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Welcome. To a special bonus

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podcast season. Three, Michael.

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Singer is the author of

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the widely influential New York

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Times bestsellers, The Untethered Saw,

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The Surrender Experiment, and most

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recently, Living On Tethered Beyond

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the Human Predicament Produced in

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partnership with Shanti Publications, the

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Michael Singer Podcast brings you

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select recordings from the Temple

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of the Universe, a yoga

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and meditation center that Michael

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founded in Nineteen Seventy Five.

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In this bonus session, Michael

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Singer shines a light on

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the new year ahead by

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exploring how every day gets

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later when you let go

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now every day gets later

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when you've let go of

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yourself with michael singer Chai

2:19

Gurdav. Chai Master. As

2:22

you come into a new year, new

2:26

years are very auspicious, very meaningful.

2:30

All that really happened is you

2:32

did an orbit around the Sun.

2:34

If only our minds would remind us of that.

2:37

They have the power of abstract thought. We

2:39

don't use it. We stay very

2:41

focused on little things. Your

2:44

mind is capable of

2:46

knowing that you are floating throughout our space. I

2:50

ask this question hesitate to a group. If

2:53

you fell out of a spaceship and

2:56

we're just in a suit floating in empty space

3:00

and looking around and just seeing the

3:02

vastness of all that is,

3:05

you know you're in outer space. For

3:08

the people that are still in the spacecraft, say

3:11

the International Space Station, we say

3:13

they're in outer space. When you

3:15

came back, we're just spending your year in outer space.

3:18

Just because you were inside the space station does

3:20

not mean you were not in outer space. If

3:23

you see the new Star Wars movie, they

3:25

have these giant spaceships way

3:27

bigger than a whole country. They're enormous.

3:29

I forget what they call them. Well,

3:32

if you're one of those floating

3:34

around, you're still in outer

3:36

space. You don't have to wear a helmet.

3:38

You don't have to do anything. They're all acclimatized

3:40

and very nice. There

3:43

are spacecrafts that can have

3:45

gardens. Certainly, sci-fi has shown a lot

3:47

of that. You can have a lot going on, but

3:50

you're still in outer space. The

3:53

point of this discussion is you're

3:56

in outer space. You're

3:58

in outer space right now. Just

4:00

because you're on this earth does

4:02

not mean you're not on a spaceship floating

4:04

throughout space. It's just a

4:06

really big one. And it's

4:08

floating throughout space. So just if you're in

4:10

the International Space Station or on the planet

4:13

Earth, you're in outer space. Period.

4:15

That's what's happening. If you

4:17

could drain your mind to be kind

4:20

to you instead of the silly things it thinks about

4:23

and realize you're floating through

4:25

empty space. It's so

4:27

big. Your closest star is

4:29

93 million miles away. 93

4:32

million miles is a very long time. All

4:35

right. And its closest

4:37

star in the same galaxy, its

4:39

closest star is I think 4.2

4:42

light years away. Something like that. Look

4:45

how big. That's your nearest star. That's

4:47

how big this thing is. I realize

4:50

people don't understand you say light years. What

4:52

does it mean? So I used comparisons. If

4:55

I caught a beam of light and they held

4:57

it in my little fingers and

4:59

they held it up above the planet Earth, big

5:02

planet, you know that. And

5:04

I let it go and caught it.

5:08

After one second, it

5:10

was circumnavigated the globe six times.

5:14

The speed of light is extremely fast.

5:17

Now go do that for 4.2 years.

5:23

You might get to the next star. You're

5:27

just floating in emptiness. Nothing.

5:30

You're just this tiny little ball.

5:34

And during a year, you orbited

5:36

the sun. That's what you did.

5:39

I mean, you're getting caught up in the small stuff. You

5:42

just did a lap around the sun. Big

5:44

deal. I don't understand how

5:46

anybody can have a problem. It's

5:48

just pretty simple stuff. You sit

5:50

on a planet. You go for the ride. You're

5:53

not going to stay. No one

5:55

has ever stayed. You know that. You're

5:57

guaranteed to take it off. here

6:00

for a few years, you orbit the

6:02

Sun and you leave. You don't

6:04

know how you got here. You didn't take a

6:06

spaceship to get here. Pretty neat. And

6:09

you don't know where you're going afterwards. You'll find out.

