0:00:00.790,0:00:06.480
And welcome to RTalk, the place where we agree to disagree if we disagree at all.
0:00:07.040,0:00:16.490
My guest today is Barbara Simonsohn from Hamburg and our topic is 'Own opinion'.
0:00:26.480,0:00:28.180
Hello Barbara, welcome.
0:00:28.180,0:00:29.380
Hello.
0:00:30.400,0:00:35.170
I'm very happy that you join me today. We have an interesting topic.
0:00:36.160,0:00:42.000
I think it's very important in this time and age to have an own opinion and stand up for it.
0:00:42.000,0:00:44.400
So this is going to be our topic.
0:00:44.660,0:00:46.240
Yeah, great idea.
0:00:46.480,0:00:52.920
I think it's a generally important and it takes some courage and courage is the power of the heart.
0:00:53.250,0:00:58.900
So, if you are in your heart, you are courageous.
0:01:00.940,0:01:03.280
That's a great introduction.
0:01:03.290,0:01:11.600
Let me quickly introduce you to our viewers and say a few words about you Barbara.
0:01:12.980,0:01:17.840
The biography of Barbara Kathrin Simonsohn in a few sentences.
0:01:18.260,0:01:24.650
Barbara has a degree in political science which might come in handy
0:01:25.280,0:01:32.400
if our conversation should turn towards freedom of speech, a hot topic, explosive topic currently.
0:01:33.320,0:01:41.520
Barbara has been a prolific author over three decades on matters of health and spirituality.
0:01:42.000,0:01:48.440
Always with a strong opinion, considered controversial by some.
0:01:50.600,0:01:55.500
Maybe instead of controversial, we should say 'ahead of her time'.
0:01:56.490,0:02:04.170
For example, she voiced well-substantiated opinions about absentee initiations
0:02:04.170,0:02:10.670
already 25 years ago when she wrote her book 'The Authentic Reiki'.
0:02:11.600,0:02:19.120
And with that, she was way ahead of the time, capitalized by, of course, Corona.
0:02:19.920,0:02:29.930
Barbara is a full professional Reiki teacher and has taught numerous Reiki students worldwide.
0:02:30.070,0:02:36.160
She has trained with masters of western Reiki styles as well as Japanese Reiki.
0:02:37.360,0:02:42.480
But most famously, she was taught by Barbara Weber Ray of the Radiance Technique.
0:02:42.480,0:02:43.700
Hello, Barbara.
0:02:44.010,0:02:45.570
Yes, Hello.
0:02:46.400,0:02:51.170
Barbara, is there anything you want to add or correct to my introduction?
0:02:51.740,0:02:59.920
Yeah, there was one little fault I was never trained by a Japanese Reiki teacher.
0:03:01.040,0:03:08.800
I know Arjava Petter who was married to a Japanese. So, I had the connection.
0:03:09.840,0:03:20.870
But when I read Dr. Usui's hand-book, I realized that this would not be possible in Western countries
0:03:21.240,0:03:27.760
that you put your fingers into the mouth, into the ears, et cetera, et cetera.
0:03:28.400,0:03:35.190
I have also a training as a healing practitioner and even as a healing practitioner, it's forbidden.
0:03:35.600,0:03:40.730
So I think that Hawayo Takata was sort of a genius
0:03:40.760,0:03:45.200
when she came with all the knowledge and initiation she came to Hawaii
0:03:45.540,0:03:50.350
and I think she reduced everything to the Chakra system.
0:03:50.480,0:03:58.390
So that you even don't have to touch. She did it, but you even don't have to touch your patient.
0:03:58.820,0:04:08.050
I think this was the great idea. Also what she invented about the story that Dr. Usui was a Christian monk, etc., etc.,
0:04:08.280,0:04:14.470
because at that time, when she brought all the knowledge to Hawaii, to the United States,
0:04:15.260,0:04:23.980
because of World War II, nobody would have followed any Reiki teacher,
0:04:24.010,0:04:33.560
because the Japanese were the enemies of the United States and they were even concentrated in camps.
0:04:33.910,0:04:41.810
No-one can imagine. I think this was a genius idea too, first to reduce everything to the Chakra system,
0:04:42.620,0:04:50.380
though she didn't use the name and then to make it a Christian ... like a Christian method.
0:04:50.660,0:04:51.750
Well ...
0:04:52.690,0:05:01.670
The history tells us that Dr. Usui was a Buddhist, not a Christian man.
0:05:01.890,0:05:06.880
Well, I don't want to go there, Barbara. I don't want to go into the history.
0:05:06.880,0:05:14.470
No, no, no, no, no, but I think she was genius in these two aspects, I think we can all give thanks to her,
0:05:14.820,0:05:18.950
because she was so ... She was a simple woman.
0:05:20.050,0:05:24.710
Let's not go there. Let's not go there. Let's talk about your opinions and
0:05:25.030,0:05:30.870
I agree with you, Barbara, with your brief looking back.
0:05:32.400,0:05:46.240
I'm glad that you brought up that sometimes a presentation serves a purpose which is quite okay at the time,
0:05:46.330,0:05:53.940
but with distance looking back, that opinion can actually be controversial or even,
0:05:54.160,0:06:01.540
as in the case you stated, by many it would have been considered as presenting a falsehood.
