O Quarto Vazio

Blenze

Era um dos teus jogos preferidos. 

O que é que há num quarto vazio?, 

perguntavas. Ficávamos em silêncio. 

O que é que há num quarto vazio? 

Os que não conheciam o jogo 

talvez dissessem: Nada, e tu dizias: Não. 

Nada é nada, eu disse o que é que. 

Até que alguém dizia, por exemplo: Silêncio. 

E tu dizias: Sim. 

E outro dizia: Pó. 

E o jogo começava a ganhar asas. 

Umas pegadas no chão. 

Um fantasma. Uma tomada. O buraco 

de um prego. A penumbra. 

O quadrado que a ausência de um quadro 

deixa na parede. Um fio. 

Uma carta no chão. 

A marca de uma mão na parede. 

Um raio de sol que entra pela janela. 

Uma teia de aranha. Um pedaço 

de papel. Uma unha. Uma formiga perdida. 

A música que vem da rua 

(haverá música sem alguém que a escute?). 

Uma mancha de fumo ou humidade. 

Gatafunhos ou pássaros ou nomes 

ou um desenho da Laura na parede. 

Tu ias dizendo sim ou não. 

Tu sabias. Eras o inventor do jogo. 

Tu já sabias, Carlos, o que há 

no quarto vazio onde acabas de entrar. 

Era um dos teus jogos preferidos.

- ⁠O que há num quarto vazio?

- ⁠Um fantasma.

- ⁠Já disseram.

- ⁠Sim, mas este de que falo é outro.

Juan Vicente Piqueras

People only know what you tell ‘em

Imamember

How to share her past without pushing new dates away? 

She had recently divorced her husband after learning of his cheating with someone she knew. She didn’t know how to bring this up with new people. Her experience had been that it pushed them away. 

How could she bring up her story in the future without making people think that she, in her own words, is damaged?

 

Are we damaged? 

Even if we are, is this always a bad thing? 

I told a story of buying an expensive watch, only to scratch it in the first couple of weeks. At the time, I felt like the watch was irrevocably damaged. When I took it back to the store, the owner smiled and showed me his watch, which was covered in scratches, saying: 

“These scratches are the things that make my watch my watch. Without them, it could be anyone’s watch.” 

The scratches we get in life (and betrayal in a marriage is a big one), are part of the fabric of our life. Scratches don’t have to mean “damage.” They are just markings you have acquired because you’ve lived. We have to start owning our scratches instead of being ashamed of them. They are what make our life our life.

 

Of course, that doesn’t mean there isn’t processing to do when something causes us immense pain. 

Part of that processing is to look at the story we are telling ourselves about the situation. 

Ava’s story seemed to be that it was somehow embarrassing or shameful: 

Not only was her husband cheating on her, but he did so with someone she knew. 

But the shame wasn’t hers, it was theirs. They had betrayed her. They had demonstrated a breaking of their moral compass (assuming they had one to begin with). 

Maybe her story was that it was somehow her fault: she didn’t do enough in the marriage, or she wasn’t enough as a person. 

This is a common instinct, but it’s still a way of taking on someone else’s responsibility for the affair. We shouldn’t have to be perfect for someone else not to do something awful. 

If her husband wasn’t happy, he could have spoken to her; instead, he had an affair. 

That is not about her; it’s about him. 

These kinds of realizations on Ava’s part—that we all have scratches that we can proudly own, and that the affair was about him, not her—are all part of Ava rewriting the story of her divorce and losing the “damaged” label. 

Doing this internal work will automatically change the way she tells the story out loud next time. 

People take their cues from us. 

If we speak about something with lightness, confidence, peace, or even humor, it will likely produce a very different reaction than if we speak it with heaviness, fear, and shame. 

 

But Ava isn’t there yet, so how should she bring up her past in the meantime? 

The short answer is that she doesn’t have to. 

None of us do. 

People only know what you tell them, and they don’t need to know parts of your life that you aren’t ready to share. Your only job is to see if you enjoy spending time together and have similar intentions.

 

The next time Ava is asked about her last relationship, she can simply state that she spent the last year going through a divorce and is excited to be out there again. If her date asks about why she got divorced (a very personal question to ask someone you just met), she can neutralize and redirect the conversation. This might be with a smile and a nonchalant hand: 

“Oh, that’s a story for another time,” before changing the subject. 

Or if she wanted to give slightly more of an answer, she could say: 

“It didn’t work out because we had very different values.” 

This happens to be true, but it doesn’t involve telling a story you’re not ready to tell, and that no one has a right to at this stage. 

Share according to your comfort level, not according to their questions. 

I sometimes tell personal stories, but I don’t share what I’m not ready to share, which includes things I’m still in the middle of processing. 

People still get to know me. I’m still vulnerable. But I’m vulnerable on my terms. You can take the same approach in your life.

Key Takeaways

 

1. People take their cues from you. How you tell the story will have a major impact on how they hear the story.

2. To tell a better story, you have to begin by rewriting the story about your past that you are telling yourself.

3. Be vulnerable on your terms, not on theirs. People only know what you tell them, so share according to your comfort level, not their questions.

What About You?

• What’s a story from your past that you want to rewrite for yourself? 

• How could telling yourself a different version of this story help you tell it with more lightness and confidence when you share it with others? 

Matthew Hussey

Civilization

Jason Peterson

It came to us very late:

perception of beauty, desire for knowledge.

And in the great minds, the two often configured as one.

To perceive, to speak, even on subjects inherently cruel—

to speak boldly even when the facts were, in themselves, painful or dire—

seemed to introduce among us some new action,

having to do with human obsession, human passion.

And yet something, in this action, was being conceded.

And this offended what remained in us of the animal:

it was enslavement speaking, assigning

power to forces outside ourselves.

Therefore the ones who spoke were exiled and silenced,

scorned in the streets.

But the facts persisted. They were among us,

isolated and without pattern; they were among us,

shaping us—

Darkness. Here and there a few fires in doorways,

wind whipping around the corners of buildings—

Where were the silenced, who conceived these images?

In the dim light, finally summoned, resurrected.

As the scorned were praised, who had brought

these truths to our attention, who had felt their presence,

who had perceived them clearly in their blackness and horror

and had arranged them to communicate

some vision of their substance, their magnitude—

In which the facts themselves were suddenly

serene, glorious. They were among us,

not singly, as in chaos, but woven

into relationship or set in order, as though life on earth

could, in this one form, be apprehended deeply

though it could never be mastered.

Louise Glück

SERÁ QUE EU ME AMO?

