An analogy came to me this morning that really helped me to understand some things about Reiki and energy work. It is a musical analogy, which I think is helpful since music, with its different frequencies, harmonics, and instruments, is something that we can all understand to some extent. Simply talking about frequency can be hard for some people to understand but when you point out the different frequencies are different notes, different keys on the piano, it gives them a frame of reference. Amplitude may be a vague concept for some people, but when you point out that higher amplitude in sound results in increased volume, they understand.
The question I was sitting with this morning that lead me to this particular analogy was how being exposed to Universal Energy, Reiki Energy, helps people to come into alignment.
And idea of an orchestra tuning is what came to me. Before an orchestra starts playing, one instrument, perhaps the principal violinist, who has previously ensured that they are in tune, will play a note. The rest of the orchestra will listen for a second or two and then play the same note on their own instruments, at which point they can hear if their instrument is slightly sharp, very flat, or whatever in comparison to the principal violinist. Each musician then makes adjustments to their instrument and plays the note again until everyone is perfectly in tune.
When we receive energy work such as Reiki or Healing Touch, Universal Energy comes through strongly and clearly, stronger and clearer than it usually is in our daily lives. We can then tune ourselves on all levels of our being to its frequency, which is the frequency of love, unity, harmony, compassion. Oneness.
This analogy also helps to explain some other things.
First, why it is necessary for the person receiving Reiki to be willing to let go of patterns or frequencies that are no longer serving them. Going back to the analogy, if the lead violinist plays the tuning note and then I as one of the saxophone players plays the same note and hears that I am out of tune, I have to make the adjustments to my own instrument in order to come into tune with the principal violinist and subsequently the rest of the orchestra. If, however, I am convinced that my tuning is right, convinced that I’ve been playing out of tune all of my life and so it would take too long to change, convinced that I don’t know how to make the adjustments to my instrument to come into tune, or any number of justifications for not changing, I could stay the same and continue playing through the entire concert horribly flat. It won’t matter how clearly the lead violinist plays the note if I don’t adjust. In the same way, it won’t matter how many different energy work practitioners I go to, or what modality they practice, if I refuse to let go of my resentment towards my sister, my guilt about what I did to my brother, or the anger and powerlessness I feel about being overlooked for a promotion at work once again.
Another idea that I think this analogy explains is how visionaries and spiritual masters among us help the collective. They help by holding the note, by being their truth. By playing their note beautifully and clearly they provide an opportunity for the rest of us to hear a note that we couldn’t imagine on our own.
And finally, this analogy also helps me to understand more deeply how as more and more people in a collective adopt a new idea or new way of thinking, as more people tune to the principal violinist, it helps others to hear just how out of tune they are. When you are the only instrument out of tune in an orchestra, you hear it very quickly and very clearly. You sound awful. But when everyone is out of tune to varying degrees, it’s difficult to tell where you stand.
Of course, this can lead to the entire orchestra putting themselves out of tune if the principal violinist that they’ve all agreed to follow is out of tune themselves. If the leader is preaching hate instead of love, for instance. Then if you are the only person in tune, holding the frequency of love, you’ll still sound horrible compared to the others. This only tells you that you are out of tune with the group, not whether the group is in tune or “right”. So then we would have to decide if we want to change to match the group or stay the course. Or perhaps even join a new orchestra.