Reiki and Monet

This photo was taken several years ago at Giverny, the former home and garden of Claude Monet.

Monet's home is filled with Japanese prints, and the influence of Japanese culture on Monet is indisputable, as in the influence of Monet on the Japanese sense of art and culture.

There is an interesting website www.intermonet.com/japan/ that describes the master's fascination with Japanese art and prints.

In my picture here, not the clear almost mirror like reflection of the trees from the silt on the bottom of the pond. We are seeing the water lillies straight on - but of the trees, only a reflection.

Teriade published a review of European art and culture, and before the WWII issues discussed the importance of the cultural meeting of East and West.

And it is so fascinating that as in music and literature (one might only today follow either the craze of Japanimation sweeping the US, which itself came from the Manga movement that had powerful influences from US comic books; or one might read novels by Haruki Murikami and compare Japanese existentialism with that of Camus or Sartre) Reiki is important amongst other things in its merger of East and West.

Bill Lee Rand wrote in his most recent editorial that "the ability to transcend barriers between people is one reason Reiki has become so popular." And so the search for Reiki's roots can be found before Mikao Usui, in early Sanskrit, Judao-Christian culture, and Kabbalistic and Sufi thought. Usui came at a time when light was pouring into European Art and Literature, and when the world was beginning to connect at a more rapid pace. In a series of inspirations, Usui, and Hayashi, and Takata each brought simplicity and structure to Reiki, so that it could be learned by anyone, and so that barriers could be brought down. The basic principles set forth are such that they do not conflict with one heritage or another, they are neither the first word nor the last but a very real and simple path.

As 2009 turns to 2010, it seems that people are being brought together, and that random acts of kindness are occurring at a faster rate in the world. One can see it as a scary place, or a place or hope and faith.

A common human spirit binds people from many different parts of the world. As Monet was drawn for inspiration from Japan, so Reiki came from Japan to the US, to the world, to Japan and back around again. Exactly where it started may be less important than the energy that is shared. That which is shared enriches us all.