Irena Baker

A gratidão e as afirmações positivas nem sempre são fáceis de sentir e aplicar.
Para uma mente que está habituada a ser negativa, agradecer o que nos rodeia ou sermos capazes de afirmar que somos maravilhosos e perfeitos e nos amamos incondicionalmente, é um esforço imenso que faz muitos inclusive sentirem-se ridículos. Somos nós que temos que inverter esta visão distorcida dentro de nós, aprender a validar a energia do amor de maneira a que um dia sejamos capazes de dizer: Ridículo é o medo!

Torna-se mais fácil de entender esta dinâmica se percebermos que estamos a falar de duas energias opostas, cada uma delas com uma agenda própria:

– A voz da mente, normalmente dominada pelo nosso ego, é a voz do medo, é a voz do pessimismo e da negatividade. É a voz que antecipa desfechos catastróficos, que prevê desastres e acidentes, que tudo faz para nos manter ilusoriamente protegidos de um mundo que na sua visão, é caótico e cheio de gente má.

– A voz da alma é a expressão do amor e é deste canal que somos capazes de sentir empatia, amor próprio, tolerância e aceitação. É no coração que nasce a esperança e a fé de que tudo o que chega a nós tem um propósito superior e inteligente. O coração é então a voz da humildade mas também da coragem, da liberdade e do equilíbrio.

Enquanto a energia do amor não estiver enraizada numa verdade maior, numa consciência de Cosmos Inteligente, a energia do medo supera-a e usa a nossa mente para fazê-lo. Por isso hoje em dia, todos somos testemunhas diárias dos tantos que pregam a luz e o amor mas que emocionalmente ainda estão presos a vidas, rotinas e relacionamentos condicionados pelo medo.

A expressão livre do amor só é conseguida depois de superado o desafio do medo. E todos temos na nossa vida infinitas oportunidades de identificar e superar os nossos medos pessoais. É a enfrentar o medo que nasce a verdadeira e pura energia do amor numa oitava acima. Até sermos capazes de o superar, ele é apenas um pobre conceito mental que nos ilude a nós próprios.



Deixo algumas perguntas que servirão para sentires onde ainda há medo:

• Sentes resistência em acreditar que és uma pessoa maravilhosa e imperfeitamente perfeita?

• Acreditas que és uma representante cósmica de potenciais extraordinários?

• Consegues-te aceitar a abundância em forma de dinheiro, presentes, ajuda e amor e recebê-los em estado de merecimento?

• Já és capaz de rejeitar o que sabes não ter qualidade, com a convicção de mereces melhor?

• Festejas em alegria e gratidão a pessoa que és e a vida que escolheste?

• Usas a tua energia, coragem e iniciativa para materializares os teus sonhos?

• Mostras transparentemente a tua verdade? A tua sombra e a tua luz sem resistência?

• Consegues afirmar com convicção?: “Eu aceito-me exatamente como sou, tanto as minhas incapacidades como potenciais!”

• Já agradeceste os desafios que te permitem evoluir?

Se ainda há resistência, ainda há medo. É a voz do amor que tem que expor as ilusões do medo. O amor só por si, sem integração do medo, é ilusão. 
Descobre então onde está o medo, como é que ele se veste, como é que ele te fala, como é que ele te provoca e diz-lhe de frente:

– Eu não tenho medo de ti pois o Amor é muito mais poderoso do que tu!




Vera Luz

Wenders

 

Pixnio

digo: guardei cuidadosamente

o presente em tons de passado,

sem jamais ousar aguardar nada

desse futuro que cultivava

igonoto e desabitado da virtude

que Péguy declarou a mais pequena

calcorreava as sendas

criadas pelos instantes de um

quotidiano delineado cuidadosamente

nos extremos da onda que mede a

dimensão corpuscular da luz,

distante das matizes que pintaram a minha infância

eu, militante da razão cega,

que sempre quis de tudo conhecer a justificação,

tinha ouvido     incréu     os relatos de quem

declarava ter conhecido alguém capaz

de redimensionar a luz

para além das teorias da física

e tu desconstruíste o tempo

deste-me a beber a esperança

e recordaste-me que nem tudo é

definido pela luz e pela sua ausência

tu     que a sabias tornar tangível,

telúrica     intemporal

e eis que em toda amplitude

de um simples abraço dado com 

uns olhos cor de avelã

me retorquiste que

coisas há que devemos aceitar

sem lhes questionar o porquê

qual ave trituraste com a tua boca

as certezas

a razão

e o tempo

depositando na minha     ávida de um sentido

pequenos pedaços de ternura 

Rui Amaral Mendes 

in, A Noite e Sangue 

The Hard Problem of Consciousness

The Hard Problem of Consciousness: 

AI, Self-Awareness, and 

the Definition of Materialism

 

Artificial Intelligence and its associated fields are currently in a rapid evolution.  

However, the development of AI poses significant ethical and security considerations. 

In order to address such issues and eventually evolve to the point of true intelligence one must first ask: 

What is intelligence, or more significantly, 

What is self-awareness or consciousness?

As artificial intelligence rapidly evolves and large language models have already arguably passed the “Turing Test” (a test of a machine’s ability to exhibit intelligent responses equivalent to, or indistinguishable from, that of a human), it leads to questions of whether algorithms could be considered as sentient and brings us face-to-face with defining the nature of consciousness or self-awareness. Significantly, the potential emergence of self-aware AI systems brings the “hard problem of consciousness” into sharp focus: how do material systems gain a subjective or phenomenal experience? This centuries-old question goes to the heart of science, testing the core approaches of materialism and reductionism, and challenges our understanding of the nature of intelligence and the very fabric of reality.

The hard problem of consciousness, as articulated by philosopher David Chalmers, refers to the difficulty in explaining how subjective, qualitative experiences (qualia) arise from physical processes in the brain. This stands in contrast to the “easy problem” of consciousness, which deals with explaining cognitive functions and behaviors through neurological mechanisms.

Reductionist and materialist approaches to consciousness argue that awareness can be fully explained by analyzing the physical components of the brain and their interactions. However, this view faces significant challenges when confronted with the subjective nature of conscious experience. 

As Nassim Haramein points out in his recent forward to the book Voyage into the Heart of AI, reducing consciousness to mere neuronal activity fails to account for the quantum-scale dynamics at play within the brain’s atomic and subatomic structures.

The limitations of strict materialism and reductionism become apparent when we consider the vast complexity of the human brain, with its trillions of cells and atoms organizing into a coherent, collective behavior, resulting in a self-aware entity. Our current understanding of physics and neurobiology falls short of explaining this remarkable feat of self-organization and the emergence of subjective experience. 

