Is Ho’oponopono Christian?

If you’re reading this then the chances are that you’re of a Christian persuasion. More importantly though, which flavour of Christianity are you? The answer to this question will filter your beliefs about and ability to perform a ho’oponopono.

If you’re a born-again Southern Baptist who believes that ‘If English was good enough for Jesus Christ, then it’s good enough for you’, then no amount of blog-hopping will make it right for you to make a ho’oponopono.

You’re simply looking for confirmation of your own beliefs.

Most folk, who believe themselves Christians, aren’t like you and for these people the question requires more serious thought.

Firstly: you won’t find the word (or even the explicit concept of a ho’oponopono mentioned in either book of the Christian Bible). This count alone should tell you that ho’oponopono (whatever else it may be) isn’t part of the Christian doctrine.

This is also true for many other contemporary concepts such as those of psychology, the release technique, modern pharmaceuticals, yet untrue for astrology as well as ideas about taking revenge, or being a good human being.

Some claim that ho’oponopono may pre-date Christianity, having been created by the original occupants of Hawaii (who were small people by today’s standards and known as the Mu).

Secondly: contemporary ho’oponopono was (until recently) a ceremony practiced by those of an oppressed ethnic group.

These people were exposed to Christian influences from the eighteenth century onwards and missionaries (following a number of Christian doctrines) have influenced the Hawaiian people’s ideas.

In many ways, they are a microcosm of wider society. Some follow only Christian ways (yet may be married to non-believers). The reverse is obviously true. Most, however, are pragmatic and gravitate to what works for them in times of crisis.

Thirdly: people like Morrnah Nalamaku Simeona (the founder of today’s wider understanding of ho’oponopono) were brought up following both the traditional  Kahuna way, and also the Christian way. She attended a Roman Catholic school yet her mother was a kahuna lapaʻau (herbalist and healer) as was Morrnah.

Fourthly: ho’oponopono is not (and cannot be) part of the low magic of various traditional ‘dark’ magicians. However, as some are beginning to adapt it, various activities which are may be performed in its name.

The Rev. Tony Roebuck from the Unity Church (in the heart of Texas) favours ho’oponopono in its contemporary form.

He says:

‘We have a tendency to think that that we have our subconscious mind and then everybody else has got their subconscious mind yet the reality is what we have is a little pool of unconsciousness that is really connected to all other subconscious minds and we’re all divinely connected.

‘If you think about it this way it’s kind of like looking at your fingers, we think that we’re these fingers but the reality is that we’re all connected down below. So, it’s valuable for us to remember that and to understand that we have not only this amazing connection on a subconscious level we certainly have it on a super conscious level as well.

‘The super consciousness is all connected as well and our super conscious mind is that part of us that is really divinely connected. It’s in line with the divine awareness, divine intelligence and it’s in alignment with the essence of what God is, and God as we learn in Scripture is loved.

‘Simply put God is love. There are many emanations of what love is also but love is the very interesting transmuting energy of the divine.’

He goes on to say more is experienced in alignment with our super self, we are at the core of our nature and our being. We are experiencing and expressing more of ourselves through our conscious minds and our subconscious minds having aligned ourselves with our Christ nature, we have a whole divine nature.

Understanding that we cannot control what happens out there is valuable and significant. Only what’s going on here is really under our control. Whenever something enters your awareness, you have the power to heal it. Any experience you have can be healed, regardless of the circumstances or the situation you are in. Change your feelings about that circumstance in order to heal it.

Love is a word we use in our Western society in many different ways, and many of them don’t quite convey what it means.

When we tune ourselves into a consciousness of God within ourselves, there is an experience that we have that I am not sure words can express. The way we tune ourselves into and focus on our awareness is by taking note of and focusing on the divine energy of love.

Love is what we talk about when we talk about God. Love is the creator, and God is the creator. The world doesn’t reflect that consciousness of love, which is something else, something different. Something more than that is a memory, a thought, or a belief system.
Ultimately, separation from divine love is some form of fear.

As the Rev Tony Roebuck preached: ‘Ho’oponopono brings us back to what Jesus called a peace that passes all understanding’.

In Corinthians 5 verse 19 it’s written: ‘To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.’

In other words, God is less concerned with our faults (because they are simply data replaying) but seeks for us to reconcile our personal consciousness with the light of God (or Divinity).

So, what about wars, the persecution of warlocks and witches, illnesses, losses, death and sufferings? Did Jesus (and many who have followed his teachings) really need to die on the cross?

When we attempt to change history for our worldly purposes, we are operating within the narrative of their being a real world that’s objective, and out there, and there is suffering which is inside within our thoughts and feelings that we experience.

One of my favourite Biblical quotes came from Jesus during the last week of his life. He said (in Mark 12 vs 17):

‘Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.’

In other words, being a Christian, or chanting ho’oponopono sayings, doesn’t relieve you of your worldly obligations. They will, however, help you to realise what is being revealed to you.

The aim is never to change the world, instead, it’s to change ourselves so that we may be reconciled with a God who is constant and always a part of us, who is always separate from us, knows us, and cares not one fig for anything we have apparently achieved or done.

Our true nature is God. God is love (the ground of all being). The world is within each of us and us such the essential message of ho’oponopono aligns with Christianity (although it can never be understood, historically, to have ever been part of it).