Ho’oponopono and The Law of Polarity

Life is full of opposites and it’s by embracing the contrast that we can gain a deeper perspective of our own lives. The Law of Polarity is all about understanding and appreciating this contrast. So next time you’re experiencing tough times, remember that they are just as important as the good times in helping you to grow and learn.

What if a bad relationship is actually a blessing in disguise? It may help you to appreciate a good one (and to know what you’re looking for moving forward). Rainy days help you appreciate the sunny ones, and too much sun can help you appreciate the rain.

There is always an opposite to everything. By understanding and embracing this fact, we can gain a deeper perspective of our own lives. The law of polarity helps us to do this by providing contrast in our lives. The bad times help us to appreciate the good.

At least, that’s the conventional wisdom. According to Donald D. Hoffman (Professor of Cognitive Sciences, University of California, Irvine), what we experience isn’t the full data. Just as a bad relationship may be seen only against a rarely seen backdrop of a good one, so what comes to our attention is being viewed against everything we don’t know (and sometimes never can, or will know).

Gestalt psychologists call this kind of split the background and foreground. Occasionally, ambiguity may occur in which the background and foreground of something may be switched (although both may never be seen recognised at once).

The ancient Taoists, codified this knowledge, thus:

• • • Everything is a differentiation of one Infinity
    • Everything changes
    • All antagonisms are complementary
    • There is nothing identical.
    • What has a front has a back.
    • The bigger the front the bigger the back
    • What has a beginning has an end.

The aim of ho’oponopono is to recognise both our infinite nature, whilst recognising that each of us isn’t identical.

What differentiates us are our experiences, as well as those who came before us (either as ancestors, or in past-lives). These can be the same, yet most likely aren’t.

From our ancestors we get our unique appearances, as well as strengths and weaknesses of health and other predispositions. Our past lives, however, are packed with Karmic Data by which our decisions get measured into those which were understood as ‘good’ and others that are commonly believed to be ‘bad’.

It is from our Karmic Data that our ancestors in this life get chosen. So, for example, when we have a special attachment to an individual in a lifetime (perhaps we were their parent) we could return in a future incarnation as their child, or even as a business or marital partner.

On the other hand, once we’ve discharged all the Karmic attachment, we had with someone, they will never again appear in our lives.

Ho’oponopono is all about shedding attachments so that we are able to move on inspired by our undifferentiated state. This makes us sensitive to everything we may encounter. Those who might wish to harm us are seen as fellow beings (rather than as enemies). A snail becomes as valuable as a pet animal, or even favourite pair of slippers. Common-place objects are recognised as having ‘souls’ and our fondness for them increases daily.

It follows from this, that those approaching such a state by practicing ho’oponopono (or by some other cause) are not affected by the Law of Opposites, because Zero is the undifferentiated state.