Ho'oponopono

ho'oponopono training videos at Joe Vitale's website

I believe the first I heard about ho'oponopono circa 2003 is one of those "if it comes in threes, pay attention" serendipities. I'd already been doing my own process of watching and reclaiming my projections and shadow for several years before (also before I heard of Byron Katie).

I heard about it in different circumstances from different sources all within a few days. Anyhow, Dr. Len (via a blog post by Joe Vitale) was the one of those three ways (I am pretty sure the other was A Course in Miracles instructor).

Recently, Joe Vitale release a few clips of Dr. Len in a Ho'oponopono workshop video. I'll share some transcripts of those, but you can also watch the three parts for yourself at www.zerolimitsonline.com.

Below is an transcribed piece starting at 17:30 spoken by Joe Vitale describing how he uses the process (ha, or more accurately, how it uses us):

"When I start thinking that there is somebody or something that is troubling me out there, and your first response--isn't it, from a data perspective-- is to change them. Which is a little bit like I wake up and I'm unshaven and I look at the mirror, and go, "Man, I need to shave" and I start shaving the mirror. It doesn't work that way. I got to shave HERE, and when I shave here the mirror starts to look a lot better...So the thing we're cleaning on isn't anybody out there or anything thing out there-- what you're clearing on is that ball of perception, energy, feeling that you have when you think of out there--that's the thing. When he was working with the mental hospital he was not seeing people professionally one-on-one. . . as he would look at their files he would feel what he's feeling...--it could be rage, it could be shame, it could be embarrassment, it could anger--whatever he's feeling, that's what needs clearing. He's feeling it in him as it is being triggered by what it feels like being triggered by what he perceives to be a person outside.... in this case, he's looking at paperwork, and it's triggering the buttons.... He's feeling it in here, and he's taking it to what I call the Divine." - Joe Vitale

Basically how I interpret this is that if something is bugging me  out there in my external world (typically I clear on the immediate sphere), or seems off kilter like dis-ease (some things are unbalanced or out of harmony in the world-at-large although that is hard to truly judge until we clear a lot of subconscious programming), it's time to clear that programming that we share.

And basically this expresses a viewpoint that the external world is more like a 3D hologram that the brain's visual cortex interprets as a fundamental reality, although it is decoded, or interpreted from a level of reality that's more about frequency, vibration patterns, etc. (visual cortex for eyes, but the other senses are also deciphering reality from the fuzzy set of waves and particles). And the subconscious can and may store up and hoard all sort of ready-made interpretations (i.e. memories) and overlays that can distort the perception of the pristine vibrational level occurring dynamically. And throw in the idea of "collective" unconscious, and you're getting hotter.

“If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear as it is - infinite." - William Blake

I'm doing a lousy job of explaining this. Go read The Holographic Universe, by Michael Talbott, for  starters. Or you can just go for the direct experience and see that there's no other, there's no out there--one reality, as Deepak Chopra calls it.

ho'oponopono for a car accident using excerpt from deepak chopra's book 'The Book of Secrets'

Essentially, ho'oponopono is one method to clear subconscious imprints, or conditioning, or vasanas, or samskaras, or whatever we wish to call them. Dr. Len calls them memories, or programs. We don't need to hold onto any of those old, dualistic tendencies (and they tend not to be appropriate in a dynamic world). 

When cleared, the one reality (as Deepak Chopra calls It below) is acknowledged as our operating system (or, as Dr. Len calls this Zero or the Divine).

Notice in this excerpt from Deepak Chopra from his book, The Book of Secrets (I've a much longer version of the excerpt that describes the alchemical transformation we can undergo to recognize one reality/wholeness here), that this person's tendency is to operate from an imprinting and that you aren't seeing the situation as it really is but viewing it from "programmed perception." You can clear yourself, and by the nature of Reality, the collective unconscious of this programming using either Chopra's method, or Ho'oponopono. At the end, I'll share my ho'oponopono method.

"You stop at a red light on the way home, but the car behind you doesn't stop and rear-ends you. When you jump out to confront the other driver, he is not apologetic. Sullenly, he begins to give you his insurance information. In one operating system the following implications come into play:

This stranger doesn't have my best interests in mind.

If he is lying, I could be left with all the damages.

I am the aggrieved party, and he should recognize that.

I may have to force him to cooperate.

As these ideas come into play, consider the possibility that the car accident didn't cause them--they were already imprinted in your mind awaiting for the moment to be needed. You aren't seeing the situation as it really is but only through your programmed perception. In a different operating system the following implications are equally valid:

This accident was no accident; it's a reflection of myself.

This stranger is a messenger.

When I find out why this event happened, I will uncover some aspect of myself.

I need to pay more attention to some kind of hidden or stuck energy. When I deal with it, I will be glad this accident happened.

Does the second viewpoint seem impossible, or a matter of wishful thinking? Actually, it is the natural way to perceive the situation from the viewpoint of one reality. The first viewpoint was imprinted by circumstances in your early life--you had to be trained to see others as strangers and to assume that accidents are random events. But instead of relying on such limited consciousness, you can open yourself to expanded possibilities. The larger viewpoint is more generous to you and to the other driver. You aren't antagonists but, rather, equal players in a scene that is trying to tell both of you something. The larger viewpoint holds no blame. It puts responsibility equally on every player and allows equally for growth. A car accident is neither right or wrong--it is an opportunity to reclaim who you are, a creator. If you walk away with a result that moves you closer to your true self, you have grown, so even the ego's demand to win is satisfied by the experience of one reality.

Although you may insist that the only thing at stake here is money, and that confrontation is the best way to get paid, that view is not reality but the reinforcement of a perception. Does the money neutralize what comes with it--anger, blame, and being made a victim by others?"

If you are familiar with dream symbols (or using your intuition or looking up in a dream dictionary; I know it's not comprehensive but I like to start with Almine's Dream Dictionary), you may already know that a car typically represents your direction in life (this is a common symbol). An accident (using Louise Hay's You Can Heal Your Life, look under Accidents; there are charts online as well) is typically anger showing up as an external event. 

So using Ho'oponopono I'd gently (please don't criticize or berate yourself, that only reinforces other imprinting) look at my own anger and frustration with my current direction in life as the expression in physical reality (often we are given hints in other gentler, intuitive ways before they burst out in physical, but sometimes I am stubborn and need to witness an accident to pay attention), rather than blaming the other driver.

I'd also notice any other reactions and projections around the driver or any other participants (Byron Katie's The Work is good for this). Once I've seen my reactions, I am free to release them from the subconscious. I can thank the message and messenger, too. Then say, I love you. Thank you. Forgive me. I'm sorry.

For me, I see the apology is for harboring this shared, unconscious imprint that skewed my perception of the divine as it is. The gratitude is for opportunity to be shown the imprint so it can be cleared and released, and the love is obvious ;)

ART CREDITS: They sure do make alchemy look so arcane and esoteric, it's right before your nose though... closer than that even. I don't know where the original artwork is from, I grabbed it from this article on Evolutionary Spirituality.