Ho’oponopono Origins
The short history of ho’oponopono is very simple. Morrnah Nalamaku Simeona adapted and made public a version of conflict resolution during the 1960s, 70s and 80s.
As a result various forms of her discipline have evolved. These include those developed within the organisation she founded The Foundation of I, Inc., as well as some sold by others.
Details of the development of these and the traditional form of ho’oponopono are explained below.
The Polynesians and the Development of Ho’opononopono
European and Western Influences on Ho’oponopono
Nineteenth and Twentieth Century History
Morrnah Nalamaku Simeona’s Ho’oponopono
Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len
The Influence of Dr. Joe Vitale
Mabel Katz and the Spanish connection
Twenty-First Century Problems
The Polynesians and the Development of Ho'opononopono.
Polynesia is a huge part of Oceania. It’s made up of more than 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean.
The indigenous people who inhabit these islands are called Polynesians.
They were traditionally sea-faring people whose main source of food and income was fishing.
They have many things in common, including language relatedness, cultural practices, and traditional beliefs.
These beliefs have a strong influence upon the roots of ho’oponopono.
Traditional Polynesians were wonderfully skilled people. Not only could they navigate by using the stars when sailing at night, they also had highly developed spiritual senses which enabled them to travel long distances by sea intuitively.
It’s believed that human beings originally migrated from Africa on foot. Although this held some danger of getting eaten by predators, or dying from want of food, or drink, a constant danger of drowning didn’t feature in this kind of life.
The largest land mass in Polynesia are the islands of New Zealand, whose native inhabitants are the war-like Maoris.
Yet, if you want to best understand the Polynesian mind you could do no worse than consider their non-Polynesian neighbours the native aborigines of Australia.
These people have a different root from Polynesians, having believed to have come to Australia no later than 11,700 years ago, and maybe even earlier when the land masses were closer, and much of the remaining seas were ice.
The point is, that even today, native aborigines know how to walk for miles, over arid plains where few Westerner’s would survive without special equipment.
Some know how to travel in their imaginations into space, and far away galaxies (which you will later understand is significant in the understanding of ho’oponopono).
Aborigines will sometimes (as with other traditional people) gather together in a circle around a campfire where they may travel in a shared vision of another region of the galaxy.
Some say that Colonel John Glenn saw evidence of this when travelling in Friendship 7 (a Mercury spacecraft mission).
He saw luminescent particles which resembled fireflies or even camp-fire sparks through his window.
The official version today is that he was NOT visited by Aboriginal fireflies attracted to the light of a campfire below him, but frozen sewage ejected from his spacecraft.
In centuries past, Polynesians had a strong shared tradition of sailing and using stars to navigate at night.
Yet (like the land-dwelling Aborigines) they also have a highly developed sense of ‘dreamtime‘ which enabled them to sail vast distances in small craft.
We may think of dreamtime as being similar to the Divine Intuitions experienced from time to time in ho’oponopono.
You may not know why you’re travelling in a certain direction, or going to a particular island, yet you’re certain that it’s the right thing to be doing.
The seas promised huge dangers to Polynesian explorers, yet inspired with a solid sense of who they knew themselves to really be, they did so willingly.
You may think that the differences in yesterday’s Polynesian culture from ours to be too great to bridge, and so that ho’oponopono may not work for you.
This isn’t true. Think of parkour, or free climbing. Both are skills way beyond most of us to manage, yet people with similar neurology to yours are able to perform them, despite the dangers involved.
Today, the greatest number of Polynesians are situated on the islands of Hawaii.
This is also thought to be the birthplace of ho’oponopono.
Pacifying Warrior Fishermen
When people suffer under a common oppressor they have what’s called ‘The Blitz Mentality’. They will band together, co-operate, and help each other to meet the common adversity.
Yet, when there is a shortage of food, or some other resource, disputes sometimes occur between different groups.
The actions which stem from this are thought (in ho’oponopono) to be errors.
By far the greatest of these is to become identified with the problem, rather than to consider that your foes and you are witnessing shared ‘karmic-data’ from different perspectives.
