QA245 QUESTION: I want to understand and feel more deeply what it really means to surrender. What is the nature of surrender? Is it possible for the “I” to surrender at all or is it an attitude or quality as if the ego is silenced and just the being becomes receptive? I do not really know who God is and therefore ask for guidance in the direction of surrender. To whom? To what? Is just the very attitude of surrender enough? And can I surrender to a concept, to an idea of what I think God might be, or must I not experience God initially before moving toward surrender. Saying “I surrender totally to the will of God” feels a tremendous statement implying an impossible death of ego. Am I incorrect in this thinking?
ANSWER: Surrender means giving over. It means giving in and flowing with what is beyond personal ego control. Of course, the basic surrender must always be to God, to the Christ who is the most humanized aspect of God and nearest to his human children. If surrender to God is the primary attitude, true strength and integrity must be restored and released, contrary to the common misunderstanding, which believes exactly the opposite.
I explained this at length in the last lecture [Lecture #245 Cause and Effect on Various Levels of Consciousness]. If surrender to God, which is a natural movement, is denied by the personality, fake surrenders may ensue – to false gods, to substitute powers – and consequently justified fear will further displace and further deny the real surrender to God.
If surrender to God and his will exists in all aspects of life, an automatic balance of proper surrender in all areas will be established. For instance, surrendering to loving and feeling for special people in your life will be a free flowing movement, healthy and organic, never unnecessarily retained and restricted, yet never going overboard and creating blindness, and giving up autonomy and self-responsibility.
Healthy surrender to a leader, a teacher or a mate must always preserve one’s inner truth. In practical terms, this may mean a differing of opinions and of directions. If the leader, the teacher, the authority or the mate should deviate from the will of God, your following this person would constitute a self-betrayal, a betrayal of your truth, and as such, of truth Itself.
This wonderful balance can only exist if surrender to God is total, deep and sincere. Then you can give your heart totally to another human being, you can surrender all your feelings to him or her, you can recognize his or her authority in certain areas where you require leadership, but above all their authority can only rest on the authority of God. The wisdom to know how to follow and yield – and when not to – comes solely from the basic surrender to God.
The “I” can indeed surrender totally, but only to God. Only by surrendering to God will it become subsequently stronger and more integrated with the divine self. If the “l” attempts to surrender to any false god, it will truly lose itself in a sick egolessness. You know that ego must exist in order to manage this world into which you were incarnating yourself. But there is such a difference between healthy ego and sick ego, between healthy egolessness and sick egolessness.
You ask for help because you do not know who God is. You will begin to sense his palpable presence only when you truly want to find him. Do you really want to find him? Or do you perhaps wish to maintain a quarrel with life, and a separate position in which no demands and responsibilities can be made on you? If you really want to know God, you must want to do so, and pray that you may sense his magnificence. All you need to do is look around you and see the marvel of Creation in all living things.
Naturally, if you do not know God, you cannot surrender to God. And if you do not surrender to God, surrender to others is practically impossible. But perhaps you can surrender partially by listening with an inner ear to what appears most likely to be true wisdom – by following suggestions and directions in order to help you remove all obstructions that separate you from God. You are indeed incorrect in your statement that a total surrender to God implies “an impossible death of ego.” As I said, the contrary is true.
