Some facets of "Siddhis"

Ok, I used a foreign word again. Generally I am in favor of good translations. There isn't a good translation of the word "Kundalini", so I wrote about it in a previous blog and Sheryl even interviewed me on video to talk about it. A Kundalini awakening is an experience of spiritual opening. Spiritual opening experiences sometimes result in "siddhis" which the Buddha called "special powers." Special powers can be distracting, confusing, or even tempting to get all mixed up in the details doing stuff like healing people, reading minds, foretelling the future etc. The Buddha suggested ignoring siddhis, ignoring any astral voices you might hear and so on. Why? He figured that siddhis were simply one more thing to get attached to which would prevent you from reaching enlightenment. He was probably right. Speaking for myself, I never set out to be a healer. My first reaction to it was of relative surprise-- it didn't seem to fit. I knew when I came into it that it wasn't the end of anything, wasn't the point of anything, and that it should not distract me from further developing myself spiritually. Currently I'm assuming that being a practicing healer is a good way to teach me to be a more compassionate man and also to teach me greater humility. There are probably some other lessons in there, not the least of which is to teach me some acceptance, and actually love of how things are.

Sheryl and I try not to call ourselves psychic, but we do use that skill. Recently I told a client thousands of miles away the name of somebody close to them, and also some precise details which can easily be verified (actually the bulk of those details were verified instantly). The client seemed impressed. I don't know why I did that, but I can guess: I did it so that the client would be impressed. The relative usefulness of giving a client useless information that they already know is just to make them listen, to re-assure them that Sheryl and I aren't just pulling platitudes out of our asses. Of course, we do pull platitudes out of our asses but we charge extra for that.

Most of the time in a session I don't know why exactly I'm saying what I say, but I can't say anything else until I say exactly what I'm supposed to say. I'm not using siddhis, siddhis are using me. I just show up for the event, and hold the highest intentions for the client. Sheryl does that too, but she's also a really excellent counselor. I don't think she worries about siddhis any more than an expert seamstress worries about the unfair advantage of utilizing a top notch sewing machine. And good for her I say, good for me too-- we're just a little different in some ways.