The Path of Will and the Path of Surrender

In all spiritual traditions of the world, we can observe a polar development of thesis and antithesis. The answer to often very extreme, ascetic methods is methods of the complete opposite. We can call these pathways male and female approaches. One side is being dominated by the male willpower—the desire to dominate over oneself or others—and the other side is the complete opposite—the female path of surrender, of passive receiving—real devotion to God.

These concepts reach deep when it's about our own spiritual progress. Man today thinks that he is in a constant business with God. He believes in merits and rewards—to work harder. This, of course, is to some degree true. We hear in Kabbalah that reaching the top of the spiritual ladder would be more difficult than conquering entire nations or accumulating the biggest wealth in the world. Reaching the top of the ladder means to attain victory over myself—victory over all my negative thought processes.

But how can we as human beings ever end up enjoying the fruits of our labor when we always have people over us that indoctrinate us with the idea that we're not good enough? We should always invest more and put in more effort. When this is true for materiality, how can we then even think of ending up in spirituality in a state of peace and harmony, where I can be fully my own authentic self?

Most people today follow the male-dominant energy. Because they're indoctrinated that way since childhood. Society made us puppets of accumulating wealth and power. And then, of course, we begin to transfer these attitudes to spirituality. Your teachers will tell you, You must make extra, extra, and extra. And partially it's true for a certain time period. When we want to become conscious and aware, effort is a necessary discipline. Perhaps for some years, superhuman effort is necessary to clean yourself from all these obstructive thought patterns. But once you think of nothing else in life than your meditation (Kavanah), or spiritual intention, the effort itself at one point in your life will become a hindrance. Where the path of will ends, the path of surrender is about to begin... (to be continued).