Surrender, used in this sense, does not refer to the act of giving up; it refers to the act of no longer resisting the present moment, but instead accepting it unconditionally. To surrender is to let go of how we think reality should be, and to embrace the way that reality is. This does not mean that we cease to take action or change a situation if it is undesirable. It means that we fully recognize our situation and act (or don’t act) accordingly. To surrender to the present moment is to be wholly present and attentive to what is happening now, and not to be caught in or distracted by what might happen in the future, or what did happen in the past. In order to surrender to the unknown, one must also have faith in the unknown. Many people confuse faith with belief, but the two are actually quite different. To have a belief is to have an idea of what reality is and to cling to that idea as being the ultimate truth. To have faith is to trust in the flow of nature, and to be open to the truth, what ever it may turn out to be. When one has faith, one is able to trust that whatever course nature takes is always the most appropriate. With this sense of faith and trust, one is also able to relax and allow things to change in whatever way they will, without clinging to or being bound to this change. Our suffering arises from resisting reality, from resisting the moment and the course of nature because we desire for it to unfold in a particular way. This resistance to nature creates a resistance within ourselves, and it prevents us from experiencing the joy and love of being in the present moment. When we are in a state of Presence we no longer resist reality or feel separate from reality. Instead, we feel a deep sense of belonging and connection to the whole of nature, a connection that can only be described as a feeling of unconditional love. 🕉
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Sometimes we love the wrong person so we can realize how much love we are capable of giving. They need love and we have the ability to give it. So we are allowed the opportunity to give it. But we take their inability to love us with the same intensity as a sign that something about us is hard to love. We call the whole experience as a mistake because we gave more than what we received in return. We regret giving so much of ourselves because we were left in pain wondering why what we gave was not valued or appreciated. Just remember this though; this love that was given never goes to waste. And if you were able to love the wrong person so much, imagine how much you're going to love the right person... Be patient with yourself, allow time in your relationships with ease and flow, but just know when to walk away. When giving them love is hurting your love for yourself, don't think for one moment that walking away is the wrong decision. You are not giving up on them by walking away, but if you stay, you might be giving up on yourself. You learn to love the right by loving the wrong :) And if you look deeper into that, you'll realize there is no wrong.
While we may understand the need to know ourselves at our deepest level, to become more aware of who we are, what the world is, how we are living our lives, etc. many people do not share this same thirst for knowledge and understanding, but instead would rather cling to what is familiar, what is comfortable, and what (through ignorance) they identify themselves with. We cannot make people see, nor should we try to force people to see things in a certain way. Each person has their own life to live, and those who want to understand the truth will do so when they are ready for it. This is something that we have to accept, otherwise our desire for others to awaken will interfere with our relationships, and will cause us to focus on their faults, their lack of awareness, their harmful actions, etc. and will cause us to neglect the being that they are, disrupting our love for them, and polluting our view of them with our own ideals of how they should be. While it is painful at times to see others cause their own suffering through their thoughts and actions, we cannot live their lives for them. They have to learn the lessons that apply to their present state of awareness. If we keep in mind the truth of impermanence, we can have greater compassion for ourselves and others, as we realize the preciousness and transience of each moment. This transforms our mind from fear and a desire for control, into trust, gratitude, and an attitude of letting things be. How can we be of most benefit to someone who is caught in the suffering of their mind: pointing out all of the thoughts and actions that lead to their suffering, criticizing and judging the way that they live their lives? Or being a kind and loving presence in their lives, treating them with respect, and accepting them as they are? While we may, at heart, wish that we could free all people from their suffering, this is an impossible task. People must free themselves, from suffering. We can only support them on their journey and assist them at the level they are at. Trying to heal the world is a burden; it only puts pressure on us and contributes to our suffering. Don't try to heal the world. Heal yourself. The more you focus on your own awakening, the more you are truly capable of helping the world to awaken. If we want a world with peace and freedom, we must become peaceful and free. Then our very existence shows others that a better way is possible. Our actual life impacts far more than our ideals. As the great sage Lao Tzu once said, "If you want to awaken all of humanity, then awaken all of yourself. If you want to eliminate the suffering in the world, then eliminate all that is dark and negative in yourself. We can't change a world unless we change ourselves.
