Sister- and brotherhood require vulnerability and surrender. To have this experience, we have to be able to sustain a sacred mutual space. And that only happens when a person surrenders to something larger than themselves.
In that surrender there is vulnerability. We are not in control of everything and we are open to receive something from each other. That is the invitation we extend both when we’re together and when we’re not.
During this pandemic, many of us are spending more time physically alone, holding our friends and family from a distance, and holding the world from a place of loving surround. I invite you to enfold the world with me as you read this Pulse of Spirit. There is currently anger over the death of George Floyd, a black man who died as a result of police actions. There are peaceful demonstrations protesting his death and the history of police mistreatment of black men. And there has been violent rioting as well. This is all part of the current human condition that can be so lacking of true sister- and brotherhood.
True brother- and sisterhood requires a sensing, a knowing, and a discipline of surrender to something larger than our own individual plans. There is an overlying Reality to surrender that isn’t based on human opinion, human wants, human desire, or human patterns set up by individuals trying to maintain a humanly invented experience that serves them and is disconnected from real connection to each other. It requires a surrender to something larger that animates everything, including ourselves, to make that connection. We need to surrender to that One Reality that gives us breath and gives us life. That is trustworthy. Humankind has attempted to create safety for themselves without surrendering to the safety of Reality. It never works.
The safest thing is to surrender to life and to be vulnerable to the blessings that come from that surrender, without ceasing. Not in a foolish way, not giving up our wisdom. We can choose to complement and magnify how life works, so amply demonstrated by how all of nature on Planet Earth functions. If we were all tuned in to that, even at the most basic level, conflict would be nonexistent, because human conflict is not good for our planet. It paralyzes us and makes it impossible to do what we must do to be part of a thriving planet.
We have the opportunity to surrender to the unfolding pattern of nature that allows us to consciously participate in a thriving planet and a thriving world. This is not a passive reality. It is the vibrant urge of all Creation! We participate when we act on that urge, being consciously present and bringing our gifts; when we co-create magical spaces and wonderful creations as a result of a sister- and brotherhood that agrees to surrender, be vulnerable and hold a space that is rightfully ours to hold. We hold a space that protects what is sacred. It is a space where love can penetrate the human heart and manifest a new culture. All that happens when the atmosphere is held by human beings who are saying yes to something larger than their own individual great ideas. That surrender lets those ideas come into a wonderful space where they can find their place amidst the wonder of what is unfolding between us.
To be surrendered to something larger than oneself could seem frightening if one didn’t know that what you are surrendering to is that which is animating you right now. Gee, let me think whether or not it’s worth surrendering to something that’s keeping my heart beating and at the same time keeping Planet Earth orbiting at just the right distance from the sun. Maybe it would be really wise to surrender to the Spirit that cares enough about this planet to keep the oxygen levels where they need to be for human life to continue. Perhaps it is a good idea to surrender to the presence of Being that loves us so unconditionally that it gives us life every moment of our lives.
After surrendering to becoming vulnerable to the vastness of Reality, at some point we realize I am part of this. It is me. I have been given the privilege of knowing this is real. And so it is me who must continually surrender to what is true. If this experience is to continue, I must stay surrendered to Love, so that I might be vulnerable enough to be penetrated, and manifest and birth all that is a result of love moving into me and through me.
The word surrender has a bit of a bad rap, as does vulnerability. Surrender is often symbolized by the raising of the white flag in a battle. Usually the person raising the flag is realizing that their side is losing and the other side is more powerful. What they have been defending or fighting for cannot be sustained. At the human level, what is often defended is a choice made regarding lifestyle, relationship or power.
We eventually face the realization that our choice cannot continue as it has been. Something more is going on than what has been seen. If we are speaking about surrendering to the Love that emanates from the Creator, it is a creative choice to surrender before the battle gets too intense, though there is the blessed state of desperation when someone raises the flag and says, “This choice is not working anymore.” There can be several attempts to avoid surrender by trying to locate the source of the challenge to the status quo in order to find a new battleground. Eventually, if one is wise, a creative thought appears: There must be a larger plan that I do not yet see.