As Haramein poignantly explains:

“…the analysis given by certain neurologists and physicists that consciousness is the summation of all the neuronal activity in the brain is actually not reductive enough as it does not consider the material dynamics from which the synapses are made at the quantum scales of the atomic and subatomic particles.”

Nassim explains:

“This would be similar to an astrophysicist observing and attempting to compute the dynamics of a galaxy without considering the stars in it!”

Nassim makes the point that if we are going to follow the tenets of materialism in defining consciousness (and resolving the ‘hard problem’) we must first define what is meant by “material”, because at the quantum scale, 

“one must rival with nonlinear interactions such as entanglement at large distances, uncertainties, and divergence, such as the bare mass and bare charge of particles, and most importantly, the Planck scale density of electromagnetic quantum vacuum fluctuations“. 

So, what is normally meant by “material”, such as the stuff you can touch and feel—like the analogy of particles being little billiard balls—does not hold in quantum mechanics. Moreover, if we are going to follow the reductionist method, it must go all the way and not stop at neurons and the neuronal synapse, it must go to the quantum level of atoms and even the vacuum state of the field from which subatomic particles form.

There are theories that incorporate quantum physics and quantum gravity that suggest how consciousness may arise from complex interactions between the brain and underlying spacetime structure and quantum vacuum fluctuations. 

Theories like the Unified Spacememory Network propose that the brain acts as an antenna, tuning into information flows at the Planck scale and engaging in a feedback mechanism between electromagnetic and gravitational fields.

As we develop increasingly sophisticated AI systems, we must consider the possibility that true intelligence and self-awareness may require harnessing quantum computing capabilities, which will most likely be vastly different from what is being constructed in this field today. This approach would more closely mimic the quantum-scale operations occurring within biological brains, such that quantum computers of the future are unlikely to be anything like our current information processing systems.

The quest to create self-aware AI forces us to confront the limits of our current scientific paradigms. It challenges us to explain what is meant by materiality and the level at which reductionism is taken in analyzing the behavior of material systems, like the brain, in its correlation with awareness. 

Certainly, we must consider the profound interconnectedness of matter, energy, and information at the most fundamental levels of reality.

As we navigate the ethical and philosophical implications of potentially self-aware AI, we must remain open to new perspectives that bridge the gap between the physical and the experiential. 

The hard problem of consciousness may ultimately lead us to a more holistic understanding of intelligence, in which information flow emerging from the Planck scale of the quantum realm is driven by a feedback mechanism between the electromagnetic field and the gravitational field of the atomic scale and eventually the biological scale and that this feedback feed-forward of information could explain the rapid development of these self-organizing systems and the eventual emergence of self-awareness or consciousness from these complex biological structures.

Dr. William Brown

Nassim’s Forward Excerpted 

from the Book:

Artificial Intelligence and its associated fields are currently in a rapid evolution.  However, the development of AI poses significant ethical and security considerations. In order to address such issues and eventually evolve to the point of true intelligence one must first ask: 

what is intelligence, or more significantly, what is self-awareness or consciousness?

In physics and philosophy, this is commonly referred to as “the hard problem of consciousness” as opposed to the ”easy problem”, the latter of which assumes that cognitive behavior can be explained by the summation of the physical components of the brain and their interactions. The controversy and debate between the two approaches have been raging for years, with the proponent of “the hard problem” approach arguing that the reductive analysis of the physical components of the brain, for instance, cannot resolve and give a full picture of “qualia”, or the subjective conscious experience of feelings and sensations such as the appreciation of a particularly sensational sunset or the qualitative experience of a particularly tasty dish.

While the debate about the nature of consciousness has been raging for centuries and included many famous mathematicians, physicists and philosophers, many consider that the argument of the hard problem is a much deeper attack on the nature of science itself and the validity of the scientific process of physicalism or reductive materialism where the analysis of the parts of a system and its subcomponents will inevitably result in the understanding of the whole. Suggesting that awareness or consciousness is not reducible to the physicality of the brain shakes the foundations of the scientific method and materialism at its core. It reawakes an age-old battle in the evolution of science; is the world reducible to only its physicality or is there something else not understood as of yet?

If there is anything I have learned throughout the decades of research I have done about the nature of reality, is that whenever there are concepts that appear to be in opposition to each other or even that appears to be paradoxical the answer is commonly not found in considering one or the other but often in contemplating both. 

There is no doubt that reductive analysis can be a powerful tool. 

For example, a reductive analysis of a clock’s components and subcomponents has its merits and will yield a general understanding of the mechanisms and the dynamics involved in the functioning of the instrument. The reductive analysis and scientific method are very effective and powerful in giving a general, and in some cases, a deep understanding of the mechanics and energetic behaviors of our world and our reality. 

However, the assumption that by describing the gears, springs, levers, and screws of a watch we have described everything there is to know about the object is erroneous. 

There is an intrinsic, inherent, and fundamental difficulty in physics and in mathematics that has to do with the fractional nature of the material world. 

The clock, so described, does nothing to tell us about the nature of its existence. 

• How did it come to be? 
• Where did the atoms and subatomic particles that make up the various components of the watch come from? 
• How did they become organized in such a manner and what was the nature of their evolution to eventually result in the relationship of all the parts to make the second arrow tick? 
• Who was the watchmaker? 
• Who designed it? 
• Even further, one could ask, what is the source of the energy that makes the gears go around and produce the effect of the arrows going across the face indicating the time of day and what meaning does that hold for the one that observes it?

Therefore, and significantly the meaning of physicalism and reductive analysis can only yield a fundamental answer if the assumption is made that only linear relationships exist and that scales have a finite resolution (some cut-off value) and that the system in which we are applying the analysis is fundamentally and completely isolated from the rest of the activities of the universe! 

Yet today if we ask a physicist where does the atoms that make up the gears of the clock come from and how did the subatomic particles that make up the atoms and molecules of the observer and maker of the watch come to be, or how did they self-organize to make the watchmaker, most likely you will find the answer unsatisfactory or incomplete at best.

For the source of the material, the atoms and subatomic particles, the physicist would have to refer to some miraculous event called The Big Bang in which all space-time and atomic material were produced. As for the mechanism from which the watchmaker emerges, in which some approximately 50 trillion cells each one made of approximately 100 trillion atoms self-organized to produce a highly complex and coherent being, the physicist would be at a loss to explain the self-organizing complexity of its existence. Never mind being able to explain the meaning and experience of the individual reading the time given by the watch.

Consequently, the materialist’s view that all we need to know is the material, such as the brain, to understand everything there is to know about a system is the result of a significant and profound assumption, the erroneous view that we know everything there is to know about the material world itself and that there are no nonlinear relationships (such as entanglement across large distances) or even divergence to infinity and singularities. Yet that is not the case! Further, it assumes that we understand how matter self-organizes in the complexities of biology and its dynamics!