0:06:01.730,0:06:11.330
So yesterday's opinion is today's falsehood potentially and that's the kind of thing I want to speak to you about.
0:06:11.440,0:06:17.560
And I want to speak because - and it's already visible - because you have powerful opinions,
0:06:18.470,0:06:26.250
I want to not so much look back in history, but look at where we are today at the current situation,
0:06:26.480,0:06:35.520
at how you are rubbing up against society, against - I don't know - your partner,
0:06:37.040,0:06:44.480
if and when you have a strong opinion and you already said that oftentimes it takes a lot of courage.
0:06:44.930,0:06:51.320
In fact, I have prepared for some light amusement a little video.
0:06:52.050,0:06:58.840
Let me show you the introduction of what this man says about opinion.
0:06:59.150,0:06:59.950
Here we go.
0:07:01.250,0:07:05.120
If you refrain from giving your opinion, it could change your life.
0:07:05.650,0:07:06.990
It changed mine.
0:07:07.100,0:07:10.990
I'm a recovering arrogant, opinionated know-it-all.
0:07:10.990,0:07:13.220
And you might have someone in your life like that.
0:07:13.320,0:07:15.290
Maybe it's you.
0:07:16.570,0:07:22.560
So, you might appreciate that this is a rather provocative kind of statement,
0:07:22.720,0:07:28.370
but then he goes on to speak about what opinion is from his point of view.
0:07:29.060,0:07:31.570
So let's listen to how he continues.
0:07:32.430,0:07:38.240
The dictionary defines opinion as a view or judgment about something not necessarily based on fact or knowledge.
0:07:38.300,0:07:45.400
And that's important! Because we accidentally relate to our opinions like they are true or factual, but they're not.
0:07:45.740,0:07:47.560
Facts are factual. Opinions?
0:07:47.560,0:07:51.100
Those are just interpretations, point of view, preference.
0:07:51.460,0:07:57.440
And our opinions are emotionally charged triggers that have the potential to create conflict
0:07:57.660,0:07:59.660
and rob you of your peace of mind.
0:08:02.970,0:08:07.090
So would you go along with his definition of opinion?
0:08:07.600,0:08:13.070
I think of a saying of Rumi. He says,
0:08:14.160,0:08:20.700
we are going to meet in the area beyond yes and no.
0:08:20.740,0:08:32.320
So this is ... I think enlightened people, they just always are astonished like little children and they don't judge.
0:08:32.960,0:08:41.610
So, opinion is a part of our ego mind, I think, Eckhart Tolle says,
0:08:42.810,0:08:51.660
before we are enlightened we have opinions of course, but to realize that the opinions are not us,
0:08:51.660,0:08:59.720
that they have nothing to do with our eternal higher self, for instance, is very important.
0:08:59.800,0:09:06.980
So that you are tolerant, that you don't identify with your opinions.
0:09:07.760,0:09:11.710
I remember a video by Eckhart Tolle.
0:09:11.990,0:09:23.400
He had an audience and there was one man insisting on his opinion like a property, like my house, my wife, my children, etc.
0:09:24.060,0:09:34.580
Eckhart Tolle was laughing for minutes, for minutes. During this scene my children entered the room, they were teenagers at that time,
0:09:34.810,0:09:42.510
and they thought I was crazy looking at this funny guy who was laughing for minutes.
0:09:42.970,0:09:51.490
And I think this was totally great, that you pretend to own something, the whole concept of ownership is crazy,
0:09:51.830,0:09:57.010
because you cannot ... you cannot take anything (with you) after death.
0:09:58.550,0:10:01.260
...
0:10:01.430,0:10:09.570
Your children might benefit also, but you have nothing to ... It's not like the ancient Egyptians who thought
0:10:10.060,0:10:15.850
... all these forces, all this gold, all these furniture, all this food, etc.
0:10:16.310,0:10:26.690
You cannot take anything with you and so for me the whole concept of 'my opinion' is ridiculous.
0:10:27.780,0:10:33.920
And if you are aware, you don't identify with your opinions, you are open, you are tolerant,
0:10:34.030,0:10:37.890
you are open to change your opinions. I think this is important.
0:10:37.890,0:10:43.380
You cannot - before enlightenment - you cannot have no opinions. This is also an illusion.
0:10:43.680,0:10:52.720
But to regard your opinions as something unreal, I think this is very important.
0:10:53.010,0:11:00.030
I agree with you and the question of reality and facts, that's what the man also alluded to.
0:11:00.730,0:11:05.440
I will put his name and the reference in the description of our video later on.
0:11:06.750,0:11:18.360
I think the reality and the truth or the factual is very important but of course there is a lot of gray area in between.
0:11:18.780,0:11:24.960
And, dear viewers, I want you to know that in my research over the years,
0:11:24.960,0:11:33.200
I have been finding it very difficult to speak to the Radiance Technique representatives,
0:11:33.200,0:11:42.370
I have found it very difficult to speak to master's trained from that lineage within the Reiki community
0:11:42.530,0:11:48.320
except for Barbara, she has been available, I spoke to you the first time,
0:11:48.320,0:11:58.800
I think in 2015, when I did the research ... for my documentary interview with Phyllis Furomoto.
