Master Of Whisperers

Why you are a puppet to your mind's influences and your spirituality is just another egotistical endeavor

“I would like to hear more about the difference between "blind" surrender and "aware" surrender. We generally think of surrendering as being passive, but open awareness seems to involve being very present and engaged rather than simply numbing out…”

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Realize something.

There is a control mechanism in your brain that is constantly attempting to stay one step ahead of life.

Call it ego. Call it the identity. Call it mind. Call it whatever you like.

It uses every resource available to it in order to fuel its momentum in its race against the Now.

It utilizes memories. It utilizes imagination. It utilizes emotion. It utilizes ideas. It utilizes relationships. It utilizes pleasure and pain. It utilizes cultural standards, beliefs and principles. It utilizes altered states of consciousness. It is the most energy efficient entity in existence because it can literally use anything it encounters to fuel its agenda of control further.

Philosophies like Buddhism and Advaita are like high octane unleaded gasoline for it. Teachings of surrender and oneness are like rocket fuel that propel it into the stratosphere.

The part of you that thinks you can surrender is the ego. The part of you that wants to grow in awareness is the ego. The part of you that meditates in order to spiritually advance is the ego. The part of you that tries to be present, live in the moment, be mindful, be authentic - is the ego.

There is not a thought in your brain, not an emotion in your body, not a desire in your heart or an attitude in your personality that does not fall within its purview.

It is the prospector of all conscious experiences. The moment an idea, a feeling or intuition bubbles up into the conscious mind, it has already been appropriated and claimed as its property. The more subtle the experience, the more sophisticated its strategy grows.

Do you think the ego is really interested in surrender?

The ego wants to win - at all costs. And whatever that winning strategy needs to look like, no matter how back-handed, clandestine or counter-intuitive - it will employ that strategy.

Sit in meditation staring at a wall for 10 years? Done.

Be mindful and present every single moment of every single day? Done.

Don’t even meditate - just sit, just be? Done.

Claim that there is no doer, no one to do anything? Done.

Surrender to ‘what is’? Done.

Allow whatever arises to arise? Done.

The adaptability, resilience and resourcefulness of the ego knows no limit.

It is a Master of Whisperers, using every ounce of intelligence, knowledge, philosophy or experience available to it to evolve newer and more sophisticated strategies of remaining in power.

In the book and television series, the Game of Thrones, the Master of Whisperers was the title given to the King’s trusted spymaster and advisor. The Master of Whisperers wielded the real power as his network of information reached every part of the kingdom. He gathered intelligence from sources unknown to the king and influenced the politics of the entire kingdom in whichever direction suited his interests the most. While the King wielded the most political power, it was the Master of Whisperers who had the power to determine who sat on the throne.

You are a puppet king influenced by the whispers of your mind. Once upon a time those whispers may have been harsh, critical and hate-filled. Perhaps, now they are gentle, supportive and loving. It matters not.

The greatest trick the mind ever played was when it went from being your inner critic to your inner counselor.

Before it said “Control!”, now it says “surrender”.

Before it said “I must win!”, now it says “there’s nothing to get”.

Before it said “I must resist!”, now it says “let it be”.

Before it said “I must survive against all odds!”, now it says “There is no separate self, there is only this!”

The Master of Whisperers has many voices.

It can sound like a tyrant or like a teacher.

It can sound like an enemy or like a friend.

It can sound like a sinner or like a saint.

It can sound like a demon or like a sage.

Yet, the one voice it cannot impersonate is silence.

For how can one whisper silence?

What does a silent idea sound like? What can a silent thought convey? What does a silent emotion feel like? What does a silent opinion assert?

Nothing.

Trust the silence. Not the whispers.

No matter how wise, profound, deep-meaning, affirming, true-sounding or validating they may sound. Entertain them, but know there is no truth to be found in them.

Whispers of surrender are no different than whispers of control.

Whispers suggesting you have to make important choices are no different than whispers suggesting that all happens spontaneously and choicelessly.

Whispers that convey a duality in the world are no different than whispers that speak of reality being non-dual.

Entertain such whispers but know they do not bear the mark of truth. They exist to satisfy some other agenda.

My words are whispers too. Entertain them, but do not seek truth in them.

Silence alone bears the mark of truth. For that is the language of the true self.

Not words, not ideas, not emotional highs and lows, not moods and attitudes, not philosophies or ideological positions.

Just quiet.

Such silence does not speak of control or surrender.

Such silence does not speak of duality or non-duality.

Such silence does not speak of reality or illusion.

Such silence does not speak of separateness or oneness.

All such talk belongs to the realm of the ego. The whispers that seek to promote the agenda of self-survival.

For silence emerges from that true seat of power which has neither preference nor agenda. It is neither the puppet king who can be placed or usurped nor the Master of Whisperers who is forever conspiring about who will occupy the throne.

It is the throne itself.

Empty, yielding, unconditionally accepting of whoever will sit upon it. Hero or tyrant. Madman or sage.

Identify that seat of power within your own experience. That empty space of pure awareness around which this entire sordid drama of self, world and mind unfolds.

Realize that this awareness is purely observing and has no preference for how things unfold. Awareness has little interest in either control or surrender. So, to suggest that there can be such a thing as ‘aware surrender’ is just another cunning ploy of the ego. A new narrative side arc on which you might find yourself circling for the next decade if you choose to indulge it.

Everything you try, everything you do - whether you meditate, pray, surrender or do pushups is yet another string that the puppet master mind is pulling to make you dance to its tune.

The politics of your life will play out as they must. There are no favorable outcomes in any absolute sense. No way to remain unaffected although you will be driven to try, whether you like it or not.

Empires will rise and empires will fall. Whispers will continue to echo for eternity. History will repeat itself faithfully.

Yet, through it all trust the silence. And retain this simple discernment.

That which observes does not mind, and that which minds is the mind.