Guidelines for Evaluating Reiki as an Alternative Therapy

This is a controversial research paper to start the ball rolling.

It is published by the Committee on Doctrine, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

www.usccb.org/dpp/Evaluation_Guidelines_finaltext_2009-03.pdf


It is worth reading in it's entirety but I think it is fairly obvious that what little research was carried out to produce this document was not very thorough - or accurate!

Thank goodness it is only a set of guidelines! If it was a Papal Bull then it would affect a large number of Reiki Practitioners and Teachers who have integrated the practice of Reiki into their lives and found it enriching for themselves and the people they are able to help.

One of the statements they make near the start of this paper is that "The Church recognizes two kinds of healing: healing by divine grace and healing that
utilizes the powers of nature." What could be more natural than Reiki?

Ai to Hikari
Colin

Thanks for this Colin, i'm gonna check it out shortly.

Yeah, i agree colin, it looks pretty well one-sided, and biased imo. To be honest, the writers seem to have misunderstood basic aspects of their own path. If i can be as bold to say, hehe.

It's interesting they rely so heavily on the supposed non-existence of proof Reiki works scientifically, when, still, scientifically there is not firm evidence even God exists. It's ironic, that folks in a spiritual path ned to use science to somehow try to invalidate another spiritual path. Now that's a paradox!

I have to disagree with them also when they say Reiki is not a prayer, but a technique. I always thought a prayer was a technique to interact with God.

I feel also, in the critique of Reiki, the authors fail to realise in the Bible we are told that 'the kingdom of God is within us, and all around us'. Sound like anything in Reiki? Hehe.

The comments regarding folks individual take on Reiki, such as Diane Stein & 'Goddess', should be self-explanatory to the authors. As they themselves said, Reiki claims to be non-religious, yet practitioners report an immense spiritual aspect. It is only to be expected then, that Reiki transcends all current dogmatic viewpoints, or, easily fits in with any single personal religious path.

I'm a fan of all religions, and have a great respect for Christianity. However, the authors seem to have failed to realise the evolution of their own spiritual path, when they mention 'The Goddess'. It's historical record that approx. AD300, Emperor Constantine amalgamated aspects of Paganism & Christianity, in order for the Roman Empire to peacefully accept it. The Christian sabbath changed from Saturday, to Sun-day, for instance. Although later on from Constantine, our very own xmas tree, is another Pagan ritual, and in fact has nothing to do with Christianity.

Maybe we should write a paper on the authors Colin, hehe!

take care
Wayne

(Topic merged with Colins)


I have some friends who are non-Catholic and they say discussing the subject of Reiki with their ministers and church friends is not a welcomed subject.

Fri Mar 27, 12:01 pm ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – – The US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has warned Roman Catholics to shun the eastern healing art of Reiki because it lacks scientific credibility and is dangerous to Christian spiritual health.

"Reiki therapy finds no support either in the findings of natural science or in Christian belief," said the USCCB doctrine committee in a document issued Thursday.

In health terms, using a therapeutic technique that has no scientific basis "is not generally prudent," said the eight bishops on the committee, which in the past has issued guidelines on how to minister to "persons with homosexual inclinations" and frequently asked questions about why only men are ordained.

In spiritual terms, using Reiki carries "important dangers" because the therapy is based on the theory that illness can be healed by re-balancing "universal life energy", or Reiki, by a laying on of hands by a trained master, and that clashes with Christian belief, the bishops said.

"There is a radical difference between Reiki therapy and the healing by divine power in which Christians believe: for Christians the access to divine healing is by prayer to Christ as Lord and Savior, while the essence of Reiki is not a prayer but a technique," the bishops said in a statement.

And then there's the fact that "neither the Scriptures nor the Christian tradition as a whole speak of the natural world as based on 'universal life energy' that is subject to manipulation by the natural human power of thought and will," the bishops said.

To use Reiki is to operate "in the realm of superstition, the no-man's-land that is neither faith nor science," the bishops warned, urging Catholic healthcare institutions, retreats and chaplains to ditch the therapy, which originated in Japan in the 1800s.

A survey conducted in 2002 by the US National Center for Health Statistics and the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) found that more than 2.2 million US adults have used Reiki for health purposes.

Hi Bridget,
Colin has already started a topic about this, so i'm gonna merge your comments with his.

take care
Wayne

Oops I didn't realize the topic was already started.

I had disconnected from organized religion a long time
ago (of course not without guilt)

These Bishops must feel threatened that their power
will be weakened. Then again they might be using Reiki
to distract from the molestations that still loom in the
US courts. It would seem that they should be addressing
other issues within their church, how to protect their
flock and keep them in their fold so their churches are
not closing up. I left long before Reiki entered into my
life; but then again Reiki has always been apart of my life
I just had not tapped into it.