0:11:58.990,0:12:04.740
And I was wondering Barbara, this is one of the burning questions for me I have,
0:12:05.090,0:12:14.960
in your opinion why is it that this lineage is finding ... It's so protective for their truth,
0:12:14.960,0:12:25.990
for their opinion, to the point that it creates ... You know there has been a book that came out two years ago by
0:12:26.140,0:12:36.160
Shoshona Shay about a Reiki history where practically three quarters of the book is more or less what
0:12:36.160,0:12:44.480
has been published already 30 years ago and when being approached to speak about these things and to
0:12:44.480,0:12:53.120
compare them with facts and figures of modern times, I and other researchers didn't get anywhere.
0:12:53.120,0:13:03.960
I'm not the only one. Do you have an explanation for being so elusive in that part of where your training is also rooted?
0:13:06.260,0:13:21.410
I think it's also an ego thing that you have to pretend that you have the best Reiki in the whole world, though, Mrs Takata taught 22 teachers.
0:13:21.810,0:13:32.950
So, it's - in my point of view - it's strange, it's even crazy to say we have the best Reiki method in the whole world.
0:13:32.950,0:13:37.400
It's not possible if you don't know all the other Reiki.
0:13:38.160,0:13:45.200
You can say, well, I think we belong to one of the best Reiki systems that is available on the market.
0:13:45.200,0:13:56.490
But this is something different. In opposition, the Radiance Technique Association International says,
0:13:56.580,0:14:02.840
that all other Reiki systems are not valid, that they are not working
0:14:02.840,0:14:08.100
and I think this is one of the reasons why we separated.
0:14:08.880,0:14:17.130
I do not belong to the organization anymore and I got of course a furious letter by Dr. Ray,
0:14:17.880,0:14:27.200
and she says, well, your initiations, your attunements are not working anymore because you don't belong to the organization anymore.
0:14:27.770,0:14:37.060
When I had the teachers training, they told us, the initiations would last forever, the attunements.
0:14:37.110,0:14:51.910
So I think this is a big contradiction and what I now realize, because I have more than 11,000 students by now, is that it is very well working.
0:14:52.270,0:15:01.440
So, that's the reason why so many people take the higher degrees up to seven degrees, become Reiki teacher, etc.
0:15:01.560,0:15:07.550
If it wouldn't work I mean nobody would show up and come to my seminars.
0:15:07.550,0:15:12.270
So, this is a lie - sorry - this is a lie. This is, this is ...
0:15:12.300,0:15:20.450
And I don't understand this, too, because it is sort of old-age thinking.
0:15:20.590,0:15:30.840
In the age of Aquarius you try to realize that we all are brothers and sisters and behave differently.
0:15:31.120,0:15:32.980
It is a matter of consciousness.
0:15:33.010,0:15:42.720
If you are in this evil stuff of being 'you have to be the best', you have to sort of put down all competitors
0:15:42.860,0:15:52.760
in order to make your life shine even better, this is so much old-age that I also cannot comprehend.
0:15:52.760,0:16:05.570
I cannot understand why they don't see this makes the whole thing sort of poisoned for the whole net.
0:16:06.510,0:16:12.690
People outside, they think - and even from other Reiki lineages, methods -
0:16:12.750,0:16:18.870
they think the people from the Radiance Technique Association International they are just crazy.
0:16:19.310,0:16:21.980
... (garbled) ...
0:16:22.120,0:16:26.740
It's just ego stuff. It's a matter of power. It's a matter of money.
0:16:26.780,0:16:34.190
And this is my opinion, because there is no other reason. It is just crazy.
0:16:35.260,0:16:42.490
Eckhart Tolle says, to be identified with your ego mind is a disease.
0:16:43.000,0:16:44.690
That is a common disease.
0:16:44.690,0:16:54.030
And I can only feel pity because when somebody has a cold I'm not fighting with them. You see.
0:16:54.030,0:17:05.190
It is just a matter of the feeling pity. I think that compassion is the right attitude to deal with this ego stuff. This is my opinion.
0:17:05.630,0:17:13.340
I can subscribe to that. That's of course an ongoing process in life that we are confronting our own ego,
0:17:13.540,0:17:23.100
are trying to liberate or catch out where we have victimized ourselves to our own ego and liberate ourselves.
0:17:23.410,0:17:25.330
(grabled)
0:17:25.630,0:17:32.670
If you say, this is a technique for enlightenment, you have to be critical with yourself.
0:17:32.970,0:17:33.690
Yeah ...
0:17:33.690,0:17:40.980
You have to inspect your own words. You have to reflect what you do. And if you don't, you don't have ...
0:17:41.460,0:17:48.310
the whole approach is not working. Then forget about enlightenment, forget about unconditional love,
0:17:48.350,0:17:52.450
because this is contradictory. In my experience.
0:17:52.450,0:17:54.330
Fair enough.
0:17:54.540,0:17:59.040
Now you have just now been somewhat critical about ...
0:18:00.730,0:18:11.910
historic developments where people have taken a stance of 'my way of doing things is the right one' and other ways are the wrong ones.
