It may be dismaying at times to discover that surrender to the Self for one’s salvation and spiritual evolution is in conflict with the ego’s devious machinations to maintain control. One can be sure that the narcissistic core of the ego is certainly not going to welcome humility or the fact that the ordinary mind, unaided, is intrinsically not even capable of knowing the difference between truth and falsehood.
It is also well to know in advance that all suffering is not intrinsic to spiritual gain but strictly due to resistance to it. Suffering is due to dragging one’s spiritual feet and the ego’s insistence on having its own way. Abandoning the ego as God and turning to Divinity is what serves the evolution of consciousness.
If all life experiences are surrendered as they occur, they become transformed by gratitude into the miraculous and seen as gifts. This transformation is not within the province of the human will but is a gift of the Grace of God. To turn over one’s life to be a servant of God, to grow spiritually, and to commit to the service of Divinity are very powerful acts of the human will. Faith is reinforced by remembering the promises of the Ninety-first Psalm and Upanishads that “all who call upon Me by whatever name are Mine and dear to Me.” Faith in the infinite benevolence of Divine Love is itself transformative. At times, that is the only thing to which one clings in times of desperation.
From Transcending the Levels of Consciousness, Ch. 19, pg. 333-334
Lovely – thank you for sharing this, Susan. Thanks for all that you do!