Okay, I’ll admit it… the new Dan Brown book has me quite intrigued and once again, my imagination is running rampant. Not since Indiana Jones and the Lost Reiki Journal of Dr. Usui have I considered the possibility of missing information… at least not publicly… but riddle me this, if you will, if there were a unifying symbol for Reiki, one that summed everything up and brought everything together… what would it look like? Well, I’ve got a theory… let’s see if it holds water.

In The Lost Symbol, one quote in particular got me to thinking. There was a non-religious discussion taking place on the many variations of the Man as God paradigm, such as, “Know ye not that ye are gods?” and “The kingdom of God is within you” where one interpretation was given as:

Abandon the search for God… instead, take yourself as the starting place. – Monoimus

Whereupon I immediately abandoned the whole discussion and got on with my day, but that thought lingered in the back of my mind and while scouring the web for useful Reiki thoughts this thought wedged itself in my mind and proved itself to be quite stubborn as I attempted to dislodge it… the result being this post.

The Lost Reiki Symbol

The idea of a unifying symbol (or at least concept with a graphical representation) had me stumped at first.. but then it struck me. Unification, in the case of Reiki does not mean something that pulls everything together, but on the contrary something that pulls everything apart. Reiki, being a spiritual path, knows no one way… there are many possible paths and we each take the one that we most (largely unconsciously) resonate with. So, while being on the Reiki path, we are unified in the sense that we are all together on the Reiki path, but we do not share a common path.

“Hey, you’re on the Reiki Path? So am I!” smacks of unification as we are both on the same, i.e., the Reiki Path… but the paths will be unique depending on our own interpretations, experiences, preferences, etc. And they will meander in their own direction until finally they all meet again at the end… enlightenment! Make sense?

Several years ago I went to a VERY high level Reiki meeting here in Japan (sorry, I’m not allowed to be more specific) and for several weeks prior to the meeting I was filled with speculation and wild imaginings about what was in store for me… I was sorely disappointed and not until formulating this post did I realize why.

I was expecting to discover the lost secrets of Reiki, to be the first Westerner to have access to the mysterious powers of the unknown, the Holy Grail of Reikidom… what I got instead was a bunch of old people who asked more questions than answered and rambled on and on about things that basically had no relationship… to anything. I asked my translator if things were watered down on my account, but she said ‘no… that’s how it always is’. Hatsurei Ho and a few other exercises and then talk, talk, talk. What a let down.

So how does this unified theory bring that into focus? Well, since they were all on different paths, and understood they were all on different paths, they knew there was no point in comparing notes. Even markedly similar experiences would have completely different meanings to different people. So basically the long and short of it is that when you are on the Reiki path you are totally and utterly alone in finding your way. The slightest hint at a suggestion could easily (and in all likelihood) take you years off course.

In Japan, the majority of the Reiki Masters I’ve met, including several members of the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai all understand this… whether it was taught to them or not… and so teachings or discussions on how to proceed are avoided… as opposed to teachings in the West whereas the teacher expects you to walk the same exact path they did (even though they are no closer to enlightenment than you are).

So the above symbol, and the concept of a unification theory in Reiki basically says that once you learn all there is to learn, go back to where you started, abandon the idea that there is a one size fits all path, and, beginning where you are… enjoy your unique experiences on the Reiki path. And anyone telling you differently simply doesn’t understand their Einstein. 

For further explanation or discussion, your thoughts are most welcome and highly encouraged, please feel free to comment below!!!