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"Sweet, sweet surrender
Live, live without care
Like a fish in the water
Like a bird in the air."
Words and music by John Denver
John Denver was a prominent folk singer/songwriter of the late 1900s, and "Sweet Surrender" his contribution to "soul fusion," the guided way of living.
Others that come to mind--
"My yoke is easy and my burden is light." Jesus
"Peace is every step." Thickt Nacht Han
"Mindful living, mindful being." Buddha
"Living in the Now." Eckhart Tolle
What these Great Masters are telling us is that living in the moment, responding to the thoughts and pictures in the mind that come from that "still small voice" in us all, is the answer to the riddle of life.
The small voice is called by many names--intuition, God, personal angel, extraterrestrial telepathy, soul. Soul, the higher spiritual part of every human being, is connected by an ethereal thread to every other soul ("the collective unconscious") and every part of Cosmic God in the web of our universe. Soul feeds our lifeline, our inspiration, our prana, our chi, our energy, our self, from the cosmos.
We learn to identify soul through silence, meditation, nature, music, art--whatever makes us sing and feel like an eagle or a butterfly. It is the first tiny thought, the picture that comes to mind that invites us to do that task, to make that phone call, to select our clothes, to write that poem or essay or music, to fit the pieces together in a new machine, to be "in the zone."
The biggest roadblock to hearing the soul is all the second-guessing, conscience, "shoulds" and "oughts" that quickly cascade into the mind, suffocating the original message. The more educated we are, the more difficult to hear when the soul speaks because of all the "monkey-chatter." That's why learning to quiet the mind and focus on breath is an essential starting point for adults. "Silence is golden."
As athletes and artists know well, being "in the zone" allows the human to accomplish more than he ever thought possible. The zone is associated with a change in our brain waves from beta (awake and alert) to alpha (slower and lower). Babies and young children are naturals; the live in alpha/the zone until schooling and "education" begin to replace that spark of spontaneity.
Our task now is to move from the mind (brain) to the soul (heart). Once we identify and hear the still small voice, we are more able to access our soul and follow its instructions. The modern mystic then peacefully weaves his responses in the moment so that
"My life flows on in endless song"
How can I keep from singing?"
Old Hymn
