November is American Native Heritage Month which celebrates Native Americans, Alaskan Natives, and Native Hawaiians. Currently there are 573 federally recognized Indian nations in the United States. About 229 of these diverse nations are Alaskan Natives, and the rest are located in 35 other states. According to a consensus from 2017, there are 1.5 million Native Hawaiians alone or in combination with another race who reside in the United States. We don’t have to travel very far to find shamanic traditions, and plant medicines such as peyote and san pedro, because they are rooted in this land, in a belief. All of creation is interconnected, and one’s spiritual and physical health are intertwined. The ritual maintains those bonds. 

In speaking about these communities, they deserve recognition, gratitude, and specificity; in regards to the richness and diversity of their individual cultures. In honor of that, this is a badass and beautiful, radical and evolved tradition that frames reconciliation and forgiveness as a healing act: the Ho’oponopono tradition from Hawaii. Though it has accrued popularity in recent years as a self-forgiveness ritual, the concept is more complex and nuanced than that. 

The word ho’oponopono translates “to bring about rightness,” and involves the recitation of four phrases: “I love you, I’m sorry, thank you, please forgive me.” Traditionally it was performed by priests within families but recently has been employed by the Hawaiian justice system as an alternative method of conflict resolution. Essentially, one person’s problem becomes the community’s responsibility, and together, sometimes with the guidance of elders, resolve the conflict. The act of reconciliation is not an overnight or “woo-woo”  fix but it stems from the idea that maintaining harmonious relationships is vital, whether that be between our loved ones, environment, or ancestors. This practice came from a basic necessity. People lived in close quarters and with limited resources. They had to work together. 

Ho’oponopono was a preventative medicine. Meaning, some families would do this regularly to keep their relationships in good health. It was also a method used to heal problems or illness, believing that both stem from “errors of thought,” and unresolved conflict within the self. Each person would say these phrases to each other but also to themselves. 

When we are forgiving someone, are we also forgiving ourselves? In healing ourselves does that resonate in the world around us? Yes. Beyond that however forgiveness and reconciliation is a communal value in Hawaiian culture, which is held by everyone involved. Each person takes complete responsibility for everyone’s actions, not only their own, understanding that if something occurs in one’s reality that they created it. Thus both the victims and perpetrators of whatever wrong was committed in forgiving themselves severed the ties of the conflict and everyone moved forward. It was then that real healing could occur. 

As a ritual of self-forgiveness, or taking responsibility for one’s own experience, or a way of healing the world through the self, it is powerful and freeing. But there is another lesson in this: the values of a community make or break it. (And open dialogue works).  In putting this Hawaiian idea of restorative justice next to our culture’s idea of punitive justice, a question comes to mind: do we want to live in a world of condemned or redeemed people? 

Chew on that.

Love,

RS

Source: https://realitysandwich.com/