0:18:12.010,0:18:26.030
Yet, your own book called 'The authentic Reiki' implies the same kind of claim. Minus authentic and by implication mine wouldn't be.
0:18:26.580,0:18:27.070
Yes.
0:18:27.250,0:18:28.320
(garbled)
0:18:28.380,0:18:32.510
Of course I chose the title on purpose because I know
0:18:32.760,0:18:40.500
that there is a lot on the market of Reiki systems that don't work.
0:18:40.810,0:18:49.710
People tell me that if they treat other people they pick up symptoms. They fell drained after a treatment, etc.
0:18:49.710,0:18:54.850
This for me means that it is not the original system,
0:18:55.100,0:18:59.750
because in the original system you only activate universal energy
0:19:00.000,0:19:03.240
and that is always ...
0:19:04.510,0:19:07.990
The pupil experience always the same. When you treat somebody
0:19:08.260,0:19:12.100
there is always a win-win game, that you gain energy.
0:19:12.220,0:19:18.130
And it's also because it is the highest frequency of energy you're working with,
0:19:18.240,0:19:23.890
so you're always protected to pick up any negative symptoms.
0:19:24.210,0:19:30.440
If this doesn't work it is not the original and also not the authentic Reiki.
0:19:30.640,0:19:39.520
So I wanted to make clear that with all things in life there are differences in quality, it's also Reiki.
0:19:39.520,0:19:48.960
I'm not there to say everything is the same, Reiki is Reiki, etc. No. Because some systems don't work.
0:19:49.030,0:19:56.950
I don't know the reasons why but these people come in my seminars and they make totally different experiences.
0:19:57.050,0:20:02.280
And so it was a little bit provocative, I have to admit to call ...
0:20:02.280,0:20:06.700
But I didn't say, it's the only authentic Reiki system. I never ...
0:20:06.750,0:20:12.120
I didn't say it in the title. I didn't say it in the book. I don't say it in my seminars and lectures.
0:20:12.250,0:20:15.630
So, that is the main difference.
0:20:15.970,0:20:26.570
I'm not ... sort of duplicating the mistakes the Radiance Technique Association International does.
0:20:27.240,0:20:31.840
I found my own way. I'm not pretending the Reiki is the same
0:20:31.840,0:20:39.770
but I'm also not pretending that I have the only working system. That's a huge difference.
0:20:41.860,0:20:51.440
I ... My wife and I make similar experiences that we have people attending to our seminars
0:20:51.440,0:20:58.690
because they are not happy with what they learned elsewhere. Now, there's no question about it ...
0:20:58.840,0:21:05.280
No. I have to, sorry, I have to interrupt. It is not what you learn. You can be a brilliant lecturer,
0:21:06.230,0:21:14.270
but the quality of the initiations or the quality of the attunements, this is the difference.
0:21:14.490,0:21:22.960
Because in the ancient times in Egypt they didn't give seminars, they didn't hand out a handbook,
0:21:23.270,0:21:29.360
because the initiation that is the heart center of every Reiki seminar,
0:21:29.360,0:21:35.000
though it takes only like 20 minutes per person but it's ...
0:21:35.500,0:21:39.920
I mean the quality of the initiations is the main difference.
0:21:40.430,0:21:48.160
I agree with you and I was about to say that at the end of the day this is what it boils down to
0:21:48.670,0:21:55.780
and a lot has to also do with the training of the other Reiki master.
0:21:55.780,0:22:01.920
So, that is an issue in the Reiki community globally
0:22:01.920,0:22:13.820
that there are some systems or some ways of presenting Reiki even without attunements and things like that where then people are unhappy.
0:22:13.910,0:22:24.950
Yet, I'm also adding: to some extent I have to be grateful about that because that is the way I can define myself.
0:22:24.950,0:22:31.260
And like you yourself, you now made that statement they come to you.
0:22:31.940,0:22:36.640
So that's one point but more relevantly ...
0:22:36.640,0:22:42.030
what I know in all the conversations with Arjava Petter whom you mentioned
0:22:42.450,0:22:52.030
- and I'm sorry I had that wrong because somewhere I read in I think a critique of a book of yours in the Reiki Magazine or somewhere
0:22:52.710,0:23:00.900
the reference that you had actually attended some of his seminars but obviously you've 'only' been friends
0:23:01.300,0:23:14.650
but to me that's heartwarming because it shows that you have an open mind talking to different people even if you disagree in some of the aspects.
0:23:16.360,0:23:25.590
Now, one of the things which every one of the big protagonists like Arjava, like many others, they say,
0:23:25.590,0:23:36.150
if initiation is done and is done properly, let's say, for argument's sake - and the 'properly' is not defined by
0:23:36.150,0:23:49.490
superficial criteria but by more profound elements as Liad Horowitz in his work exemplified very clearly -
0:23:50.030,0:24:00.640
then all these protagonists say, the Reiki itself, the energy so to speak, that's always the same. Would you not agree with that?
0:24:00.960,0:24:09.910
I don't agree, because if you're not working with the highest frequency of energy that is for me unconditional love
0:24:10.070,0:24:15.720
then, only then, you are in danger to pick up negative symptoms
0:24:15.820,0:24:24.480
because you're not working with the most powerful energy and also you are in danger to lose your energy,
0:24:25.490,0:24:32.600
because you are working probably with personal energy instead of your universal energy. So, I wouldn't agree. No.