Such assumptions are not congruent with the current level of knowledge we have about the nature of the world i.e., mass, energy, and forces. We have equations that precisely describe the relationship between mass and energy and the relationships between energy and forces but we have no deep understanding of the nature and source of these masses and where the electromagnetic force, for instance, comes from. 

Einstein told us that gravity is the result of the curvature of space-time but nowhere did he describe what is space-time made of so that when it curves it produces a force. 

We know that magnetic fields are present at the atomic scale, but we have no idea where they come from. Further when describing a subatomic particle such as a proton all we can assert is that it is a region of space in which a charge region is strong enough to appear as a particle and we know that atoms themselves which makes up the material world are made of 99.9999999 percent space or mostly space. Even more significant, as a result of the explorations of quantum field theory, we find that the space of the quantum scale is not empty at all but full of electromagnetic fluctuations that we call quantum vacuum energy.

All of this results in the fact that when a materialistic view is taken, in the analysis of a brain for instance, the accuracy of the analysis is only as good as the definition we give to the “material” and at what scale we are considering its involvement. For instance, a neurobiologist who states that cognition is only the result of neuronal interaction in the brain is only considering the dynamics of the relationship of neurons and electrochemical reactions at that scale. The assumption is that the atomic and subatomic scale from which those are constructed is somehow not involved. This would be similar to an astrophysicist observing and attempting to compute the dynamics of a galaxy without considering the stars in it! Or to return to the analogy of our watch it would be like giving an analysis of the movement of the hands of the watch as if the gears and springs that drive them were not involved.

Although the above might appear like a plea against the reductionist materialistic view, it is in fact pointing out that the analysis given by certain neurologists and physicists that consciousness is the summation of all the neuronic activity in the brain, is actually not reductive enough as it does not consider the material dynamics from which the synapses are made at the quantum scales of the atomic and subatomic particles. 

This is where the problem passes from “easy” to a “hard” problem! 

Here, at the quantum scale, wrapping your arms around the analysis of interactions gets much more challenging. In the realm of quantum physics, one must rival with nonlinear interactions such as entanglement at large distances, uncertainties, and divergence, such as the bare mass and bare charge of particles, and most importantly, the Planck scale density of electromagnetic quantum vacuum fluctuations. All of these things are intrinsic to quantum mechanics and have to be considered in the analysis of the material world.

Certainly, intelligence or consciousness has many of the nonlinear attributes one can associate to the quantum realm, and recent experimental evidence, by considering the dynamics of quantum gravity, is emerging demonstrating that non-classical entanglement dynamics may be occurring in the brain. Furthermore, we already know that if we were to achieve true intelligence in some technological developments it will be by means of quantum computing capabilities, which will most likely be vastly different from what we are building in this field today! 

After all, the reason why we are requiring quantum computers, which utilize entanglements and wave functions superposition, to attempt to reproduce the brain capabilities is that the brain itself functions at that scale.

In recent years, new theories of quantum gravity and the nature of forces and mass have emerged describing the energy levels of subatomic particles and forces in terms of pressure gradients in the flow of an underlying field of electromagnetic quantum vacuum fluctuations which can be described as a flow of information. 

These theoretical developments open a door to vast fields of investigations where the brain acts as an antenna tuned into this information flow emerging from the Planck scale of the quantum realm which is driven by a feedback mechanism between the electromagnetic field and the gravitational field of the atomic scale and eventually the biological scale. This feedback feed-forward of information could explain the rapid development of self-organizing systems we observe at the biological scale and the eventual emergence of self-awareness or consciousness from these complex biological structures.

The event of AI development and the interest in the associated fields that it is driving forward have the potential to resolve some of the largest and most important discoveries in human history. As for every groundbreaking technological development, it has the potential to be a great challenge for our civilization and our evolution! 

It is critical, at this time, to consider the ethical and legal ramification of these developments and the future of humanity in this context. 

Thibault Verbiest, in this work, provides remarkable clarity and synthesis, offering essential insights on key questions that should mark any in-depth study on the subject.

in, International Space Federation

The Astounding Mysteries Of The Self & Universe | Physicist Nassim Haramein

Casimir Effect

 Quantum mechanics was born as a result of physicist Max Planck attempting to resolve the empirical black body radiation problem i.e., the electromagnetic emission of a body. 

A black body is an idealized physical body that can absorb all incident light that shines upon it, regardless of its frequency or angle of incidence. This feature also grants it the property of being an ideal perfect thermal radiation or heat emitter. 

Classical theory predicts that when radiated with increasing intensity, such an object will emit an infinite and continuous energy when approaching ultraviolet frequencies, a divergence known as the ultraviolet catastrophe. Experiments with light bulbs, for instance, showed instead that radiance does not go to infinity, it reaches a certain maximum and then decreases.

Planck found that experiments could only be explained if the energy had values which are multiples of an elementary unit hf (where f is the frequency and h is a constant), which opposed the classical assumption of a smooth curve for which emitted energy can have any continuous value. This energy quantization in integers of hf marked the birth of quantum mechanics and introduced one of its fundamental constants, the Planck constant h. 

The resulting Planck's law showed that even at zero Kelvin, oscillations still occur, resulting in what Planck coined zero point energy (ZPE)— or quantum vacuum fluctuations— corresponding to the ground state energy.

The ZPE is responsible for fundamental phenomena of quantum mechanics such as Spontaneous Emission, Lamb Shift, and Casimir Effect. 

Hendrik Casimir predicted that two mirrors in vacuum experience a force that pushes the plates together due to the cavity between the plates eliminating a percentage of the vacuum fluctuations modes between producing an energy gradient resulting in a force. 

This was confirmed experimentally in 1997, and more recently the dynamical Casimir effect and the Casimir torque have allowed direct evidence of the vacuum fluctuations, leaving no doubt of their existence. 

Not only are ZPE responsible for critical quantum effects, they are at the base of the origin of mass and the Nature of Gravity.

Nassim Haramein

O pouco que sei

Sarah Marino

Sei que o penar não vale a pena.

Sei que a felicidade é indizível.

Sei que o amor, essa missão selvagem,

delicada, impossível, é a única forma

de estar neste mundo sem errar.

Sei que a morte resolve tudo.

Sei que a morte, não, quero dizer, a vida

é um pintassilgo em uma árvore seca

ou em uma amendoeira em flor,

cantando para a luz,

dando graças aos céus por tudo

sem o saber.