On a group of islands like Hawaii these kinds of dispute occurred from time to time.
The ancient Polynesian elders (Kahunas) could see at once that the common error was to abandon ‘dreamtime’ in favour of a different reality where everything was divided into outer, and inner. Fighting was seen by people in that state as the only answer to problems.
It’s simple to understand how this may come about if you consider the ways in which each generation revisits and reviews their parent’s ideas.
Suppose that the parents are wrong, and this life of an inner world of imagination, and an outer one of ‘reality’ is correct after all?
It was to resolve the problems between potentially warring tribal groups for which ho’oponopono was developed.
In fact, ho’oponopono was never a ‘thing’ in its own right, it was enacted as a rite.
Even today, some wise people continue to refer to performing a ho’oponopono.
There are many phases to performing a ho’oponopono. It’s facilitated by an elder (sometimes more than one) and may take several hours, or even days.
The ho’oponopono is never a compromise. It’s not really about compensation (although there may be some transfer of property or working hours).
It’s about correcting the original error.
In mathematics as applied to psychology, we talk of First and Second Order change.
First Order Change would be to provide a tribal group with twelve baskets of fish, and perhaps marry some couples between the tribes (although the Polynesians weren’t particularly wed to specific partners in ways that we can imagine).
Second Order Change is to recognise the root cause of the problem as forgetting that members of each tribe had more in common than what separated them.
The traditional symbol for a person in ho’oponopono is a triangle within a square.
The square represents the Divinity that we all share, are, and are a part of. It is the beginning and the end of everything, unchanging, never was, never will be yet lasts throughout eternity.
The ancient Kahunas recognised this, and I’ll discuss it again later in this article.
European and Western Influences on Ho'oponopono
In the West we often think that Hawaii was ‘discovered’ by Captain James Cook (in 1778) or his French contemporary Compt de la Laperouse (in 1786 and thus getting to the island of Maui before anyone else).
This is, of course, total nonsense since Polynesians from Tahiti occupied the islands in around 1000 CE.
It is said that, even before the Polynesians arrived on Hawaii from Tahiti, that there were indigenous people living on the islands. These people were known as the Mu.
They were thought to have been no more than 5 feet (1.52 meters) tall. Most were smaller. As the islands were over-run, they made a stand on the island of Molikai which was the richest of all the islands (because it could feed and water its inhabitants and help other islands too).
There they used magic to create an invisible wall which the invading Polynesians couldn’t penetrate. As a result, they were pushed back into the sea.
Regardless of the truth of this story, there are certain features of a pre-existing island people which make intuitive sense.
Firstly, I just ‘know’ Hawaiian culture to be older than an invasion in 1,000 CE.
Secondly, this original way of being is said to be entirely spiritual (rather than war-like as are many elements of Polynesian culture).
Thirdly, it’s rather common for invaders using better technology to invade places, yet then over time be converted to an adapted version of the original (native) ways.
Fourthly, the original belief system (known as Pono) is based upon a matriarchal society. In this context ‘Pono’ translates as becoming one with yourself. Today, in ho’oponopono we talk of Karmic-Data, and think of the subconscious inner-child as being like a computer which records data. The original islanders believed that each of us was a bowl. On our journey we would pick up rocks and fill it. The aim of Pono was to restore its emptiness by replacing the rocks with white light.
Many teachers (and followers) of ho’oponopono today are women.
Fifthly, this belief system held that everything was imbued with life and so alive. This included water, rocks, trees, earthworms, as well as man-made objects. Perhaps this explains why both Morrnah Nalamaku Simeona and Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len would both hold conversations with them.
The website for the Hawaiian Kingdom (a pressure group seeking the restoration of Hawaii to independence from the United States of America, puts the original Polynesian occupation between 1 and 300 A.D. Some stories (chants or songs) about the Mu begins their history on Hawaii even earlier.
That said, there seems to be little, or no, archaeological evidence to support any claims of the islands being occupied before around 1000 CE.
Westerners brought with them a unique form of Christianity, which changed the Polynesian way of life dramatically.
At around the time of Captain Cook’s visit, in another part of the world, England had just lost the War of Independence to American settlers.
