Ho’oponopono and the mirage of happiness
Too many humans wrongly believe that spirituality is a path to Happiness. All the arguments surrounding Ho’oponopono are no exception. This search for the ideal paradisiacal state at the end of a quest is at the root of the attraction that sects and religious fanaticism exert on the mind. When we speak of “mental manipulation” or “abuse of weakness” we are always talking about a quest for happiness. From this point of view, the image we have of a coach or spiritual master is often erroneous. We tend to believe that there is a destination to be reached and that these ‘guides’ have acquired abilities that enable them to escape the laws of life.
Memories never go on holiday.
In fact, on this earth, there is no ocean permanently calm. Life is not a long quiet river and the only true ‘happiness’ can only be found in the depths of the sea. Deeper than the surface agitated by the waves. Once you’ve begun to understand this fact, you don’t move to another reality, you just learn, how to navigate in stormy weather.
Reciting a “Morrnah prayer” or an “ho’oponopono mantra” from time to time and telling yourself that you’re doing Ho’oponopono is an illusion. As Doctor Ihaleakala Hew Len wrote in his article “Who makes the decisions”: “Memories never go on holiday”… And unfortunately, it’s most of the time when we least expect it, in other words when we’re happy, that problems come to obstruct our way.
Ho’oponopono : remembering our origin
What can we do to avoid these unpleasant blocks? In fact, it’s not a question of avoiding them, but of dealing with them. This is precisely the role of a coach, whether a sports coach or a life coach. A coach is not someone who sails on calm seas, but someone who can pass on appropriate navigation strategies to use when the sea is rough.
Traditional martial arts are metaphors for everyday life. They provide an excellent illustration of Dr Len’s phrase about memories never going on holiday. In Japan, whether we’re talking about fight techniques or tea ceremony, a final DO is used (judo, aikido, sado for the way of tea…) This element means ‘way’ or ‘path’.
Mastery of these ‘arts’ is only acquired by overcoming the difficulties encountered on the way. Problems are always ‘memories’. We evolve by learning to erase them. We don’t discover anything new, we just rediscover the suppleness of childhood, the precision of the gesture, the perfection of which the body is capable when we forget the fear of doing, of doing badly or of ending badly.
Ho’oponopono : The path to freedom
In fact, when we reach a high level of technical skill on any path, we become able to forget about technique. That’s when we achieve the freedom of action called : “spontaneity”. Meeting problems is not a problem in itself, quite the opposite. It’s a way of developing vigilance and the ability to respond appropriately to situations. The practice of the ‘path’ of Ho’oponopono as conceived by Morrnah Simeona can be described as the ‘easiest way’ for the very simple reason that it is based on non-violence and letting go. The memories are not the real obstacle. Our real limit is our attachment to memories.
Karma and what we call “hell” arise solely from attachment to memories. The choice is made at every moment between sticking to them or let them fade away. The example of the failure of couples is clear in this respect. What can disrupt the beautiful love story of the beginnings? It’s always the accumulation of details, remembered daily behaviors, scratches leaving scars. Clinging to these elusive memories can lead to shipwreck…
Simply deciding to let go of all these memories is the key to freedom. But most humans cling to them in the name of their idea of happiness. This is how the same scenario can be repeated with different partners without succeeding in resolving the problem. The only attitude to adopt when faced with memories is always the same: let go, let it go…
Attachment to memories
There is only one way out of the memories. It’s not the quest for happiness. We all know that happiness is always conditional. It is linked to our attachments, our desires, our images of ourselves, all those ephemeral details that will disappear with us when the time comes.
The path mapped out by Morrnah is self-identity through the practice of ho’oponopono. The “Self” is not something we get or develop, it’s just our center of power. It is from there that true life force, which is not muscular, springs forth. It’s not something you can lose. You can just forget it or think you’ve forgotten it.
When we sleep, what part of our being continues to breathe? To animate the movements of the body? To be aware of our dreams and even of our absence of dreams? Is it not this same part that remains discreetly at our side when we think we are waking up?
When we “wake from sleep”, dreams generated by our memories are forgotten. After a nightmare, we are happy to realize that it was just an illusion…
Since we can understand the illusory nature of our dreams, which allows us to let them go, why are we unable to do so in our everyday lives? Quite simply because we don’t want to. We don’t want to because we want to impose our solutions. We are attached to results; we cling to these illusions.
Counterproductive ho’oponopono
Most books published about ho’oponopono only maintain this attachment to results. This is what has motivated the craze for this path by feeding the fantasy of happiness. Repeating what some people call “the ho’oponopono mantra” can only add illusion to illusion. Because it does not hit at the root of the problems. In the same way that changing partners will not lead to happiness. Solving our problems by using our attachments to problems cannot lead to freedom.
Freedom depends only on the alignment of the inner family made up of the subconscious, the conscious and the superconscious. When there are no more obstacles, energy can flow freely through our being. This is what happens naturally in the moments of ‘well-being’ occuring when we accept to let go of memories and attachments. But when this state occurs, we tend to let our guard down and identify once again with the daydreams that the memories are generating.
Pono and Ho’oponopono
Ho’oponopono as we know it has very little to do with the Hawaiian ritual from which it was inspired. In Hawaii, it is neither a path nor a way of life, it’s a ritual that aims to put people back into the natural state of spontaneity that corresponds to Aloha. To be ‘PONO’ is to live Aloha. Which means to be what you are in the place you where you are when you are there. It is the natural condition for all the kingdoms of nature. We stop being PONO when we think we are something else than what we are. In other words, when you have lost touch with your vital center and with the Mana (vital energy).
The adaptation of Morrnah Simeona is different, it is a path. It’s a simple way which do not require any belief, quite the opposite. Since it involves renouncing all memories, beliefs and attachments, without exception.
What does it mean? How are we able to solve problems? Simply by starting to accept the idea that every problem is the expression of unconscious memories. And by understanding that the only thing that allows memories to survive is our conscious attachment to them. It’s the first step to what Morrnah calls “cleaning”…Cleaning our subconscious “mess” is the only way towards freedom…and this process is what “Self identity by Ho’oponopono” teaches…
