Article by Joe Vitale

"Two years ago, I heard about a therapist in Hawaii who cured a complete
ward
of criminally insane patients--without ever seeing any of them. The
psychologist would study an inmate's chart and then look within himself to
see how he created that person's illness. As he improved himself, the
patient improved.

When I first heard this story, I thought it was an urban legend. How could
anyone heal anyone else by healing himself? How could even the best
self-improvement master cure the criminally insane?

It didn't make any sense. It wasn't logical, so I dismissed the story.

However, I heard it again a year later. I heard that the therapist had used
a
Hawaiian healing process called ho 'oponopono. I had never heard of it, yet
I
couldn't let it leave my mind. If the story was at all true, I had to know
more.

I had always understood "total responsibility" to mean that I am responsible
for what I think and do. Beyond that, it's out of my hands. I think that
most
people think of total responsibility that way. We're responsible for what we
do, not what anyone else does--but that's wrong. The Hawaiian therapist who
healed those mentally ill people would teach me an advanced new perspective
about total responsibility.

His name is Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len. We probably spend an hour talking on our
first phone call. I asked him to tell me the complete story of his work as a
therapist. He explained that he worked at Hawaii State Hospital for four
years. That ward where they kept the criminally insane was dangerous.
Psychologists
quit on a monthly basis. The staff called in sick a lot or simply quit.
People would walk through that ward with their backs against the wall,
afraid of being attacked by patients. It was not a pleasant place to live,
work, or visit.

Dr. Len told me that he never saw patients. He agreed to have an office and
to review their files. While he looked at those files, he would work on
himself. As he worked on himself, patients began to heal.

"After a few months, patients that had to be shackled were being allowed to
walk freely," he told me. "Others who had to be heavily medicated were
getting
off their medications. And those who had no chance of ever being released
were being freed."

I was in awe.

"Not only that," he went on, "but the staff began to enjoy coming to work.
Absenteeism and turnover disappeared. We ended up with more staff than we
needed because patients were being released, and all the staff was showing
up to work. Today, that ward is closed."

This is where I had to ask the million dollar question: "What were you doing
within yourself that caused those people to change?"

"I was simply healing the part of me that created them," he said.

I didn't understand.

Dr. Len explained that total responsibility for your life means that
everything in your life- simply because it is in your life--is your
responsibility. In a literal sense the entire world is your creation.

Whew This is tough to swallow. Being responsible for what I say or do is
one
thing. Being responsible for what everyone in my life says or does is quite
another. Yet, the truth is this: if you take complete responsibility for
your
life, then everything you see, hear, taste, touch, or in any way experience
is
your responsibility because it is in your life.

This means that terrorist activity, the president, the economy--anything you
experience and don't like--is up for you to heal. They don't exist, in a
manner of speaking, except as projections from inside you. The problem isn't
with them, it's with you, and to change them, you have to change you.

I know this is tough to grasp, let alone accept or actually live. Blame is
far easier than total responsibility, but as I spoke with Dr. Len, I began
to
realize that healing for him and in ho 'oponopono means loving yourself. If
you
want to improve your life, you have to heal your life. If you want to cure
anyone--even a mentally ill criminal--you do it by healing you.

I asked Dr. Len how he went about healing himself. What was he doing,
exactly, when he looked at those patients' files?

"I just kept saying, 'I'm sorry' and 'I love you' over and over again," he
explained.

That's it?

That's it.

Turns out that loving yourself is the greatest way to improve yourself, and
as you improve yourself, your improve your world. Let me give you a quick
example of how this works: one day, someone sent me an email that upset me.
In the past I would have handled it by working on my emotional hot buttons
or by
trying to reason with the person who sent the nasty message. This time, I
decided
to try Dr. Len's method. I kept silently saying, "I'm sorry" and "I love
you,"
I didn't say it to anyone in particular. I was simply evoking the spirit of
love to heal within me what was creating the outer circumstance.

Within an hour I got an e-mail from the same person. He apologized for his
previous message. Keep in mind that I didn't take any outward action to get
that
apology. I didn't even write him back. Yet, by saying "I love you," I
somehow
healed within me what was creating him.

I later attended a ho 'oponopono workshop run by Dr. Len. He's now 70 years
old, considered a grandfatherly shaman, and is somewhat reclusive. He
praised
my book, The Attractor Factor. He told me that as I improve myself, my
book's
vibration will raise, and everyone will feel it when they read it. In short,
as
I improve, my readers will improve.

"What about the books that are already sold and out there?" I asked.

"They aren't out there," he explained, once again blowing my mind with his
mystic wisdom. "They are still in you."

In short, there is no out there

It would take a whole book to explain this advanced technique with the depth
it deserves. Suffice it to say that whenever you want to improve anything in
your life, there's only one place to look: inside you.

When you look, do it with love."

We believe only what we are aware of. What prevents us from deeper realisation and understanding is the belief or assumption that it’s ok to hide from truths that disturb us or reveal our fragmented nature. The paradox is that because we know nothing but our ideas, we prefer to believe ideas, cling to them and let them shape us. Our egos are defined by what we think we know, so the more we rely on our assumptions and personal thoughts, the more we will have fear and be threatened by the non personal truth that attempts to save us. When we have something to lose we cling to it and let it define us, it is how we relate to the world. The more things we have to relate to, the more defined and polished our egos locality and presence will be, if we want that. We conceal the egos strategies so that we can use them to our advantage. We are all a witness to the control games that people play with each other, and we are either attached or detached from conflict. It’s when we understand what is between tolerance and insecurity that we are able to see the truth. Our egos want to recognise the way, we want to know the world and have reason to be attached to it. We don’t want to take our egos down a path where the journey doesn’t involve the ego. Letting go takes infinite patience and the tolerance of endless judgmental enquiry, from those that do not understand.

