Hoponopono (Ho’oponopono): healing through forgiveness

One of the traditions that best connects with positive psychology.

The Hoponopono (also known by the spelling Ho'oponopono) is a philosophy of conflict resolution and spiritual healing based on forgiveness, reconciliation and love.

Hoponopono (Ho'oponopono): forgiving oneself

Its origins go back to the first inhabitants of the Polynesian island of Hawaii, who used to practice healing rituals based on the Hoponopono philosophy. In the 20th century, Nalamaku Simeona adapted the ancient teachings and techniques to modern times and popularized what we now understand as Hoponopono.

Although in the ancient versions of this healing art the figure of the healer was instructed by priests, in the current version the action falls on the individual who wishes to be healed, so we can understand this spiritual art as a method of self-help.

Polynesian beliefs

In the popular cultures of the Polynesian islands it was believed that the mistakes that people made were the cause of diseases, since they enervated the spirits of the gods. Moved by this dogma, they thought that in order to purify the errors the individual had to confess to. If the person did not agree to the confession, he/she could fall ill and die. Keeping the error secret is what stimulated the disease to continue to develop.

In the paradigm of psychoanalysis, we could translate Polynesian beliefs by the concept of repression. As the conscience does not dispose of these negative elements for health, the tensions they provoke remain anchored in the psyche, and later become somatized. By confessing the error, the detrimental effect for the person is annulled, neutralized.

Ancestral practice of Hoponopono

"Ho'oponopono means, in Hawaiian, something like mental hygieneThe term "Ho'oponopono" means, in Hawaiian, something like mental hygiene: family assemblies where relationships are channeled and balanced through words, discussion, confession, compensation, repentance, sincere understanding towards others, forgiveness and, ultimately, love.

While the particle "ho'o" is a prefix that converts a noun into a verb, the noun "pono" can be defined as "goodness, morality, correctness, virtue, just, ethical...".

Thus, "ponopono" means "to redirectcorrect, correct, reorder...".

One of the most prominent researchers on Hawaiian tradition, Mary Pukuidescribed the first steps of Hoponopono in the Polynesian culture as "a family tradition in which family members met with other distant members of the same family and reconducted the problems between them, achieving forgiveness and understanding of the other".

Hoponopono was conceived as a spiritual method to restore the bad interpersonal relationships that led to pathologies and illnesses of the individual, and therefore of the group. It was able to get to the source of the problems, and it was believed that this also improved individual and family relationships with the gods, who provided certain essential elements for spiritual peace.

Hoponopono today

Of course, the concept of Hoponopono is not due to experimental psychology and the psychological intervention practices that contain it do not have the endorsement of science. Despite this, it has been used in various contexts over the past decades.

Traditional application with offenders

During the second half of the 19th century, a prison program was implemented in Hawaii in which criminals had to work with an elder who led Hoponopono meetings with their families, as an alternative method to purge inter and intrapersonal conflicts.

Karma Catharsis

In the 1970s, traditional Hoponopono was adapted to the needs of industrial society. The philosophy of forgiveness and conflict resolution was extended to social problems, and it also acquired, on the other hand, a psycho-spiritual character. psycho-spiritual character of purification of the emotional ballast of each individual.

This adaptation put much emphasis on the effects of negative Karma. Being aware of and experiencing for oneself the Pain you have caused others is one of its foundations. Hoponopono philosophy has elements of solipsism, going so far as to affirm that "each one is the creator of his own life and circumstances. Every immoral action leaves an imprint in one's psyche and is reflected in every object or living being that witnessed that moment".

The cleansing or purification of karma becomes an indispensable requisite for the expansion of consciousness.

Hoponopono: without limits

The 21st century versions of Hoponopono stress the importance of reaching "the state of zero, where there are no limits, no attachments, no memory, no identity". To reach such a state, called "Self-I-Dentity," one must recurrently repeat to oneself the following mantra:

Please forgive me. I am so sorry. I love you.

The underlying philosophy of modern-day Hoponopono advocates the assumption of full responsibility for our actions and those of others.. Conflicts, then, arise from oneself and never by the force of an external reality. If one wants to change one's personal reality, one must change oneself. Although this postulate resembles solipsism, the truth is that Hoponopono does not deny the reality of other people's consciousness.

Instead, Hoponopono conceives of the computation of the consciousnesses that inhabit the world as interlocking pieces. If one cleanses one's own consciousness of the errors committed, one will be cleansing the consciousness of all. Undoubtedly, a philosophy that can help us to understand ourselves better and to be more connected with the people around us.

Introductory book

Do you dare to try this philosophy? I invite you to get the book by Dr. Mª Carmen Martínez. Dr. Mª Carmen Martínez by clicking on this link.

Bibliographic references:

• Pukui, Mary Kawena and Elbert, Samuel H., University of Hawaii (1986) ISBN 978-0-8248-0703-0
• Simeona, Morrnah, Self-Identity through Hoʻoponopono.Basic 1, Pacifica Seminars (1990)