Thoughts & quotes from Sir David R. Hawkins, M.D., Ph.D. & Susan Hawkins Archives - Page 89 of 97

What does it mean to surrender?

In ordinary life, we surrender a little bit. Under greater pressure, we are willing to surrender more and realize that we do not have to put ourselves under catastrophic pressure in order to be willing to surrender at great depth. The transformation of personality, the whole shift in one’s spiritual position, traditionally comes from surrendering at great depth.

What does it mean to surrender at great depth? How can we surrender at great depth without having to put ourselves through a terrible emotional catastrophe in order to accomplish the same spiritual work? By seeing the essential nature of the process, we become educated. Our positions shift and we are different in the way we are. We are willing to be with life in all its expressions. The willingness is then experienced as an inner state of aliveness. Arising from that is the willingness to take the chance because we now know that we are accompanied by something greater than the personal self. It is not the personal self that has to handle what comes up in life. The Infinite Presence that is always with us is more powerful than the human will and ego. The self brings pain and suffering; the Self radiates healing and peace.

from Healing and Recovery, ch. 8, pg. 261

Seek to ‘know’, not to ‘know about’

“… Seek to ‘know’, not to ‘know about’. ‘Know’ implies subjective experience; ‘know about’ means to accumulate facts. In the end, all facts disappear, and there are none to be known.

… Each piece of information contributes to intuitive understanding and recognition. Truth is recognized. It presents itself to a field of awareness that has been prepared in order to allow the presentation to reveal itself. Truth and enlightenment are not acquired or achieved. It is a state or condition that presents itself when the conditions are appropriate.

… Humility is of greater value than all factual accumulation.”

from The Eye of the I p. 177-179

The Power of the Love of the Self

Realization and Revelation

The relinquishment of the ego’s positionalities reduces its dominance and opens the door for comprehension and awareness that are nonlinear and nonconceptual. Thus emerges the ‘knowingness’ of the Self by which conflicts spontaneously dissolve. These inner transformations are accompanied by quiet joy, relief, and a greater sense of internal freedom, safety, and peace. The power of the Love of the Self progressively predominates and eventually eclipses all negative feelings, doubts, and obstacles.

Transformation is thus not experienced as the loss of the self but rather as the gain of the emergence and unfoldment of the Self, which is of a much greater dimension. What actually emerges is a change of state or condition that supersedes and replaces the old. Thus, the lesser is replaced by the greater, by which spiritual evolution reveals the Presence of God as Immanent. This discovery is the change in the state of consciousness historically referred to as ‘Enlightenment’ or ‘God-consciousness’.

from Reality, Spirituality and Modern Man, ch. 14, pg. 284-285

The Light of Awareness

Spiritual evolution occurs as the result of removing obstacles and not actually acquiring anything new. Devotion enables surrender of the mind’s vanities and cherished illusions so that it progressively becomes more free and more open to the light of Truth.

Illumination refers to those spiritual states where sufficient barriers have been dropped, either deliberately or unconsciously, so that a greater context suddenly presents itself, and in so doing, illuminates, clarifies, and reveals an expanded field of consciousness actually experienced as inner light. This is the light of awareness, the radiance of the Self that emanates as a profound lovingness.

– from The Eye of the I p. 30

Devotion to Truth

One’s commitment should be to God and Truth only. Teachers are to be respected, but devotion should be restricted to only the Truth. As Buddha said, “Put no head above your own,” meaning that one’s only true guru is the Self (the Buddha nature).

The Self of the teacher and one’s own Self are one and the same. The teacher becomes a source of inspiration and information. It is the inspiration that supports the quest.

Does spiritual commitment mean one has to give up the world? No, of course not. It means merely that worldly life needs to be recontextualized, restructured, and envisioned differently. It is not the world that is a trap but one’s attachment to it, along with one’s observations that cloud the search for Truth.

from The Eye of the I, ch. 8, pg. 162