Hi Bridget, Colin, Resko (and all other Reiki-Readers).
I have a fairly lengthy response that I have posted here:
http://bit.ly/9u7gqxIt is also posted below:
Formerly in a previous career life I was a full time Certified Massage Therapist . I knew that Reiki was an important part of my life, and with respect to the transformational struggles I went through (described here
http://www.reikilearninglounge.com/welcome-new-members-intro-f3/buck-s-intro-t521.htm) and some comments made to me on AHR (alt.healing.reiki) around the year 2002, I decided to rekindle my interest in creative professional writing. During that time, a couple very interesting problems began to emerge in the world of Reiki.
James Deacon and Rick Rivard were among the first to begin publishing their findings about Reiki openly on the internet on their websites (as early as 1996), and William Rand began to publish articles shortly thereafter. Vincent Amador probably was the first who published his Reiki manual on the internet and made it freely available to everyone who could visit the site.
During the late 1990's and into the early 2000's, people did not have an understanding (or respect of) copyright laws and it was largely believed that if someone wrote a sentence on the internet, that sentence could be copied and pasted into a book and claimed as one's own writing. I recall that one author had copied word-for-word some 40(?) pages of original writing by James Deacon and published it as their own in a printed book. Rick Rivard experienced something similar when one of his students gave their username and password to two friends who copied one of Rick's manuals, removed his copyright notices, and distributed it as their own while leaving the images of Rick attuning his wife and Rick's text unaltered. I believe that Vincent altered his manual so that the copyright appeared at the beginning of the text on each page, and at the end of it as well (eventually Vincent stopped putting effort into maintaining that website and it now only exists on archive.org). Plagiarism in that time was at its height in the Reiki world.
The problem of plagiarism has been addressed as best it can by the Reiki community overall, but not without repercussions. I feel that the need to educate everyone in the importance and morals of respecting copyrights has unintentionally stifled the creative writing process of some potential contributors in the forum. My fear is that the concerns of plagiarism may hold a person back from contributing in a forum such as this one.
My rekindled interest in creative professional writing led to classes in English grammar, which eventually led to a college level certification as an editor (for me it was just common sense that if I was going to write professionally, then I should at least be able to write properly, and if I was going to write properly, I may as well have a certificate that says I can write well). Once my grammar was up to speed, I then began to practice and study writing story--and it was in those classes I learned some things that were so new and so obvious that they were completely unexpected.
One of the first things I was taught and encouraged to do in a creative writing class was to join a local writers club. That seemed to make good sense, so I did. Not knowing what to expect, I imagined that a writers club was a group of writers who would talk about writing in such a general way that no one could plagiarize their work. Plagiarism, of course, was a very big concern on the top of my mind. Surprisingly, I discovered that the local writers club was where a group of writers of all levels (newbies and even published authors) would gather together, read an excerpt of their work to the others, and then receive constructive criticism of the piece.
The writers did not simply talk about what they were working on in an abstract, general way, that kept it secret and sacred (much like the Reiki forums that insist everything be kept private within the group) but instead they read pages of their material word for word, and frequently distributed copies of those pages to everyone in the group (to take home and keep). This act of freely sharing one's work put me into a state of shock that lasted about three meetings, and then I began to settle into the situation and become comfortable with it.
The more we openly shared the details of our work with each other, the more it improved, and the more our skills as writers improved as well.
If you are teaching Reiki, you may one day wish to write a Reiki manual as a handout for your students, or reach a greater audience with it in the form of a book (printed or electronic). Reiki forums such as The Reiki Learning Lounge provide a wonderful means to improve your skills as a Reiki writer. Plagiarism should not be a barrier to your writing process, but rather an impetus to release your creative writing energies.
It's common to write a Reiki manual that simply repeats what is on the websites of James Deacon and Rick Rivard, it's another thing to write a Reiki manual that expresses your creative self and helps you along your path to become who you need to be.
If you are writing a Reiki manual, the improper way to get material for it is to go to James site (or any other site for that matter), copy his writing, paste it into your word processor, and publish it as your own. It's wrong to do it that way, however citations within reason are permissible.
The proper way for the author of a Reiki manual to get content for it is to research what other authors are writing, re-write it into a unique way, and add something new.
Adding something new is very important because it will make your Reiki manual unique among the others. Right now, there is simply too much Reiki material that is read and regurgitated and just plain boring. There is less than a handful of Reiki authors who have made a significant difference in the lives of their readers because they put something unique into their writing. They were able to open the Reiki channels of creative writing and allow greater healing energies of Reiki to flow through and inspire the spirit of the readers in such a way healing energies continue to expand and grow. You have it in you to do the same.
The process of writing a Reiki manual or book is work, work, and more work that involves writing, re-writing, and more re-writing. In 2006, I knew that I had a Reiki manual in me and formally began the writing process. It has been an incredible learning experience that not only involves the technology of word processors, but of self discovery as well. Is writing easy? No. The first sentence is seldom perfect as it is, and more often than not concepts are not in the best order.
For myself, learning how to balance these creative Reiki writing energies has been quite a transformational challenge. I crashed and burned a few times along the way, but the inspiration to continue in spite of the failures allowed more personal transformations to occur, and awakened creative energies that are new to me.
Reiki is a powerful healing force that facilitates personal transformation, personal healing, in ways unique to each practitioner. Writing may be one way that helps facilitate and invite the flow of Reiki through you.
The Reiki Learning Lounge is a wonderful healing Reiki space where you can explore a variety of Reiki energies. Creative Reiki writing may be one of those energies!
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