Reiki Spirit in Jerusalem

Last week at this time I was in Jerusalem, or as it would be pronounced in Hebrew "Yer-u-sha-layim." The Hebrew comes from the words for city, pronounced as we would say "ear" and the word for peace, "shalem." City of Peace.

In the pictures above, I am standing in the area before what is called the "Kotel," which means in Hebrew "wall."

In the other picture, taken from higher up - one can see the golden dome of the Mosque built on the spot from which Muslims believe Mohammed ascended to heaven. Not seen, but close by behind me is the Church of the Holy Sepulcre, built on the site of Golgotha, where history holds that Jesus was crucified by the Romans. Such a small geographic area, and so much history.

What does Reiki have to do with such a place? Well - first of all - it is hard to describe to others that which must be experienced to be understood. For some reason that I do not understand, the spiritual forces that one feels within this city, and even more so neat the Holy sites, is very intense.

There is a Kabbalistic tradition that Lord God created mankind as the height of creation, and that man was created in God's image - not the "physical" aspect of man, but man's "spirit." God wanted man to have "free choice" - and this duality is complex, because mankind is at the same time connected to God, and "individual." Humans are at the same time connected to each other, and alone. To facilitate choice that is "free," the tendency" or "gravity" if you will to "evil" must be equal to the tendency to "good." Now - while this question can be made very complex - at some levels it is really very simple - a) in any given place or time, the more the attraction to "good," the more the attraction to "evil" must also be present - (else a person would not really have free will - they would simply be drawn to "good" and have no "choice.") - and so - in a place where God has placed the strongest spiritual forces for Peace and Goodness, compassion, kindness and humanity, there must logically also exist the strongest forces for cruelty, arrogance, and selfishness.

In my prior visits to Jerusalem, before studying Reiki, i felt pummeled by intense emotional forces, but I was unable to separate the waves and currents of the Spiritual energy. And in this visit, it was all very clear. I could sense (how limited the word "see" seems) intense forms of light, and understood the compelling calls to God, and to the rejection of God, to caring for others and the wish to harm others, to humility and to arrogance, to serve and to enslave - and what is really important in Jerusalem, is to understand what one is feeling, and to allow the energy currents that are like "siren calls" to evil pass through one and not touch one, and to accept the energy of kindness and compassion and humility within oneself.

There are stories in the Talmud about Manasseh, son of Hezekiah. I will not detail his evil here, it is all in the Books of Kings and Chronicles, but he was a student o Isaiah, and one of the most learned and most evil Kings. In the Sanhedrin Talmud tractate Yerushalmi 10:9, God accepted repentance even from Manasseh, because no one understood the evil inclination that Manasseh was faced with. It would be well for those who are judgemental in the name of God, in this day, to understand the story God taught the angels as regards Manasseh, and the nature of the inclinations God places in the world to create free will, and that for that reason, only God can be the righteous Judge, and man cannot judge in God's name since no human being knows the degree of difficulty in the life of any other human being.

So - here we have the Temple Mount - there is so much construction, walls and buildings made by the Saracen Turks, after recapturing the city from the Crusaders, that one sometimes forgets the geography that the Temple Mount sits above all that surrounds it - a platform on a mountain top, looking down on valleys below. From the platform itself this perspective is lost.

While the early portions of Genesis are somewhat obscure, the dating that occurs from the time of Joshua's conquest of the land is very linear within the Bible. Today is 5770 in the Hebrew calendar, and, Joshua's death is considered to be 2503 or, 3267 years ago. King Solomon who built the First Temple reigned from 2925 to 2965 of the Jewish calendar, and the Temple built by Solomon was destroyed in 3338 (or 423 BCE - it is noteworthy that the Western Cannon has the destruction of the Fkirst Temple as 586 BCE - but - this is a question for another essay).

Solomon built the first Temple on the Temple Mount that was understood to be the place on earth where Adam was created, where Jacob struggled with the Angel, and where Abraham took Isaac to be sacrificed.

When the Second Temple was built - it was reconstructed by Ezra and Nehemia on the same site. History has it that the Second Temple was all but destroyed in Civil War, but rebuilt again by Herod, and that when the Romans burned the Temple to the ground, all that remained was the "Western Wall" built by Herod. I once asked a Rebbe, a famous teacher, why the Kotel or Western Wall was considered a Holy Place, since, it was not at the site of the Holy of Holies, where the Mosque now sits, and he answered, " it was sanctified by generations of tears."

Jesus was killed near this site, and Muslims believe that from this place, Mohammed ascended to Heaven - and so the dilemma we face today - that - this site which should bring humankind together, with humility and compassion, caring and kindness, in an awareness that we are all connected through one guiding spirit, this same site, is that place over which mankind may be headed toward War, and in the name of this site, people kill "in God's name" (whatever the language).

I ask anyone reading this essay to understand what these inclinations mean, and to allow the Spirit of Arrogance and Hatred to pass through you like the wind passing through a tree, and to accept the spirit of Peace and Humility, compassion, and kindness, and be connected that all that God created,

This is the message from Jerusalem.

Pray for Peace. Care for others. Do not worry - have faith that God will find a way to guide us. Do not be angry, no one really understands the difficulties other's face. Be greatful. Work hard and give kindness - all just for today.

"He who makes Peace in His heights, may he make peace upon us and upon all Humankind"