belief that the more we understand this principle, and embrace the realities implied therein, the faster we will be able to move forward with healing the less-than-desirable conditions we—collectively—have created, i.e., the human experience of fear-based emotions with all of their ramifications. These “conditions” are those we try to avoid and deny. They are the “negative” energies and creations we are not supposed to focus upon for “fear” of expansion. Too late! They’ve already expanded; and they stare every one of us in the face daily: demanding our choice and action.

As Librans are wont to do, I have always looked for balance. When I viewed the movie, The Secret, that everyone raved so much about, I was troubled. To me, it was unbalanced; and the people who seemed to rave about it most sometimes give the impression of being in denial to me. Those who know me know that I have never been an advocate of head-in-the-sand mentality. Often I have written about the importance of being aware of as much as possible, because not only is knowledge power, without it there can be no intelligent choice. Without that conscious choice, personal and global maladies remain unhealed.

Too often, the tendency in human behavior is avoidance and denial of those things in our lives that we would rather not deal with at all. We stuff these “negatives” into our subconscious, attempting to lock them into the closet or basement where all of our dirty laundry and less-than-beautiful demons hide out. Yes, Jung called this part of ourselves: “The Shadow.”

“Ron, when are you going to stop talking about the shadow? When are you going to accept the fact that many of us do not want to deal with those things? We are creating a positive world!”

Yeah, right. My head isn’t in the sand; and I see the world WE have created together. I choose to heal, and to face things I don’t like very much either. I am Spirit having human experience; and I am convinced in my heart of hearts that the human experience has great value. The purpose of that familiarity with contrast is ultimate reconciliation of all things—marrying the polarities within us and creating a synthesis between opposites that allows them to dance the dance of Life itself in beauty and harmony. This, I believe, is an internal choice and action that literally transforms the world by transmuting the enemy and making it a friend. (Are our demons really friends who teach us by showing where we need to heal?)

Speaking of friends, one recently gave me a photocopy of an article from Horizons Magazine about Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len. He is the president and administrator of Ho'oponopono (which means "to make right," or "to rectify an error"), a foundation created by Morrnah Nalamaku Simeona, a native Hawaiian kahuna to discover self-identity and become the divine self. Together with Morrnah, Haleakala has worked with thousands of people over the years, including groups at the United Nations, UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), International Human Unity Conference on World Peace, World Peace Conference, Traditional Indian Medicine Conference, Healers for Peace in Europe, and the Hawaii State Teachers Association. He also has extensive experience working with developmentally disabled people and with the criminally, mentally ill and their families. In all his work as an educator, the Ho'oponopono process supports and permeates every breath of his efforts.

Interestingly, that was my third encounter with Dr. Hew Len’s work. I first heard him on News for the Soul with Nicole Whitley. Then another friend forwarded a piece to me about him. Finally, I was handed the aforementioned article. All this was in the space of two weeks. To me, that has all the markings of a message of importance.

What is very different about Dr. Hew Len’s approach is that he takes personal responsibility for everything in his life. If he encounters a problem, it is HIS problem (even if it appears to be in another person). He is the one who needs to do healing work…on himself. Amazingly, as he repeats, “I’m sorry. I love you,” circumstances in the lives of those he works with change; but the change began in him. That’s taking personal responsibility to a whole new level of consciousness. If “others” are pushing my buttons, the problem I perceive in “them” is actually in me. It is MY problem presenting ME with MY opportunity to heal it.

What happens if I chose to ignore the problem altogether? What happens if I focus only on what I like, the things that I do not perceive as pushing my buttons? Have you figured it out yet? My answer, should you choose to accept it, is that nothing changes. Nothing happens. Everything remains the same; and we are what we are till the day that we die. No growth! Succeeding generations stay stuck in the same old morass of polarized reality; and of the polarities it can be said, “Never the twain shall meet.”

As difficult as it is to take responsibility for things I do not like, things I believe are the result of someone else’s choice, I have to realize something vital. While I am an individual, I am also part of a much larger collective; and whatever I choose to think, say or do, does effect the whole. The collective called “the human race” has been on a journey into a “far country” to experience separation. Yes, we are the prodigal son and daughter. We embarked together on this journey, creating an entire system of illusions to support the separation perception we had chosen. That system contained everything we needed to “prove” that we were not one, that we’re not connected. Every negative emotion that can be named or felt is the direct result of our trip into this fantasyland we created.

What rules this dream, this world of illusion? FEAR! Even though it is not based in truth, we are such powerful creators that separation appears real. We think about it; we feel it; and we act upon it. Perceiving the disconnect as real, we suffer the painful, fear-based emotions of not good enough, unloved, shamed, angry, lonely, abandoned, neglected, guilty, deprived, sad, weak, lost, limited, and so many more. Because we feel these things and believe them to be real; and because we cannot see the reality of the interconnectedness that still exists as fact, we think those with separate bodies are somehow different than we are. We project OUR guilt onto “them”…the other person. After all, we do not even like the problems we see; and as long as we can stay out of the gutter, we can justify our judgment of those in the gutter. We rationalize that “they” made bad choices. It’s “their” fault.

Yes, and we do not want to even look at “those bad people” in prison, or up there in Washington, or over in the Middle East, or in Communist China, or anywhere else in the world where we think the problems originate. Oh, yes, I’m as guilty of doing this as the next person. I have done the “avoid-dance” myself. It’s the Illuminati’s fault, the Zionists, the Bush regime, the Masons, or whatever scapegoat my investigation can uncover that allows me to transfer the blame for what I have created with the rest of humanity to any small segment of the whole. Therefore, I can avoid personal responsibility for MY creation.

But can I really? Does anything change, either within or without? Emphatically, NO!

I am suggesting to you that some of our most cherished “truisms” may, in fact, be very misleading. The one we began with—what you focus on expands—may be the exact opposite of reality. The truth, as I see it, is that we are actually focusing on avoidance and denial of what we want to go away; and it is the very thought of ignorance (ignoring what we do not like) that CAUSES the problem to remain and grow. Have you noticed that the problems seem to keep getting larger; or have you chosen to look elsewhere? Do you think you can make these situations diminish or disappear by simply denying their existence in this “reality of illusions” WE have created? I think not!

Hear me, I am NOT suggesting that we must fight and wage war against any perceived enemy that appears to be outside of us. On the contrary, that kind of focus is certain to bring more of the same; i.e., terrorism and war. What I am saying, is that we must see from an entirely different perspective, and create a more holistic paradigm in which each of us is responsible for healing and correcting our valued misconceptions, beginning with our own self-righteousness that is nothing other than a defense mechanism created to avoid and shift blame.

To do this, we must focus intently on the problems WE (holding ourselves accountable) created. What I have been doing since having Dr. Hew Len’s work hit me squarely in the face is to look at the things I do not like, think to myself, “I created this,” and then say, “I’m sorry. I love you.” I haven’t had a long enough time as yet to ascertain the results, but I deeply feel that this is both new and powerful. At some level, I already know it is working. I can feel it.

In closing, I am learning to become grateful for everything in my life. I am finding that I am actually able to be thankful for those things I have hated. I love my body. I love my physical existence. I love my illusions. I love having the opportunity to heal myself by remembering that I am more than any of this human experience. When I choose to give up my body, I still go on and on and on. I am eternal, connected, loved, and graced with the chance to learn more about my amazing being by going through things that teach me what I am not. Do you have any idea how expansive this is, how liberating? I tell you, my friends, this is LOVE. But until you are able to see beyond your fear, you will only be able to see it afar off.

I am sorry. I do love you. Aloha