Surrender
A person is not a thing or a process but an opening through which the absolute manifests.-Martin Heidegger
He who wants to understand my teaching of releasement must himself be perfectly released.
—Meister Eckhart
Imagine you were to buy a house. You would probably want its history, inspections, reports, considerations for the spouse and kids. Hazards, future real estate projections—you would want to make sure you are getting a good deal and not getting screwed over.
What Eckhart suggests in his worldview, is that it is impossible to be screwed over. And you only get the house you are looking for by accepting it—without knowing what condition it is in. And you won’t have a single problem with the house because you either move into this paradigm of radical acceptance or you remain in your own. Either way, all is well.
The Guru of Silence, Robert Adams, told a crowd he moved in a state of complete surrender. He was in the world, but not of it. A man of Tao who left no footprints. In this state, he never lacked, always helped people no matter their intention, cared little for the outward markings of the world and external success, always got the best spot at the hottest restaurant—you get the idea. If you wanted what Adams had, you were free to take it.
A man heard this lecture and was inspired. The first week of implementing this newfound knowledge of radical acceptance he had his car broken into and his house robbed. Adams just laughed and let the man know that what’s true for him is not true for everyone. Levels to this game.
The author Jed McKenna called it releasing the tiller. It’s not a sense of who you turn your power over to but that you begin to relax your hold on the illusion of control. No matter how bad your experience is, it still falls within the realm of a human experience. Ah, life! It’s what we are going through.
The way to reclaim control of your life, was in McKenna’s eyes, by releasing all control of it. Like a parachuter hurtling down to his landing site, this free-falling man learns to work his body and mind to safely make it to the intended target.
Motherhood is one of the easiest things to point to as an example of this turnover. Authentic devotion to a career, science, wisdom, and art are other examples. Service to others, loving things outside yourself—anything that gets you outside the narrow confines of your “I.” Thoreau famously mentioned a man who dedicated his life to the carving of a walking stick. If it works, it works.
I cannot help but reduce all the big questions of history, psychology, philosophy, mysticism, and spirituality to one single question. Will this help me become a source of my own guidance? For I am not interested in touching the superficialities of the world but seeking the fountain of inspiration. To drink from these waters without the use of an intermediary.
The point is not to imitate but to become. Not to be in the business of portraying a Buddha or a Jesus but to seek what they sought.
Followers of Aristotle would think themselves happy if they had as much knowledge of nature as he possessed, were it even under the condition that they should never afterwards attain to higher.
—René Descartes, Discourse On The Method