On the other hand, they had defeated France in the Seven Years’ War as a result the French had lost a number colonies.
Life was hard for everyone in those times, not least seamen. Britain had yet to set up a penal colony in Australia’s Botany Bay. The French hadn’t yet gone through the indignity of starvation, a revolution, and become a republic. Fletcher Christian was alive, but yet to discover Pitcairn Island. Hangings and floggings were common, and the punishments for minor infractions severe by today’s standards.
These facts put some perspective onto the infrequent habit Polynesians had of sacrificing humans.
Captain Cook witnessed such an event on Tahiti during one of his voyages.
Such behaviour took place elsewhere including on the Hawaiian Islands.
Captain Cook writes very little in his journals about Hawaii. It’s known that he regarded his visit to the islands as one of the high points of his many experiences.
His crew members recorded more of Hawaiian lifestyle. Cook and the senior people in his crew, were rationalists. They are the precursors of today’s modern people.
The Hawaiians, however, are more like English and Gallic Celts of pre-Roman times.
Their beliefs were more pantheistic, and they were sensitive to energy (omens) as they occurred within nature.
You may wonder how human sacrifice relates to today’s ho’oponopono? Well it does, because when we kill, maim or harm another in order to further our own ends (as in the obvious case of a sacrifice) we incur a Karmic-Debt.
Our ancestors may have felt that a sacrifice (or a killing, flogging, theft, or other action) appropriate yet great harm is done.
Today, we may attempt to disguise our actions by making them seem like computer games by using drones and the like. Soldiers on the front lines, however, know the prices that must be paid to be at war. Many suffer the effects of battle fatigue or are plagued with post-traumatic-stress.
In some respects, the immediate harm displayed by warlike and other events is less harmful than that done where our actions upon others are ‘sanitised’ by using technology.
The Church in Hawaii
The first missionaries arrived in Hawaii in around 1820. They weren’t regular Christians but were Bostonians who had originally settled in the USA because of European religious persecution.
Like most missionary groups its members sought to persuade the local population to discard their native garb, together with their customs and pray to the Christian God. In particular, they attacked the Hawaiian diet, stating that breadfruit was satanic, and many other common ingredients ‘pagan’.
One of the most powerful converts, Queen Kaahumanu, embraced Christianity, imposed it to the rest of the kingdom, and banned Hawaiian religious practices.
This inevitably resulted in the traditional Kahuna practices going ‘underground’, although some were injected into Christian rituals.
Nevertheless, The missionaries’ continued through their descendants. Religion became embroiled in politics and has formed a motivating factor in Hawaii’s Westernization.
By the 1860s, the original Bostonian missionaries were outnumbered by their Anglican peers, and even Catholic churches were established.
This remains the case today.
Now most native Hawaiians practice Christianity, yet adopt more traditional Polynesian practices when they feel that either Science, or Christianity lets them down.
Human sacrifices haven’t taken place for centuries, yet some food is offered after a traditional ho’oponopono ceremony.
Why Did Hawaiians Adapt To Christianity So Quickly?
One of the main similarities between Christianity and traditional Polynesian practices is that the former proposes that there is one God, comprised of three manifestations.
Polynesian belief overlapped with this idea of a single unknowable, indefatigable, entity. Moreover, humans were said (in pono) to have three aspects (the mother, father, and child).
Yet, in pono there were many more beings (all of whom needed to be placated, if you were to lead a long peaceful, prosperous, healthy life).
Three factors played into the Hawaiian mindset.
Firstly, the early explorers came in sophisticated ships from a greater distance, and were better armed that their Hawaiian counterparts.
Secondly, The Christian system was new to them. It upturned older power divisions, and was simpler to appreciate. It was also the religion of their queen.
Thirdly, for some indigenous Hawaiians the strange white people were viewed as gods. As such their ‘God of gods’ was an attractive proposition.
The Christian Bible is full of parables, and stories, and this was (and still is) also the method by which Pono is transmitted.
Christianity was, most likely, less severe than the common European experience of it (which had proven itself to be brutal).