I tend to agree with you bridget. Like i said before, i do like religion, it's another platform to experience God. Well, it should be, hehe. Sadly, some religion has had the knack of keeping archaic views, and not moving with the times. Even within general spirituality. Maybe the article you & Colin have shared is another sign of this?

take care
Wayne

I think the problem with most organized religion is the separation dynamic. They believe we are separate from God. That we need a conduit (Jesus, Mary, Saints, Pope, et. al.) to access God.

I don't believe in a duality of existence.

We are all part of God, and God is part of all of us.

We can access God individually by simply recognizing this.

Andy

Have to agree with you again Andy, this is getting a bit of a habit with me, hehe.

Yeah, once a spiritual group begins to place themselves between others & God, it will, invariably, alienate the very people they are trying to attract. Particularly at this stage of human evolution, where we are realising our own individual importance spiritually.

Like i mentioned earlier in this topic i think. It's pretty clear in the Bible that early Christians were actually in agreement with what we're discussing. 'The kingdom of heaven is within us, and all around us'.

Take care
Wayne

I've posted all over the Internet on the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops "Guidelines". It's so typical of the Catholic Church to stick its nose where it truly does not belong, first and foremost because reiki subscribes to no dogma or religion. I wholeheartedly agree that these "guidelines" were published out of fear, pure and simple fear.

Throughout my practice of reiki I have come to grow and become aware that reiki is a pure energy, healing if you will, comprised of unconditional love. This to me is energy in one of its highest forms which connects one with the divine source; sort of like a direct cable modem to the universe. Given this interpretation, I can see where it would scare the living daylights out of an organized religion so used to manipulating followers telling them that only certain higher ordained annointed ones can connect to God i.e. the divine source. I mean if people realized that they could themselves connect directly to this source, to spirit and truly become one with the Universe and through that oneness help their fellow man, we would all be in the paradise promised in "Heaven".

Hmmmmm, not good for a lot of organized religions and their centuries old marketing campaigns.

Why was the Gnostic Gospel of Truth, one of the ancient texts discovered along with the The Gospel of Thomas in 1945 at Naj 'Hammádì at the Jabal al-Tárif mountain hidden. It describes an architecture of reality similiar to the teachings of the Kabbalah. The Gnostic Theology is based on the duality between the transcendent Absolute Spiritual Reality and the imperfect psychic and physical reality. This is known to be consistent with the Hindu concept of Brahman, the ineffable ALL.

What about the Gospels of Peter, Thomas, Mary? All hidden and quashed.

The materials connected to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Guidelines and the "Guidelines" are full of misinformation, dare I sugges lies? Which again displays that anything so hastily written in this slipshod fashion was indeed written and published out of fear.

Personally, I am an ordained interfaith minister and when people ask me what my religion is I reply "Eclectic Spiritualist" and when they scrunch up their faces and say 'what is that?' I simply say "my religion is that everybody (all religions) is right and nobody is wrong". We all worship under different names and titles, etc. but the basic premise is the same, there is one Divine source and that source resides within all of us. Almost always, like a light bulb going off, people say "Oh, I like that!".

We as reiki practitioners need to set the reiki record straight.

I thank you all for my soapbox!

LL&H,
Rose

Excellant post Rose!

Hi Violet Rose Reiki. unconditional love is an important part of helping others.
I'm also a registered independent ordained inter faith Rev. When I became Reiki before I became a Rev. I taught Reiki from a non- religious point of view. I leave it up to my students/clients to interpret ULE as they see it.

While the Catholic Bishops and other Religions bash Reiki. I try not to get pulled into their anger and move myself in a positive direction of healing with unconditional love that you mentioned in your posting.

chi_solas wrote:

While the Catholic Bishops and other Religions bash Reiki. I try not to get pulled into their anger and move myself in a positive direction of healing with unconditional love that you mentioned in your posting.

I said something similar to a friend recently. The Church obviously finds something threatening about Reiki, but if we respond with anger and frustration, we only continue to feed the perception that there is something to be feared.

ETA...I think my biggest issue with their assessment is their assumption that we use our will in order to transfer ULE. As we all know, Reiki operates independently of our will or efforts. And there is no guarantee healing will take place, just as there is no guarantee that prayer will invoke Divine intervention for healing. The bishops do seem particularly concerned with some of the basic beliefs/principles of Reiki that are in conflict with their understanding or worldview of our relationship with/to God. Christians believe that because of Original Sin and our continued sinful natures, we are separate from God. So, as far as the bishops are concerned, if we say we are accessing the divine nature within us or the Holy Spirit is somehow working through us, then we are either mistaken or just plain heretical.

