It would be hard to exaggerate how much we want to make our decision to be separate work – how much we are trying to prove we can do it our way. On most of the spiritual journey we are trying to find peace in our decision to be separate. Consider how much time you spend trying to fix anything, whether it’s your body, relationships, work, finances, or the world around you. How much time do you spend trying to fix the little problems of life along with the big ones? How often do you think you know the right way to do things, the right way to be? How many things have you got the answers for? What do you spend your day doing? Do you spend it devoted to surrender and to the truth, to revealing the truth within you? Can you remember that this can only be done by complete and total surrender?
Again, it would be hard to exaggerate how hard we are trying to make our separation work and we have included the spiritual journey as part of that effort. This may sound like judgment, like something is wrong, but it is not. This is simply making conscious, bringing to awareness, what is actually happening. For denial is a great skill of the ego, as well as confusion of the facts and truth. The ego pats us on the back for doing good things, doing the right things and knowing the right answers. Our physical life, our life in this body, is the story of our conflict with the truth. We act it out in so many ways. We project out our hatred, guilt and fear and recreate the conflict over and over and over again in the world. For that is what the world exists for. It is created as an escape from the conflict, an effort to get the conflict out of us.
Every disturbance, every emotional reaction, every accident, every coincidence is a projection of our rejection of the truth – of our true selves. The ego will rush in and say that it is being judged, being found wrong and bad, and it will reject what is heard because it does not want us to be conscious, to be aware of all the ways we are denying the truth. The ego was created to prevent being conscious, prevent awareness. When you watch what it does when it hears the truth it is obvious.
So let us see if we understand and make it simple. If there is a problem, a conflict, issue or disturbance, there is only one answer, only one solution. The solution lies in the realization of the truth. It is the answer to everything. We must be clear it is not going to be easy and not going to happen in every moment. Awakening is a process that uses time. There isn’t any reason it should be different right now. We cannot find fault with ourselves. There is no justification for that and we are certainly doing the best that we can. So, once again, these words are not spoken with judgment and condemnation. They are spoken to awaken.
For the most part we are unaware of how unconscious we are – otherwise it wouldn’t be called ‘unconscious’. If we were completely conscious we wouldn’t need these words. At some point we are going to have to give up the idea that we know any answers at all and give in to the realization that there is always only one answer, because there is only one problem – trying to make separation work, trying to make this dream reality. So we can clearly discern the problem if we use our reason and focus on the solution.
Right now what is your state of surrender? What are you aware of in yourself? Are you willing to stop; are you willing to surrender? Are you willing to make that the focus of your awareness right now, to make that your intention? Are you willing to give up being right, looking good, knowing all the answers, and release all that effort so that the truth can be revealed? Are you willing to get out of the way of that which is authentic and real? This is the solution to every problem. Love heals everything. If you can’t find a solution you know that love is missing.
So there is nothing to be done in this moment except surrender. The path of surrender is a bumpy path. Resistance arises. But as we have heard, resistance is simply unwillingness. When resistance arises ask yourself if you want to awaken, do you want truth, are you willing to surrender? Are you willing to allow, to accept, and give up? We accept our resistance because we believe that surrendering to truth is somehow undesirable. Then our resistance has power – power to make us believe that peace and truth are out of our reach. But in reality, what we want is truth, light, love, and peace.
When we are truly willing nothing can stop us from knowing who and what we are. Remember resistance is unwillingness – it’s ‘no’. Is that really what you want to say? Do you really want to say ‘no’ to love? We think we are saying ‘no’ to save ourselves from being judged and condemned, but actually we are saying no to unconditional love, absolute peace and power – complete resolution of all conflict. That is what we say ‘no’ to. You must ask yourself in every moment, “Is this is what I want? What am I saying no to?”
Let us wake up. Let us end the deception that we can make separation work. Let us return to our rightful home. In reality there is no unwillingness to hold us back. There is no judgment coming. That is all projection of the ego. Let us find a way to be loving and gentle with ourselves – forgiving. Then we can surrender to who we truly are.