Pilgrimage Studio

Tag: Acceptance

  • The Three Metal-Smiths

    The Three Metal-Smiths

    by Beth Haley

    Once upon a time, a terrible drought plunged an ancient kingdom into hard times. The people were not able to work their lands as they normally would and food was becoming scarce. So the good king employed workers from the surrounding villages to help with the new temple that was being built.

    At that time, a traveler came riding through the city and came upon three people who were working near the temple site. They tended the hot fires of a forge, working and shaping, heating and cooling pieces of misshapen metal.

    Curious, the traveler asked the first worker, “What are you doing?”

    The first worker replied instantly, “I’m out here in this stinking heat, sweating my brains out over these fires and hammering on ugly chunks of metal all day like a slave to make dishes for the temple. Curse this!”

    A bit taken back, the traveler approached the second worker and asked the same question, “What are you doing?”

    The second worker replied, “I am refining and shaping this metal into service dishes for the temple, many hours a day, so that I can provide food for my family.”

    Intrigued by the spirit of these two different answers, the traveler asked the same question of the third worker.

    Carefully placing a beautifully molded cup into the fire once more, her eyes never leaving her work, she replied, “I am crafting the Golden Chalice!”

    Three workers. Three very different attitudes and perspectives about what they were doing.

    The first two workers were opposite sides of the same coin: one side was negative and the other side was positive.

    The third worker seemed to have a different view. She was not fighting the steam, the heat of the day, the scorch of the fires, or worry about her life in general. She was not deliberating over a paycheck, or the fate of the future, but instead was focused on the task set before her. She accepted the good along with the bad, without resistance.

    According to the Bhagavad Gita the third worker’s view of life would be considered as “Pure.” The “pure” way of looking at life is more meditative and reflects a peace of mind and of being less attached to life’s ups and downs.

    Adapted from: “The Story of the Stone Cutters”

    Pixabay

  • Reiki

    Reiki

    by Beth Haley

    Dedicated to my teacher Ray

    At the time my yoga teacher, Ray, mentioned she was teaching a Reiki level I class, I had never heard of Reiki. Having an interest in healing practices, I wanted to check it out.

    On our first day of class, Ray stood, and looking at each one of us she said,

    “We all come from different backgrounds. We may all have a different name for God or Deity:

    God, Higher Power, The Universe, Jesus, Mother, Father, Lord, Lady, Goddess, Jehovah, Cernunnos, Brahman, Great Spirit…

    And, there’s so many more expressions for Deity.

    Or perhaps, she continued, you have no name at all.”

    We went around the room, and those of us who wanted to share, spoke our name for Deity. Some were the same, and some were different. Some were unspoken, and some had no name at all.

    Then Ray looked at us and said, “You are all welcome here.”

    By this point in my journey, I’d spent almost 40 years in church, and this was the first time in my life that I’d ever heard a message of acceptance for others who were different.

    This message wasn’t delivered under the fake title of “tolerance”. We didn’t have to merely “tolerate” each other. It was seeing each other exactly as we were and accepting that each of us was different. And that it was ok. That we were each OK, just as we were.

    To this day, Ray is the only Reiki teacher I have ever had. So, I don’t know if this teaching is unique to all Reiki classes, or just unique to Ray. However, I do know that great teachers are irreplaceable.

    During the 1920s, Mikao Usui, who was a Japanese Buddhist priest, rediscovered an ancient practice of working with healing energy, known to us today as Reiki.

    Reiki is a holistic approach to relaxation, healing and the balancing of mind, body, emotions and spirit. It also encourages personal growth and spiritual development.

    Pixabay