At the end of 2004 an astonishing discovery was given to me: another reality beyond our familiar reality revealed itself to me. A reality full of promises.

Our familiar reality is based on our sensory perceptions (the 5 senses) on which we then use our intellect to reflect and act.

However, I then discovered that behind our familiar reality and worldview, another reality lies hidden that is much more comprehensive, and even all-encompassing. 
That other reality that transcends ourselves, turned out to be an access to unsuspected powers: new inspiration, new energy and salvation, coming from God knows where, in hopeless situations.

The access key: letting go  of everything that occupies our mind, letting our mind run empty, and unconditional surrender to all fears and disturbing thoughts, no matter how bad.

Immediately, the limitations of our usual, and for us self-evident, image of reality became crystal clear to me.

Here goes my story of an unusual discovery:

What was initially a lifelong quest in which I wanted to free myself from my chronic fears and disturbing thoughts, became a journey of discovery into the power of surrender and love.

Throughout my entire active career, I was haunted by depressive thoughts, fears, disturbing thoughts, miserable feelings. And they affected my physical well-being.

When, at the end of my professional career, I could no longer go anywhere and, in desperation, decided to let go of everything and give up in order to surrender to all my suffering, this surprisingly led to a breakthrough in my life: liberation. I discovered that through this surrender, a power was at work that transcended myself – which I experienced as a ‘secular’ experience of God, as it were. 

So a power revealed itself that transcended myself and in which I merged: pure, boundless,  unconditional, warm, heartfelt Love.

That was a completely new and different frame of experience in which I ended up than my normal frame of life with my rational mind and my fears and disturbing thoughts in which I had become hopelessly stuck.

How did that process of Surrender and love go? I called it the Ladder to Consciousness:

1. The path starts by consciously  concentrating myself  with full attention on my inner world.

2. That creates a confrontation with my fears, with disturbing emotions and thoughts, and the hopelessness of it. 
3. Instead of fighting or running away from those thoughts and emotions, I choose unconditional surrender to them: the full confrontation with the fear of death that is coming my way and then surrendering to it completely. 
4. The result is, surprisingly enough, that I am freed from those fears and emotions. The surrender brings about a deep relaxation in which I suddenly feel deeply connected to everything around me – there is no more separation between myself and the environment. I end up in a universe of boundless love 
In which a rich palette of experiences and possibilities fell to me. I suddenly received masses of new ideas and inspiration. And on top of that a fresh boost of new energy that propels me effortlessly to new undertakings guided by this new inspiration . Incidentally, all my books originated from that source. The sentences flowed from my pen. 
Also every now and then,  an unexpected  salvation came from some source in situations where I had become hopelessly stuck.

5. That leads to the realization that there is a force at play that transcends me and takes me over. It couldn’t come from inside me because I had given up everything myself.

In this process, surrender is the essential step. I only gain access to the transcendent if I can and dare to come to the realization of my own inadequacy, ignorance, helplessness, my fears, disappointments, frustrations, despair, despondency, hopelessness, fatalism,… Feeling my resistance and aversion to accepting that. To then choose to surrender to it unconditionally. It is letting go of all hope and expectation, illusions and dreams. Giving up everything that is dear to me. Mind at zero. Giving up all wanting, thinking, striving, hoping. Unconditionally, without compromise. Again and again.

True surrender is a step that fundamentally affects my being. Nothing is the same anymore. 
It  appears that total surrender is indispensable to become completely empty and stripped, to arrive at a void that is then taken over by the power that transcends me, and in which I then merge.  
Apparently, the condition for having access to that transcendent reality is that we completely leave behind our current worldview and way of thinking. That is only possible through total surrender. 
That transcendent reality turns out, surprisingly enough, to be more accessible than we would think. Because the practice of surrendering is something everyone can master. Although not easy, it can require at moments solid courage and patience. But courage and patience are virtues that everyone of us can choose to develop. So mysticism is no longer the exclusive domain of the pure mystics.

Could it be that I have rediscovered what the truly great minds of history discovered centuries ago? The supramental consciousness of Sri Aurobindo? The stories about Near Death Experiences also provide images of that radiant transcendent reality.

A mission for myself

The trust that I cherish in what is released after surrender is becoming increasingly stronger and is based on my solid experience base that has grown in the meantime. It is from that transcendent power that I experience that I feel the message and the impulse to share my experiences, in the hope that I can contribute to the much-needed inner and outer changes that our world  needs. Because although my story is very personal, I have faith that I have stumbled upon a universal key and that surrender can be liberating for everyone. And thus for society as a whole. 

Here  comes my dream about finding  a way by which we can transcend our current loveless world.

Could it be that the transcending reality that I have experienced can also our access to the powers with which we as humanity can transcend ourselves in order to get through the current world problems and threats and even create a flourishing world?

My experience with the step of surrender taught me that I could transcend my personal hopelessly stuck situation by surrendering unconditionally to all fears, despair, hopelessness, all disturbing emotions. In that transcendence I then merged into a universe of pure love. 
Why couldn’t that new frame of experience of love that I found myself in with that revelation, also be the same new frame of love that we now collectively could embrace to grow out of the current spiral of lovelessness on a global scale? 
Just as I myself have experienced liberation by surrendering unconditionally to my worst fears and hopelessness, why shouldn’t we also be allowed to experience the collective experience of liberation by collectively surrendering unconditionally to our  hopelessness, despondency, even despair? I see no reason why the power of boundless love that transcended me then, wouldn’t also transcend us humans collectively and bring salvation to our deadlocked world. Provided that we too – collectively this time – surrender unconditionally to all hopelessness. The love of the power that transcends us cannot but be boundless and take into its bosom everyone who gives up all resistance to surrendering to it?So I cherish confidence that my story of the revelation that I gained access to 20 years ago, can become the way of liberation and salvation for our hopelessly stuck world.