Surrender is essential to the spiritual process. We’re often told we must consciously “let go” and embrace our reality. But this act of letting go is often an egoic-based action, driven by a need to control or manipulate our experience to release us from, or to avoid or deny, our fear, pain, or suffering. So there’s a driving motivation which runs counter to natural surrender which is effortless and spontaneous. Natural surrender aligns us with the Divine, opens us to Divine Presence, and prepares us for Divine Grace.
The practice of “letting go” has its value. We know that. But while letting go is a decisive action of personal will which is tethered to our avoidance of fear or pain, natural surrender circumvents our egoic needs, resistances, and fears because it is not an act of personal will.
Letting go is an action. Natural surrender is not an action. It is an effortless, spontaneous occurrence when conditions are right. It’s not something we do. But it is something we intend.
We can intend natural surrender by engaging in proper, effortless spiritual practice. The right method of spiritual practice sets up the conditions for us to naturally and spontaneously release into surrender without our “trying” to let go or surrender. The effortlessness of the method of spiritual practice removes the “trying” or the action of egoic will. We just follow the method. And if we stray from natural surrender, we bring ourselves back to the method.
Not all methods set up conditions for natural surrender. Some methods are actually methods of exerting egoic will through manipulation for a specific outcome, or relentlessly concentrating, or remaining persistently mindful or vigilant. Again, these practices have their value, but they do not tend to promote effortless, natural, and spontaneous surrender.
If we engage in spiritual practice for spiritual unfoldment, and not for some personal or egoic gain, then the practice must promote natural surrender. Effortless spiritual practice allows us to release into a natural alignment with the Divine and its flow as it appears through us. This opens us more and more to Divine Presence, and naturally prepares us for the Divine Grace of Awakening. And in the process we grow in peace, love, joy and contentment.
– Joel