Ho'oponopono's Nineteenth and Twentieth Century History.
By 1860 the Polynesian practices were well underground, yet it was an open-secret who the Kahunas were, and what their specialisms entailed.
What many fail to appreciate is that on Hawaii there are countless numbers of kahuna.
There are, for example, canoe builders who rather than simply make boats, also imbue them with magical qualities.
When you consider the skill Polynesian sailors traditionally displayed, you can appreciate why such kahunas were significant.
There were (and still are) kahunas who dispensed herbal medicine. These were important because Westerners didn’t know Hawaiian plants, nor was their form of medicine always as effective as a traditional remedy back in 1860.
There were practitioners of ‘low magic’. They might find you the love of your life, or give you a charm that might make you wealthy.
There were dark magicians. These kahunas could make people ill through the use of various kinds of manipulation (such as using one of your hairs, or pieces of clothing to enact a curse).
Some might even kill you, for a price.
Every kind of kahuna had their own skill, and presented an apprentice with particular challenges.
Only the highest regarded kahunas practiced in a pure way and were qualified to complete a ho’oponopono on behalf of a group, or family.
Each type of kahuna carried their own ‘secrets’ (which we might think of as trade secrets).
These were learned by apprenticeship, or intuition.
In traditional Hawaiian society both royalty, and higher (court) kahunas formed an elite. These people weren’t expected to fish or cultivate the land.
They are the sole group in society that did not do so, instead working on ‘unseen’ forces which might disturb the workings of their community.
As the Hawaiian court disintegrated (due to the politics of Christian rulers) this practice ceased.
Sometimes rituals would be performed to aid an ‘initiate’ in their journey toward their full wisdom as a kahuna.
Many kahunas were born into families where the tradition was passed down from generation to generation.
Not all children were considered suitable to be kahunas, because the work of a kahuna brought with it a special form of responsibility, and took quite a lot of energy, as well as time spent learning the particular discipline needed to practice wisely.
Morrnah Nalamaku Simeona was just such a kahuna.
Morrnah Nalamaku Simeona's Ho'oponopono
Morrnah was deeply immersed and trained in traditional ho’oponopono. Her mother was a kahuna, for whom the young Morrnah would run errands and collect the herbs needed for her mother’s work.
The mischievous child discovered one day that rather than travelling the vast distance her mother had suggested, she could instead simply mentally imagine the herb having the desired effect, and it would.
Of course, the mother eventually caught on to the fact that Morrnah wasn’t travelling far at all and chastised her.
Nevertheless, the knowledge remained in Morrnah’s mind, and this may have formed part of the root of today’s ho’oponopono which uses her refined method.
Before jumping ahead too far however, I want you to be aware of another wonderful kahuna from a traditional family.
Aunty Mahilani’s Story About Traditional Ho’oponopono
Aunty Mahilani Poepoe. Aunty is a honorary term many use when addressing a true kahuna.
Like Morrnah, Aunty Mahilani was brought up in a traditional kahuna family.
In her case, though, it wasn’t her mother who trained her but her grandfather.
She once told an interesting story about him.
Her grandfather knew of a man who ‘hated’ him. The man didn’t believe in the power of kahunas, or the old Polynesian ways. He considered her grandfather to be a fraud (although most others thought of him as a kind and generous fisherman).
One day, the man’s son came to see the grandfather. He said that the man was very ill, and dying. He said that the man had asked that he call at his house before he died because he wished to be at peace with him.
The grandfather told the son that although he wouldn’t visit the man, he would pray for him.
Time passed, and it wasn’t until the end of the day that the grandfather made his prayer.
Aunty Mahilani was surprised when the prayer said wasn’t for the man, but for the grandfather to be forgiven for causing another human being so much offence.
When questioned about this, the grandfather said that anyone can pray for another, yet to seek forgiveness for your own part in a problem takes far more courage, and is much more powerful.
Over the following few days, the man slowly recovered his strength. He lived many more happy years.
The fascinating detail of the story is that both Aunty Mahilani and her grandfather were both trained in the ‘old school’ of ho’oponopono. In it the purpose of a kahuna is to facilitate an agreement between all parties and thus ‘correct their errors’.
