Miracle Doubter
Greetings All,
The first half of my life was spent exploring the vast spectrum of esoterica and the pathways of that which is often called metaphysical. The second half of my life until about a year ago was devoted to snickering at, being irritated by and actively disbelieving or unbelieving what I was drawn toward in the first half. At business meetings or social gatherings if anything touched upon that which I unbelieved and there was a need of some sort to reply I would simply refer to myself as the bitter skeptic.
I remember all too well how my process worked when I was being what I might sarcastically refer to as cultivated by various paths. 1)You hear an idea you really like. 2)You are given some “proof” of that idea in action. 3)You are given a method by which you can reinforce the original proof that was given to you. 4)You actively seek to continue proving what this outside source gave to you to begin with. 5) [like a good book] You actively suspend your disbelief [unlike a good book] forever.
My experience with Ho’oponopono has been quite different. Prior to being exposed to Ho’oponopono by my good friend Dr. Joe Vitale, I would say that I was in a terminally-indifferent state. Some might think this is akin to detachment - it is not. It’s more akin to practiced apathy. It was two words that created the mildest fizz in my brain as I sat eating a steak at a dinner Dr. Vitale put on with guest speaker Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len: “Zero State“. My practiced apathy was briefly suspended as those two words entered my thoroughly apathetic system. I had heard of Zero State in regards to science and something I could calculate or evaluate in a real world application was just the opposite of the “wu-wu”-think and “wu-wu”-talk of metaphysics.
The steak dinner and the words ‘Zero State‘ were all I took away from that first night with my dear friend Ihaleakala Hew Len. I remember people stranding in line to shake his hand and get autographs. My apathy produced these thoughts “Why bother?” I noticed that glazed-over wu-wu look the people in the line had as the stared at the “guest speaker” originally from Hawaii.
I could go on proving what a bitter skeptic I was but I think the point is well made. I’m still apathetic about many things - one of those things being the traditional celebration of Christmas. My wife and my beautiful in-laws are like Christmas addicts. Last night I was driving alone in my perfectly apathetic way to Christmas Dinner. The drive was about an hour into the Hill Country from Austin so I cleaned most of the way. On part of the drive I would agitate my apathy with some of the Ho’oponopono concepts. The one that dominates my attention these days is that all that is ONLY exists within me.
I was working with that at 65 m.p.h. in the center lane on Mo-Pac when an old pickup truck passed me on the left. I didn’t think much of it though with old pickups you can usually see right into the cab because this truck pre-date tinted windows. I noticed the man was not sitting squarly behind the steering wheel but was kind of leaning toward the right and foward a bit. “Probably talking on his cell phone.” I thought.
His speed was slightly faster than my own therefore he stayed in front of me for about a mile. I saw him swerve slightly into my lane and immediately correct his course and get back into his own lane. “Wind” I thought. For the last few days there has been a strong wind advisory in the Austin area and I know even my tank-of-a-truck gets pushed sometimes by the strong winds. Another mile passed and his speed had decreased enough for me to catch him. As I grew closer to his truck, I suddenly had the insight he wasn’t on his cell phone he was dozing off.
I wasn’t sure my “insight” was true but that was the last thought I had when I decided to take some action. I began to clean on the truck that was within me that I had seen swerving. I cleaned on the man that was in the truck that was within me as well. I cleaned like this for about two minutes slowing my speed to follow the truck. Two minutes into cleaning the old pickup suddenly crossed three lanes of traffic at about 70 mph on a hill with no guardrail in a second.
The man that I am grateful for inspiring me to clean on myself had fallen completely asleep at the wheel. He slept through crossing the entire freeway at 70mph. Somewhere in the last lane of traffic he must have awoken. As I continued to clean his break lights turned bright red and he straightened the direction of his truck from driving off the shoulder and off the hill to being on the shoulder and coming to a complete stop. I don’t know what else that man got for Christmas this year but I bet waking up and bringing his old truck to a complete stop was the best present he’s had in years.
When I describe these experiences (I’m having them all the time now)to my wife or friends, I preface these stories with “Another Twighlight Zone thing happened today.” I’m not so vain to think, let alone write that I know what really happened. I don’t. I only know that I was being 100% responsible according to the teaching of Ho’oponopono as I’ve been taught. I didn’t see any Angels, I didn’t hear any voices, no strange feeling came over me. I simply drove on to Christmas dinner as I passed the now parked man on the side of the road.
The truth that is present with my current experiences relating to Ho’oponopono is that I learn far more about Ho’oponopono from cleaning and working on being 100% responsible than all the seminars, books, DVDs and audios I’ve experienced so far. What I mean is that for me, Ho’oponopono is a perfect process in that I don’t have to take anyone’s word about what it does or how it works. I don’t have to conform to a set of experiences to validate that I’m doing something right. I’m not sure if I witnessed a miracle or not. I saw a man wake up and pull his truck to a stop. I’m inspired to keep cleaning to see what happens next.
If you are inspired to share a story, ask question or just comment on what I’ve shared today, please feel free to leave a comment or write me directly at bruce@hooponoponotexas.com. Tomorrow at 6pm I am facilitating the FIRST TEXAS HO’OPONOPONO Meetup. If you are interested in attending please click the Texas Hooponopono Meetup icon to the right of this post.