Often people feel like they are surrendering to something that will take them over. When you surrender to Love’s design, you realize there is relaxation into something that is already working. And it is taking you over. As a result, you have the experience of feeling your place, having new vision, seeing those around you as your true brothers and sisters. I know I have felt part of a team of co-creators that had a greater possibility of achieving something together.
Brené Brown is a professor, researcher and a lecturer on vulnerability. On one occasion, she spoke about how she spoke at a TED talk about having a breakdown. She then realized that she had said it in front of 500 people and wanted to take it back. She wanted to sneak in and steal the recording! And then she realized what she shared was now being spread to a million people. She had not intended that to happen. She felt vulnerable and exposed, and she believed her life was over at that point. And her life as she knew it was over. She had been researching vulnerability and avoiding being vulnerable. What she learned is that vulnerability is not weakness or the myth that it is profoundly dangerous. She also concluded that vulnerability is our most accurate measure of courage.
Once we have surrendered to the larger Reality, it overtakes us and we are in position to emerge from that place. It requires the vulnerability to allow that power to move through us, as us, into the world. That kind of vulnerability requires courage. We first open to the “something” larger than what we currently know. We then begin to see there is a pattern that is revealing itself to us and through us. We can see, “I’m a part of that, I’m in it, I’m important to its outworking.” And we can choose to muster the courage to be ourselves, to create as ourselves, no longer being the person who is invested in an experience that’s falling apart. We are no longer trying to protect ourselves from the change that is already happening. We choose to consciously participate in the change, being vulnerable to the innovating nature of Love emerging from within.
It can sound a little scary to be vulnerable to this current of love that’s out of my control. “Oh, it’s just running the entire universe, but I don’t have any control over it.” It can be incredibly exciting, freeing, empowering, and beautiful, to see not only that am I part of it but I’m important! I’m important for the revelation of the beauty of that, and my sisters and brothers are as well. There is increased creative energy that results from our agreement to surrender to Love. There is power in that choice.
As human beings, we have the privilege of having the capacity to think and to feel. These capacities were designed to be used creatively. And when separated from this place where our sister- and brotherhood lives, they become little tyrants telling us they have a better idea. The tyrant of my own heart that says someone else should behave differently causes me to suffer. When I am surrendered to Love I have agreed that I will stay in that sacred environment that is rightfully mine and not be moved by someone else’s behavior. I continue to be a safe place for my brothers and sisters.
If we are easily moved by our environment, we lose our experience of surrender to that which is true. We separate ourselves by not following the discipline of what we love most.
Many people dislike that word discipline. But the discipline of the Highest Love sets you free into the sustained experience of sister- and brotherhood founded upon Sacred Reality. We often think of nature as being sacred—the animals and the trees and the woods. And humankind has lost its connection to the sacredness of our own race and to the sacredness of our brothers and sisters. We are willing to protect the whales or save the redwoods, but what about the people? What about our brothers and sisters who deserve to be loved, protected, and held, and be in a space where what is available to them is the answer to the chaos that’s coming into their lives?
Chaos comes—and what are we going to do? Are we going to stay centered in the Sacred Reality of what we know to be true? True of ourselves and true of each person who is on this Earth? If we do, we can welcome our brothers and sisters into that, so that they might thrive and know the reality of what it’s like to have a friend who doesn’t go anywhere.
So it is for me. It is to consistent and disciplined surrender to the Reality of Love that I commit my life. And I declare with you, now, let us know this together and bring it to the world.
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We welcome with compassion all those who are beginning to awaken, to know there is more. We let go of the shame we have in our own hearts for the times we have forgotten, the times we have served a less-than-worthy idea, a less-than-valuable passion. We repent, we turn around and open ourselves to Universal Love.
We welcome all those who are on our vibrational and emotional lifelines to know the safety of a brother or sister, serving that Universal Reality. We acknowledge what our lives are for. We acknowledge what we love. We love this body of humanity. We live our lives in service, acknowledging how powerful it is to be present, wise, humble and surrendered. Together we say yes. Together we say, “I am here. It is I. I make my promise, I keep my word.”
We are the vessels for Universal Love, to manifest the glory and wonder of what is true.
Aum-en.