Over a year ago I was invited to be a keynote speaker at the international conference of Reiki in Australia which took place in October 2015. The event was sponsored and created by Australian Reiki Connection or ARC, which is a membership organization of Reiki masters and practitioners of different Reiki lineages. This particular conference was the inspiration of Hilary McPhee, ARC's vice president.

 

Hilary's vision was to bring together well-known masters from these different lineages and practices to speak to the topic: The Future for Reiki: Pathway to Wellness. The invited speakers were William Rand, Frans Stine, Hyakuten Inamoto, Pamela Miles, Kathleen Prasad, Sue Lake Harris, and myself.

 

Pamela Miles and William Rand were not physically able to be there, but streamed their live presentations through the internet. Each presenter included time for questions after their presentation. The final event of the conference, a panel of the presenters-William Rand, myself, Hyakuten Sensei, Frans Steine, Kathleen Prasad, and Sue Lake Harris-responded to questions from the conference participants.

 

The clearly expressed ethic of the gathering was that all interactions be conducted with utmost respect for the individual, their practice, and what they had to share. Everyone did a wonderful job of living up to this expectation.

 

This was my first time sharing a conference stage with Masters from other lineages. It was something that I had looked forward to for the entire year. I wanted the opportunity to be with, interact with, and be present with leaders from the larger Reiki community. I wanted the in-person experience of living the values of inclusion that I had intellectually embraced but not practiced in person, simply for lack of opportunity.

 

Each of these presenters has made a significant contribution to the practice of Reiki in the world, resulting in a following of dedicated students and colleagues. Just as I am deeply committed to my form of practice so was every other presenter. All of our systems draw students who hold their practice of Reiki as central to their lives in terms of personal healing and development and service to the world.

 

I aspire to live in a way where I no longer feel the need to honor and affirm my own spiritual or healing practice or culture by denigrating and criticizing the others, perceiving my own to be "better than." Personally, this has not been an easy stage to arrive at or to continually act and speak from. It's requiring both conscious desire and discipline.

 

As I listened to the offerings of each of the presenters, I notice the reaction of my heart, the expansion I felt when what was shared struck a deep resonance, and when I felt my heart constrict as I heard something that bothered or challenged me in an uncomfortable way. My practice was to notice when I felt constriction and not run with that feeling into judgments or constructing counter-arguments.

 

It was so clear that this respectful honoring of the other felt infinitely richer and easier to practice because of our physical presence with one another, being together in the totality of our humanity. This "being together" was clearly enhanced by the fact that we spoke together in breaks, we ate together, we touched one another.

 

In contrast were the two participants who could only be present through the wonder of technology. I have known Pamela Miles for years and have had the opportunity to be with her many times. I actually spent time with her the month before this conference. I have never met William Rand. The experience I had during his live-streaming presentation was very different. This highlighted for me what I had gained from being with the others and what I missed by not being with William.

 

During the panel at the close of the event, there was a clear call from those attending the conference for the leaders in the Reiki community to come together, dialogue, and model mutual respect both personally and for the practices they carry. For me, this does not come from the notion that "It is all the same." I don't find that is true. It comes from opening ourselves to respect each path, celebrating and acknowledging our common roots, and trusting in the shared journey of healing and service to humanity to which Reiki calls us all.

 

Work is now starting on the next stage of this story, the Furumoto archives, and I have been introduced, so far, to three of the large number of boxes to be sorted, scanned and filed. This will be a mammoth task, no doubt involving many volunteers and constant input from Phyllis.

 

As I look through old magazines and newsletters for articles written by Phyllis over the years, I am reminded of faces, projects, meetings, conversations and conferences from this story, extending from the early 1980s to the present day. It has set me wondering about archiving in general, and archiving our Reiki history in particular. Why is it important?

 

Scholars throughout time have depended on original records for their research, and often find themselves frustrated by gaps in the records. Documents may be casually discarded, destroyed by flood, fire or textual deterioration, and even by deliberate destruction for ideological reasons. Such gaps can lead to speculation and the development of theories by people with personal attachment to a particular version of the stories, leading to argument and dissension which are occasionally settled 

by surprise discoveries of ancient documents neglected for years in some descendant's attic. So I find it exciting and am in admiration of the devoted work of these volunteers who have given the gift of properly preserved material for future researchers.

 

My imagination leaps forward over the next seven generations, and I see people as yet unborn, fired by their experience of Reiki, their interest sparked, desiring to fill in the gaps, perhaps write or tell their own story and root it more firmly in the ground of their predecessors. My hope for them is that they will find nourishment in this rooting, just as I witnessed Paul and Susan - touched and inspired by their increased knowledge and understanding of the teacher they met when they were young and she was old. It seemed that, for them, her life was fleshed out and brought more alive by the time they dedicated to this work. No doubt others will similarly find renewed respect and gratitude to the extraordinary commitment of the woman whose life gave us all the opportunity to be touched by Reiki.

 

to our organizers, hosts, and hostesses

 

We have spent 30 years traveling the world, being supported by numerous people who have picked us up from airports, fed us, taken us in to stay overnight or for a few days between workshops. 

These same people often make sure that we have special food or make travel arrangements for us.  These people were also at times our organizers for events and workshops.  Making sure that the place we are going to work is compatible for us, making financial arrangements, contacting the cooks and planning menus, collecting the fees, exchanging money from one currency to another, and on and on.  We can't possibly name you all, but you know who you are. 

These years have been far beyond what we can imagine!  And you were the people in the background who made it all happen.  Now we wish to place you in the foreground and bow deeply to you.....acknowledging our gratitude personally and for the support of the practice of Reiki.  

Phyllis Furumoto and Paul Mitchell