The exchange below happens on Dr Hawkins speaking on beyondtheordinary.net . I thought it might be helpful to put the how of surrendering resistance up here. I think it's a common choice many spiritual seeker make a lot. It is from the radio show on 9/14/04.

The questioner asks "if all experience arises from resistance, then how is walking in the woods resistance?"

Here's Hawkins answer:

"You're seeing the wood from a specific locality called I or myself. When that disappears the experiencing is not from a specific locality but more like a generality as tho you are the woods.

"A: It's a very high state to go into, a state of peace, and the witnessing seems to happen on its own. The sense of a personal I disappears, and the phenomena are occuring spontaneously on their own without any reference to a specific perceiver.

"Q: So is all experience is due to resistance?

"A: One can witness without experiencing.

"Q: But what's the resistance?

"A: In ordinary life negative feelings are due to resistance, and by relenquishing the thought in ordinary life you disappear it as an experiental phenomenon.

"For example let's say there's a baby crying in the back of the bus, and it's annoying you. As long as you resist it the baby's gonna keep annoying you. When you suddenly relent to it it just melds in with the rest of the noise in the bus and doesn't bother you anymore.

"Q: Okay. So you're talking about surrendering?

"A: Letting go of resisting. It's most phenomenal use is letting go of negative
things when you got a problem."


Warm regards, PB.