If you missed the first two posts in the series, you can find part one here and part two here.

Since the initial idea about Radical Trust came from one of the retreat organizers, Sally Grillo, her voice joins me here for part 3 of our 2024 Retreat theme - digestible tidbits that investigate Radical Trust, how it fits with abhyasa (practice) and vairagya (loosening the grip on worldly desires) and ways to embody them. 

Sit down, have a favorite beverage and meander with me.  Pause and breathe in. 

Breathe out longer…ahhhhh  that’s better. 

Gaze at the triangle.  

Look Inside first.  Living a life in Spirit requires God to be at the center where the essence can inform all decisions.  This requires trust.  Note how abhyasa and vairagya lean into each other.   See that scriptural and self-study create a base, a foundation.   

Now, Let’s explore the inside.

 “Trust in God with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 

in all your ways submit to God, and God will make your paths straight.”  

Proverbs 3: 5-6 NIV

Pause.  Inhale, exhale longer.

Next, read  

From trustful surrender one is given perfect absorption into Spirit.  

Yoga Sutra 2.45

This comes from Chapter (pada) 2 which begins with a trio describing what it takes to progress along a spiritual path.  Tapas (disciplined effort or heat), swadhyaya (self-study/scriptural study) and (Ishvara Pranidhana) trustful surrender to a higher power - something beyond our desires and our own understanding.  This trio is so vital, it appears again later in the chapter as part of the guiding principles for behavioral observances (yama and niyama) to live life by.

The gift of perfect absorption into Spirit comes from Trustful Surrender - Radical Trust.  Last winter, while helping to plan the theme, I did not understand why Sally suggested ‘radical’ because I think of the word  to mean ‘fringe, or violent’ - not something to seek, especially not in terms of trusting in the Divine Mystery. 

 So I looked it up.  

Radical, in fact means: (1) arising from or going to a root or source; basic. (That  sounds like God.)  (2) departing markedly from the usual or customary; extreme or drastic or relating to or advocating fundamental or revolutionary changes in current practices, conditions, or institutions. (Seeking God in all things and at all times goes against the worldly desires -- the material nature vs. spiritual nature.  Living like Jesus IS extreme or drastic in relation to the world’s ways.) 

Sally explained that she thinks of radical as ‘complete’.  The aim is to live the human experience with Spirit leading every moment.  That takes focused awareness (practices, effort & self-study) on the Divine to guide all of the heart’s decisions (often a letting go and trustful surrender).  Read Proverbs 3:5-6 again: Trust in the Lord with ALL your heart, and LEAN NOT on your own understanding.   In all your ways give your whole self, not part, but all. Lean on God in love and loss - Lean into Grace. 

What might Radical Trust look like?

• Being open to The Holy Spirit blowing everywhere and filling all things.

• Trusting Spirit to whisper - for you to be guided to where you need to be (whether at this retreat or elsewhere).

• Trusting you will get what you need (even if it doesn’t look like what you thought you needed - which can happen when spirit puts us together).

• Cultivating qualities like humility, curiosity, stillness, resilience, play, balance

Recall that this exploration is not merely an academic endeavor. 

It is a matter of the heart as well.  Pause.  

Now ask yourself: What graces are you in need of right now? Can you lean into Grace enough to ask?   You will receive, (in God’s time, not yours).

Put it all together

It’s like spaghetti, these concepts-- a bit messy and tangled. 

It is also like a feedback loop….  Vairagya circle dances with abhyasa. Through practice, we gain a direct experience of the Divine.  We learn to see where we attach.   Through non-attachment (dispassion), we are inspired to practice more.  We become more free - more available for the Holy One’s plan in our life.   As we gain a direct experience of the Divine we come to trust in the process. The more we radically trust in God, the more we are motivated to keep going with study, practice and letting go.  In this way, the yogis and Jesus show us a Way, a Truth beyond this world of habits and desires. 

Embody these concepts

Sally invites you  as you prepare for the day, night or CPY retreat, to pray on Psalm 109 

May I break the fetters of fear 

and welcome peace into my heart! 

May I grow in wisdom 

and abandon myself 

to You with radical trust, 

and though I may suffer,

 may I reach maturity of soul! 

Psalms for Praying by Nan Merrill

Doreen invites you to sit with a poem that came to her while preparing these essays.

Seek not your own understanding but to 

glorify God in your every move, 

every thought, every breath, every moment. 

Practice letting go - out of this world’s envy and desire 

into my world of Love, Awareness, Quiet, 

Spacious friendship, Companionship and Peace. 

 

Trust me.  He whispers to me: Trust me.  

Let go into the Light of ALL Lights.  

He again whispers:  I AM …..  Trust me.

Sources: 

defining ‘radical’:  American Heritage Dictionary