I Accept My Responsibility

I just went to see the movie The Butler last night.  It is appalling to me that our society ever treated human beings like we treated black americans in my lifetime.

Growing up white, I can never fully understand what it must have been like to live in a world where one was always considered 'less than'.  But something has been stirred in me.  It's like I want to apologize to every person of color I know despite never having intentionally practiced oppression or racism.

This idea made me think of Ho'oponopono (ho opono pono), an ancient Hawaiian spiritual practice that "corrects, restores and maintains good relationships among family members and with their gods or God by getting to the causes and sources of trouble."   There was a medical professional in Hawaii who practiced this with patients on a ward for the criminally insane; despite never actually meeting with any of the patients Dr. Hew Len was said to have cured the patients by using a version of ho'oponopono.  

Each day Dr. Len would review the files and then practice the ho'oponopono ritual for each person on the ward.  In effect he looked at the data in the file and chose to look passed it, in an attempt to really see each patient.  He was willing to take individual responsibility for believing anything other than the higher truth about each man, the higher truth being that at our core each human being is perfect, whole and complete.  He would then consciously and intentionally repeat the following phrase, "I'm sorry, please forgive me; Thank you, I love you."  

Ho'oponopono starts with the acceptance that if I perceive of the problem then something in me supports it and promotes it.  I must be willing to take an honest assessment and accept my part in the collective consciousness that created the problem, then I can heal it within me and heal my part of the consciousness that created the problem.  

See where I'm going with this?  As a white woman in America I have the power to participate in healing the divide that my ancestors created by actively seeking anything within me that sees less than wholeness in my black brothers and sisters.   Rather than feeling powerless and angry I can approach my feelings from this potent place of possibility simply by being willing to take responsibility for my part, no matter how minuscule, in our human history and then choosing to know a higher truth.

I accept my responsibility, won't you join me?

I'm sorry.
Please forgive me.
Thank you.
I love you.