0:24:33.190,0:24:33.960
Okay well I ...
0:24:34.160,0:24:39.980
... in the bible, I don't know it in English 'an den Früchten werdet ihr sie erkennen'.
0:24:40.690,0:24:41.340
Yes ...
0:24:41.340,0:24:43.110
'an den Früchten werdet ihr sie erkennen'.
0:24:43.510,0:24:46.050
By the result you can recognize it.
0:24:46.050,0:24:54.750
Yeah and I think this is same with Reiki and I'm quite, as you say, happy because in every second class or seminar
0:24:54.840,0:25:03.120
there are people not satisfied with their Reiki system and then they read one of my books and then they realize, oh,
0:25:03.120,0:25:09.440
it's totally different, it's so simple, you cannot lose your energy, you cannot pick up symptoms, etc.
0:25:09.460,0:25:16.880
And then they come to my class. For instance, the couple in Berlin they treated somebody with migraine
0:25:17.010,0:25:24.330
and the migraine went off after the treatment but they had headaches for more than a week.
0:25:25.010,0:25:33.490
You see. And they told me they ... have picked up the karma of this patient.
0:25:33.530,0:25:41.780
I said, everybody is responsible for her or his own karma. You cannot pick up anybody's karma.
0:25:41.800,0:25:48.790
And I think you have to be ... I don't know ...
0:25:52.490,0:25:59.680
you shouldn't tolerate that you feel badly after a treatment you give. You should always feel better.
0:26:00.140,0:26:02.970
The more treatments the more you feel better.
0:26:03.270,0:26:12.340
I think they didn't work with - you just said they all worked with the same energy - no, I wouldn't agree to that,
0:26:12.520,0:26:22.820
because otherwise ... the results would be the same but they were totally different than I experienced in my treatments
0:26:22.910,0:26:28.020
and all of my students'. They have also totally different experiences.
0:26:28.320,0:26:32.360
I disagree with you on the account that ...
0:26:33.440,0:26:42.140
where all these protagonists agree that the phenomenon of the energy is then always the same
0:26:44.000,0:26:52.520
I think they would all agree with what you just said and add if phenomena like you described happened,
0:26:52.760,0:26:57.200
where the practitioner is getting the headache of the client and things like that,
0:26:57.200,0:27:04.490
you can be ... this is a characteristic and an indication that the people are actually not(!) working with Reiki
0:27:04.530,0:27:12.160
but with other energy, with an other energy system of some sorts which is probably ...
0:27:13.520,0:27:20.000
which is probably the result from a lack of proper initiation in the first place,
0:27:20.830,0:27:29.530
because once the connection is made to the phenomena of Reiki then the characteristics are consistent.
0:27:30.340,0:27:39.540
That's the one thing I found that they all seem to agree even though in teachings and in styles there are variations.
0:27:39.830,0:27:42.610
So that's not too different from what you said.
0:27:43.730,0:27:52.060
Also I think, 90% of the Reiki books they say after a treatment that you have to wash your hands
0:27:52.120,0:27:55.350
under cool water in order to get rid of symptoms.
0:27:55.350,0:27:56.810
It's not Reiki then.
0:27:56.920,0:28:07.670
Yeah, this is ... but in 90% of all Reiki books - at least I know - there are these curious stories that you shouldn't
0:28:08.490,0:28:18.300
direct energy towards somebody who is under operation because they can wake up and see all the doctors around the bed.
0:28:18.300,0:28:26.880
So this is for me always a sign that they have not grasped what it's all about.
0:28:27.250,0:28:37.840
And they're probably not trained correctly otherwise they wouldn't say, they wouldn't write such ...
0:28:38.000,0:28:42.720
it's just ... I don't understand,
0:28:43.520,0:28:52.030
because there cannot go anything wrong with a true Reiki system. You are always benefiting.
0:28:52.120,0:28:57.010
The patient is going to benefit, you are going to benefit. So where is a problem?
0:28:57.590,0:29:08.960
I am with you and I find that contradictory when people say in one breath Reiki is non-manipulative, non-invasive
0:29:09.030,0:29:15.720
and it has like a built-in intelligence to find where the client needs it most,
0:29:15.950,0:29:20.780
and in the next breath they're saying you have to clean your hands, you have to protect yourself.
0:29:22.960,0:29:30.650
In fact, I think that's a contradiction and it's an indication that if people do need to protect themselves
0:29:30.770,0:29:34.420
then probably they haven't worked with Reiki but something else.
0:29:35.130,0:29:44.950
However, there is a bit of empathy I have for Reiki teachers
0:29:44.970,0:29:53.750
who teach that kind of thing like you just described that you have to protect yourself and clean your hands afterwards.
0:29:54.760,0:29:59.300
And by the way, the majority of the people I speak to,
0:29:59.790,0:30:07.520
they understand the Reiki much more in line with what you described and the literature I'm looking at
0:30:08.760,0:30:14.180
is not dogmatic about things like you just said.