Yet, the grandfather is clearly demonstrating the ‘new school’ ho’oponopono which Morrnah taught to everyone she came into contact with.
This suggests that wise kahunas already knew the method, even before Morrnah refined it and it was released to Westerners.
The Development of Morrnah’s Ho’oponopono
Morrnah worked as a medical herbalist, a masseuse, and also taught her own method of ho’oponopono which is to take total responsibility for whatever comes into our awareness.
She did not simply ‘parrot’ the four popular phrases which people associate with ho’oponopono today. She tended to perform the longer ho’oponopono which she had learned whilst practicing in the traditional way.
Over time, however, various people came to train with her. One of the earliest and best known is Kamaile Rafaelovich who has written a series of books along with Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len (which are based upon their radio series).
IZI LLC was one of the very first organisations to provide training in Morrnah’s version of ho’oponopono. It continues to do so (using its own qualified trainers) on an international basis.
Morrnah is thought to have psychic abilities. She was able to talk with devas and other natural entities, just as people have since learned to do at Findhorn, in Scotland.
She also introduced the idea that one might mentally avoid making new karmic connections through various visualisation techniques.
A great respecter of the land, and nature in general, Morrnah worked throughout all of her life. As a result she has a loyal following, which is independent from other (more recent) schools of Western ho’oponopono.
Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len
Dr. Hew Len was born in 1939. He grew up in, Hawaii and attended the University of Colorado where he received a degree in Psychology. He moved to the University of Utah where he gained a MS degree in special education before another move to the University of Iowa where he gained a doctorate. For many years he taught and practiced psychology.
Dr. Hew Len met Morrnah Simeona, founder of Self I-Dentity through Ho’oponopono, in 1982.
He signed up to no less than five courses before completing one of them. He so hated what they stood for, and he thought Morrnah to be ‘crazy’.
After many attempts he completed the first course, before going on to train as an instructor.
Morrnah taught what has come to be known as Self Identity Through Ho’oponopono (SITH®).
It’s all about taking total responsibility for whatever appears in your life, rather than attempting to manipulate it by using forceful means.
In this sense, her contemporary ho’oponopono exactly mirrors that of her ancestors (who would attempt to correct the error of wrongful identification with problems or circumstances between tribal groups).
Together with Morrnah they taught in the USA, Canada, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Denmark, Poland, Sweden, Belgium, Italy, Argentina, United Kingdom, and the United Nations.
Dr. Hew Len one said that ho’oponopono originated not in Hawaii but in a far away galaxy. It’s not clear if this is his personal insight, or if he learned about it from Morrnah.
Rather than jumping to the conclusion that he must have been insane (or talking about a visit to Hawaii by aliens) it’s far simpler to consider the exceptional abilities of his Polynesian ancestors to travel vast distances using their imaginations.
Many guided meditations involve travelling to unlikely places and be given spiritual insights by keepers of wisdom.
The first recorded case of a skin condition being treated with ho’oponopono
Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len was the first person who got documented and confirmed proof of the healing miracles initiated by the Ho’oponopono process. Dr. Hew Len observed Hooponopono healing powers himself when Morrnah Nalamaku Simeona healed his daughter from painful bleeding shingles (a skin disease) that she had suffered with for more than a decade. No-one and nothing was helping.
Dr. Hew Len reports that one weekend he was driving his family when his vehicle took control. It took him to his own office where Morrnah Simeona (the founder of modern-day ho’oponopono was waiting).
She performed a healing ceremony (using the longer ho’oponopono process).
Eight months later Dr. Hew Len’s daughter was completely free of her skin condition.
It’s worth noting that by the time that Morrnah intervened Dr. Hew Len was at his ‘wits end’.
His daughter failed to respond to any conventional (allopathic) treatments. She had also been sick since birth.
As a result, he was fully converted to the ho’oponopono way of doing things.
He travelled with Morrnah to Russia, China, Egypt, Israel, and Japan as part of their work.
