the right mix
Body, mind and soul: this is the quick answer to the question of what holism is. In our circles holistic means that Reiki serves the “wholeness” of a living being. But how can such a thing be empirically recorded?
It is precisely this question that Dr. David Bolius has investigated and has even created his own study format to take into account the wholeness of living beings. But not only that, he has also been publishing articles on Reiki and science for years (in German). As an academic and Reiki Master teacher he is predestined to bridge energetics and science.
We are very pleased that we can now publish a science page with all of David’s publications since 2012. We have also added the book “Reiki for Skeptics” (German) to our shop. We look forward to your visit and purchase!
Holistic
“Holism (from Greek ὅλος holos “all, whole, entire”) is the idea that systems (physical, chemical, social, mental, etc.) and their properties should be viewed as wholes, not just as a collection of parts.” (Wikipedia) Very nice!
The World Health Organization speaks of the physical, the emotions, our mental faculties, our spirituality and our social needs. In this context, the holistic person is meant especially in connection with our health. For the WHO, these are the 5 components that make up the “woleness” of the human system.
Cure versus Heal
reiki serves exclusively the harmonization process, i.e. the healing of said wholeness. It thus escapes our influence, because it always resonates in response to existing disharmony, thus going to the origin of a problem, it works on the causal plane. It is as if reiki has its own intelligence and does what it wants – to the highest good of the receiving person.
The cure of a symptom – often the very reason for the treatment request – may occur in such a process, but it is not predictable and certainly not guaranteed. Provocatively one could say that the disappearance of a disease is the by-product of a holistic healing. If it ever happens at all.
Getting a grip on mercury
Holism in itself is already spongy. Enter reiki‘s characteristic to serve the highest good. And this in consideration of all aspects of our existence… I don’t want to include the idea of karma here, because that complicates matters even more. Although, coming to think of it – perhaps the idea of Karma helps one to find comfort in those moments when one cannot grasp what exactly “highest good” means.
In any case, for a scientist, observing reiki, testing its effectiveness on a holistic level, is like squaring the circle. Nevertheless:
Science must be
In order to gain recognition for Reiki, science is often being sought out. Basically, we live in a world that considers evidence and facts to be valuable. Recognition in society and in institutions in health care, in the judiciary or in politics is closely linked to controllability, evidence and empiricism.
However, this poses a problem, because studies usually focus on symptoms in order to test the effectiveness of a therapy or a remedy. This means, for example, the effect of Reiki is tested in the context of a breast cancer study. But what if reiki works on a completely different level of the human being?
New paths
This is precisely where we see the value of the new approaches initiated by David to observe Reiki’s effectiveness. With his work he pushes open the door for science to explore holism.
In order to mobilise resources for scientific research, particular interests are often being served. For example, a researcher is supported if the financier expects to develop a drug for a disease. This is emant as a neutral observation to illustrate how difficult it is to find support for scientific work on holistic methods.
If you are interested in supporting scientific work and especially research on Reiki’s holistic effect, please contact us. In the meantime we wish those of you who read German an interesting time with our new science page.
Translated with the aid of DeepL
NB By Reiki written with a capital R is meant teaching and practice and reiki is so written when it refers specifically to the energetic phenomenon “from the origin of life” (quote ProReiki).