Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len is considered by some to be "The World's Most Unusual Healer." He practices a form of therapy called, "Ho'oponopono," a Hawaiian word that means, "to make right" or "to rectify an error". The process involves what we might call prayer, confession, repentance or forgiveness. 

Dr. Len is a psychologist who works with individuals considered criminally insane. These are individuals deemed mentally unstable to such a degree that they are not held legally responsible for the serious crimes they commit. As a society we typically respond by locking these individuals in an institution, often for the rest of their lives.

Yet, after a few months of Dr. Len's treatment, those individuals who had been shackled are released of their shackles. Patients who had been heavily medicated are able to go off their medications. And those who were given no chance of ever being released are freed. After four years of intervention, the ward in the state hospital where Dr. Len worked was closed because so many of the patients had been released.

This is the stuff of urban legend. It seems inconceivable that even the world's best therapist could cure the criminally insane. The most unbelievable part of the story however is that Dr. Len cures his patients without ever seeing them! Rather than offer traditional face-to-face therapy using cognitive and behaviourial interventions, Dr. Len studies the inmate's chart. He then looks within himself to see how he created the person's illness. "I simply heal the part of me that creates them," Dr. Len explains. As Dr. Len accepts, forgives and heals himself, his patients are healed.

With our current understanding of how things are the way they are, Dr. Len's method of healing doesn't make much sense. Most people accept that we are responsible for our own behaviour, but recoil at the thought that we are responsible for another's behaviour. Dr. Len's view, however, is that we are all connected in some mystical way. Even more profound, he believes we are at total responsibility for the world being the way it is. There is no one to blame or hold accountable but oneself.

I have used Dr. Len's strategy in my work with couples for some time. Rather than teach my clients that each member of the couple relationship is 50% responsible for whatever is occurring, I invite them to play with the idea that each person is 100% responsible. The benefit of this strategy is that blame of another is reduced to zero. Instead, each individual searches for ways within themselves to make life better. I have witnessed remarkable change when people play with this powerful idea.

What if we were to adopt this strategy as a way of healing our families, our communities and our planet? What if we looked within ourselves for the cause of homelessness, poverty, terrorism, aggression, the ecological devastation of the planet, addiction, and the disrespect of one another? What if we took 100% responsibility for our fear, anger, hurt, joy and peace? What if we blamed no one, and instead took personal responsibility for making the world a better place for all people?

I'm not sure what the outcome would be, but I would like to try. I would like to see what might happen if we claimed our power, our responsibility and our creative potential to make the world a better place for everyone. I wonder what might happen if we viewed life as an opportunity for creation, rather than a competition; if we trusted others, rather than feared others; if we operated from a perspective of abundance, rather than of scarcity; if we saw the world as "us" rather than "us" and "them." I wonder if we could replicate the kind of results achieved by Dr. Len.

Dr. Len's perspective is challenging to accept. If we are to heal ourselves and the planet, maybe we need to consider radical ideas. It's apparent that our current paradigm isn't working.

Psychotherapist and HANS member Ted Kuntz is the author of Peace Begins with Me, (www.peacebeginswithme.ca). DVDs of Kuntz presentations are a free gift option with a new HANS membership or renewal. For info, visit www.hans.org or call 604-435-0512.

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