Spiritual surrender leads to "erasement," to coin a word.
Maybe this means effacement intensified, multiplied. Our false structure, our false picture of ourself gets "erased"------------removed bit by bit.
It's the rubbing out of limitations, of a separative sense of being. It's wiping out barriers and the flowering of awakening. (see pt.1 and 2)
Surrender to Real Self, to Truth, to God (in whatever form or name) takes intense longing and resolve. This surrender calls for victory, not defeat.........giving up the false but gaining the Real Treasure.
There are pitfalls; the more casual one's search, the more snares. Lukewarm focus on Impersonal Self (see Overview) can become just another toy for intellect to play with. Another trap: false or deluded teachers abound, and anyone without discrimination can become their prey.
What to do? Sincerity and discernment are the best insurance; good fortune helps too. Even more helpful is the readiness to recognize and trust our Awakening Self. (also see pt.1 and pt.3)
"Surrender" is often misunderstood. Any apprenticeship includes some degree of it.........an emptying of myself to learn, to receive. Related qualities: wholeheartedness, trust, gratitude.
Why surrender? To stop constantly reinforcing who and what I think I am. To yield the right-of-way to one's Real Self............to our Awake Self. Surrender what? The excess personal baggage we keep re-claiming. Surrender to what? To the pull of awakening.
Spiritual surrender is not rolling over and playing dead; it takes unyielding vigilance and perseverance. Otherwise one gets re-enmeshed in old ways of doing and being.
That leaves little elbow room for inner change, for inner exchange. (see pt.2 and pt.3)
Is there a point of contact between the illusory and the Real? If so where and what is it? From the illusion side of the fence this point seems invisible. It's like a gap that can't be measured but can be felt by a heart that doesn't bother with measuring.
This response of the heart is what bridges the gap. It doesn't bother with limits or worries....it just goes on bridge-building by relinquishing its claims to anything. It gives up whatever it knows or feels. It gives up whatever has brought it to this gap.
In giving up, the heart's knowing connects this world's passing parade to the Real.......it surrenders all to Real Self, to the Beloved within.