I'm not worried about the Catholic Church shutting down Reiki down worldwide. I know Christian ministers and congregants of other denominations who affirm and support Reiki. In fact, the first client I had professionally was a Christian chaplain (an ordained Presbyterian minister who had her doctorate from one of the foremost Presbyterian seminaries here in the U.S.) who was battling cancer. Our sessions were very much a "let go and let God" experience. Working with her changed my life and outlook on faith.

As much as I love Reiki, I also know that it is only one of the many paths to knowing God and realizing our Divine Nature.

Seemingly, the good things done in the name of religion are more than enough to make up for the slight harm caused by mass ignorance of the truth. The problem with this line of reasoning is that it fails to factor in the bad things done in the name of religion. The wars, murders, and other atrocities perpetuated by religious belief and its unwavering defense against social and scientific progress combine to create quite a formidable argument against the notion that organized religion is necessary or even beneficial to human society.

It's just a shame that it is obviously inherent in the human condition to form groups of like-minded people, and attack people who differ from your beliefs.

Here is an update concerning the US Bishop's Guidelines:

http://www.courierpostonline.com/article/20090406/NEWS01/304070012/1006/news01

It would appear that some Catholic Institutions are actually following these guidelines and no longer offering Reiki - even though it was being beneficial to the recipients.
Ai to Hikari
Colin

Violet Rose Reiki wrote: The wars, murders, and other atrocities perpetuated by religious belief and its unwavering defense against social and scientific progress combine to create quite a formidable argument against the notion that organized religion is necessary or even beneficial to human society.

It's just a shame that it is obviously inherent in the human condition to form groups of like-minded people, and attack people who differ from your beliefs.

I understand what you're saying. I feel though, we should look at the idea that this isn't religions fault. Humanities, yes. It's our greed, arrogance, and such which has done all these things. For sure, we have allowed all that to become intermingled with Religion. Though, religion itself is a sound concept. Many folks need structure within their lives. No less so within spirituality. Religion, as we know, is a platform in which to expereince something greater than ourselves.

The issue is more a sociological, and inherent psychological one, in which we carry on our destructive behaviour. We fight over football, politics, even the next door neighbours wife, lol.

Even folks that are within these religions, quite often, are not experiencing the purpose of the religion existing. So, without expereincing the divine, their actions are at times against what they profess to represent. This isn't the religions fault, but humanity, for changing/altering the religion. For example, Christianity was much different for the first 300 years, and to be honest, was a great path. .

I agree, some religions inability, or unwillingness to progress with the times, has in fact begun to alienate many people.

take care
Wayne

The second round of the Inquisition cometh!

Violet Rose Reiki wrote:Seemingly, the good things done in the name of religion are more than enough to make up for the slight harm caused by mass ignorance of the truth. The problem with this line of reasoning is that it fails to factor in the bad things done in the name of religion. The wars, murders, and other atrocities perpetuated by religious belief and its unwavering defense against social and scientific progress combine to create quite a formidable argument against the notion that organized religion is necessary or even beneficial to human society.

It's just a shame that it is obviously inherent in the human condition to form groups of like-minded people, and attack people who differ from your beliefs.

Remember that in their opinion, they believe they understand what constitutes truth and falsehood. We're saying we represent what is "true" while they also say the same thing, but the conclusions are different.

I agree with you that many atrocities and social problems can be attributed to religious dogma, but I don't believe that organized religion as a whole is unneccesary or harmful. I belong to a church and feel that I am amongst a warm, caring and overall, socially progressive congregation. People need to be in community with each other. Some communities are healthier than others, no doubt, but for the relatively few that are truly harmful we have many that are very beneficial. Remember too that rules and decrees that are passed by the heads of any organized religion are not always followed within specific places of worship. I don't know that we can always change the way leadership at the top functions but we can change minds at the local level and that can make a huge difference.

Colin wrote:Here is an update concerning the US Bishop's Guidelines:

http://www.courierpostonline.com/article/20090406/NEWS01/304070012/1006/news01

It would appear that some Catholic Institutions are actually following these guidelines and no longer offering Reiki - even though it was being beneficial to the recipients.

I appreciated this statement in the article: Kerns said she will continue to practice Reiki. As for anyone who may be weighing the decision to continue Reiki treatments, she has this advice: "I would simply say for them to go into their heart and honor what is their truth."

I think this is all you can really say. People who know that Reiki is beneficial will still seek it out, regardless of the Church's ruling. The Lourdes Health System is accountable to the Catholic Church, so the institutions have to respect and follow the ruling, regardless of any personal opinions on the subject.

The best thing we can do is pray and send Reiki to the situation, trusting that if it is in the Highest Good for the Catholic Church to endorse Reiki, it will eventually happen. The Catholic Church has become increasingly arch-conservative since the appointment of Pope Benedict and that tone is not likely to soften any time soon.