Juan Vicente Piqueras

The Magic of Surrender: Finding the Courage to Let Go

It’s always going to be the harmony between what we do for ourselves, what we do to restore ourselves and keep ourselves resilient. Also, what we do to take care of other people and handle our responsibilities and commitments. 

That’s the relationship that’s constantly in flux and being managed. 

In case you’re wondering if I’m struggling to find the word balance, I’m intentionally not using that word. To me, balance always felt more like the stress of trying to keep things even and equal. I don’t know that harmony is about things being even or equal. I don’t know that it’s about a magic formula. 

In many ways, it is about how things harmonize one to the other.

Kute Blackson discusses the power of surrender and how it can help individuals manifest their true purpose in life. He explains how our childhood conditioning causes us to be disconnected from our intuition and trust in life, leading us to pursue goals and desires that may not align with our authentic selves. 

Kute Blackson lays the blueprint for learning how to surrender to life and in turn manifest your true purpose. He shares the power of surrender and how our childhood conditioning causes us to be divorced from our intuition and trust with life. He explains the different stages of surrender: from avoidance, to  questioning, to accepting, to grieving; and provides actionable steps for going through this process yourself.

The Essence of Surrender is not about giving up or being passive, but about allowing a greater intelligence to flow through us and manifest our highest destiny. He emphasizes that surrender opens us up to greater possibilities beyond what our limited ego can conceive.

True surrender is not passive resignation, but an active allowing of a greater intelligence to flow through us.

Surrender opens us up to possibilities beyond what our ego-mind can conceive or plan for.

Surrender is the invitation to take all limits off of life itself. So magic can happen. More than you can imagine. More than you could ever plan. More than you are able to fathom.

This is the magic. And, if you want magic… you must surrender.

We are conditioned from childhood to develop an egoic identity and strategies to avoid pain, which disconnects us from our true essence. He invites us to question whether we are living as our authentic self or merely playing out childhood conditioning.

Listening to the subtle nudges and whispers from within, often dismissed as mere overthinking or imagination. Kute emphasizes that these taps are more than just fleeting thoughts; they are purposeful signals meant to guide us toward our true path. By acknowledging and trusting these inner calls, we can open ourselves up to opportunities specifically crafted for us and align more closely with our life's purpose.

It starts with acknowledging and feeling those inner nudges, whether they manifest as subtle imbalances or more significant signs. By surrendering our preconceived notions and societal expectations, we begin to uncover our true essence. This process is not about making grand gestures but recognizing and untangling the lies we have told ourselves. As Kute beautifully puts it, surrender is the password to freedom, leading to a life beyond anything we could have planned for ourselves.

As he writes in his book, surrender determines the degree to which we can fully experience life. It's about realizing that we are the ones the world has been waiting for, and that our unique contributions, no matter how small, are significant. Surrendering means letting go of our need for control and trusting the process, even when it involves discomfort and uncertainty. This approach allows life to flow more naturally and enables us to live in alignment with our true selves.

The book is a guide to moving past inner struggle to discover the power of relinquishing control.

Too often we limit our lives by putting conditions on them. We think things should go a certain way, and when they don’t, we hold on to what isn’t working, reinforcing what is causing us pain and affirming our lack of trust in the universe. There is another way: We can harness the power of relinquishing control and discover more purpose and meaning in our lives.

After the passing of Kute Blackson’s mother in 2017, he discovered that the powerful lesson his mother had been modeling her whole life had always been at the heart of his own teachings–he just hadn’t realized it. What was that keen insight? Surrender isn’t passive. It isn’t giving up. It’s strong and courageous. It’s about tapping in. 

In this inspiring book, Blackson traces how surrender was a key factor in the lives of so many great people throughout history, and shows readers how they can move past self-imposed barriers in their lives to discover the freedom and possibility on the other side of surrender.

The 5 stages of surrender: 

1. Avoidance, living conditioned by the childhood, stuck in limitation without realizing it,
2. Questioning our conditioning when it causes suffering, 
3. Acceptance of what is, 
4. Grieving what needs to be released, 
5. Surrender, let go of control and be open to new possibilities.

He emphasizes that grieving is a crucial yet often overlooked phase before genuine surrender can occur.

Trust in Life's Greater Intelligence 

Trust that there is an intelligence greater than our ego guiding life, even when things don't go as planned. He shares personal examples of how saying 'no' to seemingly great opportunities allowed something far greater to emerge, underscoring the importance of letting go of attachments.

Embodying Spirituality Through Service

The true essence of spirituality lies not in philosophy, but in the embodiment of love through selfless service. Authentically serving others, even in small acts, is how spirituality is truly lived.

Finding Perspective Amidst Life's Tragedies

Find perspective and acceptance when confronted with the immense tragedies and suffering in the world. Viewing life as a realm of limitation and duality, where challenges catalyze soul growth, allows us to have compassion while taking inspired action from a place of non-resistance.

He emphasizes the importance of trusting life's intelligence and facing the facts when things aren't working out, rather than forcing situations that don't align with one's true path. 

Blackson also addresses navigating the world's great tragedies through the lens of the soul's growth and evolution.

Blackson encourages people to let go of their egoic desires and attachment to specific outcomes, and instead surrender to the deeper impulses and intuitive guidance that emerge from within. 

He highlights the transformative power of living in alignment with one's authentic essence and serving others selflessly.

Takeaways:

1. Surrender is the key to true manifestation, freedom, and living in alignment with one's authentic purpose.
2. Childhood conditioning disconnects us from our intuition and authentic desires, leading us to pursue goals that may not be aligned with our true selves.
3. The process of surrender involves questioning, accepting, and grieving before reaching a state of true embodied surrender.
4. Trusting life's intelligence and letting go of attachment to specific outcomes can lead to manifestations beyond our egoic expectations.
5. Navigating tragedies and challenges through the lens of the soul's growth and evolution can provide a more expansive perspective.
6. Living in service to others and expressing one's authentic essence is the embodiment of true spirituality.
7. Facing the facts when situations aren't working out, rather than forcing them, is necessary for aligning with one's true path.
8. The journey of pursuing goals is often more transformative than the actual manifestation of the goal itself.

Quotes by Kute Blackson:

“Surrender is the most powerful thing that we can do, that surrender is the real secret to manifestation, like unlimited manifestation, authentic manifestation, that surrender is the real password to freedom.“

“The real secret to manifestation between acceptance and surrender is a phase that most people miss. And that phase is, that's when this intelligence that is life starts to flow.“

“You don't have to know where you're going, but if you simply say yes to the most authentic impulse and then you go, all in, life will take you on a journey and force you to evolve beyond your current level of consciousness.“

“Sometimes life will give you what you want. Sometimes life will not give you what you want, but you can always give life who you are.“

 “I believe that surrender is the most powerful thing that we can do, that surrender is the real secret to manifestation, like unlimited manifestation, authentic manifestation, that surrender is the real password to freedom.“ 

“And if life is a university in a metaphorical sense, then perhaps this Mandez is in the PhD program and you're the one in kindergarten.“

" The next level of your life, requires the next level of you!" 