6:11

Don't worry about it. But the

6:13

main point is there's nothing going

6:16

on except that you're sitting on a planet

6:18

spinning around a star. I

6:20

hope you're having a good time. But

6:22

the truth of the matter is you're not. And

6:25

that is what spirituality is

6:27

about. Is why

6:29

am I not having a good time? All right.

6:31

It's just the planet. How long has the planet

6:33

been circling around the Sun? Four and

6:36

a half billion years. How

6:38

long are you here for? It's embarrassing.

6:42

70, 80 little chucks around the Sun. What

6:45

are you having a problem with? And

6:49

what you're going to find out is

6:51

you're having a problem with

6:53

your mind. Your

6:56

mind has decided what you want to be happening

6:58

and what you don't want to be

7:00

happening. And that's

7:02

what you're having a problem with.

7:04

Why would you have a problem sitting on a planet that you

7:07

didn't make that has nothing to do with you? And you're just

7:09

spinning through empty space a

7:12

few times because your mind

7:14

decided that it's in charge. It's really funny.

7:16

Your mind thinks it's God. While I'm here

7:19

in this position, this is what's

7:21

supposed to be going on down to the tiny

7:23

detail. Everyone's supposed to wear what they're supposed to

7:25

talk. Everyone's supposed to act. Everyone's supposed to dry

7:27

what I'm supposed to dry. Every single thing. Whether

7:29

I'm supposed to get

7:31

a blemish on my face. Whether I'm supposed to have a big

7:33

nose. Every single thing. You didn't make

7:35

your body. How dare you

7:37

judge it? You do, don't you? All right. Just every single

7:40

thing. Because

7:42

your mind did this, you

7:46

are suffering. That is Buddha's first noble truth. All

7:48

of life is suffering. Why? I always

7:50

say to people, you know, it's not only Buddha was

7:52

negative or anything. Like what

7:55

a negative attitude all life is suffering. It

8:00

is everybody suffering. Old

8:02

people are suffering, young people are suffering, sick people

8:04

are suffering, healthy people are suffering, rich people are

8:06

suffering, poor people are suffering, men are suffering, women

8:08

are suffering. Everybody is suffering.

8:11

Not like I got a broken arm all

8:13

the time or my husband left me. No,

8:15

but you're suffering. You're suffering. You're

8:17

scared. You're self-conscious. You're anxious. You're

8:19

guilty. You're insecure. All

8:21

right? There's always something going on in there

8:23

that is not so much fun. And you

8:25

have to try and make it be okay.

8:28

And that is called suffering. If you have to

8:30

do something about it, you're suffering. You're

8:33

trying to be okay. And

8:35

the Buddhist Second Noble Truth was what

8:37

we just said. He said, the

8:39

cause of suffering is

8:41

that you have a way you want it to be. What if

8:44

I said it like that? Which is what I

8:46

just said a minute ago, right? The cause of suffering

8:48

is that you decided how you want it to be.

8:51

And now you suffer when it's not that way, don't

8:53

you? You decide, I don't want it to be

8:55

a certain way. Well, you suffer it if it is that way.

8:57

I want it to be a certain way. It doesn't be that

8:59

way. You suffer. It is exactly the way

9:01

you want it to be. And you suffer because you're afraid

9:04

it will stop. The Buddha's truth

9:06

is that the cause of suffering,

9:08

he used the word desire, but

9:10

people don't understand that word. In

9:12

the West we think desire means lust, greed.

9:14

Of course you suffer. If you're lustful and

9:16

greedy, you miss the whole thing he said.

9:20

He said you suffer, all of

9:22

you, everyone suffers because they

9:24

have a way they want it to be.

9:26

That's what a desire is. What is a desire? Having

9:29

a way you want it to be, isn't it? Is that what

9:31

the word means? I desire that you're

9:33

not so close to him. So I'm suffering. All

9:36

right. I desire that you're just a few inches shorter

9:39

because I'm not so tall, but I really, really love

9:41

you. But you're just a little tall for me. Oh

9:43

my God, if only you were shorter, you'd be perfect.

9:46

Because you have made up in your

9:48

mind how you want the moment in

9:50

front of you, and by

9:52

the way, the moment that hasn't happened yet,

9:54

and the one that already happened, how you

9:56

want it to be, because you did that

9:58

with your mind, you are suffering. suffering.