0:30:14.470,0:30:22.120
But back to my point of empathy for Reiki teachers who include that into their system,
0:30:23.200,0:30:33.060
because I found in my observation that many of the Reiki teachers they simply haven't been trained as Reiki teachers well enough.
0:30:33.400,0:30:45.040
Their basic training has not been substantial enough. So, they had to borrow techniques from other healing methods
0:30:45.040,0:30:48.970
and introduce them into the Reiki class.
0:30:51.150,0:31:00.250
I have a degree of empathy and even though their initiations to their clients, to their students may have been correct
0:31:00.250,0:31:10.800
and may have 'downloaded' the Reiki into the hands of their clients, the way they presented
0:31:10.800,0:31:20.080
- the fringes of their teachings have nothing to do with Reiki - and that student at the end of the day he will be
0:31:20.720,0:31:28.740
in contact with Reiki irrespective of the nonsense the teacher may have said. Don't you agree with that?
0:31:30.320,0:31:37.450
Yes. Hopefully they are working with the right energy but they pretend to work with personal energy.
0:31:37.450,0:31:41.770
With personal energy you have only a certain supply.
0:31:42.710,0:31:50.770
I know many 'Geistheiler' (spiritual healers) who work with personal energy and after three or four treatments, they have to recover.
0:31:51.020,0:31:56.830
We recover - if we work with the right energy - we recover by treating people.
0:31:56.930,0:32:07.170
I gave one day seven treatments in a row. One hour and half an hour break and I felt really light afterwards.
0:32:07.340,0:32:11.140
And they were people suffering from cancer and all sorts of diseases.
0:32:11.480,0:32:20.560
So, I hope that they work with the right energy just pretending to work with different energies.
0:32:20.800,0:32:28.590
But I suspect that also because you see otherwise this cannot happen that you pick up symptoms,
0:32:28.710,0:32:36.270
so I know that there's also Reiki teachers working not with universal energy that is always harmless,
0:32:36.270,0:32:46.570
that is the highest frequency of energy available, because otherwise these things wouldn't happen. And they do.
0:32:47.010,0:32:51.030
They do happen, I agree with you, I experienced the same thing.
0:32:51.540,0:32:59.590
Yet, I have an empathy and most of the empathy from my point of view goes actually to the Reiki student
0:32:59.680,0:33:08.540
who has been with a, let's say, not very well-informed or knowledgeable Reiki teacher
0:33:08.720,0:33:18.310
who has added all kinds of things only to fill up his seminar for the lack of in-depth knowledge about Reiki.
0:33:18.880,0:33:29.920
I agree with you that one of characteristics of authentic Reiki would be that after a treatment you don't take on the symptoms of your clients
0:33:29.920,0:33:38.150
that you're protected and in fact in all the cases, in the majority of the cases, you feel rejuvenated,
0:33:38.220,0:33:45.410
you get a Reiki treatment as it were yourself as a practitioner when you treat somebody else.
0:33:45.410,0:33:54.610
This is one of the landmarks of Reiki. Anything else is an indication, not necessarily in my opinion
0:33:54.610,0:34:07.030
that the energy at hand which - literally - which was transferred from practitioner to the client was not Reiki
0:34:07.500,0:34:14.460
but the mindset of the practitioner and of course if the Reiki teacher has told him, you have to protect yourself,
0:34:14.470,0:34:20.420
you have to clean, it's dangerous, you have to rub your hands against walls and things like that,
0:34:20.460,0:34:33.400
of course the student's attitude is, oh ouch!, I might be infected during the treatment even though factually he is not
0:34:33.400,0:34:40.320
and as we know from medicine from the placebo and the nocebo effect, that kind of mental attitude then has an
0:34:40.320,0:34:50.650
effect on how we experience life but that does not mean that the energy which happened has not been Reiki.
0:34:51.280,0:34:55.840
Yeah, but I think some teachers they have the right energy
0:34:55.840,0:35:00.800
pretending not to have the right energies and then they are of course also Reiki teachers.
0:35:00.800,0:35:06.640
They work with personal energy they are not connected with the highest frequency of energy
0:35:06.640,0:35:13.120
and what I say is when your students are always afraid to make some faults
0:35:13.120,0:35:19.600
then they get demotivated to practice the technique and this is really bad.
0:35:19.600,0:35:27.070
Because I want to encourage my students to treat themselves regularly, if possible every day.
0:35:27.260,0:35:30.000
And of course to also give treatments to others.
0:35:30.000,0:35:37.520
But if you always have a fear that you could make some faults you are demotivating because you are
0:35:37.520,0:35:45.430
sort of ... Yeah, you want to be successful. And not to be curious which fault you can make.
0:35:45.550,0:35:52.200
I think this is also... Yeah I think it's really a pity. It is really a pity.
0:35:52.550,0:35:56.440
Yes, I agree with you very much, Barbara.
0:35:56.440,0:36:02.230
It does not matter that I teach seven degrees because we have seven chakras,
0:36:02.320,0:36:07.840
and I was initiated by somebody who can do that. But this is not so important.
0:36:07.840,0:36:14.360
I think the most important thing is that you work with the right frequency of energy,
0:36:14.500,0:36:23.600
because also my students, most of them only will learn first degree, second degree and third degree
0:36:23.600,0:36:28.280
and only few will go on and want to learn all the seven degrees.
