The Nativity or Christmas period of fasting for Orthodox Christians and Eastern Catholics began mid-November this month. Most people think of fasting as food restrictions. But the food rules are symbolic of the true fasting, true lent, which is clearing out, letting go of those attitudes and behaviours that keep us from the Holy. Not eating meat is easy. Abstaining from favourite foods or foods we crave, perhaps not so easy.
Resisting the pull of our patterns of conditioned reactions, refusing to fall into our normal default patterns or resentment, superiority, judgmentalism, negativity etc, that is hard work. Yet that is what spiritual fasting is really about. Purifying the inner self so that it can receive the Holy.
This surrender of attachments is the necessary counterpart to the active aspects of spiritual growth, or the path to deification, becoming like God.
Consider this. The Holy is complete: it is in perfect balance, containing all and reconciling all opposites. Holiness contains both masculine and feminine energies, both light and dark, stillness and action, yin and yang.
A mind that is too active or too passive is off the mark, out of balance, and being out of harmony with the Holy, with Truth, is unable to perceive it.
I have written elsewhere of the mental and emotional strength required of the spiritual initiate, the necessity for commitment, focus, will, courage, and spiritual practice in one’s daily life .... These are the yang aspects, the active parts of Being.
To create the necessary internal conditions for the Holy, the Divine, the active, the yang, must be brought into balance and harmony with the passive, the receptive yin.
The passive condition that balances the necessary active aspects of the spiritual, that makes the way for the Holy in one's being is Surrender.
The seeker pushes toward the goal of Beingness while knowing on a very deep level that on her own, she cannot fully Become: only through divine Grace can she be drawn into a higher level of being. "Ask and ye shall receive," it says. Not 'reach out and take' but 'ask and receive'. So having done all she can to make way for the Holy, she must stay out of the way, and wait.
She must become empty of self, of who she believes herself to be, of her desire; even, said the great medieval mystic, Meister Eckhart, of her desire to know God. Eckhart refers to it as becoming a virgin, of becoming as empty of self as one was before one even was.
This is what we must learn.
The seeker of truth, of spiritual awakening must eventually surrender that which he thinks he knows and is, to make himself ready to receive that which can only be given.
Light of the World, by Holman Hunt
Buddha said that to be prepared to receive enlightenment, you must surrender your attachment to your concept of self and all that it entails.
This is too great a step for most of us, but we can take it one tiny step at a time. The mystical teacher, Osho, talks of “minor surrenders that happen before you surrender totally”. To develop the three inner conditions or keys for the spiritual path, you must let go, to some degree or other, of your old beliefs, aspects of your ego, your attachment to the material pleasures or other threads have kept you bound for so long in the dream and away from truth. Each thread you let go of is a surrender.
In reality, you are surrendering nothing, for with each bond released, you come closer to the truth, and to freedom. Each can feel like a big surrender before you finally let go...but then you find they were not big at all. Instead, you feel your Being expanding.
“These minor surrenders prepare you for the total surrender," writes Osho. "Once you have known that through surrender you receive something unknown, unbelievable, unexpected, never even dreamed of, then you are ready for a major surrender.”
Most of the traumas and difficulties in our lives are in actuality invitations to surrender; to stop hanging onto what we think we know, what we desire or are attached to, and make inner space for divineinsight and guidance. Sometimes, we are hit across the head with such a blow that we are simply stunned into surrender. We hurt too much, are too profoundly disoriented, and finding nothing to hold on to, we fall into what feels like an abyss. The only way out of that abyss, that dark night of the soul, that sometimes physical anguish is to let go - surrender - and let Spirit move us as it will.
.......Only the vast loneliness of Self
whispering in the deafening noise of mind,
‘Let go. Let be.’
(from 'Sich lassen I')
Abyss, Jose Chavarry. flickr
Few of us go through life without that kind of experience, and some of us learn from the experience, and emerge humbled but much wiser. Some, unfortunately, do not.
But we don’t always have to suffer. We can also surrender willingly, consciously, maintaining a delicate balance in our lives between inner and outer, caring and detachment, active and passive, yin and yang. This is what is called balance, living in harmony with both one’s deep inner drive to growth and awakening and one’s exterior responsibilities and activities, and it the only way, really, to be at peace with ourselves, and happy.
What are you prepared to surrender right now?
So what are you willing to give up?
Are you prepared to surrender that anger or resentment that you think is so justified? Can you surrender your blaming long enough to recognise your own significant contribution to your problems and difficulties with others?
Can you surrender your need to be better than another, your need to be right and try to understand another person's point of view?
Can your surrender your desire for approval from outside of you and do your work well for its own sake?
Can you surrender your judgment of another person and choose to accept that person for who he or she is?
Can your surrender to feelings of tenderness or compassion when they arise and not 'switch off' or harden yourself because you feel too vulnerable or helpless?
There are so many instances of surrender that can move you forward. And as you release, let go of a limiting belief or behaviour, you find it easier to surrender even more. With your wholehearted desire for truth, you surrender the sorry comfort of living in illusion and self-deception. With your will to be guided, you surrender your belief that you know the truth, and have the wisdom to choose your right direction. With courage, you surrender fear and the self-judgment, blame and justification that it causes.
These conditions of mind will not take you all the way to oneness with God or your Creator, but they will lead you to the door. And there, your only task is to surrender, this time, to the loving spirit that waits to guide you into the light. And everything you thought you knew will be as nothing.
‘Knock, and the door will be opened’, not by you, but by the loving Spirit of God whose only desire is to bring you home. All this is possible for you now, while you live in a body here on earth.