After a quiet winter on Lesvos Island, spring is just around the corner. The almond trees fill the chilly air with sweetness as the first flowers turn the earth into a carpet of color. First the blue of the anemones surprise us when it was still cold. Then the white and yellow of the marguerites arrive overnight. Soon the poppies take over with their blazing red coats. In the last two winters we planted lots of trees on our property and I urge you, if you have a piece of land, to do the same. This is what we owe to our kids and to future generations. Let’s make the Earth green!
Today I am writing to you with a heavy heart. You may have heard that the North of Japan was hit by a devastating earthquake and is threatened by a nuclear disaster. Until today the biggest recorded earthquake in Japanese history hit the Tokyo Bay on September 1, 1923. It was due to this earthquake, named Kanto Daishinsai, that Reiki and Usui Sensei became well- known in Japan. The only reason for us practicing Reiki today was the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives in the past. Until 1923 Usui Sensei was the only teacher of the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai, his association that he incorporated in 1922. When faced with the incomprehensible devastation, he decided to change his ways: He gave eight of his senior students the Shihan status, and taught them how to teach Reiki to his fellow men. Over the next year or so, they initiated thousands of people and according to Mrs. Koyama, the previous president of the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai, they gave several hundred thousand treatments. Now is the time for us to give something back to the people of Japan. Since it is difficult for most of us to pack our bags and go to help, I am in the process of finding a good project that we can donate money to. The large help-organizations are collecting donations already, but I would feel more comfortable with a direct approach. We will let you know once we have found a suitable project.
For now, please send your love, good thoughts and Reiki to the situation. Our Japanese friends have asked us to thank all of you for your love and care.
Below I would like to share with you a love letter I wrote to the 86- year old abbess of the Kurama Temple:
Mount Kurama
It is always the same between you and me. You speak to me so softly and I seem to understand you better when I don’t try to listen. Quietly, the seasons speak with a multitude of tongues. Their form gives shape to what can not be said, but must be experienced.
In the spring, your feather- light touch shakes the future off the trees ever so lightly. It reminds them that flowering is our nature and that all begins with a gust of wind. Awoken from the promises of spring, the mountain grows in myriad ways, while innumerable eyes see everything.
Then summer comes along, playfully. Joyful springs carry the nectar of the heavens to the valley below, as the people look up in gratitude for their blessings. A thousand arms stretch out across the Universe. We know now that we are not alone, and come what may, the harvest will be celebrated.
The autumn wind carries the seeds of the past on wings of freedom, as the faces of love and compassion look in all directions. It is safe here, and in this safety the tensions of the past become the messengers of what is yet to be. We recognize that each and every step leads only to itself.
On quiet winter nights, the world is dressed in a cool garment of white. It rests within itself as all becoming comes to an end. Above all shines the infinite light that conceals itself in each and every season. It whispers so silently that all we are and all we’ll ever be is This- a thousand times, This.
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Honesty
And now, let’s talk about something that you can do for your self. Many times people ask me in workshops as well as in my daily life why I am quiet, relaxed, peaceful and- happy. Considering this deeply, it seems to me that the main key to all the above is honesty. Honesty is a jealous mistress: she does not allow anything other than herself. You can never be a little honest: either you are or you are not!
My spiritual name- Arjava was given to me many years ago by my beloved teacher Osho. It means utmost honesty. So for me honesty is a guest that has been my companion for fifty years. It is my path and my learning and I put it into action every day of my life. But to be honest with others you first need to be honest with your self. This requires that you love your self no matter what. Then it is easy to be honest and to probe deeply into the depth of your own psyche. When I talk about loving your self I don’t mean it in the egocentric way. What I mean is to pay attention to your essential being, the stuff that we are all made out of. Feel that, cherish it and then you are ready to feel, see and cherish it in the other.
Opening your heart
The next step is to open your heart to someone close to you. This can be a friend or a partner. Please allow me to share something very personal: I have no secrets with my wife. I tell her everything I feel and think. Knowing that her love is unconditional that comes easily. I never lie to her and I never lie to others either, even and especially when honesty may be of a disadvantage for me. Sometimes my honesty is too much for my family and they say that I am from a different planet; but mine is a planet of love and acknowledging what is, even if it is a rocky path sometimes. In a partnership you mirror each other constantly. At times you may not be aware of your own truth but your partner may be. It is a blessing if the trust is such that the other may point out to you what you cannot see your self.
Reiki may seem only remotely connected to honesty at first inspection. But please consider this: Reiki is foremost a path to transformation and transformation is possible only when you are painfully honest with yourself and those around you. However, honesty does not mean that you tell everything to everyone, and that you go around hurting other’s feelings. A good way of finding the balance of what should and should not be shared is whether it creates suffering in you or in others. If it does not, go ahead and share it with love and tenderness. At times being honest can be hard to take for others, but that is not your concern.
Perhaps begin by inspecting your vocabulary. If you use auxiliary verbs a lot you know that there is some work to be done in terms of being honest. Instead of the seemingly innocent white lie “ I am so sorry that I can not come to your party” just say that you are not a party- animal and that you look forward to meeting your friend in private. Don’t be afraid of what others may think of you. Every time you say something untrue, you hurt yourself, you violate your truth and you will not be able to forgive yourself for it. It has been my experience that the others like it when you speak and act the truth. When in a teaching situation, you often hear me say that I don’t know. This is another aide in the help of honesty. Stop talking about things that you don’t know- and feel comfortable with not- knowing. It can be so refreshing and childlike not to know!
Another helpful hint is to avoid gossiping about others who are not present. I suggest that you make the two things above your habits from now on- if you are not doing it already, and filter everything you think and say through the wisdom of your own heart, with love and gratitude from beautiful Lesvos Island, your friend
Frank Arjava Petter
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