0:36:29.040,0:36:39.840
So, it is not so important if you teach three degrees or seven but it is very important that you teach that you make the
0:36:39.840,0:36:44.320
right frequency of energy available to your students.
0:36:44.610,0:36:46.170
This is my point.
0:36:46.170,0:36:48.420
I'm with you. I hear you.
0:36:49.200,0:36:54.680
I'm glad we have the topic of 'own opinion' (chuckles)
0:36:55.030,0:36:58.800
and I'm glad we have 'agree to disagree' as a subtitle
0:36:58.800,0:37:06.370
because ... and again I think the disagreement most of the time is on the more superficial or the less important
0:37:06.900,0:37:13.950
and in essence a lot of agreement is there. I want to look at something else
0:37:15.590,0:37:19.020
and to get to a closing of our conversation.
0:37:19.420,0:37:25.720
In the last communication we had in the preliminary discussion leading up to this,
0:37:26.480,0:37:33.330
you said, you consider yourself with 'own opinion'.
0:37:33.790,0:37:41.760
In German we use the word 'vogelfrei' which means free like a bird.
0:37:43.740,0:37:50.440
That's I think the origin or the ... That's, I believe, how you meant that term.
0:37:51.030,0:37:54.890
Just before our conversation today, I looked it up.
0:37:55.830,0:37:59.430
And I was quite surprised.
0:37:59.890,0:38:06.340
In English the word ‘vogelfrei’, free as a bird, is actually 'outlawed'.
0:38:08.900,0:38:10.140
You know what?
0:38:10.170,0:38:13.070
In German it's true too!
0:38:13.360,0:38:22.700
In fact, the sense in which you used to term 'free like a bird' has been used up to the 16th century.
0:38:23.730,0:38:30.580
Martin Luther still used it in that sense. But then after this development even in German,
0:38:30.790,0:38:34.420
it had the connotation of being an outlaw.
0:38:34.980,0:38:43.840
Now, I don't want to go into history or things like that but I do have a question for you Barbara because,
0:38:44.230,0:38:56.420
I consider myself also as somewhat of a free thinker trying to liberate myself from belief systems and mindsets
0:38:57.330,0:39:09.300
and I think that's an important contribution to humanity to be a catalyst for liberation of these belief systems we have in our way.
0:39:09.530,0:39:12.060
But I pay a high price.
0:39:12.820,0:39:23.410
Because having my own opinion and attempting to be free like a bird and I'm preaching that to some extent,
0:39:24.410,0:39:28.090
it also sometimes makes me feel like an outlaw.
0:39:28.750,0:39:35.330
I expressed my opinion to a group of people only two weeks ago very strongly
0:39:35.330,0:39:39.390
and maybe the form how I expressed it was inappropriate.
0:39:39.580,0:39:45.780
I plead guilty on that - not on the criticism but on the form.
0:39:46.200,0:39:52.650
And of course you know how it is, the messenger of bad news is getting shot.
0:39:52.860,0:39:55.490
(Chuckles.) Yes, I know.
0:39:57.030,0:40:05.950
With your drive for being this opinionated, strong - opinionated in the most positive sense of the word -
0:40:06.370,0:40:15.920
how much of a price have you paid to be sometimes like an outlaw? And have you ever felt that way?
0:40:16.780,0:40:28.590
Yes, yes I did especially when I was hired by the ... Radiance Technique Association International,
0:40:28.590,0:40:37.800
I felt like that and I thought I needed something like an organization to feel linked to a sort of spiritual family.
0:40:38.260,0:40:46.480
But then Dr. Fraefel told me, well, there is a little story. In this story there are demons.
0:40:48.430,0:41:01.300
They want to influence mankind in a very bad way and they inspire them to found an organization.
0:41:01.650,0:41:05.650
I thought, well, this is it. Because ...
0:41:06.300,0:41:13.910
Till we are not enlightened, an organization means that there are a lot of egos coming together.
0:41:14.250,0:41:20.140
And then it's dealing with money, with power, with being the best etc. etc.
0:41:20.290,0:41:26.390
And then I realized this is not why I'm a born in the sign of Aquarius. This is not what I want.
0:41:26.390,0:41:34.500
I want to be free. I want to tolerate that I have no shelter, I have nobody to protect etc. etc.
0:41:35.210,0:41:37.460
Also in my books' topics,
0:41:37.550,0:41:48.480
I wrote a book versus Ritalin, some 25 years ago, "Hyper activity - why Ritalin is not the solution" and
0:41:48.480,0:41:52.880
showed healthy alternatives that will help.
0:41:53.980,0:42:05.010
When writing my book on Stevia (sugar substitute) I attacked the sugar industry, I attacked the artificial sweeteners industry etc.
0:42:05.690,0:42:11.870
I think - I left home 16 years old - I'm not believing in authorities.
0:42:12.430,0:42:17.480
I feel responsible only towards my higher self or to God.
0:42:18.470,0:42:24.260
I think the benefits of being ... an outlaw,
0:42:24.580,0:42:33.740
they are much greater than the disadvantage of not having an own opinion.
0:42:34.280,0:42:46.050
I have ... I'm also only interested in people who allow themselves the luxury of having own opinions.
