Jonathan H. B. Lobl

If you say so. I have my own issues. Perhaps, I'm projecting.

I have been preached at all my life -- and been turned into a cultural outsider. I understand your resentment. I share it. That's the thing. It is resentment. For our own mental health, we have to let go of it. To at least begin letting go of it. Now that we have awakened -- they can't hurt us any more. Unless we let them, by holding onto old hurts. Resentment is such a poison.

It's a good thought. I do offer caution. We want to use the language of greeting a visitor. Not scolding a trespasser. I would also be careful, with gender specific pronouns.

I'm not sure if you mean me -- or my hypothetical situation. I have tried posting this question to general religion threads. To my experience, the Christians end up talking about demons. I was hoping for something more interesting here. I can't imagine what Christianity or Islam has to offer a visiting alien. Judaism is easy. They don't preach to gentiles. Human or otherwise. I was thinking that a Buddhist monk, could discuss the nature of suffering with anybody. A Taoist, could discuss the harmonious blending of opposites. You are the first to respond.

The Jesus Myth

I could live with the spaghetti strainer. And the strippers. I'm seriously not into pirates. For the rest? He boiled for our sins. Ramein.

The Invisible Pink Unicorn -- who is both pink and invisible -- along with the Purple Oyster of Doom -- were a bit ahead of my time. If they were still around, I would be interested.

Maybe, if the next guy is Christopher Hitchens. (Please be careful to reply under the box.)

Before Disney ruined Star Wars for me -- Jediism was a lot more fun. I really miss my Agnostic church.

You did say it before. It's still funny and worth repeating. If history repeats, we can add Rabbi Wine to the list. Thank you.

For the sake of argument, let us suppose that the spaceship has landed. ET is trying to find an intelligent Human. Someone with a religion or philosophy, that wouldn't be a waste of time. You are acquainted with some Buddhist or Taoist thought. Do you have anything to say, that would hold ET's attention? If it's true that nothing about these teachings is culturally or species specific -- there could be a good conversation here.

I don't.

I'm beginning to suspect, that you lack piety.

It's an amusing variant. The first time I heard it, my Lubavitch friends were talking about the Reconstructionists. Of course, that was before Rabbi Wine's Humanistic Judaism.

The core ideas of Buddhism seem like common sense, to me. The whole idea of letting go of desires, passions and resentments. The Middle Path of Moderation. These are great ideas. As for the gods -- I'm vague about where it's recorded. "Fire is hot. Ice is cold. All the gods in all the heavens will not change this." In modern terms -- The gods might be real, but so what? Still, I find much of Buddhist thought difficult. The authentic wisdom -- I find -- is obscured by the various traditions and cultures. I'm clear that Buddha never meant to establish a professional class of beggar monk. Of course, things got complicated. A culture with an abundance of lawyers, will have complicated laws. Some things are not complicated. Starting with the monk's insisting, that the best karma comes from supporting the monks. There is great value in Buddhist thinking. There is also crap. It's sometimes difficult evaluating.

Two good people got off to a bad start. I suggest letting it go.

Did they Join? I did. Anyway..... It's odd you would mention that. When I was getting disgusted with Nichiren Shoshu, I had a Lubavitch friend. He persuaded me that if I wasn't going to practice a religion -- I should not be practicing my own religion -- instead of their religion. That was when I reverted and became a non-practicing Jew -- instead of a non-practicing Buddhist. It is possible to be Jewish without being neurotic, but it helps. "There is no God and we are his people."

The important word here, is believing. Facts won't change minds.

In my more religious days, I would have agreed with the Rabbi. Now? Does the Hebrew Bible have anything to do with reality? Of course not. Yes. The Greek Scriptures are a house built on sand. What are the Hebrew Scriptures built on? More sand.

Feel free to correct me if I am mistaken in my facts. As recorded in the Dhampada. A young man comes to Buddha. "Master, tell me about God." "God's existence might not be the case. "What? You mean there's no God?" "The non-existence of God might not be the case." "The gods?" "The existence of gods might not be the case." "You mean the gods don't exist?" "The non-existence of gods might not be the case." The conversation continued. The soul, Heaven, Hell, reincarnation, etc. etc. Buddha was not interested in meta physics. He considered such things as mere distractions on the path. Buddha only cared about real questions. What is the cause of suffering? What can we do about it? His wisdom continues to irritate and baffle the pious. I am not a Buddhist. Still, the Buddha's wisdom has been of great help to me.

