Lance Kurland

We all face challenges and pain in our lives. One great teacher proclaimed all life is suffering. I feel there is great joy in life yet the same nerve endings that allow us to feel pleasure can also cause pain. Pain exists not only physically but extends to all levels of our being. The passing of a friend or relative can cause emotional pain and many of us move through this shift will also experience Spiritual pain as the structures we have depended on and even our world view is shaken. This is sometimes referred to as the “dark night of the Soul”. This being one phase of growth on our journey to greater awareness.

It is common to consider surrender as being a failure. It is connected to loss and in a militaristic society there really are only 3 outcomes… victory, defeat, of surrender. These simplistic perspectives do not take into account the true nature of the situation. Sometimes the victory is at such a cost that you lose aspects of your character, or resources, that though you vanquish the foe, you have in fact lost. Not seeing the long term ramifications of the cost your battles. Likewise when you are defeated there is often a greater wisdom learned, a greater society to be built. We could uncover a recognition of false aspects and descriptions of our world that resolve conflict and result in greater wisdom and understanding. A major misconception has to do with surrender because culturally it is equated with failure.

In the lives of all Saints, Prophets, and Healers there is always the recognition of surrender as a rite of passage into a deeper level of being. Not only does surrender enhance the transformation it signals a release of the old and receptivity to a new world. When we hold on so tightly to the old ways, or our past, there is no room to perceive ourselves and the world differently. Change is impeded and progress inhibited.

The Shift, by it’s very nature, is a massive change as we are witnessing and will continue to for the foreseeable future. We will watch the financial markets ebb, flow, and collapse. Our agricultural methods are harmful, ecologically unsustainable, and nutritionally bankrupt. As we see the medical systems of the US challenged so will the energy and associated industries grasp for redefinition and become decentralized as new emerging technologies and innovative approaches become apparent on the world stage. As without so within. Our inner changes will be a reflection of the outer transformations. Those screaming the loudest against the changes will be defining themselves, to a large extent, while calling attention to the how dangerous these changes will be. When in fact doing nothing or following the corrupt ongoing course are doing greater damage, and fear only insites the mind and heart doing nothing to further resolution.

Surrender is a key in that it opens up space for the new to express itself. In her landmark work “on Death and Dying”, Elizabeth Kubla-Ross gives 5 stages that we pass through when a dear one passes from our lives. The last is acceptance but before that comes surrender. Surrender is a conscious or unconscious release of a pre-ordained mindset of what should be. We build our world psychologically by our descriptions of it which are often incorrect and always incomplete. Life is much more vast than and internal or external description, and further negated if we accept that everything is connected. When we let go of these perceptions or are forced to by inner realization or external events, we allow something greater to emerge. Thus do miracles take place around us, and can we consciously create them.

One last consideration on your personal journey. Surrender is not giving up as much as accepting what is without condition. “Not my way Lord but Thy way”! Yet this can also be channeled by intent and focus. We may not know what that new job will look like, but the clearer we are on what we desire in our hearts the more aligned the manifestation. Love is the greatest creator in consciousness, it transcends all boundaries and creates perfect life if we surrender to “It’s” infinite capacity.

Usually I start or end with the lyrics of one of my songs. This month instead I want to invite my friends to a celebration. The largest celebration of it’s kind in the Southeast. It is the 8TH annual Organicfest on Sunday September 13TH in downtown Asheville, NC celebration everything organic. For more information check out www.organicfest.org. If you come by about 1:00PM you will see our Bug Parade and hear me play a few songs. You can check our my hub page on the organicfest.

You can also check out my new new hub page on Z’ism, my information of a Spiritual philosophy.

For aspiring songwriters check out songwriting made easy.