The word Ho’oponopono breaks down into three parts; Ho’o meaning to make or to be like, Pono meaning harmony, and then Pono again, meaning harmony. So what does it mean to make harmony harmony? One might say the idea is to make harmony outside of us by making harmony within ourselves. One who practices ho’oponopono operates their life with the following principles:
1. The physical universe I experience is an actualization of my thoughts
2. If my thoughts are fear-based they create a diseased reality
3. If my thoughts are innocent they create a reality brimming with well-being
4. I am 100% responsible for creating my physical universe
5. I am 100% responsible for my fear-based thoughts that create a diseased reality
6. There is no such thing as “out there”. Everything exists as thoughts in my mind.
This is exactly the same message that comes through many paths of wisdom including the yoga sutras. “Nothing is as it is by itself” is one of Patanjali’s main messages. In other words, reality is coming from you, not at you. And our self-made reality spills out and mixes with the reality of those around us. We are all adding to the soup we swim in together. Being conscious of, and intentional about, the “flavors” we add to the “soup” is the path of the spiritual warrior. Although we cannot create in another’s reality, we can clean our own filter which enhances the “soup”. Dr. Hew Len practiced Ho’oponopono when he worked as a therapist in a hospital for the criminally insane. In the book Zero Limits, by Joe Vitale, Dr. Len explains, “When I worked at the mental hospital, I would look at the patient’s charts and feel their pain inside me. This was a shared memory. It was a program in the field that caused the patients to act the way they did. They had no control. They were caught up in the program. As I felt the program in me, I cleaned and cleared.” Dr. Hew Len understands that our only point of power for making change lies in our enhancement of Self; make harmony outside by making harmony inside. We cannot control others, we cannot force change from the outside. The idea of “forcing change” is a paradox. Threats and tyranny can make the outside look different temporarily, but true change is always an inside job.
Patanjali’s sutra II.33 says, “to keep the mind clear, celebrate the successes of others, offer compassion when they suffer, emulate the virtuous, and ignore the wicked. These are elements of ho’oponopono. The mind makes us see things a certain way. Fear-based impulses clutter the mind creating diseased programs. When those bits of negative karmic software are allowed to play over and over and are shared with others they build momentum. They get passed on through generations and across cultures and can spread like cancer. Think of some of the fear-based worldviews so many people accept and live by. Things like, “war is inevitable” or “suffering is required for success”, or “women are not fit to be leaders” or “alcohol is a good and exciting thing to drink”. These all began as a small thought that was not cleaned or cleared and instead spread and turned the “soup” bitter. Our only power is to begin cleaning and clearing the bitterness and adding as much sweetness as possible.
The ho’oponopono mantra has four short statements; Please forgive me. I am sorry. Thank you. I love you. The first two help clear the bitterness and the other two add sweetness. Ho’oponopono is ultimately an appeal to the divine creator (of your choice) through the divinity that is within you (which is an extension of the divine creator). The mantra milks the nectar of our divinity up from the depths of our heart so it can be used to clean, clear and inspire. Try it out. Direct experience is the only true teacher. It is easy enough to learn the simple mantra. Move it through your mind several times a day. It might feel forced and hollow at first, but the emotion and energy will begin to come through on the heels of the words once you get comfortable through repetition and open yourself to the intention.
Our only point of power is to clean and clear our own minds. But because we in a shared field of energy, our cleaning and clearing changes whole field. And as others witness more of our well-being coming through because of the cleaning and clearing… well they may be inspired to their own ho’oponopono and instead of cancerous thoughts spreading… hope and healing can spread like wildfire.