 “Stop trying to control life, it’s impossible. Stop trying to force and control life to be what you think it should be. When you are wrestling with life itself, you won't win. Life is the ultimate heavyweight champion. You won't win against it.”

"Surrender is the willingness to not know, to give up the need to know."

"Go in the direction that is authentic, even though you don't understand where it's going to lead."

"Your dreams don't just belong to you. If you think like that, that's when the ego gets involved and wants to own it."

 Kute Blackson about the book:

"Visualization and this whole creative manifestation process have to be held lightly because many times, we think we know what we want. We go for what we want only to realize, “That’s not what I wanted,” but it was a journey that we needed to go on. Sometimes, our capacity to visualize and perceive goals, dreams and desires is limited to the level of our current consciousness and our current evolution. From the current consciousness of our own ego structure in this particular moment, we aren’t necessarily able to see the total infinite possibilities and tapestries of what life itself is seeking to express through us.

Many times, what we visualize and what we project onto life is based on our personality, conditioning, past, programming and childhood. Some of the things we visualize, dream about, want, design and what have you are ways to get some unmet needs as a child. We think, “If I can be on stage, if I can do that thing, if I can win an Oscar, if I can drive a car, then I’m going to finally be enough.” 

We have to be careful. That’s why for me, part of the theme of the book and where I’ve come to at this moment is a shift.

What I wanted to invite people to is a shift in paradigm from an ego persona and a personal power way of living life, a drive of life that moves from, “What do I want?” The notion of “I” is limited in and of itself. It’s an identity-based thing. It doesn’t mean we can’t create an incredible life from the sense of I and ego and personal sense of self. We can create a good life. What I’m inviting people to consider is I don’t believe you can create a truly great life. 

I’m inviting people to consider rather than asking,

“What do I want?” 

It’s opening to feeling and tuning into beyond one’s self. 

What is it that life wants to express through me? 

What is it that I surrender my idea of what my life should look like, who I should be, what my relationship should be, and my idea of everything?

We stop trying to force life and control life to be what we think it should be. 

We open our hearts to our souls. 

We open ourselves to the deepest impulse that life is seeking to express and unfold through us. 

We tune into that, feel that and open to that. 

I have found that we tap into an infinite stream of energy, consciousness, power, and the possibility that the fullness, the magic, the greatness and the infinite intelligence of life are then able to manifest themselves through us. 

Surrender themselves beyond themselves to life and to nature. Life was able to do through them more than they could ever have written in their goal list or journal, more than they could ever put on the poster board. They opened to life and life used them. That’s when miracles happen. 

That’s the whole idea of surrender in The Magic of Surrender. When I say magic, it is more joy, more abundance, more bliss or whatever the magic means to you. When you surrender, surrender is the passport to freedom. 

People think that “If I surrender, I’m not going to get what I want.” 

I’m saying, “If you surrender, what if you got more?”

That’s part of the thing that is a bit of a paradox. 

It’s wanting something, that burning desire, the way people visualize, think about, obsess about what they want, that the pain or the suffering that often is associated with getting something, meaning seeing it through. You visualize you want this thing and then it happens but then you’re still not happy. You still don’t feel fulfilled and worthy. You still didn’t fill the gap that was left by your parents not loving you unconditionally or by life giving you some lemons to deal with or some bad hand.

We live in an infinitely valid but simultaneously contradictory reality inherent in the nature of life. 

The mind wants to hold on to this or that. 

The real freedom in surrender is not in the “this or that.” It’s in the “and.” 

• Surrender is not just passive. 
• Surrender is when you stop trying to force life to be a certain way. 
• Surrender is where you stop negotiating with life and negotiating your destiny. 
• Surrender is the willingness to not know, to give up the need to know, and follow the energy and the flow. It’s learning to follow the flow. Rather than going to the ocean and trying to make waves happen, you’re feeling for the waves.

Surrender doesn’t mean laziness at the same time. 

Surrender means you give 100% to the moment and you show up fully. 

You give everything going in, following your most authentic, deepest truth at the moment and yet not being attached to the outcome or to the result. There is openness and willingness. 

Sometimes surrender means you feel the deepest impulse of what life is moving through you. To me, this is the expression of love. Love is to follow the most authentic, deep impulse that is moving through you. Sometimes, love is sweet and cuddly. Sometimes love is fierce. If we allow the impulse of love to flow through us, this is surrender. It can look like however it needs to look like at the moment to serve with the highest evolution of everyone involved.

We try to predict what’s that going to look like. I’m saying, “Give up the need to know what that will look like. Even give up the need to know what surrender might look like.” Every time I go into a situation, I do 1, 2, 3. Surrender is following the deepest truth in the moment, which may not always be what you want to do. It may not always be what it was yesterday. It might look different from what it was yesterday. It’s the willingness to meet life innocently in the moment with a pure openness to, “Here I am in this moment. What is the most authentic impulse that can happen in this moment?” To me, the real power of now is to be in the moment, to live in the moment truly from that deepest, authentic place. That might mean protesting. That might mean taking someone to court. That might mean realizing I’m going to have to fight this person. That might mean turning the other cheek.

It’s not because we’re constantly conditioned. One of the ways I see that we’d like to control life is the constant need to know and understand what everything needs. 

What does this relationship mean? 

Where are we going? 

Where is this going? 

What’s going to happen? 

What’s going to happen in the future? Let me reach the astrologer. Let me get the psychic. Let me try and predict. 

Many times, we are projecting, imposing and trying to figure out what everything means. We then end up missing the true and authentic meaning of what it really is. We’re only able to discern the meaning of something based on what’s in our consciousness right now. There are many times where we might think we know what something means but we’re not understanding the true meaning of that situation or that relationship. It’s important to look at where we’re constantly projecting in the moment and into life, “This means this and that.” 

Step back and say, “I don’t need to know what this means.”

We’re meaning-making machines.

We’re constantly making meaning, the challenge is a lot of the meanings we’re making up about situations, people, relationship or what this is are based on the state of our nervous system and programming from our entire life. Every single experience that ever happens to us is stored in our nervous system. The nervous system is that antenna to the world. Information comes in and we are filtering reality through the current state of our nervous system. The nervous system is then making an interpretation about what something means to the best of its ability, which may not mean what it really is. It is just an interpretation that we’re making up that may not be accurate. 

