained - that you cannot choose the outcome of what you are sending to. You can lay hands on an ill person in hopes that they will heal, but if they are supposed to learn something from the illness, the Reiki will only help them learn it. It will not help them heal. This means that you are TRUSTING that the Universal Life Force, God, or whatever WILL choose the “greater good” for you!
Ok, I KNOW this is most unscientific but…unlike the Catholic bishops, I am not the one claiming we must be scientific in matters of the spirit!
With all due respect to the Committee on Doctrine of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the real reason they must reject Reiki is because the Catholic Church cannot control it and that is enough to invoke fear in the Faithful level ( see http://www.exploring-spiritual-development.com/The-Faithful.html) leaders of the Church - and sadly, the Faithful level (versus the Mystic: http://www.exploring-spiritual-development.com/The-Mystic.html) seems to be who is in charge in the Church these days.
Jenn said,
November 13, 2009 at 2:54 pm
Amen!
I work at a Catholic hospital and they will not let me do Reiki on my patients because of this. I am so frustrated!!!!