0:42:47.080,0:42:53.890
For me, people that only follow the rules are sort of boring. Sorry.
0:42:56.070,0:43:03.920
I think the Corona sort of crisis has also shown that.
0:43:03.920,0:43:14.060
I was struck by surprise, I was really shocked that so many people just like in Hitler Germany
0:43:14.640,0:43:26.460
were sort of drilled to follow any rules not investigating them, not asking themselves if they were right or wrong.
0:43:26.720,0:43:30.150
They just follow the official politics.
0:43:31.610,0:43:43.950
So I realized I'm sort of an exception. I thought before that much more people were thinking ... by themselves.
0:43:45.120,0:43:53.800
And now many of my friends I have changed. So, I have a lot of new friends and I lost a lot of people,
0:43:54.690,0:44:01.710
whom I had thought they were friends but they were not, because they sort of ...
0:44:02.210,0:44:12.000
they sometimes attacked me, didn't speak with me anymore because I had a different opinion, different than mainstream
0:44:12.590,0:44:22.360
and I think, I always thought that we were having a totally different mentality now, we Germans,
0:44:22.870,0:44:27.690
but I had to realize that this is an illusion, that it's not the case.
0:44:28.350,0:44:30.680
That was a little bit of a shock.
0:44:31.020,0:44:34.830
...
0:44:35.500,0:44:40.460
People like students of university: my daughter is young,
0:44:40.470,0:44:44.360
she's 28 years and she also couldn't understand.
0:44:44.770,0:44:52.840
So, I don't want to go into details but this was for me unbelievable. Unbelievable.
0:44:53.830,0:45:01.110
I do agree with you that Corona has been the catalyst for many new discoveries.
0:45:02.000,0:45:04.420
And some of them being very shocking.
0:45:05.400,0:45:17.750
I do agree with that. But adopting law and accepting conformity of society does not automatically imply
0:45:17.870,0:45:27.390
that the person hasn't made their own decision ... and is carrying an own opinion.
0:45:27.960,0:45:33.750
So I wouldn't want to judge people on either side of the debate.
0:45:35.030,0:45:40.790
I can see very much of accusations coming from both quarters
0:45:41.450,0:45:47.840
being applicable to the very originator of the accusation in the first place.
0:45:47.990,0:45:49.610
...
0:45:49.750,0:45:55.150
But I think you gave a strong veto in favor of having an own opinion
0:45:55.740,0:46:09.360
and I think the time now is very important that we not only have an opinion on our own and keep it to ourselves.
0:46:09.360,0:46:17.600
I think the time has come where we should be courageous enough, as you said at the beginning,
0:46:17.960,0:46:26.650
to stand up for our own opinions always in an attempt to respect the person across the table
0:46:26.760,0:46:34.150
who has a different opinion and enter in debate, an excursion, an exploration of the minds
0:46:34.720,0:46:39.920
so that the synergy can be found, the solution can be found to the highest good of both of them.
0:46:43.040,0:46:53.980
Yeah, with that I would agree that you decide ... not to keep your own opinion secretly
0:46:54.700,0:47:03.040
but to encourage ... when you express yourself openly, you encourage others to do the same
0:47:03.090,0:47:09.260
but then you realize, wow, we are not a small minority. We are much more ...
0:47:10.690,0:47:14.080
And also what Eckhart Tolle says, that he says,
0:47:14.540,0:47:21.800
the evil is increasing but at the same time the good is also increasing.
0:47:22.050,0:47:29.570
But he says, the evil makes more alarm, it's louder because of the mass media.
0:47:29.840,0:47:37.480
They say that everything is going to get always worse. But it isn't.
0:47:38.280,0:47:45.260
There are people who meditate. There are people ... who do so many great things,
0:47:45.310,0:47:53.200
they find themselves, they found communities, they change into an ecological way of life, etc.
0:47:53.200,0:48:04.080
This is underrepresented in the mass media. So, if you only consume mass media you get a wrong picture of the world.
0:48:04.280,0:48:11.050
Well, I'm not sure whether that's entirely so, that it's underrepresented.
0:48:11.050,0:48:18.190
It sometimes depends where we're looking at and I choose to look at the media where I see this well represented
0:48:18.190,0:48:20.040
and speak to those people.
0:48:20.040,0:48:24.960
Barbara, I think we are coming to an end I would like to thank you.
0:48:26.480,0:48:32.690
I would like to thank you for having … led a life
0:48:33.400,0:48:39.810
where you stood up as an example whether people agree with your opinion or not,
0:48:39.870,0:48:45.650
they were never uncertain about what you thought and how you thought and what your opinion is
0:48:46.270,0:48:53.040
and you deserve highest respect for that and I say Namaste to you and thank you.
0:48:55.140,0:48:56.980
Thank you, Barbara.
0:48:57.270,0:49:01.510
Dear viewers, thank you for watching. I hope you enjoyed it.
0:49:01.780,0:49:03.840
Please join us again in three weeks.
0:49:04.060,0:49:07.650
Please subscribe to our channel, to our newsletter.
0:49:07.760,0:49:14.520
And: it's end of the year, don't be shy to be generous with your donations.
Arno Greter, Switzerland, 