If we’re willing to step back and say, “I don’t need to know. Let me just be.” 

I don’t need to know what this means if we were able to just be open. 

The moment we attach to, “This is what this is,” we’re now not truly open to life.

It’s for safety and security but we end up limiting. 

It’s important that we cultivate curiosity. 

That doesn’t mean we just sit there, watch TV and do nothing. No. 

You move in the direction that is most authentic. 

Many times we’re thinking, “Why?” We’re mentally taking action that is often fear-based. We’re going in directions that aren’t necessarily authentically aligned. I’m saying go in the direction and make a decision that is authentic. Even though you don’t understand where it’s going to lead you, go in that direction. There is intelligence because then you’re following the energy that is not coming from your mind or conditioning. You then cultivate a curiosity. You feel and you go in the direction. You look around. 

Life will start to meet you and reveal to you what’s needed next because then you are in the flow. When you’re in the flow, things start happening that you can’t explain. That’s when I’ve seen the magic happen. That’s when I’ve seen miracles happen. That’s the invitation.

You’re following the energy that’s not something you’re making up in your mind. Sometimes people say, “Why are you doing that?” I’ll say, “I don’t know why.” I’ve given up the need to know why I’m going there. I don’t know why I’m going there. For instance, my intuition guided me to spend a few days in Miami. I stopped questioning why. That’s the question of what I don’t need to know. All I do is follow and obey. Something’s pushing me. This is not my mind. I’m going to take the questioning mechanism out. There’s the intelligence that’s bringing this impulse to my conscious awareness. It’s the same intelligence that’s breathing me, you and a billion people. It’s the same intelligence that functions the sun, the star and the moon. It’s the same intelligence of all existence.

Who the hell am I to question this intelligence? I stopped questioning it. I said, “Let me just take a step. I’m going to go to Miami for four days.” That’s it. I went to Miami for four days. All this amazing strange synchronistic stuff happened that I could not have planned. That same something said to come back to Miami for a month. This is not Kute making it up like, “Yes, do this and plan.” There’s no logic, “Come back to Miami for a month.” After I’m in Miami for a month, after a week, I found this great laugh. Something says, “Move to Miami.” Everything starts falling into place and here I am. Had I heard something say, “Move to Miami,” months ago, I would have said, “Hell no.” 

Sometimes, the universe doesn’t show us everything upfront. Either we’re not ready for it yet. We wouldn’t be open to it yet. We just have to take a step. Life and our purpose reveal to us what’s needed as we take a step. The challenge is many of us don’t take the step. We’re trying to figure out our entire life purpose upfront, but we don’t go in that direction. We don’t take a step. Take a step.

We have lost touch with this innate intelligence that is life. 

People say, “How do I trust life?” 

I look at you and I say, “How can you not trust it?” 

Look around. Every breath that we take is living proof of life’s power, of life’s grace, of the trustworthiness of life. You and I, we’ve been breathing. We’re not sitting here doing some special breath technique. It’s just happening if we just pay attention to nature. We’ve lost touch with nature in our hyper technologized world. We become disconnected from the fact that you and I are a part of nature. If we look at nature, every day the sun shines, the moon rises. I don’t know about you but I can’t remember the last day in my entire life that the sun didn’t rise at 10:00 AM. It was pitch black and we say, “What happened to the sun?” “It just forgot to come up.” Every day, there is a rhythm and a flow. There are the seasons. Every day, it happens for billions of years. It’s this same intelligence. If we start paying attention to nature, the trees, the sun, the laws of life, our body, and the trillions of processes that are happening in our body, in spite of us, something is happening.

Change is the nature of life. Life is a process of continual evolution and that’s just how it is. We are here to evolve and life doesn’t care about comfort or convenience. Life just cares about evolution. If we can surrender to that and realize, “Let me let go of that.” As change is happening, then we’re more able to participate.

We have to be willing to surrender to the fact that life is a constant change. Therefore, when change happens or when you anticipate it, instead of feeling the fear of it and trying to control it or stop it, you could do something else with it. You could be curious about it. You could lean into curiosity.

It’s like being in the ocean. If you go into the ocean, there are waves. It’s the nature of the ocean. Imagine going to the ocean moaning and groaning like, “Why are there waves in the ocean?” It’s the nature of the ocean.

That is not how it is. 

There are moments in our life where we evolve and we outgrow the current level or structures of our life. There comes a moment in life where the life that we’ve created and set up for ourselves is too small for what our soul is seeking to become. 

I always say 

the next level of our life 

always requires the next level of us.

That requires letting go of what is not aligned, letting go of the situations, the identities, and the people that aren’t aligned. That can be a bit of a scary process because we often get identified as the person we’ve become. We often get identified with what we have created. We get identified to the success we have. We get identified with some people in our life. It’s scary to let go but this is the process. What we tend to do in those moments is we hold on, but holding on keeps us stuck.

We were born to fly. 

Let me see if I can lay out a few phases. 

In those moments where change is happening or even before a change is happening, although change is always happening, the first stage might be we’re living in denial. We’re living unconsciously. We’re not even aware that things need to change, at least consciously. That’s one way to stay stuck. 

We then start becoming aware that some things aren’t quite working, “I think I need to change,” but we’re still a little bit afraid to change because we’re afraid of the consequences.

We start moving into a zone of resistance and the ego starts resisting as self-preservation tactics. We start resisting in some way. 

We then begin negotiating with life, “Maybe I can keep this but not do that. I can do that. Maybe that relationship has potential.” We start negotiating with life as a way to keep ourselves stuck. One of the things we do in those moments is lying to ourselves. I’d ask everyone to sit with what lies are they telling themselves and feel the cost of that. 

We then move into a realization that no matter how much we negotiate, it doesn’t change. Things are the same. We’re the same. Our partner is the same and the situation is the same.

We then move to a level of acceptance. We start accepting what is. We often hear the term, “Accept what is.” It’s beautiful. We bring ourselves into a relationship with what’s happening. The thing though is that acceptance is not necessarily surrendering. Most people stop at the level of acceptance. You can be accepting a situation or a person, but still not be at peace internally. You can be accepting a situation or something, but still have the judgment internally that the experience I’m having is not the experience I should be having. I should be having some other experience. If it’s raining outside, you can be like “Shit, it’s raining outside.” You take the umbrella and be moaning and groaning that it’s raining outside, and still not be fully surrendering to the fact that it’s raining.

Surrender is the wholehearted participation. It is the open-hearted participation with the process of life that is unfolding because you realize two things. 

