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Author: Zinn Jeremiah

Individual Responsibility

Taking responsibility for one's life is a notion that typically resonates with people, particularly people living in western societies. In western society, the idea of accepting responsibility is often associated with having high character and even being moral; while the person who doesn't accept responsibility for their existence is often seen as lacking in important qualities, and can even be branded as an undesirable.

Though individual responsibility is often applauded, there are typically limits to what most people would reasonably assume an individual is responsible for. For example, most people wouldn't hold someone responsible for an act of nature that destroyed property. And most people wouldn't hold one particular individual responsible for a famine that caused the loss of life. In other words, there are usually accepted limits to what one is seen as being responsible for.

The other side of personal responsibility is the idea that the individual isn't responsible for anything. This sort of thinking often presumes that people are merely carrying out an existence that was determined for them by a source power. In this way of looking at life, human beings are just moving along a path that was already chosen for them. This type of thinking isn't especially popular in western culture, and would probably be viewed by the majority of people in western cultures as extremist or irresponsible.

Ho'oponopono is one particular perspective that does embrace the idea of personal responsibility. Ho'oponopono is a method used for problem solving and life enhancement. The ho'oponopono practice was founded in Hawaii and has been practiced by native Hawaiians for generations. A core idea behind ho'oponopono is accepting responsibility for harm caused so that conflict between people may be resolved.

In an updated version of ho'oponopono, the connection is not between people but between an individual and a higher power. In this ho'oponopono form, the individual makes amends for problems within their life. Part of this process includes accepting absolute responsibility for everything that one is aware of. There are no exceptions to this idea, as the individual is thought to bring about every event that he or she is aware of or experiences.

This core idea of total responsibility for every aspect of life means some will see ho'oponopono as unrealistic or extreme. Ho'oponopono in this way could be viewed as the polar opposite to the idea that humans have no responsibility at all. There is no question that ho'oponopono has its share of critics, but there is an increasingly large number of people who regularly practice ho'oponopono. For these people at least, total responsibility is an acceptable notion.

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