THE TREE OF LIFE

TRUST-SURRENDER AND HOPE # 6

We usually think of surrender as waving the white flag in battle and giving up the fight, but spiritually surrender is a giving in to something much greater than oneself. Surrender is about trust, flexibility, receptivity, a fearlessness and a letting go. It is not about grasping and attachment. Surrender is about non attachment.

Non attachment is not the same as detachment. Doubt and disbelief create resignation which lead to detachment.

When we surrender our egos by acknowledging a higher force we become more connected with the "Field." 

"Whatever being that comes to be, be it motionless or moving, derives it's being from Field and Knower of the Field. Know this." Bhagavat Gita

"If a person wants to be sure of the road s/he treads on, s/he must close his eyes and walk in the darkness." 

St John of the Cross

Non attachment is not about having no expectation. We should be attached to our spiritual life, attached to doing for the greater good, attached to healing the planet, correcting injustice and hoping that even our small actions can make a difference. Non attachment is about being non attached to "the yolk of ego," to the material and all of its attractions. 

Faith, belief, trust, surrender and hope all have subtle but important distinctions which reinforce one another.

Hope requires action. Having deep knowledge alone is not enough to actualize it.

When the first white settlers arrived at the Cape of Good Hope they encountered the San Bushmen hunter gatherers. These simple people shared everything and to them the bounties that nature provided belonged to everyone. They owned no land and their belongings were limited to the tools they needed for hunting and gathering and surviving - a digging sticking,  a bow and arrows, tools to make fire, clothing made of animal skins and rudimentary grass huts which were impermanent because they were nomadic. They mostly slept together at night around a fire on the mother earth. 

The livestock owned by the settlers were free game to them but when one of them hunted and ate one of them he would be imprisoned. The jailers noted that young healthy Bushmen who could go without food and water for prolonged periods would be found dead in the cell even though they were provided food and water. The bushmen lived so much in the present moment that they could not conceive of ever getting out of such a hell hole. Having lost all hope they would succumb.

Placebo is the power of belief to help, to heal, to cure - nocebo - its opposite the power of belief to hurt, to harm or even to kill. Faith, belief, trust, surrender and hope or the lack thereof are all involved in these mystical properties, still not explained by medical science. It is well known in Southern Africa and other indigenous societies that a hex can have the power not only to harm but also to kill. There is both a direct affect related to nocebo and also a non-local "Field" affect. 

There is a story about an African employee (lets call him Jacob) in Johannesburg who goes to his employer (Michael) and relates that he is going home to die. On further questioning Michael finds out that this is because of witchcraft. He takes Jacob to see a doctor who does a full work up; blood tests and imaging and tells them both that Jacob is perfectly healthy and has no reason to be concerned. Jacob goes home and shortly after Michael gets a call from Jacob's wife that Jacob had "passed."  Michael is distressed and tells her; "but we took him to the best Dr. and the blood tests and X rays could find nothing wrong." His wife replied; "Yes but the snake that the witch put in him was very clever and hid behind his bones where it could not be seen."

There is an interesting report written by a psychologist Bruno Klopfer in 1957 who was involved with the treatment of a Mr. Wright regarding a new drug called Krebiozen that had just been released for lymphoma at that time. Wright had been admitted to hospital, cachectic, bed ridden, on oxygen with hugely enlarged lymph nodes, fluid in his pleural cavities and a dismal prognosis. He had fulminating metastatic lymphoma. Wright was extremely well informed about his disease and had read all about the new drug's optimistic claims. He begged the doctors to find and give him this new drug. They complied and after it was administered his lymph nodes melted away, the fluid around his lungs disappeared and ten days later he was in complete remission. He was discharged from hospital,  ambulating, without oxygen. Wright was vey scientific and rigid in his beliefs and followed all the data at that time. Information began to circulate that Krebiozen was not all that it was thought to be. He became depressed and was readmitted in his prior condition. Treatment at that time was very limited in its success with most lymphomas. His medical team had been amazed at the rapid response and being well aware of the power of placebo they decided on a new treatment plan which today would be unethical. They told him the drug was just as good as they had thought it to be but some of the shipment had deteriorated and that they now  had an even more concentrated version. This time they gave him  a placebo with the same excellent response. He was discharged again in complete remission. A short time later the A.M.A published a report that Krebiozen was ineffective. Wright died a short time after the report was released.

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 15_Wisdom_for_the_Way.mp3

 19_Surrender.mp3