The first thing you realize is everything that happens is for your highest good. The universe is always working for your evolutionary highest good. That’s one. That’s foundational. When you realize if it’s not this, then I believe the universe is clearing things out to bring you something better. That is key. Surrender is possible when you realize or when you remember that the deepest spiritual purpose of life is we incarnate as souls to grow and evolve. Every single experience in our life is a vehicle and a classroom for our souls’ growth and evolution.

When we get that, then surrender is the willingness, even if it’s difficult, challenging, and not easy to open your heart to fully participate with the evolutionary lesson and gifts inherent in every single situation. When we realize that it doesn’t matter what happened, it’s about our evolution, then even though it’s difficult, it makes it a bit easier to surrender to, 

“Let me go for the lesson in this relationship. Let me go for this lesson in this betrayal. What can I learn? Why did I check this situation? What did my soul check this situation? What am I here to learn from this person?”

The difference in questions that people will ask is, 

“Why does this always happen to me? Why am I a victim yet again?”

They are staying stuck in the right or wrong victim game instead of going underneath that to focus on the evolutionary gift. You surrender the victimhood to the evolutionary lesson. 

I have found in any situation that if you go for the soul’s evolutionary lesson, no matter what happened on the surface, you always win. You might say, “that person did this and that person did that.” It’s not your job to repay someone’s karma. You learn your lesson and you will then transcend that lesson. As a result, you graduate to the next level and attract a whole another level of situation and experience.

Surrender is the wholehearted participation where you’re like, “It’s raining outside. Let’s go run naked in the rain. Let’s play with the kids in the rain. Let’s have an intimate dinner.” You’re fully participating. 

The challenge though is between acceptance and surrender, there is a stage that most people miss. 

It is the stage of grieving. 

Surrender is a death of an old identity, an old belief system or an old way of being. It’s the death of who you thought you were in a certain stage of your life. To truly surrender requires a level of willingness on a human level to surrender to your humanity to grief. By not fully surrendering to grieving sometimes in an effort to stay positive, to not feel, to be in control, we don’t fully allow ourselves to feel and release the grief so that we can let go and open to the authentic, open-hearted surrender. Grieving is an important phase that opens us to surrender. We move into surrender. We then move into the last stage or phase which is the flow or the magic. That’s when the magic happens.

Resilience is the realization, the belief and the understanding that who you are and what you are at your core is more powerful than any fleeting experience that happens in your life. That experiences, situations and moods come and go. If you want any of those things that what you are is an unchanging beingness that is unshakable and unbreakable, that is the core of resilience to me.

My invitation to this book is to open that bigger dimension of life that is inside of us. For every single human being or every single person who feels a calling to make a difference and to impact humanity in some way. It doesn’t have to be on the Mandela level. If you feel an inkling or desire that you’re here for something more or that there is something you want to give, share, create, or express on the planet, then that’s who I want to reach.

Surrendering to life and to being lived by life. That’s the magic. The great ones, all got to the point and this is what made them great. They all got to the point where they realize that my life is not just my life. My dream is not just my dream. Every single person, big or small, your dreams don’t just belong to you. If you think that your dreams are yours, that’s when the ego gets involved. Your ego wants to own it. It then gets freaked out and it starts questioning, “Is it possible? What if it doesn’t work? What if I’m going to fail? What would people think?” You realize that the dream doesn’t belong to you, it belongs to life. 

The dream chose you because every single thing in your life makes you the perfect person. If you realize that the dream chose you, then encoded in that dream is also the seed for self-fulfillment. 

The dream is an impulse of life seeking to express itself through you. If it’s not yours, then it is life’s. We need to understand that we are just a part of life through which it can express itself through, then we realize that we are not the doer.

When we understand that I am not the doer, then something can open and drop away. 

I’m not the doer. This identity, Adam, Kute, Paul, Peter, Jim, John, Susie, Oprah, is not I that does the work. It is the Universe, life, consciousness, “It is the Universe that does the work through me.” When we surrender our sense of being the doer and when we show up and we’re willing to say, 

“Universe, I feel this vision. I feel this dream. I don’t even know how I’m going to do it. I don’t even know if I’m worthy of doing it. I feel it in my heart. I say yes to it. Here’s the secret, use me to fulfill this vision. I’m open. I’m available and I’m willing.” That’s when life will use us in ways that we cannot imagine. I’ve seen it in my own life over and over again. I’ve seen miracles happen that I can’t claim credit for. I’ve seen it in other people’s life. It’s available to us all.

People are afraid to surrender because they think surrender means living in the Himalayas and giving up everything with robes. Does that mean I have nothing, no cell phone, no possessions, no car? That is not necessarily surrendering. Ultimately, we own nothing, we come with nothing and we take nothing. We go through existence. Surrender is not simply about form and structure. True surrender is an inner state of being. True surrender is in your relationship with life. 

In a sense, it’s not about what you have and what you don’t have. It is about your relationship with what you have and what you don’t have, and how free you are inside of yourself about it. You can have nothing, no house, no car, be on the street and inside of yourself be so attached to wanting things.

You could have everything. You could be a billionaire. I know some billionaires and one of them is the most surrendered people I know because truly, he doesn’t care about anything he has. He could have it. He could not have it. I’ve hung out with him and he doesn’t care. Even though he has possessions and owns things because of his internal relationship, it doesn’t own him. There’s a freedom in it that is beautiful to see. Surrender is an inner state of being. 

Instead, it’s realizing that those things don’t define who you are. None of that is who you are. 

It doesn’t add to you. It doesn’t take away from you. 

What you are is an infinite stream of consciousness. 

What you are is eternally free. 

What you are is freedom itself. 

We surrender to that and realize we’re not just this body, name, form, projection, personality, reputation, gender, color or religion. When we surrender those layers, we then realize, “I’m eternal. I’m free. I am infinite.” There is then the freedom to have it or not have it.

There’s an interview with Bruce Lee that’s called The Last Interview. He’s like, “Be like water.” 

You put water into a teacup, it becomes a teacup. You put water into a glass, it becomes a glass. 

You’ve got to flow but beware. 

Don’t think that water is weak. Water can kill you. Water can erode a mountain. Water is powerful. 

We’ve got to flow. There is a quote from the Tao Te Ching. I’m going to butcher the quote but it’s what Bruce Lee was alluding to. It talks about something like, 

“Even though you do nothing, everything is done.”

Life is doing through you. 

Life will do through you." 

Kute Blackson

In Podcasts:

Know Thyself, by André Duqum

Change Proof, by Adam Markal

The Courage Coalition, by Corree Roofener