When we find ourselves on a spiritual path while associating with people bound by attachment, our lack of ego definition will inevitably disturb others sense of security, the ego doesn’t see the difference between opinion and understanding, and those that do not understand the difference will be the cause of conflict, as they defend the personal view. We will be surrounded by persecutory devils if we don’t show any attachment. Our heightened awareness gives us the understanding that any challenge or friction is caused by conditioning, and we become unfazed by the ignorance of others. We only want to help. We are beyond defence and conflict when we understand the way of insight as we know how not to cling to thought, but insight is beyond the reaches of opinion, as it is no opinion. We have to be forced to change through trauma and challenge to evolve, we like things stable. Change is easy for some and hard for others, the contrast between those that are ready to change and those that aren’t, is becoming more evident as we approach this critical time. The gross ego wants to be right and not let go of what defines it, which is the cause of all conflict. We call it being human. If we are not ready to live without argument, judgment, and indulgence we will be distracted by these security blankets that attempt to justify needless conflict. There can only be peace when we don’t need a personal opinion and we understand the whole, beyond opinion.

When we awaken from the personal dream, we put ourselves in a vulnerable position. When we no longer need to control our personal relationships for the benefit of our ego or reputation, those that defend personal reputation won’t understand why we don’t need to define ourselves or indulge in ego defence.

Peaceful people get the blame for causing the conflict because the defended ego doesn’t want to admit that its defence is the conflict, blaming the saviours for disturbing the egos personal sleep. When a person surrenders their desire and personal will, they evolve. It is not just a choice but an event that happens. Energy moves in the subtle body and changes the person. It is devastating for the ego when it is no longer the centre of attention. What is realised, that changes us and wakes us up, is that we always knew but we were afraid to stand alone, it was through our suffering that we had to let go of ourselves, our dream, and wake up. We realise what we need and stop living for what we want when the challenges and events in our lives are too much for our egos tactics to survive, they become useless and we have to face the fear at present and take an ego beating. If this happens a lot and we have the wisdom to let it happen, that is, tolerating new simplicity when we crave comfort, we will realise that feeding the ego only brings suffering when it is humiliated by truths for meddling in manipulation and worldly attachment. The quiet life of detachment becomes easier and more rewarding when we don’t have to keep ourselves distracted with comforts, life becomes meaningful and we start to understand our true position in the world, and we see that the majority is still struggling with defending their personal dreams, and causing the conflict. We have stronger consciences when we are no longer egoic, because we know all that is wrong with states of conditioning and also the direction that saves us from fear.

Humans don’t know how to handle consciousness. If we did, we would be peaceful, understanding and cooperative. But because we prefer to defend the personal views that support our world of opinions, we will always be separated by ignorance. If we are skilled in manipulating our relationships to a personal benefit we will be playing the games that waste our time and prevent us understanding how things really are. There isn’t a way to understand anything if we are stubbornly clinging to our conditioning. When we are acting out of habit, without discipline, some call this freedom, being ourselves, doing what we want. Real freedom, means free from conditioning, free from the hang-ups of selfishness, not G W Bush’s false freedom of satisfying our security needs so that we can personally become something big with our ego’s adgenda. It is only wisdom that guides us to goodness. To know what good action is we have to know how to act for the sake of others without thinking of ourselves.

Mankind is free. But there are people that understand the nature of truth and there are people that don’t. Without an understanding mind we are going to be a cause of conflict, we will be dependent on our personal view, which in it’s nature, is going to differ from the views of others. Love is the only lesson we have to learn in life. Wisdom comes from seeking to give love energy unconditionally – without expecting anything back. Love can only be given. Love comes from God through us when we find the selfless intention to give. Before we understand love, our relationship to the world is seen to be for our personal benefit, we find ourselves to be indulgent and needy. To get from this view to a more understanding and healthy perspective we have to experience the suffering that selfish thought brings and use this, with sincerity, to orient ourselves toward healing and purifying our mind. Love is freedom, freedom from selfish need and conflict. Freedom from the desire to consume and maintain an idea of self.
It’s obvious that consumerism feeds negative minds. The most important word to spread is love, and it’s unlimited potential to heal. When we realise freedom in giving selflessly we will gain the power to heal our environment because we will no longer need to consume it in a damaging way. There is a way of balance that is being discovered, it is arriving in our consciousness as we evolve in these latter days. We are being guided by evolving energies through our fears towards Christ consciousness. We are all receiving these energies, there is no avoiding them. The conflict that we see in the world is largely to do with those that are resisting the new energies and clinging to the old dark and selfish ways that feed ego. They are doomed to insanity and fear. Those puppet masters that seek to control us, bringing fear to us by using war and terror are in fear of the truth themselves. The light is too bright for them to venture into sincerity; they are heavily invested in what can be taken away. They will be exposed by the light of truth to themselves and suffer the demons they thought they were fighting.
Anyway….enough about darkness, we might think that enlightenment is somewhere ahead of us, out of reach. The truth is we are already there, we just hide from it, because its too devastatingly real to fit into our lives as we know them.
Enlightenment is nothing to do with wanting anything. Those that want or desire enlightenment are hoping for something in the future. Enlightenment is permanently with us, beyond our desires, desire is the barrier. It is our true nature that we find, when we allow the self that we think we are, to disappear. It's nothing to do with us, it can't be part of our lives. For instance, I am not writing this because i want to be the teacher (for attention), as we are all students of consciousness. Our motivation has to be to raise the vibration of the whole (responsibility for the whole) without expecting anything in return, and in turn we are blessed with lightness (simplicity / emptiness), less investment in personal gain, and true freedom.