Spiritual Survival Skills for a World in Chaos: Access the Strength, Wisdom, and Equanimity to Meet the Challenges of Our Moment WATCH NOW

Do You Trust Enough to Let Go?

by | Oct 9, 2020 | 7 comments

Question:

At the heart of your teaching, and of many other spiritual teachings, is a kind of demand to let go of our ego’s wants and needs. I get this at a cognitive level. And when I sit down to meditate, I find it fairly easy to simply let go of everything. But when I get up off the cushion, I find that letting go is much more difficult. I’m afraid that if I let go of my own personal needs and wants, then I’ll end up being influenced by others. I won’t be in control of my life and I’ll get pushed around. Is this fear reasonable and what do I do about it?

Answer:

This is a very important question. Thank you for bringing it to light. A lot of people have this fear when they begin to seriously engage with letting go of their ego’s agenda and surrendering to a deeper wisdom and care. And the thing is, in a world where the primary context for our lives is defined by the ego, it’s a justifiable fear. If all we have to guide us are our personal egoic needs and wants, then we’re in a kind of zero sum game with everyone else’s egoic needs and wants. So if we suppress our own egoic drives, we’ll end up getting pushed around by others. Our behavior will be driven primarily by the needs and wants of those around us. 

This is something that many people have experienced in their lives. Many of us know what it’s like to not stand for our own needs. We’ve had the experience, to varying degrees, of self-abandonment where we find that we’re living in service of everybody else’s needs—often at the expense of our own. And many people have done a lot of important work to learn how to take a stand for themselves, their needs and wants and value. 

So when we encounter a spiritual teaching that’s telling us to let go of our needs and wants, we’re naturally skeptical. We’re told that if we can let go of our smaller, pettier motivations and align with something bigger, then a deeper part of ourselves will come forth and begin to guide us. But this takes a huge leap of faith. 

And so we experience a lot of fear. We’re afraid of what’s going to happen to us if we stop standing up for ourselves in the ways we’re accustomed to. We’re afraid that we’ll end up becoming a doormat for everyone else and that just won’t be fair. No one will look out for us but ourselves. And if we’ve already worked hard to be able to stand up for ourselves, this fear is even greater. 

So in an ordinary or conventional context, this is a justifiable concern. But if we’re interested in spiritual awakening, we need to find a way to leave it behind.   The simple truth is that if we’re constantly worried about fulfilling our needs and wants, there’s not going to be any room for the divine to come flowing in. There won’t be space for the deeper dimensions of who we are to shine through and become the driving force of our being—which is the ultimate goal of this kind of spiritual practice. 

If we want to be able to take this leap of faith so that we can become a vessel for something sacred, we need to develop a profound degree of trust. We have to trust that if we relinquish our personal egoic needs, we won’t get overwhelmed by everybody else’s. 

And the question is, when you take this leap of faith, who are you really trusting? I would argue that you’re actually trusting yourself. You’re trusting that you have the strength to hold your ground when it matters, and to not be swayed by other people’s egoic needs and demands. 

Think about it. What is it that knocks us off center? What makes us vulnerable to being swayed by other people’s ego motivations? What causes us to become doormats?

I would argue that it’s because we actually want something from other people. We want something out of the relationships we have with others. We want people to like us, to notice us, to support us and take care of us. The only reason any of us can get thrown off by other people’s demands and needs is because of our own wanting. 

So when you take a stand in yourself and take the position of not needing or wanting anything from this world, then you’ll also stop needing or wanting anything from other people; and then their egoic wants, needs, and desires aren’t going to have any impact on you. 

Because at the end of the day, is there really any difference between the needs and wants of everyone else’s ego and your own? In a sense, they’re really one in the same. So you’re trusting yourself to take a stand in your own deeper motivations against the egoic tendencies of both yourself and others. 

If you can get to a place where you relate to them as the same, then it simplifies things. You’re not choosing between what your ego wants, and what everybody else’s ego wants from you, and then what God or the Evolutionary Impulse wants from you. You’re really choosing between the motivations of the divine and the ego—in both yourself and others. 

This clarity and simplicity only really begins to show up when we decide to take a stand. When we decide to let go of wanting and we really go all the way with it, we’re no longer affected by what anybody else wants us to do. 

When you take this stand, you have a kind of clarity. You just want to do the right thing for the right reasons. In any given situation, you just want to do the best thing for the highest possible good. You don’t need anything from this world or from anyone else. 

From this place of simplicity, you can then discern what’s needed in the moment. You begin to perceive the highest, truest, best, most wholesome, healthy, evolutionary response that you can give in each and every moment. That becomes all you really care about. You don’t need anything from anyone else. You don’t need their affirmation or their approval. You don’t even need their love. It’s a profound freedom. And this freedom ultimately comes from your ability to trust. 

The best way to build this trust, is simply to do it. When you take the risk of trusting your highest and deepest self, then you discover the freedom I’m talking about. And that gives you even more trust and confidence. It gives you faith. 

The more you experience this mysterious quality of wisdom and energy that comes from letting go, the more your faith will grow. The more you see that it keeps showing up, the more trust you’ll have that it will show up in the future. 

At the end of the day, this willingness to relinquish personal wanting is really an act of surrender. You have to trust that if you do it, you’ll still be able to find your way and take care of everything that needs to be taken care of. You have to have faith that your response to life will lead to good things. 