When Morrnah died peacefully in 1992, Dr. Hew Len returned to his native Hawaii to continue the work using her unique self-identity process (SITH®).
He joined with coordinators and instructors to conduct SITH® classes, lectures and be interviewed around the world travelling to the USA, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Romania, The Netherlands, Turkey, United Kingdom, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Australia, Japan and Dubai.
Dr. Hew Len retired from lecturing in 2015, yet assisted by members of the local community of ho’oponopono practitioners, he continued to clean on people who attended SITH® courses and classes.
The Influence of Dr. Joe Vitale
photo credit Aquamarine
Joe Vitale has long been a student of metaphysical matters and writing. After many years living in poverty whilst performing menial jobs he got a real break when the Internet Entrepreneur, Colonel Mark Joyner, persuaded him to publish a digital book on-line.
For some time Joe was a student of the controversial ‘guru’ Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (Osho). Later he began to publish works about marketing using hypnotic techniques.
Perhaps due to his early poverty, he’s always been fascinated by how people make money.
After so many years of struggle, this one publication changed his life. He started to thrive.
His doctorate is in metaphysics from the (unaccredited) University of Metaphysics in Sedona, Arizona.
Notwithstanding the status of the university, Joe’s thesis is well-researched and workmanlike.
Joe Vitale is an incredibly hard working man who constantly publishes articles and books both on-line and off-line. His most popular book remains ‘The Attractor Factor‘, which was first published back in 2005.
In its original form it was titled ‘Spiritual Marketing’ and published some years earlier.
Intended as a private publication, the Canadian Self-Help author Bob Proctor persuaded Joe to both talk about it, and later to release it publicly.
Joe Vitale made a huge contribution to the West by packaging ho’oponopono more attractively to the public.
After being told of a doctor from Hawaii who had reputedly ‘cured’ a ward full of criminally insane patients through the practice of ho’oponopono, Joe sought him out.
Dr. Hew Len is commonly thought to have achieved his miraculous ‘cure’ by uttering four phrases whilst studying patient’s case notes.
Yet, although Dr. Hew Len most certainly used the four phrases, he also said that he did not ‘do’ (accomplish) it alone. Also, that it wasn’t easy.
A number of workshops conducted by Joe and Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len were commissioned.
Joe also wrote a book with Dr. Hew Len which is published by John Wiley and Co. and titled Zero Limits: The Secret Hawaiian System for Wealth, Health, Peace and More.
The book is well-written and researched. It’s been followed up by some other books by Joe Vitale, notably At Zero: The Quest for Miracles through Ho’oponopono.
Both the workshops and the books have brought fresh audiences into experiencing ho’oponopono.
Whilst Joe Vitale has done much to publicise ho’oponopono, this hasn’t come without a cost.
Dr. Hew Len, always taught that it was our job to clean in order to get back to a state of Void, or Zero.
This was the sole aim of ho’oponopono, rather than to seek material objects, money, health, relationships etc.
He believed that once an individual is balanced, and clear of data-like memories then Divinity would provide them with both inspiration and also whatever tools they needed to complete the next part of their lives.
Some of Joe Vitale’s focus on money, health and relationships – both in publications and also e-mails confuses some people.
His independent stance on ho’oponopono, bringing training on-line, selling courses at discounted prices and generally marketing effectively to a hungry public, hasn’t always endeared him to the wider ho’oponopono community.
Mabel Katz and the Spanish Connection
photo credit Muhammad Ali Khalid
Mabel Katz was born in Argentina. Her first spoken language is Spanish.
Mabel moved to Los Angeles in 1983 and started her career as an accountant and tax advisor.
While she was working as an accountant, she began attending self-growth seminars and in 1997, she met Ihaleakalá Hew Len.
She taught Self I-dentity through Ho’opnopono through the Foundation of I Inc. from 2000 until 2004, when she asked permission to use their materials and started presenting her own Ho’oponopono trainings.
In 2008 she left her career as a tax accountant in Los Angeles to become a full-time Ho’oponopono teacher and speaker.
Mabel studied Ho’oponopono with Dr. Hew Len, for twelve years.
