"Surrender Precedes Certainty"

(from post to the newsgroup - alt.meditation.shabda)

Bruce: If we regard "God-realization" as something "to achieve," we are already astray. We should surrender to the truly sacred, whatever outcome may be in store for us. It is not a matter of achievement.

David: Please forgive me for taking one sliver from a thoughtful argument,

Bruce: Of course, David!

David: but I see it somewhat differently:

Bruce: Perhaps, let's see...

David: God-Realization is, by definition something to be realized- made real in one's consciousness- sacralized, perpetuated, made permanent.

Bruce: No disagreement so far. A question please: what is the agency, the doer of this transformation? No answer required, just something to ponder...

David: Not claiming such a state, it is pointless to speculate as to the modus operandi- is it some kind of combination of grace/effort/right Guru/motivation? If pressed, I would suggest that such a lofty state goes beyond achievement/non-achievement.

Bruce: Exactly, it is something that exists outside the customary work-for-reward paradigm by which we survive and prosper in the material world. We proceed without attachment to outcome, knowing nothing of its nature we enquire and by grace there may be discovery, when that discovery stabilizes we call it "realization" or "enlightenment" and all duality vanishes.

Is such a state "lofty?" I would say that just as it exists without causality, it also cannot be described because description is based on comparison and it is literally incomparable. That which thought cannot touch it certainly can't depict, which is why it is said that the best we can do is to point.

David: And if we were certain what WAS the "truly" sacred and thus could properly surrender to it, perhaps we would already have "achieved" God-Realization.

Bruce: A priori certainty is not necessary, it is in fact counterproductive. The surrender is not "to" anything, but rather in what is, which is the expression of what might be called "divine will" given to us as humans. It is in that ultimate act of faith that the certainty we long for (still inexpressible, even by a Rumi or a Hafiz) occurs, not vice-versa. We do not embody the truly sacred by understanding its nature beforehand in a victory of the human intellect and sensorium, it comes unbidden when we viscerally experience the limitations of these tools and the futility of our ambitions, including and especially the ambition to find the "proper" entity to which to surrender the sword of personal sovereignty. That surrender must be unconditional, as the Christians say, "Not my will, but Thine...."

David: Enjoying your posts as usual.

Bruce: Thank you for a most attentive and intuitive reply, David.