10:00

Here's how you define suffering. If you have

10:02

to be doing anything about it to try

10:04

and be okay, it means you're suffering. Your

10:07

suffering is driving you to get married. Your suffering is driving

10:09

you to get married. Your suffering is driving you to

10:11

make money. Your suffering is driving you to make a name

10:13

for yourself. Your suffering is driving you to look better. You

10:16

have these needs that are coming up inside. What

10:18

is the need about? I have a way I

10:20

want it to be that creates a need because

10:22

I have a way I want it to be.

10:25

And now I have to go out and try to make

10:27

it happen that way. I have to get what it is

10:29

that I think will make me be okay. Can you relate

10:31

to that one? And I have to make

10:33

sure I don't get what I think will make me not be

10:35

okay. That is suffering.

10:38

I know it's hard because we all do it

10:40

so we don't call that suffering. We call the

10:42

extreme of that. In other words, if

10:45

I don't get what I want really badly and

10:47

I get suicidal, I'm suffering. Or if I get

10:49

what I don't want really badly and I'm all

10:51

messed up, I'm suffering. No. The very fact that

10:53

you have to be out there struggling to try

10:55

and make the moment in front of you be

10:57

the way you need it to be to be

10:59

okay means what? You're suffering.

11:02

Suffering is a state of not

11:05

being okay. It's a state of disturbance.

11:07

And now I need to do things in order

11:09

to try and make it so I'm not disturbed.

11:12

And the Buddha was right. All the people are suffering.

11:14

And he is right about why. That's what's

11:17

so deep about his teachings. It's very simple.

11:19

The cause of suffering is having a way

11:21

you want it to be. If you

11:23

have a way you want it to be, well

11:26

maybe it'll be that way. Fat chance. Like

11:29

why would it be the way you want it

11:31

to be? You need somebody. They remind you of

11:33

someone you dreamt about when you were young and

11:35

they act a little bit like that. Well, it

11:38

must be that person. No, it's not that person.

11:40

It's not. You just made it up in your head

11:43

and now you're projecting onto that person how they're supposed

11:45

to be because you need them to be that way.

11:47

They will disappoint you. But the

11:49

problem is you, not them, you

11:51

have made up a person and now you're trying to

11:54

find them. You will never find them. You have made

11:56

up a life and now you're trying to create it

11:58

or find it. You will never create it. You

12:00

will never find it and you will never be

12:02

okay. I'm serious. It

12:04

doesn't exist out there. The world

12:07

has been here for 4.5 billion years. It

12:10

is the result of all the forces of creation that cause

12:12

it to be the way it is. Every

12:14

moment that's unfolding in front of you is part

12:16

of the expression of reality. It never asked you

12:19

what you want. It couldn't care less what you

12:21

want. I don't care what they tell you. It

12:23

is doing a physics thing. Things

12:25

are the way they are because of covalent bonds.

12:27

They're put together the way they are and they

12:30

move the way they are based on quantum

12:32

bosons that those are the forces that cause

12:34

things to be the way they are. That's

12:37

why things are the way they are. Not because you made up

12:39

how you want them to be. It makes

12:41

me laugh so hard. You honestly

12:43

believe that you get to make up what the moment

12:45

in front of you should be like and then it

12:47

really should be that way. And you get upset when

12:49

it's not that way and therefore you suffer. That's

12:52

what causes suffering. So

12:54

the great way is not difficult for those

12:57

who have no preferences. That's the first line

12:59

over the deepest zen writings that was ever

13:01

put down. That doesn't mean

13:03

that you suppress your preferences. That

13:06

doesn't mean you deny your desires. It's

13:08

not deep enough. It

13:10

is that you wake up and you realize, I am

13:13

sitting on this planet, spinning around a star. I'm

13:16

going to have a good time. I have a limited

13:18

amount of time there to be here. It's kind

13:20

of an exciting place. Would you rather live on

13:22

Mars? You don't kid yourself.

13:24

Nothing going on on Mars. So

13:27

basically you have this exciting journey with

13:29

colors and shapes and noises and sounds

13:31

and animals and birds and flowers. Give

13:34

me a break. How could somebody make

13:36

a nicer place? You think, well,

13:38

Disney did well at Disney World. How'd God

13:40

do with this? How

13:43

creation do with this? It's a very amazing planet,

13:45

isn't it? And you on the

13:47

lottery, you get to live on this

13:49

one and you're suffering. There's

13:51

something wrong with that. Okay. And

13:54

so it's spirituality says, it's very simple.