Reiki and Therapeutic Touch are two different systems, from different origins. First, Reiki. What I'm going to say next is only my sense of things. I'm not in a position to document what happened. Much of the truth, at least in the West, is lost in Reiki Mythology. Usui Sensei was a practicing Shingon Buddhist. As such, he had pity for the West, which lacked the light of Dharma. He understood, well enough, that Christians would not be open to Buddhist ideas. Even less so, after World War II. Out of Buddhist Mercy, he broke off bits and pieces of Medicine Buddha teachings, and packaged it as healing technique. In this manner, the West would have a small piece of Dharma. They would not be in total darkness. One of Usui Sensei's students was a Doctor Hayashi. Doctor Hayashi was the person who broke down Usui sensei's teachings into three levels/degrees. One of the Doctor's students was Hawayo Takata. An American/Hawaiian woman of Japanese descent. She was the one who initiated the $10,000 rule. The rank of Reiki Master should cost $10,000. Mrs. Takata also went on to train 22 Reiki Masters. These are the lineages best known in the West. Barbara Webber Ray, the 22nd such "Master" founded the American International Reiki Society. She taught that she was the only one, that Takata fully trained in the Seven Level complete system. In 1978, I found her group. They trained me to second level. At the time, I bought into much of her BS. I also trained with John Gray -- one of the 22 -- to second level. There were other trainings. I went to Reiki Master through a different lineage. Along the way, I went through a period of discovery, about the actual history, the politics and other crap. Takata's grand daughter -- Phyllis Furomoto founder her own group -- I forget what they call themselves -- and continues to reign. One of the 22 was Ethel Lombardi. She trained me to 1st degree in her new system. MariEl. A long story. I've rambled enough. She's dead. So is her system. Which brings us to Therapeutic Touch. It comes out of the Theosophical tradition. The co-founder of system was Dolores Krieger. Her doctoral thesis was on Therapeutic Touch. She went on to become a big wheel at the NYU graduate School of Nursing. By the time I met her, she was Distinguished Professor Emerita -- Ph.D., R.N. One of the first teachers she turned loose on the world, was Janet Macray, Ph.D., R.N. I had three workshops with Janet Macray and one with Dolores Krieger. There were no credentials at the time. This has changed. Oh, the memories. I was obsessed. Since then, I have gained perspective. Now, much of it tastes like dust.

Yes. I frequently use that line myself. There are different labels that apply to me. You will note -- labels. The actual state of my non-beliefs is more difficult to quantify. I am an Atheist, because there is no good reason to believe in God. Or even take the God idea seriously. I am an Agnostic, because there is no objective, verifiable information or facts about God. Nothing at all. It follows that I can not claim knowledge of God. There is none. Mostly, I am an Apatheist. A God that can not be detected, or discerned, or demonstrated to exist -- is irrelevant and meaningless. Even if that God exists -- it doesn't matter. Of course, the Fundamentalists on this board have told me that I have no spirituality -- and believe in nothing.

I have had good conversations with Revgovobak. I don't know what happened here. He is a good person. I'll vouch for him. From what I can tell, the Reiki attunements are derived from Buddhist empowerment initiations. The "power" symbol is mostly a spiral. It makes sense as a mental focus aide. The other symbols are Japanese Kanji. Meaningful, perhaps, if you have a connection to Japanese culture. Of dubious value, if you don't. In the Reiki Attunement, the symbols are "drawn" onto the chakras. Contrast this with the "divine pendant" worn by Mahikari and Johrei people. Or the scrolls used by these groups. Or the Nichiren Shoshu altar scrolls. It's all Kanji. I trained in different lineages. The politics between the different groups are poisonous. Of course, there are all manner of new Reiki systems. Each with their own attunements. And new symbols. And fees. Therapeutic Touch went bad in different ways. It's an energetic healing system with it's roots in Theosophy. The system is elegant in it's simplicity. The Nursing establishment got their claws into it. Now, their are credentials. It's not so simple any more. I had workshops with Dolores Krieger (co-founder) and Janet Macrae -- before the credentials were an issue.