Ask: Is surrender a precondition for staying in Spirit?

          “Since duality counts for just about everything here there is no surprise at the ego/spirit split. However, the ego’s dominance in the world remains strong and will always fight for its recognition and position. Spirit stands silently still and waits for recognition. In this world, few souls have recognized it. Do you feel that surrender plays a part in the shift and continuous surrender a precondition to staying there?” – ESA

 

What I have been trying to convey in my articles lately is that what is occurring in consciousness is this play of dark and Light, of ego and Spirit, and that it is predetermined. It is an expression, a depiction over time, of the moment of the idea of not-God arising and its simultaneous undoing by God’s All-encompassing nature. So, there is nothing here making a choice, there is nothing here to take the posture of “surrender.” All sense of choice is ego’s delusion that the person is occurring apart from the whole of consciousness, is autonomous, and is therefore real.


What feels like “surrender” is a moment when ego recedes and Spirit advances in a seemingly singular consciousness. A person, which is merely an expression of consciousness, then says they feel they have made the choice to surrender to God. But whether that sense of surrender remains is determined by ego continuing to fade from the center of consciousness or continuing as the center of consciousness. And this is determined by the unfolding story of time and consciousness, that moment of the idea of not-God arising and being simultaneously undone—the Atonement—not by an autonomous decision of any singular consciousness.


A sense of surrender, even surrendering ego, is an ego posture. When Spirit is fully here, ego is gone, so there is nothing to take such a posture. So, if there is a sense of surrender, ego is still around and surrendering is how it interprets Spirit’s predominance in consciousness at the moment. Notice how ego’s interpretation makes it about ego! 

>>>>> 

If you have a question the answer to which you feel may be helpful to others, send it to Liz@acimmentor.com and indicate that you want it answered in this newsletter/blog.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Thank you ESA for your question and thank you Liz for helping us see the trees are part of the forest where the ego would have us not "see the trees [at all] for the forest".
8:08 AM
Witness to Peace said…
Perfect - thankyou Liz
12:39 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ask: What is meant by "extend Love"?

I wonder exactly what is meant by "extend love" or how one extends love. Is it a loving intention toward the person, or a wish for them, or what? Can you give an example? – JO “Extending love” means replacing unloving thoughts in your mind with the awareness of Love in your mind. For example, your peace of mind is disturbed while watching something on television. Your peace is gone because you believe that what you see is reality. You extend Love in this situation by turning inward to Truth (God), feeling Love’s Presence within you, and remembering that It, not the images appearing, is What is Real. It may take you a while to accept that only your own thoughts cause you pain. So at first you may feel that you need to extend Love “out there” to the images that seem to be causing you pain. Or you may extend Love to another who is sharing their painful story with you. You can do this by imagining the situation or the person in a Loving Light. Or you may use some other image to
Read more

If the World Isn't Real, Why Ask For Guidance?

Every now and then a student asks me why they should follow the Holy Spirit’s guidance if the world isn’t real and if it has nothing to do with God. What difference does it make how you live in the world, then? All that you made can serve salvation easily and well. The Son of God can make no choice the Holy Spirit cannot employ on his behalf, and not against himself. (T-25.VI.7) The world is your perception that you are separate from God. Calling on the Holy Spirit to guide you in it corrects this misperception. You are no longer separate from God when you are following the Holy Spirit. What you ask the Holy Spirit and what the Holy Sprit answers is not important. What is important is that you asked and that you accepted an answer . When you follow the Holy Spirit the purpose of every circumstance becomes a means to be with the Holy Spirit. The world that was made to make separation from God real to you becomes a means of remembering you are One with God. It doesn’t matter to God ho
Read more

More on Emotional Satisfaction or Freedom

Last week’s article ( http://acimmentor.blogspot.com/2017/02/emotional-satisfaction-or-freedom.html ) about the two possible approaches to spirituality and how one way to characterize them is the pursuit of emotional satisfaction for the self or transcending the self led to a lot of comments and questions that I will try to clear up here. (The article was a follow-up to two other articles I had written on the same topic. Some of the questions readers had could be answered in those earlier articles and links were provided in last week’s article. If you still have questions I suggest reading those as well as last week’s article for a fuller look at the topic). The emotional satisfaction I wrote about in the last article was not referring to what one seeks in relation to others. It was referring to the desire for an emotional connection with Truth (God) that one would characterize as “warm”. I was highlighting how which goal we pursue in spirituality can often be revealed by the
Read more