To use theistic language you’re learning how to trust in God. You’re learning how to trust in this deeper intelligence and knowing and strength and creativity that will fill you up when you get out of the way. You’re trusting that this divine power will come in and give you everything you need to meet the challenges of any moment you could encounter with grace and wisdom and care. 

When you can trust in this way, you’ll begin to experience this mysterious faculty of wisdom and strength that seemingly comes out of nowhere. You’ll find yourself overwhelmed by this energy that compels you to respond perfectly in the moment. It’s not you. It’s something else, something bigger. Something you can’t claim or own. Something you can’t even hold onto. Where it comes from is a mystery. But it’s always there when you trust, when you let go. 

FREE AUDIO SEMINAR

Discover the liberating power of aligning your life with a profound cosmic purpose in this free 90-minute seminar.

Share Your Thoughts…

7 Comments

  1. Dawn Glaisher

    Yes, I have learned to trust myself and my soul or higher self and to live the life I want to and I choose to live. And yes, it is very liberating because I do not need others in my life at this point. I have friends who speak the same spiritual language but I choose them, I do not need them. Amazing freedom not to be constantly coerced by those around you, or judged. It cannot get to me any more!! I trust myself and my soul and spiritual guides with whom I communicate via pendulum or “download” which is like an inner voice.

    Reply
  2. Grace Valentine

    Yes, Absolutely! Here is how I have described what Craig wrote about herein: “Not my words, but a servant to a higher power. Willingness to be both vessel and vehicle for a divine intelligence that is flowing through. Ask only of ourselves, Has my center become clear? Am I out of the way? Then willfully surrender, complete surrender to the wisdom, the clarity, the discernment, the words, the actions, the love that is flowing forth, ripening on tongue. In the moment to moment real time release unedited, and without judgement for the wisdom coming through is not my own nor is it mine to own. It is not meant to be held but to be released freely to travel to whomever, to wherever and whenever “it” is best of service.”
    So too do I paint from this empty space of surrender and of receptivity, for creative acts also are birthed via this process of surrender, of clearing one’s center, of doing the daily spiritual practice of getting out of the way so a greater intelligence and beauty can flow forth into the world. Then whenever and wherever I am led, nudged spiritually I gift or share these works whenever and to whomever this higher intelligence leads me. I trust all that flows through is for healing and is of the divine universal consciousness, the unified field that exists before we were born and that we return to when we pass from this physical earthly form. It is about carving out sacred time to see and to sit with the immense beauty that exists in the everyday, everyday. It is about connecting deeply to the profound intelligence of love that permeates our universe. Such that we come into greater and greater alignment with that love until we become living embodiments of this love. And move into greater and greater states of sacred service. It is about being the sacred pause when you enter a room full of people, of being presence, of being a living embodiment of this that Craig wrote about. Yes, Absolutely Yes!

    Reply
  3. Jennifer Dagi

    Thank you so much for this piece. It struck a chord in my heart. I love being in control and letting go is often difficult for me but I’m learning how to trust in God more.

    Reply
  4. David Fiske

    Thank you Craig!! I TRUST!!

    Reply
  5. noel Bangaza Cleopas

    Amazing, you have brought me to the truth I was looking for. I am Willing for more teaching

    Reply
  6. Julie Goldstein

    Thank you for this. Yes, yes yes. So timely. As I recognize that I want the peace of God, more and more, I am also aware of my ego feeling terrified.
    My prayer…Please help me to trust in Your Love, so that I can simply let go.🙏🏼

    Reply
  7. leena

    Please darken the font color of the text. hard to read by an older person.
    Well written and helpful column.

    Reply

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You May Also Like…

The Ultimate Freedom

The Ultimate Freedom

Spiritual awakening is often described as the discovery of a boundless inner freedom. But what does spiritual freedom really mean and what are we actually becoming free from? Is it possible to reach some kind of final endpoint where we are completely free from...

read more

Craig Hamilton is a spiritual trailblazer whose innovative approach to transformation is bringing enlightenment down to earth and unlocking the codes to our highest human potential.

READ MORE

Explore

Meditation
Awakening
Evolution
Spiritual Life
Q&A
READ
WATCH
LISTEN

Subscribe

Subscribe to Craig’s weekly Awakened Life Newsletter to receive his latest inspirational teachings and guided meditations.

Recent Posts

The Ultimate Freedom

The Ultimate Freedom

Spiritual awakening is often described as the discovery of a boundless inner freedom. But what does spiritual freedom really mean and what are we actually becoming free from? Is it possible to reach some kind of final endpoint where we are completely free from...

read more
Freedom from Limitation: A Life of Perpetual Evolution

Freedom from Limitation: A Life of Perpetual Evolution

Spiritual awakening reveals to us a stainless, unbroken perfection at the heart of reality. Always arresting in its purity, the discovery of this perfect essence shatters our insistence that something is missing and brings us to our knees in awe and reverence before...

read more
Guided Meditation: Breaking our Fixation on Thought

Guided Meditation: Breaking our Fixation on Thought

One of the most common challenges we face when we meditate is our tendency to get distracted and lose focus. As we do the practice, we often get caught up with the thoughts that arise in our heads. We fixate on certain ideas or try to work out problems. And sooner or...

read more