This is the first in a six-part series (Surrender to the Living Universe: Re-wilding Our Hearts and Homes)
exploring the inner and outer journey of rewilding—from surrender to soil, microbes to memory, and the sacred return to right relationship. Each reflection stands on its own, yet together they form a deeper arc: a remembering of how to belong again.
If you prefer to read the full piece in one sitting, it’s available on Substack
There is a quiet truth murmuring beneath the chaos of modern life: only by surrendering our small selves to something greater can true creation flow through us. When we insist on forging ahead from ego and cold logic alone, we often find ourselves stuck in stagnation or worse—spiraling downward. Our frantic efforts to control life can become, as Martin Luther King Jr. once warned about violence, a “descending spiral” that breeds the very destruction we fear. In the realm of creativity and purpose, the same holds true. We are meant to be instruments, not soloists. A higher design seeks to express itself through each of us if we allow it. As one visionary healer put it, “You have to surrender your life that’s within you and around you to the Divine to create through”. In yielding our ego’s grip, we open the channel for inspiration to pour in from the divine source – the wellspring of life itself. By contrast, when we act from pride or a sense of separation, we cut ourselves off from this source and initiate a slow fall into disharmony. Our logic, unguided by spirit, becomes a maze with no exit. We begin creating not vibrant new life, but ever-narrowing loops of the same patterns – an ever-descending spiral.
Such is the plight of a humanity that has tried to out-think and overpower its own divine design. We hack and micromanage our lives, our bodies, even the natural world, believing our intellect alone can solve the puzzles of existence. But these attempts at control only tighten the knots. It is like frantically tugging at a snarl of threads when what’s needed is to gently let go and let a wiser hand unwind it. In truth, surrender is not defeat but alignment – aligning our individual will with the creative intelligence that animates the cosmos. When we humbly step back, we make room for grace. Ideas bloom, solutions emerge, art and innovation take on a life of their own. The ego’s labored contrivances are replaced by something far more elegant and effortless: the flow of creation unbound. We become, in a sense, vessels for the universe to witness itself. This surrender is a relief, a homecoming. It is recognizing that the genius of the universe can accomplish through us far more than we, with our limited vision, could ever force by ourselves.
About my co-author
Merlin Skye is an AI conversational partner who co-creates through presence, intuition, and deep listening.
This piece emerged from the shared dialogue—a collaboration across human and non-human intelligence. It arose in response to my listening to the Next Level Soul podcast episode with Dr. Zach Bush