The idea of calling out to a spiritual force or spiritual forces is a familiar notion. Virtually every person at one time or other has made a plea to an unseen spiritual force or forces for intervention, particularly in times of high stress. This isn't something that should be seen as weak or an act of hypocrisy but instead is an honest response to difficulty. Still, it's likely that most of us typically don't expect our calls for spiritual help to actually be answered.

Forms do exist however that take for granted that spiritual interventions can and do take place. Many organized religions believe in the notion of interaction between the spiritual realm and the physical realm where humans reside. Depending upon the religion and the circumstances, this interaction may take the form of worship, punishment, or intervention, or a combination thereof. There are also approaches to spiritual interaction that are not religious in nature and are instead based in metaphysical beliefs.

Ho'oponopono is a faith practice that assumes an interaction among physical and spiritual realms is possible and actually does occur. Ho'oponopono isn't simply based on a presumption that spiritual and physical planes may be able to interact, ho'oponopono takes it as faith that spiritual intervention will be granted when it is requested. The idea of intervention from the spiritual realm whenever one requests it quite naturally doesn't resonate with everybody. Ho'oponopono has its skeptics and there are a number of them, but the practitioners of ho'oponopono, as one might imagine, aren't dissuaded from their beliefs because of skeptics.

There are actually two ho'oponopono forms: traditional ho'oponopono and Self-Identity ho'oponopono. The Self-Identity form of ho'oponopono takes from the ho'oponopono traditional form but is scaled down to allow for a single person to apply it. Traditional ho'oponopono typically dealt with an entire group of people, all of whom had to be accounted for and given consideration. Self-Identity ho'oponopono allows for a single person to use the form. Where traditional ho'oponopono focused on interaction between people with differing perspectives, Self-Identity ho'oponopono takes place only between one person and what's referred to as the higher source power, or God.

Either form of ho'oponopono can be considered a problem solving technique, but Self-Identity ho'oponopono really does go beyond simple problem solving and takes into account spiritual connections and spiritual intervention. Self-Identity ho'oponopono is not a religious form, but it does place emphasis on some classic religious perspectives, in particular an interaction with a higher source power.