13:57

It says, why are you not having a good

13:59

time? not what do I need

14:01

to happen so that I have a

14:03

good time. No, no, no, no,

14:06

no, no. That's you being God. That's

14:08

putting you at the center of the universe. What

14:10

needs to happen for me to be okay? What

14:12

needs not happen so I don't get worse? No

14:14

longer do you say that. You

14:16

sit there and say, why am I not

14:19

having a good time? Why am I not

14:21

enjoying the journey of what's going on? And

14:23

if you study that carefully and

14:26

watch it, you're going to see

14:28

it is because you have limited

14:30

your happiness to events being exactly the

14:32

way you define them to be. All

14:35

right? In order for me to feel

14:37

good and my heart to open and my mind

14:39

to be comfortable, every single thing

14:41

has to be the way I decided

14:43

it needs to be. If

14:45

you tell me you love me so much, then you sneeze. Oh,

14:48

forget it, man. There's not a way in the world. You

14:50

don't sneeze when you say something like that. Okay?

14:54

It's just so amazing. Wake up. What

14:56

you have done is made up in your

14:58

mind based on your past experiences what it

15:01

is that you think is going to make

15:03

you be okay and what it is you think

15:05

is going to make you worse. Why did you do

15:07

that? You don't ask why. You just ask what it is.

15:09

You don't ask why you do that because you're not okay.

15:12

If I just had a wonderful meal and you're full, you

15:14

don't sit around thinking what you can eat. If

15:17

you just met somebody new, this wonderful relationship,

15:19

you don't think about who to date.

15:22

If you're fulfilled, you don't sit there and thinking,

15:24

what do I need in order to be okay?

15:27

So that's the level that Buddha was talking

15:29

about and I'm talking about with suffering, which

15:31

is you're never okay for a

15:33

split second, maybe. So think only if it's

15:36

exactly the way you want it to be.

15:38

Or if it catches my surprise, like the

15:40

sunset when you turn the corner or looking

15:42

for anything, it's so beautiful. It takes you

15:44

out of yourself. Then you can feel something

15:46

deeper. But as a normal

15:49

state, a human being walks around suffering. And

15:52

so what spirituality says is, wake up. It's

15:54

the start of a new year. You're going to

15:56

get another lap around the star. What

15:58

are you going to do with it? And then I'm going to draw a

16:01

line. What almost every single

16:03

person is going to do with this year

16:05

the same as he did every year of

16:07

their life is try to decide

16:09

what will make them happy, what will

16:11

make them sad, how to make it happen,

16:13

how to make it not happen. And

16:16

they think that's what it means to live a good

16:18

life. To fight as hard as you

16:20

can to manipulate the world unfolding

16:22

in front of you to match what

16:24

it is you made up. And

16:26

then if it matches some you feel pretty good. If

16:29

it doesn't match you feel terrible. If it's worse, if

16:31

it's not what you don't want you get scared to

16:33

death, etcetera, etcetera. All right, I'm telling you the probability

16:35

that the world in front is going to unfold exactly

16:38

the way you decided you wanted to be is zero.

16:41

And you know that. You know that's why

16:43

you plot and plan all the time. That's why

16:45

you're so busy manipulating and dressing certain ways and

16:47

buying just every single thing in the world is

16:50

all manipulating. You're trying to manipulate the moment in

16:52

front of you so that it simulates what it

16:54

is that you want so that when

16:56

it comes in it will feel good and not

16:58

feel bad. Well, the moments keep coming and going.

17:00

What chance do you have to manipulate it? I

17:02

mean, maybe you could spend $100,000 on your wedding.

17:06

Nobody has succeeded by the way and get it exactly the way

17:08

you want. There's always something wrong. But

17:10

that's just one moment. What are

17:12

you going to do with the rest of the

17:14

moments unfold? Nobody's capable of manipulating everybody and everything

17:16

that comes into their environment to be exactly the

17:18

way they want. So you

17:21

have relegated yourself to having

17:23

very, very, very little high

17:26

experiences. What do you do about

17:29

it? Instead of spending this next year doing the

17:31

same thing you've done every year, how do you

17:33

know something doesn't work? Because you've done it every

17:35

year of your life and you're still doing it.