There was an old man who lived in a hut. Every morning he went to the street for alms. He never complained about his situations or his struggles. He took what was given without question. One day when the old man returning from his routine saw that the hut was taken by somebody else. Somebody else was eating his food and money he had little saved. Old man with compassion went inside the hut. The young beggar asked "who are you?" wrapping his hands around the food he found, old man replied I am you but in a different body. Old man took his robes and gave it to as well. Stranger instead of looking upon this as compassion took him as a meagerly fool. The young stranger snatched the clothes of his hands and stripped the old man from head to toe and took every bit of things he had left. Is that everything you have? he asked. Old man replied humbly "when you have everything you have nothing, and when you truly have nothing left you have everything. The boy was confused. The old man smiled and said, ignorant child you are trapped in an illusion that you can't see, feel or touch and bounded by invisible chains. Unless we realize who we truly are it won't matter what you own. He added even if you become richest of riches we will always be bounded by suffering. The young beggar froze and felt that he understood a little what old man was saying. Old man chanted "Gate Gate ParaGate ParaSamGate Bodhi Svaha.". "No treasure can compare to it, no money can buy it, no wealth can occupy it, no pleasure can satisfy it, no eyes can find it, no ears can hear it, no tongue can taste it, no hands can feel it, no mind can imagine it. Oh dear child what is this treasure? old man asked. Find this for we are born only to realize this. Young man's illusory world shattered, face bright and awakened. Old man bowed to him, said know thyself and vanished.
"The capacity to be alone is the capacity to love. It may look paradoxical to you, but it's not. It is an existential truth: only those people who are capable of being alone are capable of love, of sharing, of going into the deepest core of another person--without possessing the other, without becoming dependent on the other, without reducing the other to a thing, and without becoming addicted to the other. They allow the other absolute freedom, because they know that if the other leaves, they will be as happy as they are now. Their happiness cannot be taken by the other, because it is not given by the other."
Love is not a relationship, love is a state of being; it has nothing to do with anybody else. One is not "in love", one is love. And of course when one is love, one is in love - but that is an outcome, a by-product but that is not the source. The source is that one is love. To love others, one must love themselves unconditionally. Through that, one will understand how to love another without possessing it. Alone is love. So you didn't get that grade on the exam you wanted, you didn't get that job promotion, he or she left you and now you feel like a mess because life is not going the way you wanted it to. But what I want to tell you is to trust the process, have a little faith and let life play itself out because everything always seems to work out for the best. Life always mysteriously works in your favor whether you know it now or not. Everything works itself out. There is a story about a women who had a trip planned to see her mother over in the country side and she was in a rush to get there. She was trying to close the door but this time it wouldn't close for some stranger reason and she was getting so furious because she was supposed to leave an hour ago. She was already running really late and then she realized that today, she wouldn't be able see her mother. She hadn't seen her mother in over six months. So later on, she was listening to the radio and there was a massive accident on the road she was supposed to be driving on and she was like "Phew! Thank goodness that didn't happen, thank goodness I didn't go because that could've happned to me" Life happened in such an unexpected way but in the end it worked out best for the women. She was protected from what could've potentially hurt her more than not being able to see her mother. So I'm here to tell you, be thankful for closed doors, roadblocks, detours because they protect you from places not mean't for you. Have a wonderful day and always remember that life will work itself for the best! ✌🏻& ❤
Almost all of the worldly problems we face today arise from our disconnection from nature. We have been deluded to believe that nature is something that must be conquered, when really it is what we are, and we must learn to live harmoniously with nature's laws so that we may live healthily and happily. Many people look to governments, politicians, and corporations for change, but change will never come from them, as preserving and restoring nature is not as "profitable" as manipulating it and harvesting its resources. We must acknowledge this, not as citizens, not as workers, not a as members of society, but as human beings, as members of the human family. We must acknowledge our connection to each other and to nature, and learn to live accordingly. We must return to nature. We can all work on returning to nature, no matter who we are. We do not have to abandon the system completely and immediately return to the wild (but you can if you wish). We just need to change our way of living and be accountable for our actions. We can do this by focusing on our health, by eating foods from nature, buying from companies that are conscious of their impact on the environment, and practice sustainable methods of production. We can buy sustainably produced materials such as hemp, bamboo, or organic cotton. We can purchase organic food, or more importantly, grow our own food. We can stop giving our money away to people that thrive on destroying the planets resources. We cannot pretend that we are not partly responsible for the state of the world. Our individual actions do affect the whole. Another thing we can all do is realize that we are connected, and shift our consciousness from being centered on "I" to "we," as what is good for all is good for one. We are not powerless, we have just given our power away to people who irresponsibly abuse it. Let us take our power back and support the planet, live in harmony with nature, take care of our health, and act from a place of peace and love, rather than violence and fear. We can change the state of the world and heal our planet, but only if we acknowledge our responsibility as human beings to do so
"Enlightenment, for a wave in the ocean, is the moment the wave realizes it is water. When we realize we are not seperate, but a part of the huge ocean of everything, we become enlightened. We realize this through practice, and we remain awake and aware of this through more practice."