She says, before she started practicing ho’oponopono, she got angry easily and that ho’oponopono helped her in managing her anger.
In an interview, Mabel told that she became an accountant because somebody told her she was good with numbers, but that “was not her passion”.
She hosts the Mabel Katz Show, a TV show aimed at improving the lives of the community and individuals.
Mabel also delivers seminars to teach individuals how to achieve “inner peace in order to promote world peace.”
She created and owns a trademark for the term ‘Zero Frequency’. Zero frequency refers to no static or bad connections and no memories.
A seminar of the same name is delivered by her. In it, she discusses techniques to achieve mind clarity.
Although Mabel speaks good (American) English many of her conferences, recordings, written materials, and TV shows are conducted in Spanish.
Spanish is the second most spoken language in the United States. There are over 41 million people aged five or older who speak Spanish at home.
The United States has the second largest Spanish-speaking population in the world, ahead of Spain.
Spanish is also the most learned language other than English, with about six million students.
As a result, there’s a hungry market for Mabel Katz’s self-help products.
Sadly, although the ho’oponopono model taught by Morrnah Nalamaku Simeona was all about correcting the error which causes most of us to consider ‘reality’ to simply be what we perceive outwardly, some of Mabel’s followers (as with Joe Vitale) are hungry to achieve worldly success, rather than spiritual wisdom.
She is the author of The Easiest Way book series based on Ho’oponopono.
The first book of the series was The Easiest Way; Solve Your Problems and Take The Road to Love, Happiness, Wealth and The Life of Your Dreams.
In the book, she told her own story about finding her identity and freedom using ho’oponopono.
The book has been translated into 15 languages.
Other books in the series include The Easiest Way to Live, The Easiest Way Pocket Edition and The Easiest Way to Understanding Ho’oponopono (which later became part of The Easiest Way and then was released as The Easiest Way Special Edition).
In 2011, she wrote the fifth book of this series titled, The Easiest Way to Grow. This is also available in English and Spanish as an audio presentation.
Twenty-First Century Problems
Unfortunately, ho’oponopono seems to be getting lost in materialism. This may either be either a desire to gain in power, success, health, relationships, or things; or that pernicious less definable quality of spiritual materialism.
It’s always been the case that for every person who discovered something precious about the process of being a human being, a host of ‘disciples’ have attempted to articulate it according to the ‘filters’ of their own karmic-data.
As a result, many sensible ways of managing living in this world are tainted by falsehood, and misinformation.
It’s not helped by those souls who make attempts to ‘get at the truth’ yet can only see as far as the dominant narrative of their particular society.
For example Wailana Kalama (writing for the BBC) states correctly: ‘Practiced since as long as Hawaiians can remember, hoʻoponopono is necessary on an island where space and resources are limited and the community is key to survival.’
Yet, further down her piece she inaccurately attributes ‘Aunty Malia Craver, a Hawaiian cultural practitioner, who was the first to introduce the concept onto a global stage. In 2000, she made a speech at the 53rd annual DPI/NGO Conference at the United Nations in New York, and spoke about concepts relating to hoʻoponopono.’
Yet records show that both Morrnah Nalamaku Simeona, and also Aunty Mahilani Poe Poe spoke on ho’oponopono at the U.N. long before her.
I agree with Laulani Teale, an activist trained in hoʻoponopono, who says: ‘When things are taken out of our cultures and applied in ways in which those outside the culture want to apply them, especially for profit, there is almost always a problem.’
On the other hand, profit is currently a driving force within Western society, which wasn’t the case when ho’oponopono was developing.
Nor was it part of Hawaiian beliefs (which in common with many other natural societies, prided themselves in only producing, or taking what they needed from the land).
Yet, it’s plain wrong to deprive another community of a powerful tool, simply because they live elsewhere.
For my part, I prefer to believe that the purpose of ho’oponopono is, and always has been to correct the error of perception which holds that there is a self, and there are others. The self’s nature is to take (be selfish) and the others must resist until defeated,
It’s far better to take 100% responsibility for all the Karmic-Data which filters our perception, and as a result to wipe clean the slate, both for ourselves and also for others.
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