SItuations in which you are forced to surrender

[73543_1494798777]

What are some good situations or ways to know the feeling that YOU are not in control. That no matter what you do, YOU cannot control what happens, and so you must surrender. Ive been raised in a highly intellectual family, where I was always encouraged to just think more and more, exert myself mentally more and more to get the answer, to be right, to be in control. Where mental effort pays off. This has lead me to develop a deeply engrained belief that denial might actually pay off. Where avoiding something seems to make it go away. This is clearly not the case, but how to KNOW this? What is it impossible for me to ever do? What could no amount of mental effort ever achieve? How can I see this? Good example might be death, its impossible not to die... Mind says:But what if you had enough knowledge of qigong--couldnt you live forever? It seems like something like this should be OBVIOUS, not anything that needs to be proved somehow.

 

Ive recently seen that all this mental effort is just wishful thinking, you dont actually DO anything real by denying or imagining. Its not real. It still seems like a form of creation (you are creating ideas/concepts), but they are somehow not real, they dont translate into reality, they dont affect what is. It seems like the only way to really bring about change is to be in alignment with what IS, in agreement with it. That to create anything real you must create along with what already is, rather than against it. This distinction isnt completely clear to me yet. Does anyone know of any spiritual stuff that relates specifically to this idea of creating what is real vs creating illusions? It all seems like legit creation, but somehow one way works and the other doesnt? Why would you choose the way that doesnt work?

 

THanks for any input. Got myself nice and confused about this spirituality stuff

Edited April 4, 2012 by Guest

[eccentric215]

I'm actually reading kabbalah for health and wellness right now. And it hit the nail right on the head with one of the things I'm going through right now. I'm juggling too many different spiritual beliefs and it's really leaving me frustrated and confused. It's not a bad read maybe you should check it out.

[Protector]

I haven't felt like that in five years hmmmmmm weird eh

[suninmyeyes]

Edited April 5, 2012 by suninmyeyes

[Jetsun]

I can relate a lot with what you say, I think one way to get out of your head and allow it to let go a bit is to work with your body meditatively, I generally find most qigong and yoga etc to be too forceful in this regard as you move your attention around too quickly but there are others which I think are more effective like vipassana, White Skeleton, inner dissolving meditations. There are some Christian methods for this purpose too.

 

I think if you are very cerebral completely letting go all at once is very difficult, you are better off doing it slowly by balancing yourself towards your emotional centre first in my view, if you can centre yourself in your heart then it is much easier for your head to let go.

[Marblehead]

Edited April 4, 2012 by Marblehead

[mYTHmAKER]

Indeed, this is a very important concept in the life of each of us. The question: How much control do we really have?

 

I will state right up front that I do not like the word or the concept "surrender". But I do know how to work with the concept of "Let it go".

 

A long time ago I established a method of dealing with 'problems' in my life. I have established that there really are only two types of problems that will ever enter my life: Those that I can do something about and those I can do nothing about.

 

Those problems I can do something about I take action and eventually that basket is empty.

 

Those problems I can do nothing about I just let go. No, I don't try to pretend that they don't exist - that would be illusional. I acknowledge their existence but also acknowledge that I can do nothing to resolve the problem, at least as the conditions currently exist. Perhaps tomorrow conditions will change and then I will be able to do something about those problems.

 

I don't let my spirituality (what little there is) get in the way of recognizing reality. Nor do I think my spirituality will resolve the problems. Something caused the problem to exist - something must be done to resolve it. Ignoring its existence normally does not work because most problems don't just go away.

 

The important thing, I suppose, is to know how much control we truely have and not try to extend ourself beyond our limits. (We experience too many failures doing that.)

 

Nice post. Would like to add it is important to remain open to see possibilities - sometimes there is no problem and if there is one, being open can change ones perspective

[Marblehead]

Nice post. Would like to add it is important to remain open to see possibilities - sometimes there is no problem and if there is one, being open can change ones perspective

True. I don't talk much about this concept even though I do consider myself very flexible in 'real' life. Hehehe. I sometimes appear quite rigid here at TaoBums but this is different from my 'real' life. But Hey!, this is real too, isn't it?

[steve]

[Owledge]

[Lucky7Strikes]

Let everything go. Trust your own being. It's that simple. The small confusions all come from clinging and attachment. When you have dropped everything, and your being is in its most effortless state, it's quite beautiful the way each movement of the mind and the body plays out its own creative nature.

 

Currently you are dividing everything into thing you can control and things you cannot control. Drop the dichotomy, and know that there is not even the concept of control, but simply being, this aliveness moving, thinking...simply experiencing as is.

[theurgy]

I'm actually reading kabbalah for health and wellness right now. And it hit the nail right on the head with one of the things I'm going through right now. I'm juggling too many different spiritual beliefs and it's really leaving me frustrated and confused. It's not a bad read maybe you should check it out.

 

That is a great book and I believe it is also sadly going out of print. A Kabbalistic proverb that comes to mind is, "if one is looking for water, it is far better to dig a single deep well than several shallow ones." The same is true in choosing a path to cultivate Wisdom. In pursuing a path with unswerving devotion we stand a better chance at arriving at Wisdom than through "spiritual dilettantism." Qi gong masters always urge students to stick with one set of practices for a good length of time before switching to another for this very reason. We do not want to overload the subconscious mind with too many symbol sets, (each which works in its own context) but through mixing with other systems, the fragile link one is trying to establish with one's "Inner Master" becomes easily severed through an indiscriminate lack of focus.

 

This offered in my humble opinion, of course.

[Marblehead]

This offered in my humble opinion, of course.

 

I consider the below to be fact, not just opinion.

 

... urge students to stick with one set of practices for a good length of time before switching to another for this very reason. We do not want to overload the subconscious mind with too many symbol sets, ...

[theurgy]

[9th]

[3bob]