The Sacred Gate of Surrender & And How to Walk Through

The Ego is wide.
The Gate is narrow.

 (6 min read)

 "Of all the things you talk about, the one I understand the least is Surrender", she said.

"Of all the things I talk about, the one I understand the least is also Surrender", I said.

"You're obviously joking", she laughed.

"I'm actually not", I said.

"Would you mind explaining it a little more? I have bills to pay. I just got divorced. I don't have a steady income. My future is uncertain and you come along and say, Surrender. Well if I surrender, how will I survive?"

"That's a wrong question."

"Why is it a wrong question? Isn't it obvious?"

"It is like a swimmer asking whether she will drown, if she loses the weights tied to her ankles."

For a few seconds she was quiet. Then she said, "But the water floats the swimmer. Who is going to float me?"

"The water does not float the swimmer. The swimmer, drowns herself by carrying the weights. And she also says, until you promise me I won't drown, I won't lose the weights."

"So unless you do it you cannot understand how it feels."

"Correct."

"So that's a wrong question."

"Correct again."

"Then what is the right question?"

"There is no right question. There is only right action. And that right action is to momentarily, stop all trying."

Then we entered a meditation.

The eyes closed.

But a door opened.

What happens in Surrender

Most of us believe Surrender means defeat. But it is defeat in the same way that not playing a game, is losing it.

Surrender brings a different kind of energy one that begins where the ego’s energy ends.

And because Surrender does not draw its power from fear or desire, it can do easily what the ego can barely fathom.

Surrender is not to run from the storm, but to let it center over you.

It is to see through the eye of the storm, and discover the clear sky beyond it.

Surrender doesn’t mean you don’t care what happens. It means you no longer impose your will upon what happens.

You don’t give up—you give in. Like a swimmer with water, you move with life, not against it.

The ego is programmed to interfere—to shape, control, and improve everything it sees.

But surrender asks us to do nothing, to leave things alone, to simply be.

This is why it’s so hard. The mind is conditioned to act, so doing nothing feels like failure. But doing nothing evokes the happening.

It invites true radical transformation.

In surrender, you see that it was your resistance that held reality in place.

And when you stop the fight, you don’t sink—you float. You don't stagnate, you transform. 

The energy that was being wasted, now gathers, and a different movement begins.


Inspired action takes place. Difficult things are done easily, because one is not fighting the internal world of thoughts and fears.


Fear, hurt, pain washes over you like water over a smooth rock.

Eventually, what once felt impossible to the Ego, begins to feel inevitable in Surrender.

You give that speech, you get that job, you enter that relationship, you heal from hurt, you rise above addiction, you transcend your traumas, and you dissolve your fears.


When you don't fight yourself you change in ways the ego cannot yet grasp, because all it knows is how to fight.

When there are no opposites, no good fighting with the so called bad, when there is no division inside, between me and my fears, me and my hurts, me and my desires, one has passed through the sacred gate of surrender.

3 Ways to Pass Through the Gate:

1. Observe without interfering
   The ego loves to fix, control, and shape what it sees.
   Practice: For one day, don’t change your thoughts or actions. Just observe them. No matter how unpleasant they are. Just witness.
   Reflection: Can I let this be exactly as it is? Can I be still?

2. Don't Try Hard, Try Easy.
   Stop when you feel resistance. Take a step backwards. Breathe. Flow.
   Practice: In moments of pressure, pause and breathe. Let the feeling move through.
   Reflection: What if I did it easily instead of in a state of tension? Can I proceed without pressure?

3. Don't Fold, Unfold.
   Surrender sometimes happens through revolt. Refuse the false pressures of society. Don't succumb to them.
   Practice: When someone puts pressure on you to hurry, you slow down even more.
   Reflection: Are societal pressures truly real? Do I really need to obey them?