9/16/12 Rev. David McArthur
Ho’o pono pono / “I Love You”
I want to touch something new. When we pray we connect with the divine presence and hold in mind someone we care about. Then we want the universe to bring healing to them. But there is a teaching that what is out there is a reflection of what is within us, and we can get rid of it. So we have some control. We can do something.
Dr. Hew Len was counselor for the criminally insane at a Hawaiian hospital . The patients had committed the most violent, heinous crimes. But Dr. Len didn’t meet with the patients. He didn’t interview anybody. He practiced ho’o pono pono. It says all is within, so he worked on himself! Several weeks passed and the customary daily violence in the ward lessened. Inmates began cooperating and forming into active, productive groups. With the exception of only two inmates, the entire ward of thirty patients was healed in three years and the ward was closed. “I had to take completely within myself the responsibility for what I was experiencing. I had to clear myself of toxic thoughts and replace them with love.”
Gandhi’s approach was slightly different. Observing the violence as India struggled for national freedom, he fasted to remove from within himself whatever might have contributed to the violence that he saw outside himself. He practiced a complete focus and dependence on the love of God. The violence stopped.
Is it all here, inside? You don’t need to understand. Spirit will bring meaning to you. Just hold the idea in your heart in neutral.
When you see that which you want healed, the response is these words: “I love you.” Whether it is a reflection from the collective unconscious within, or a remembered pattern, the response is “I love you.” If you want to free someone in your world, say, “I love you.” To that within yourself, say “I love you.” To that Divine Presence, say, “I love you.”
What an amazing way to learn our oneness! —That you have the power within to transform the world around you. You have that power and I share it with you simply because “I love you!”