Reiki Principle: Honour

The 5th Reiki Principle for Daily Living: Just for today, I will honour my teachers and elders, and be kind to all living beings.

This principle clearly focuses on the two qualities of honour and kindness. In this post, I will focus on the first of these: honour. I will honour my teachers and elders.

Some Reiki teachers include parents and neighbours in the first part of this principle. One could also say honour all human beings or, indeed, honour all of God’s creatures.

We honour our teachers for what they have taught us. We acknowledge that they have helped us gain the knowledge or skill we now have and we honour them for having taught us that.

Teachers are any formal teachers, trainers, tutors – but also anyone else who is instrumental in teaching us something. Viewed in this sense, we find teachers in some unexpected places. For example, those who irritate us might teach us to be patient. Those we perceive as slow may teach us to be kind; they may unexpectedly display a skill that forces us to re-evaluate our opinion of them and teaches us not to be arrogant and judgemental.

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"In the practice of tolerance, one's enemy is the best teacher. "
- The Dalai Lama
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We honour our elders because they have experience that we lack. Because of their greater experience they often also have greater wisdom. Unfortunately, we don’t always have the patience to sit still and let them impart their wisdom, their learning, to us. In our own impatience, we often write off our older folks as being out of touch with the modern world. But the essential wisdom of life remains valid in every era.

We honour our elders also because in some sense they are our own future. We will take their place and we, too, will be elders one day.

We honour our parents for having brought us into this world – for having given us the gift of life.
When we honour our neighbours, we really start to honour all human beings. We recognize and honour the essential divinity within, and we see that we are all connected.

We don’t always agree with our parents, teachers, elders or neighbours. We can still honour them for what they have brought to us, for the essential divinity within them, and for the fact that they are all connected to us.

Read about all 5 principles for daily living.
1. Just for today, I will count my blessings.
2. Just for today, I will not worry.
3. Just for today, I will not be angry.
4. Just for today, I will do my work honestly.
And, finally: Why just for today?