17:38

If I did something every single moment of every day

17:40

of my life and I woke up and one day

17:42

look at what hasn't gone on for a while and

17:44

I still doing it, it must not have worked. So

17:48

I'm telling you that getting what

17:50

you want is so overrated it's

17:52

ridiculous and avoiding

17:54

what you don't want is so overrated

17:56

it's ridiculous. Period. It's a waste of

17:58

your life. One,

18:00

you're not going to get what you want. You

18:03

know for a fact it's true. You're living proof, right?

18:05

You are not going to get everything the way you

18:07

want it, are you? And it's not going to

18:10

stay that way. It's just every once in a while it looks like it's going

18:12

to be that way and you get excited. But it doesn't

18:14

last very long. Maslow defined those

18:16

as peak experiences. Don't study him how

18:18

often he thinks you get peak experiences.

18:21

Everything has to be exactly right. All your needs have

18:23

to go away. Your mind has to be totally satisfied

18:25

with everything. Your heart has to be completely open. Good

18:27

luck. So devoting your

18:29

life to getting what you made up and

18:31

trying to make it be that way is

18:34

a waste of your life. It causes suffering.

18:36

It causes anxiety. It causes all

18:38

kinds of tension and everything. Why do you think there are so

18:40

many problems? How can you not

18:42

have problems if you're fighting with everything and everyone

18:44

to try and make it be the way you

18:47

want? And how can you not be anxious

18:49

and neurotic if you understand, well it doesn't

18:51

keep being the way I want. I

18:53

have to keep struggling with it. Avoiding

18:56

what you want and avoiding what you don't want is

18:58

an endless journey, isn't it? It's

19:00

like there's a part of your being that's not okay.

19:04

It's trying to make up based on its

19:06

past experiences, good and bad, what it thinks

19:08

will make it happy and what it thinks

19:10

will make it sad. And

19:12

then it goes out there trying to make it happen.

19:14

The problem is you're dealing with a part of your

19:16

being that's not okay. The best thing

19:18

you can do is take something and feel a little

19:20

bit better. I'm telling you the

19:22

part of your being that's not okay can't

19:25

be okay. Let's say

19:27

you have a problem with jealousy and you

19:29

try to solve it by hiring detectives and

19:31

having everybody study and go

19:33

after who it is you're concerned about. Is

19:36

that going to make the jealousy go away? It

19:38

is not going to make it go away, it is actually going to make

19:40

it stronger. You've devoted yourself to the

19:42

part of your being which is a rather

19:44

low part which is jealous, which has a

19:47

disturbance about denying there's jealousy. You can feel

19:49

that's a human emotion but if you devote

19:51

your life to it no matter how hard

19:53

you try, in fact the harder you try

19:55

the more it bothers you. The

19:58

more energy you put into something. the

20:00

more you're feeding that part of your being.

20:02

The exact same thing is true with the

20:05

part of you that needs things, the part

20:07

that is not okay, the part that is

20:09

sad, the part is not inspired, the part

20:11

that, et cetera, et cetera. The part that

20:13

doesn't feel love. It's just

20:15

like jealousy. It's a part that's not okay. And

20:18

you are devoting your life to it by asking it

20:20

all the, will this make you happy? If I wore

20:22

this, would this really feel good about this? Dave, I

20:24

got a new car on, but I feel more confident

20:26

and so on, right? What if I took another class

20:28

and I could speak better and I feel, what

20:30

are you doing? You're devoting your

20:33

life to the party that's not okay.

20:35

It's exactly the same as devoting your

20:37

life to jealousy. All it

20:39

does is make you become addicted to that

20:41

part of your being, but I'm fixated on

20:43

that. And you struggle to try to be

20:46

okay. All right, what's the

20:48

alternative? The alternative is very

20:50

deep, but there is an alternative. You

20:53

notice that you are in there and

20:56

that you notice that there's jealousy. You

20:58

notice there's insecurity. You notice that it's

21:00

not okay. You don't need a

21:02

master's degree, all right? You notice it's not okay in

21:05

there. From the time you wake up in the morning

21:07

to the time you go to bed at night, if

21:09

you manage to fall asleep, there's

21:11

somebody complaining. There's somebody

21:13

who's scared. There's somebody who's just not

21:17

got it together. So they got problems.

