“I love you. I’m sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you.”
—statement made to God/Divinity in ho’oponopono

“It’s not your fault, but it is your responsibility.”
—Joe Vitale, commentary on the 100% responsibility principle in ho’oponopono

I once read a book by a 20th century Greek monk who’s rather famous in that particular part of the world. I gave it away after reading part of it because he was like, pained, and stiff, you know, tight—People don’t read the Fathers of the Church! They believe in evolution! And the way they drive on the freeway! Oh, my God! And the late-night TV! The stand-up comics! Ah, I think I ate something that didn’t agree with me, oh, the comics, oh, my stomach….

He did say something interesting, though. He said he didn’t believe in blame, in blaming others. (I know, but just go with it. For one second.) He said, If we were truly great saints, whatever evil people are out there, would be converted by our presence, so if we are in the presence of evil people and they are not converted, /we should blame ourselves/.

Dr. Hew Len is kinda the handsome cousin of that, with 100% responsibility. (He doesn’t complain about late night comics.) Now, not everybody will buy that, right. I’m not going to address the scientism people and the making-money-should-be-against-the-law people (although I myself have a great job, or whatever! Or at least, I get paid! I’m normal, dammit! Normie power! /normie power/!!!!!). (I’m sorry, please forgive me. I love you.) But even a lot of new age people will find that to be a no-go area, you know: I’m being blamed; I’m being judged; I’m not responsible for any of this; I shouldn’t have to be sorry; I don’t need to ask forgiveness; I had to read Shakespeare in school, you know—I never recovered from that!

But the thing—in my opinion—that the Hawaiian dude got that the Greek monk didn’t, is power. Of course, in a sense, all power comes from God. Source. Divinity. We just receive—or not. But the thing is, if you do receive it, then you’ve got it. Because you took responsibility. This is how I interpret it. If whatever happens, it’s my responsibility to “clean” it, then I have unlimited power to face whatever happens to me in my life. I just put out my hand, and God slaps some money down in it, however much he thinks I need.

Obviously that’s a metaphor—although even dollar bills are kinda abstract, in a way—and maybe you just think I should be committed, so let me tell it like this. I have an alcoholic mother. At first, I didn’t know that she was alcoholic. (She wasn’t always drunk, and most alcoholics don’t fit the stereotype of a male homeless person who eats rats, and is a “bad person”. My mom is a MOM, even when we don’t want her to be!…. And as the study of alcoholism can tell you, even though she doesn’t treat her alcoholism with drink anymore, she still has the disease.) I didn’t know my mother was an alcoholic—but I knew that sometimes I didn’t like her. I blamed her. She wasn’t acting like my mother. She was bad.

I had a problem. I developed mental illness. I wound up in the psych ward—couple of times.

I discovered spiritual teachings, and I learned to stop blaming people. I even discovered Adult Children of Alcoholics, and I learned that I had a disease. My mother had a disease, alcoholism, and I had one I had inherited from her—para-alcoholism, a form of codependence.

So then I could meet with my mom, and I could realize: my mother had a disease. This is what life is like for her. This is her life. My own prayers might help me deal with the fact that I am over sensitive to her energy. Is my mom an alcoholic? Well…. That’s how it is. And I’m upset maybe a little; I’m not really fully in my healing, my recovery. I got to take responsibility for myself.

But now, I read “Zero Limits”—why don’t I take responsibility for the whole thing? What’s going on in my life, what is my energy pattern like, or what was it like, what was my karma, my “memory”, my lesson, what was all that, that I showed up with an alcoholic mother?

That thought actually felt good. There’s a Course In Miracles affirmation that’s like, My holiness is a blessing to (Johnnie, Susie, etc). That’s what it felt like.

And then, what sort of mother would show up, if I were really on my game with these God thoughts, right?

Maybe a loving mother would show up, or at least…. Just, mom, right. No disease, no undiagnosed pattern. Eventually.

Just mom.

So….

There’s nothing I can do, and yet, everything is the result of my actions. Through no fault of my own, I have chosen this particular situation, and I have the responsibility. I have the power.

It’s the best of the Native or pre-industrial or Enneagram Nine person pattern.

There are a lot of mysteries and paradoxes, you know. Perfect words…. Or divine silence?

But, hey.

The greatest mystery: I love you.

An entire book based on a weekend seminar. Vitale swallows the Hawaiian doctor's story hook, line and sinker without bothering to check it out. He relies on the mans word for the miraculous healing of criminal minds—by looking at records and thinking forgiving thoughts—that leads to the closing of an institution for the criminally insane. Did such an institution even exist? The book is a also come-on for further (expensive) seminars to further explore the doctor's concept, ho'oponopono. Vitale make snake-oil salesmen look like choir boys. ( )