Surrender Law # 23

Not to give up, but to give over, is the essence of this Law. Who here is wise enough to understand Surrender?  To live humbly for a cause, rather than to die nobly for one. This begins to tell us what Power real Surrender holds. 

Cynthia F. Davidson, excerpt from the Wisdom Wheel Surrender card 

(cards, stones, posters & more available via www.thewisdomwheel.com)

Some might call this the Law of Radical Acceptance because Surrender implies being undefended, being vulnerable, and able to accept what happens. The difference is in whether you can accept 'being' in this state, or whether it is 'forced' upon you/your ego personality self. It means being able to tolerate not being in control...

For the next ten days try experimenting with Surrender. 
You can start with the mental defenses, like being judgmental and critical of others, and yourself. What if you surrendered your need to be 'right'?
Emotional Surrender could involve allowing yourself to feel Love instead of some habitual condemnation of a particular person or group of people.
Physical Surrender could be as simple as going to bed when your body is tired.  
Spiritual Surrender might be something like saying a different prayer before drifting off to sleep. For instance, 'Send me, use me and protect me.' These words express the spiritual Surrender I have yet to achieve during my waking hours. 
What sort of Surrender do you aspire to? 
All of us ought to have some practice to help us prepare for the ultimate Surrender when our bodies die.

Talk to family and friends about Surrender. Reconsider examples of masters and sages who surrendered their needs for worldly wealth, human acclaim, and were able to live humbly and quietly as monks, nuns, hermits.  

What happens to us, and to others, when we cannot let go? 

Which attachments do you cling to, too tightly? 

Have you noticed that the word 'end' is inside Surrender? 

Each ending is another beginning. You may be preventing a new start by not having enough Trust to be able to Surrender what needs to go. 

What have others said about the Law of Surrender?

Surrender means accepting this moment, this body, and this life with open arms.  Surrender involves getting out of our own way and living in accord with a higher will, expressed as the wisdom of the heart.  Far more than passive acceptance, surrender uses every challenge as a means of spiritual growth and extended awareness.

Although The Law of Surrender means accepting whatever happens in your life, it does not mean passive toleration for what you don’t like, or ignoring injustice, or allowing yourself to be victimized or controlled. True surrender is active, positive, assertive — a creative commitment to make use of your situation, in a spirit of appreciation.

Dan Millman, author of the Laws of Spirit

The last laps of all paths are the same – surrender of the ego.

Ramana Maharshi

I don't know Who—or what—put the question, I don't know when it was put. I don't even remember answering. But at some moment I did answer Yes to Someone—or Something—and from that hour I was certain that existence is meaningful and that, therefore, my life, in self-surrender, had a goal.

Dag Hammarskjöld (1905-1961), Swedish statesman, Secretary-General of U.N.. Markings (1964)

No matter how busy you may think you are, you must find time for reading, or else surrender to self-chosen ignorance.

Confucius (551-479 BC) China's most famous teacher and philosopher

In detachment lies the wisdom of uncertainty... in the wisdom of uncertainty lies the freedom from our past, from the known, which is the prison of past conditioning. And in our willingness to step into the unknown, the field of all possibilities, we surrender ourselves to the creative mind that orchestrates the dance of the universe.

Deepak Chopra (1946- ), Indian medical doctor, books include Power, Freedom, and Grace: Living from the Source of Lasting Happiness

To be one's self, and unafraid whether right or wrong, is more admirable than the easy cowardice of surrender to conformity.

Irving Wallace

The sacrifice or surrender of the heart of man and his emotions is the first of the rules; it involves the attaining of an equilibrium which cannot be shaken by personal emotion.

Bhagavad-Gita: The Song of God, translated by Swami Prabhavananda and Christopher Isherwood

Justice that love gives is a surrender, justice that law gives is a punishment.

Mahatma Gandhi

One act of surrender, one change of heart, one leap of faith, can change your life forever.

Robert Holden from Shift Happens

Sometimes what seems like surrender isn't surrender at all. It's about what's going on in our hearts. About seeing clearly the way life is and accepting it and being true to it, whatever the pain, because the pain of not being true to it is far, far greater.

Nicholas Evans, The Horse Whisperer

Growth demands a temporary surrender of security.

Gail Sheehy

Surrender in spite of Freedom is the way of wise men.

Chinmaya

To live in this world you must be able to do three things:

To love what is mortal;

To hold it against your bones knowing your own life depends upon it;

And, when the time comes to let it go,

To let it go.

Mary Oliver (1935– ), American poet, books include Why I Wake Early (quote from poem 'In Blackwater Woods')

Surrender has never been my favorite word. I always thought it had only one meaning, which was to lose and be defeated. There is also a spiritual meaning... To surrender is to accept that there is a waxing and a waning rhythm to events... Trust that good things can happen without our needing to control them.

Peter Block, American management consultant and author, books include Stewardship: Choosing Service over Self-Interest

A wise unselfishness is not a surrender of yourself to the wishes of anyone, but only to the best discoverable course of action.

David Seabury

We need a set of rough principles to guide us, lest we surrender to something too small, to false gods, gurus and groups... The followers of Jim Jones took the full dose of poison. Over belief can be deadly.

Sam Keen, from his book Hymns to an Unknown God

I belong to no nation, no civilization, no society, no race, but to the Divine. I obey no master, no rules, no law, no social convention, but the Divine. To Him I have surrendered all, will, life and self; for Him I am ready to give all my blood, drop by drop, if such is His will, with complete joy, and nothing in his service can be sacrifice, for all is perfect delight.

Mirra Alfassa, ‘the Mother’ (1878- 1973)

Because people so cherish the Self, surrendering is a very frightening experience. A person may experience surrender as a leap into an abyss or as death. This may be perceived by one who has not yet attained a complete Trust and Faith in God or a Higher Power…Once Self is abandoned, the ‘being’ automatically merges with a higher stage of existence which is ready and waiting to accept it.

Margo Kirtikar Ph.D. in Cosmic and Universal Laws

In ten days, we will take up the Law of Enlightenment. Till then do your Surrender practice.