Many people devise all kinds of elaborate ways to protect themselves. These normally involve placing some kind of barrier between themselves and the world. These devices can never be truly effective because their philosophy is wrong.
Let me explain. You are walking down the street feeling at one with the world. Coming in the other direction is a man feeling incredibly angry with the world, closed off and looking for conflict. You feel his pain and anger. You then erect your wall but it’s too late. You have felt the pain and anger-it is already in you. any attempt you make to block it out only serves to block it in. the wall erected actually traps his feelings within you. as you placed your protection between yourself and his anger and pain, you actually created separation between his experience and your own. You made a judgment of him and decided that you wanted to exclude him from your experience. The oneness you were experience previously didn’t include him. But of course it does-we are all one. He is part of you.
So what do we do? To answer, I will recount an experience that I believe I was given to teach me this principle.
1n 1995 I was living in a spiritual community in the north of Scotland, surrounded by supportive and loving people. I had to visit London for a seminar so found myself on the Underground in the center of town. We pulled into a station and, as the doors opened, I felt a ripple of fear go through me. I noticed that the same ripple went right down the train, affecting everyone on it. The next moment a huge man entered the train. He was drunk, very angry, and looking for someone to challenge him. He came over to where I was sitting, threw the man who was sitting opposite me off the seat, and sat down.
Everyone on the train was trying to shrink into a corner, such was the power of this man’s projections. He started to loudly sing songs that were designed to insult everyone on the train. After his first song he looked at me. I found myself able to hold his gaze, even though I wanted to look away and hide like everyone else. I noticed that he was enjoying himself. As I looked at him, I felt myself accepting him for who he was and empathizing with him. I felt fear but I knew it wasn’t mine-it was his fear.
He asked me what I thought of his song. I told him that it was an angry song. He replied, “Of course it was an angry song, I’m an anarchist.” He sang another song and looked back at me and, almost as if he realized that I was his friend, he held out his hands-they were covered in scratches and blood-and said he had hurt himself. I took hold of one of his hands and fear in me dissolved. I was holding the hands of a scared young man who wanted love and attention, not an angry man who might hurt me.
The rest of the journey was uneventful. When his stop arrived he got up, said goodbye and left. It was only then that I noticed the rest of the people on the train. They were all staring at me as if I had disarmed a man with a machine gun.
When I left the train, I felt rushes of ecstasy through my body as the whole experience-all the fear, anger and sadness-left me. this taught me that if we are prepared to experience others fully, and do not engage in conflict with them, they cannot hurt us and, when we move out of their fields, the experience lifts off us effortlessly.
Being open and developing yourself means that you will feel the pain of those who have not yet made the choice to re-connect to their hearts and feelings. When this pain becomes a burden to you, it is important to know that it is a warning. Retreat and take time to re-center and balance yourself.
Practical Reiki by Richard Ellis
