Issue #14, Sept. 23rd 06

 

What is Surrender?

The short answer is surrender is the opposite of struggle, and struggle is what we do best. But before we get too far into this, let’s define what it is we are struggling with. We struggle with what is. What is what is? What is is the way life is presenting itself in the present moment. It is Saturday morning and the house is quiet. You just lost your job. It’s raining. What is describes the circumstances of life in any given moment. 

But what is has a deeper meaning that unbelievably remains hidden to us most of the time. What is is the Divine Expression or Essence. Life is the Divine Essence of the manifestation of what is all powerful, absolute, and ever present. For lack of a better word, Presence is being expressed in every moment. So what is is the expression or manifestation of that Divine Presence. 

Immediately the mind wants to step in and argue, but the world is not perfect. There is death and destruction, and yada yada yada. In other words, life is not what “I” want it to be in any given moment. And isn’t that what creates the struggle with what is? This is not to say that you may not be working to change something in the next moment. That is not what I am talking about. I am talking about what happens in this moment – the present moment. In order to struggle with the present moment, we must say “no” to Presence. Thank you very much, but I am waiting for a better moment! 

Saying no to what is generates struggle, separation, and gnashing of teeth. The promise of future fulfillment is the trick of the ego-mind. We think we have a better idea about what what is should be. From the point of view of Presence, this has to be incredibly arrogant. We want to opt out of Divine Essence and opt into the struggle with what is. 

So here we have the opposite of that struggle. It is called surrender. Only through surrendering to what is can we fully meet the present moment. Then and only then do we have the ability to experience Divine Essence. Surrender is an attitude of complete submission to Truth and abasement of ego. 

But we will not be humbled! I once was giving a workshop where I mentioned that the more awake one becomes the less we are attached to our opinions. A person in the back of the room nearly flipped out. She was not going to get rid of her opinions under any circumstances! We want our point of view, our religion, our philosophy. We want to fight for world peace! 

Surrender would have none of that. Surrender lets go of every thought, all resistance, and meets each moment fully without denial, escape, or defense. It is like facing a charging tiger. Life comes at us to devour us. Being digested brings us to Truth. Divine Essence wants to consume us, to fully envelop everything that wants to make itself out to be a separate little “me.” 

An attitude of surrender burns away everything about us that is false, that wants to live and survive independent of Presence. What is left is gold, precious metal, purity, unsullied by what we think or demand from life. What is left is the mystery of whom or what we really are. We are life and life is us, but the process of burning has eliminated “me” and “you” and left only Life.

The solution is ATTENTION, attention instead of intention. Attention to What is, in place of striving for what should be. Attention to how things already are, without any attempt to improve them. The fact is that total attention is surrender, and total surrender is attention.

Douglas Harding

 

 

 

 

Lions and Unicorns

Deep down inside we are all worshiping something. We have been worshipping it so long we don't even notice the idolatry that continues. Lions worship their need for approval and Unicorns worship their need for safety. Out of that an alter of defense is constructed. Lions build structures of anger and Unicorns formulate pathways of escape. The mind becomes taken over by all of this. It is most of what we think about. How do we get out of this tangle of struggle and idolatry? By paying very close attention to our thoughts. Learning the intricacies of our own thinking is not easy at first, but in the process we become conscious. We don't become better Lions or Better Unicorns. We go free!

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