-Thich Nhat Hanh Waves go up, and they go down. The tide comes in, and it goes out. Waves are always changing, moving, and dancing. But the Ocean remains calm. The Ocean is still, at rest, at peace. It remains unaffected by what happens on the surface. The waves of body, mind, and circumstances are impermanent, transient, and always changing. You are not the waves. You are the Ocean. You are pure awareness, spirit, consciousness, or whatever you wish to call it. You are unnamable, formless, eternal. You are never effected by the changing forms of the world, by the waves on the surface of life. You are the pure and eternal being within, forever at peace, the divine witness of this cosmic play. Remember your true identity so that you no longer confuse yourself with the role that you play. Realize your essence and free yourself from the illusion of being a separate and isolated individual. Awaken to your true being, see yourself in others, and realize our oneness. This is what will bring you to real freedom, to real happiness, and to real peace. "Your own Self-Realization is the greatest service you can render the world." -Ramana Maharshi
Consider the essence of these words and the state of being that they are pointing to. Dwelling in Spirit, and staying centered in the essence of your own being, you experience a state of oneness and perfect peace. The world is unknowable, impermanent, and always changing-allow it to be so you remain at peace in the simple joy of your being. You are content with just being meaning you don't have to be doing anything, the joy of living is enough. Not resisting what happens, but allowing life to happen without expectation of certain results. Not judging what happens, but accepting and understanding. Not attaching to what is but letting all things come and go. Nothing is here to stay, there is nothing set in stone expect what you possess internally; everything flows with ease. This state of being allows life to flow in whatever way that it will, without causing any inner conflict. When you allow yourself to flow with life, life becomes a joy to be with, a mystery to live, and an experience to appreciate and love. There is no permanence, no way to stop the change, and to try to stop change is to resist change, and to resist change is to resist life, and to suffer because of it. Realize that experience includes perception, and perception lies within your mind. Thus the very quality of your life experience is determined solely by the attitude and understanding of what lies within you. You are capable of living in the state of being that brings you the most joy and peace, but you will only reach this state when you focus less on the world without, and more on the universe within. We are not separate from the universe, we are the universe, and thus changing our state of being affects not only our individual experience, but the whole of existence. All life benefits from our personal transformation. In each moment we are experiencing a vast range of sensations-physical, energetic, mental, emotional and these sensations are constantly changing, constantly shifting, moving, and flowing. No moment is ever the same as the moment before it. Yet, the majority of us are not AWARE of what sensations are creating our experience. Instead, we allow the flood of sensations to enter our minds unconsciously, governing our experience while we remain distracted by the web of thoughts, ideas, beliefs, concepts, memories, fantasies, judgments, fears, dreams, etc. Whatever we experience is filtered through this network of mental constructs, and it causes us to live in a dream-like state in which we go about our lives almost completely unaware of the life happening within and around us. Many live their entire lives caught in this web of thinking, ignoring the reality of each moment experienced-which is why so many dying people regret having never really lived. The simple truth is that most of us just aren't in touch with reality. Instead of seeing things as they are, we ignore reality, and see through the lens of our beliefs, opinions, notions, discriminations, labels, and conditioning. This mental matrix produces much suffering, as it causes us to resist our present experience with hopes of experiencing some other desired state. We can escape this mental pattern and the suffering it produces with one powerful tool: awareness. If we can become aware of the present moment, without judging it, without trying to define it, without trying to escape it, shape it or mould it into something else, but just allow it, accept it as it is, and