**Winner of Reader's Favorite Book Award**
**Winner of Book Excellence Award**
**Winner of the Body Mind Spirit Book Award**
For seekers of truth, Al Zaabi is a wise and intrepid guide through the wilderness of the self. In plainspoken and heartfelt language, she shine light on the spiritual path and reveals the beauty and necessity of surrender, which has for too long been misunderstanding in the west.
-Krista Bremer, author of A Tender Struggle
Do you ever wish you could switch off the chatter in your mind? This is what brings many of us to self-help, the fears and worries that go along with being human. It is the reason many of us investigate spirituality: emotions and the thoughts beneath them. Indeed, many approaches to religion and spirituality will tell you that the mind causes your suffering and teach you to quiet your inner voice.
The Art of Surrender stands out among self-help books because it offers a completely new approach to spirituality, health, and healing. You do not have to silence your thoughts. Your brain and mind are a gift; they have a spiritual purpose, which is to seek the truth and establish genuine spirituality. Drawing on her Muslim heritage and her wise and careful exploration of spirituality without religion yet informed by it, Eiman Al Zaabi guides you in the delightful art of spiritual inquiry, investigating ideas for yourself and incorporating only those truths that resonate deeply.
Whether you are taking the first steps on your spiritual journey or have long traveled such a path, The Art of Surrender will transform your relationship with yourself, the Divine, and the world around you. You’ll learn the deepest needs of your soul and discover how to meet them. You’ll be guided through the four stages of the spiritual journey: finding Source, knowing Source, aligning with Source, and surrendering to Source. With this approach to self-help, anxiety melts away as you develop a spirituality of gratitude and trust. When you read this book, you’ll discover the ultimate state of fulfillment and joy: surrender.
The Art of Surrender
A Practical Guide to Enlightened Happiness and Well-Being
By Eiman Al ZaabiBalboa Press
Copyright © 2015 Eiman Al Zaabi
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-5043-4517-0Contents
Foreword, ix,
Acknowledgments, xiii,
Introduction, 1,
Part 1: The Self, 17,
1. Know Thyself, 19,
2. The Soul and Its Journey, 33,
3. Calming the Ego, 51,
4. Where Is the Truth?, 62,
Part 2: The Context, 79,
5. Divine Matters, 81,
6. The Rules of Life, 99,
7. The Inquiring Mind, 114,
8. Finding Your Answers, 142,
Part 3: The Journey, 163,
9. What Is Your Path?, 165,
10. Step One: Find Source, 185,
11. Step Two: Know Source, 197,
12. Step Three: Align to Source, 217,
13. Step Four: Surrender to Source, 242,
14. Surrender As a Way of Life, 263,
Conclusion: The Potentiality of Alignment, 281,
References, 283,
CHAPTER 1
Know Thyself
We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. — Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
As the soul makes its journey through the physical realm, it longs to reconnect to its source: the Divine. Our task as humans is to align ourselves with our true nature and the truth of the universe. Disconnection from the Divine is at the root of all the suffering we experience during our lifetime. By learning to reconnect with and surrender to the Divine, we give ourselves the gift of true happiness and well-being. We begin this journey by skillfully harnessing our innate curiosity in order to understand our individual and collective plight as human selves. In this chapter, we'll explore the nature of the self, the self 's quest for Source, and the importance of truth, consciousness, and self-awareness throughout the journey.
The Human Struggle to Understand the Self
The self is one of the Divine's mysteries. People have spent millennia trying to figure it out. From the time of the great Greek philosophers such as Aristotle and Plato to modern-day psychiatrists and psychologists such as Carl Jung, the self has been a fascinating subject. Such fascination has inspired decades of literature and research on the subject. The effort has been driven by the natural human need to learn and understand, and through that exploration we did indeed learn much about ourselves that we didn't know before.
However, the search has at times been deeply misguided. It has stemmed from the belief that if only we could figure ourselves out, we would be able to control our lives. We tend to feel that once something comes into our awareness and understanding, it is within our power to manipulate and control it. Our hope in understanding the self is that by grasping its boundaries, we will be able to work with it. We will achieve happiness and realize our own heartfelt desires. We may even find peace of mind and live happily ever after.
Truly, though, the self does not need to be defined. It is too vast to be fully defined and understood by any of us, including philosophers, psychiatrists, and psychologists. Our duty lies not in controlling our lives but in being able to sit within ourselves and develop a deeper understanding of the self 's desires, its vision, and its ability to create good in the world. There is a future story that wants to be told through your life. This story needs to be listened to, and when you do listen, life takes on a different meaning. You begin to move in unity with your purpose. The one song that you sing touches other lives as they hear i