Yes, very informative article. I put it up on my website earlier today!
People need to be informed.

Thought you might be interested in a blog post my friend Sherri (Usui Reiki and Karuna Reiki Master) wrote on this subject:

http://seeingmiracleseveryday.blogspot.com/2009/04/going-out-on-limb.html

Milarepa wrote:]Yeah, i agree colin, it looks pretty well one-sided, and biased imo. To be honest, the writers seem to have misunderstood basic aspects of their own path. If i can be as bold to say, hehe.

It's interesting they rely so heavily on the supposed non-existence of proof Reiki works scientifically, when, still, scientifically there is not firm evidence even God exists. It's ironic, that folks in a spiritual path ned to use science to somehow try to invalidate another spiritual path. Now that's a paradox!

I have to disagree with them also when they say Reiki is not a prayer, but a technique. I always thought a prayer was a technique to interact with God.

take care
Wayne

hi Colin, Wayne

a refined input to the the papers Colin referred ! [applause]

almost translating the sentiment that those papers reflected, we too here have a feeling among my Islamic brotherhood that practicing reiki has a character of 'tampering' Islamic teachings vis-a-vis sometimes even alluding that invoking symbols is virtually close to 'shirk' (a fundamental sin where we ascribe something to somebody which Allah Almighty has the claim to be ascribed with)...


and when i read such sentiments i sometimes question myself how our religious faith is sometimes so easily lax or vulnerable? how we disown anything we find spiritual on the simple premise that it was not taught to us in our religion or that it does not 'fit' apparently to the religious teachings....


spirituality is a human attribute, a faculty that makes us 'fit' to be communicating with Divine... we are born with spirituality, like we are born with two hands and two feet to do work with... in one way, communication with Divine is a communication with oneself sometimes, since God is said to be seated right there in us too... and accepting that, we also realize that God is simply 'big enough' to be easily contained in 'us' only, rather He is big enough to be cumulatively contained within the whole universe... something that makes him 'GOD'

leaving aside that discussion about confusion of identities and boundaries, the topic in question here is whether reiki tampers with religion... i would say "not really!"... religion is a technique ( borrowing Wayne's eloquence) to communicate with GOD, and reiki is a technique that makes us more refined to do that... practicing reiki, is infact equivalent to making ourselves more 'fit', 'suitable' to practice what our religion tells us, and to brew the blessings with a greater possibility.


example sake, islam prescribes us daily five times prayers, a whole month fasting once during a year, a pilgrimage to Holy Cities once in a lifetime, etc. etc. and invariably all these things require good health and a working limbs and body... so if someone goes for morning or evening walk, exercise regularly, etc. to maintain body health, he is infact making himself more 'available' to reap benefits of religious orders/rituals.... same way, if we nourish our spiritulaity through practicing reiki, we would produce good platform for our mind/body/spirit to act upon relgious requirements and to comlement ultimate aim of any religion viz: connection with Divine !


spirituality is our own spark of Divinity, as Wayne puts it, and there are multiple ways to say this basic things... if you and i say the same thing in two ways, how come it becomes obvious that we are talking about two things literally ??


take care

salman

[quote="Lambs-Wool"]

Milarepa wrote:]leaving aside that discussion about confusion of identities and boundaries, the topic in question here is whether reiki tampers with religion... i would say "not really!"

Indeed. Reiki does not tamper with religion, but it does seem as if religion, in this case, is tampering with reiki.

One can be spiritual and yet not religious.

Love, Light & Healing,
Rose

Violet Rose Reiki wrote:Seemingly, the good things done in the name of religion are more than enough to make up for the slight harm caused by mass ignorance of the truth. The problem with this line of reasoning is that it fails to factor in the bad things done in the name of religion. The wars, murders, and other atrocities perpetuated by religious belief and its unwavering defense against social and scientific progress combine to create quite a formidable argument against the notion that organized religion is necessary or even beneficial to human society.

It's just a shame that it is obviously inherent in the human condition to form groups of like-minded people, and attack people who differ from your beliefs.

I would think that Reiki is not acceptable
in the church because it's non-religious and
is used by many people who do not believe
in a God but in a Higher Natural Self. As
seen in the past, members of the Catholic Church
defie some of their churches teaching such as
abortion/gay rights, women who want to be priests
usually move on and become priests. Some members
of the Catholic Church will continue to practice
Reiki outside the Catholic hospitials and patients
who do want to participate can have distant Reiki.

[quote="chi_solas I would think that Reiki is not acceptable
in the church because it's non-religious [/quote]

Exactly my point, reiki is non-religious, so why the denouncement?
Seems the catholic church is making this a religious issue when it should not be.

Love, Light & Healing
Rose