Surrender · “Let Go to Receive”
Porete's Annihilation of the Will
To release the grip of the self-will — willing, choosing, grasping — until the soul ‘wills nothing’ and rests transparent to Love, free of the constant inner managing of one’s life.
Porete’s annihilation in 5 lines: Sit still and watch your own will ceaselessly wanting, refusing, fixing. Set each want down — open the hand, don’t fight. Come to will nothing of your own, and let Love will through you. Accept being nothing — freely, nobly, not in self-hatred. Act and rest “without a why.” When the will re-grips, gently release again. Practice, not destination.
What it is
Marguerite Porete (c. 1250–1310), a Beguine burned at the stake in Paris for refusing to withdraw her book, taught a radical inner practice at the centre of The Mirror of Simple Souls: the annihilation (anéantissement) of the self-will.
The “simple” or “annihilated” soul is one who has stopped willing her own way — who “wills nothing, knows nothing, has nothing” — and so becomes nothing in herself and transparent to divine Love.
This is not depression or apathy; it is the deliberate, loving release of the restless inner manager that constantly wants, refuses, plans, and clutches. What remains, in Porete’s account, lives “without a why” — moved by Love rather than by anxious self-direction.
The Method
Porete teaches through a dialogue (Love, Reason, and the Soul), not a numbered drill, but the practice is concrete and reconstructible from the text:
- Sit and notice the willing. Become still and observe the ceaseless activity of your own will: the wanting this, refusing that, the planning, fixing, and grasping that runs under everything. Porete’s first move is simply to see that the self is mostly will in motion.
- Let the will fall — “I will nothing.” Deliberately set down each want as it arises. Not by forcing or fighting it (that is more will), but by releasing it, as you would open a clenched hand. The soul, Porete says, comes to will nothing — not even to will to be saved, not even to will union itself, for that too is a wanting that keeps the self in the centre.
- Will only what Love wills — or rather, let Love will in you. Porete’s paradox: the soul wills nothing of her own, and in that emptiness Love’s will moves through her. So the practice is to stop steering and let yourself be carried: “I want nothing; I leave it to Love.” 4. Become “nothing” — accept your own littleness. A core step is the loving acceptance of being nothing in yourself, with no merit to defend and nothing to protect. Porete couples annihilation with nobility: it is not self-hatred but a freedom that no longer needs to be anything.
- Live “without a why.” The fruit is action and rest that have no anxious purpose behind them — doing, loving, resting for no reason, because the calculating “why” (what do I get, am I doing it right) has dissolved.
- Return to it whenever the will re-grips. The annihilated state is not held by effort; the moment you try to maintain it, the managing self is back. So the move is endlessly repeated: notice the grasp, release, rest in Love, “will nothing.” (Sourcing note: “wills nothing, knows nothing, has nothing,” the annihilated/simple soul, “without a why,” and the will’s surrender to Love are Porete’s own themes in the Mirror; the step-by-step framing is a faithful practical reconstruction, not a literal numbered list in the text.)
Source & Lineage
The Mirror of Simple Souls (c. 1290–1306) circulated widely, was condemned, and Porete was executed in 1310 — yet the text survived anonymously and shaped the apophatic stream of Christian mysticism. → (path approximate).
Her “annihilation” and “without a why” feed directly into Meister Eckhart’s Abgeschiedenheit (detachment) and Gelassenheit (releasement), and through him into the broader negative-way tradition (Cloud of Unknowing, John of the Cross’s nada, Quietism).
Structurally it converges with non-Christian surrender practices: Taoist wu wei, the Bhagavad Gita’s renunciation of the fruits of action, and modern acceptance/letting-go work.
The Traditions' versions
Eckhart’s Gelassenheit / Abgeschiedenheit — releasement and detachment of the will; the closest descendant.
- The Cloud of Unknowing — laying intellect and self-will aside before God in a “cloud of unknowing.”
- John of the Cross — nada — the dark night and the way of nothing; willing/possessing nothing. - Taoist wu wei — non-forcing, effortless action without the grasping will.
- Karma yoga / surrender of the fruits — acting without attachment to outcome (Gita). - Modern letting-go / acceptance practices — releasing control and experiential avoidance.
Common refinements
Forcing the emptiness. “Willing to will nothing” is still willing. The release is allowed, not achieved by strain — like unclenching, not pushing.
- Mistaking it for apathy or fatalism. “Wanting nothing” is freedom from grasping, not loss of love or care. Porete pairs annihilation with overflowing Love, not numbness.
- Treating “without a why” as a rule for conduct. It is a contemplative interior posture. Don’t use “I no longer need to choose” to justify neglect, passivity, or harm — the very misreading (antinomianism) that condemned the book.
- Self-hatred dressed as humility. Becoming “nothing” is meant to be noble and free, not a beating-down of yourself. If it feels like self-attack, you’ve slipped into a counterfeit.
- Expecting a permanent state. The will re-grips constantly; the practice is the endless, gentle re-release, not a destination held by effort.