experience it with genuine openness and curiosity, we can bring ourselves out of the ignorance of a purely mental experience, and can reconnect with the beauty of life that is present with us in each and every moment. How does one become aware? Not by thinking, but by observing, feeling, and allowing. Not trying to fix or change anything, but just embracing whatever is, for the simple fact that it is the reality you are experiencing, it is already here, and resisting it only produces unnecessary pain. If we are honest with ourselves, we will see that most of our suffering is self-created, produced by our resistance to what is, and our desire for what is not. If you can come out of your mind and into this moment, you will see how your mind is the cause of most, if not all, of your suffering. Once you become aware of what is here and now, all of the mind made problems dissolve in the ocean of your awareness. Notice what is here and now, at this very moment. What do you see, what do you feel, what do you smell, what do you touch, what do you hear? Can you allow sensations to come and go as you just observe them, without trying to define them, change them, or push them away? If you can stay in this state of nonjudgmental, nonresistant, and nonattaching, awareness, eventually you will come to realize that you yourself, at your deepest level of being are nothing but pure awareness. You are not just your name, your job, your material possessions, your education, your history, your relationships, your social image, your personality, your thoughts, or even your body. Were much more simple yet so vast. You are awareness itself, and you need nothing else to be. No permission, no acceptance from another, no birth certificate, no prestigious career, or list of accomplishments. Your very being is enough, and when you realize this there is true freedom. The freedom to be, to live in each moment, fully in tune with it, yet not dependent on it. You allow it to come and go. Life is only truly joyful when you are completely free from it. Though most of us are not aware of it, we are completely conditioned by society to live in this dream-like state of ignorance in which we remain out of tune with reality, out of tune with nature, and out of tune with ourselves. And this creates much pain and suffering-for ourselves and others. Free yourself from suffering, by freeing yourself from the mind. Become aware. What is it you are doing, why is it you are doing it? Why do you think what you think? Why do you act the way you do? You do not have to be a victim of your habits, your conditioning, or your circumstances. You can free yourself completely-that is, only if you are willing to become aware. The intelligent energy of the universe, and yet of our own being, is abundant, nurturing, and life supporting. The energy of the universe is love, and we are also of that. We emerge from this energy, live in this energy, and when we die we return to this energy. We are this loving energy, it expresses itself through us and as us, and no matter what we do or where we go we cannot ever separate ourselves from the universal energy of love. We can only feel separate from love by resisting love, and creating barriers within ourselves that restrict the energy of love from flowing through us freely.
Love is merely a word that attempts to define this energy, as well as the sense of connection we feel when we are in touch with this energy—a feeling of appreciation, warmth, abundance, peace, acceptance, trust, and freedom that words are simply unable to convey. To describe what Love is, is almost easier to do by describing what it is not. Love is not fearful, clinging, or controlling. It doesn't criticize, judge, or condemn. It doesn't blame, ridicule, or make fun of. Love does not see others as being separate or unimportant. Love isn't divisive, greedy, or selfish. It isn't limiting or selective. It does not depend on circumstances or conditions. Love isn't impatient, forceful, or expecting. Love embraces all unconditionally. Love sees all as one. Love respects all as being a part of the one, and appreciates every part of the one by recognizing its impermanence and acknowledging its beauty as it exists 'now in this moment'. Many people fear love because it cannot be known conceptually, cannot be controlled physically, and can only be felt emotionally. But to the one who surrenders their fears, lets go of their ego’s need to control, and embraces love, they realize that love is the source of true freedom, true bliss, and true purpose to the mystery of existence. To be loved, is to love. |