21:19

They may be relatively better one day

21:21

than the other because it looks like

21:23

they're gonna get what they wanted, but

21:25

in the overall pattern, it's not okay.

21:28

And you realize that you are

21:30

not that part. You are the

21:32

one who's noticing that. If your

21:34

heart hurts because you feel lonely,

21:37

I'm not interested in helping you

21:40

find someone or something that will

21:42

make you not feel lonely. I'm

21:45

interested in finding out why you

21:48

can't handle that there's a part of your

21:50

being that periodically feels

21:52

loneliness and other times doesn't.

21:55

That's why you get in trouble with your relationships because you're

21:57

hanging out with a part of you that needs somebody, but

21:59

there's a part of it. another part of you, the minute you

22:01

get that, that wants some space. They're just

22:03

parts of your psyche. They're just parts of

22:05

your being. The only part

22:07

that is safe and consistent is

22:10

you who's noticing. You

22:12

notice that the heart hurts. You notice

22:14

you feel some jealousy. You notice you feel insecure.

22:16

You notice you're feeling love right now. You

22:19

notice that it went away when they told you

22:21

something you didn't want to hear. You just

22:23

notice that you're noticing. Is anybody in there? Do

22:26

you notice these things? If you come to

22:28

me, you say my heart hurts. I'm not going to help

22:30

you fix it. I'm going to ask you, how do you

22:32

know? How do you

22:34

know your heart hurts? It's a very frustrating

22:36

question, isn't it? I don't care. I just don't

22:39

want it to hurt. No, no, you got to care. How

22:41

do you know your heart hurts? And eventually you're going

22:43

to look at me, angry, steamed, come

22:45

out of your ears and you say, because I'm

22:48

in here and I feel it stupid. You

22:51

just said the most spiritual thing you will ever say in

22:53

your entire life. What? How

22:55

could you say that? My heart hurts has nothing to do

22:57

with it. The fact that

22:59

you have sat in a space that

23:02

you notice I am conscious. I

23:04

am centered. I am in here. And one of

23:06

the things I notice is that my heart hurts.

23:08

Is that the only thing you notice? No, I

23:11

notice that you're talking to me. I

23:13

notice that I have a hand. I

23:15

notice all kinds of things, don't I? I

23:17

notice that my mind is thinking how to get my

23:19

heart to stop hurting. How's

23:21

that one? In other words, I notice

23:24

these things. Why? Because

23:26

I'm conscious, because I exist, because

23:28

I'm in here. That's

23:30

what it's all about. There is

23:32

an alternative way of life. And

23:34

what it says is as follows. If

23:36

you are in there and you are, then you are

23:39

not the hurting heart. It is just

23:41

something you're experiencing. You are not

23:43

the disturbed mind. It is something you're experiencing.

23:45

You are not the one who's watching the

23:47

mind try to figure out what everybody else

23:49

needs to do for me to be okay.

23:52

Or thinking about what should have happened in

23:54

the past 20 years

23:56

ago, so that I would be okay now if

23:59

that had happened. And you just

24:01

realize you're wasting your life. You're wasting your

24:03

time. And instead, you do

24:05

something meaningful with your life, which is find out who

24:07

you are. Who are

24:10

you in there that's watching? Who

24:12

are you in there that sees me? Who are you in

24:14

there that notices the heart hurts? Who are you in there

24:17

that notices all of this? That

24:19

is what spirituality is about. It's not about anything else. It's about

24:22

that. It's about self-realization. That's

24:24

what that word means. Realize

24:27

who you are. Now, who's a mystical thing?

24:29

My soul or something like that? No,

24:32

no, no, no. Don't give it a name. You, hi,

24:34

you in there? All right, who are you? Who

24:36

are you? And you start

24:39

exploring the nature of your being

24:41

instead of exploring how to make

24:44

the psyche be okay. So you're

24:46

not serving the disturbed parts of your being.

24:49

This becomes not your path, your life.

24:53

So instead of spending the year circling the

24:55

sun trying to manipulate and control the moment

24:57

that are unfolding in front of you and

24:59

worrying about the ones that weren't and that

25:02

might be whatever it is, you spend your

25:04

life freeing yourself from

25:06

yourself. You spend your

25:08

life realizing me who's

25:10

watching this disturbance is

25:14

not disturbed. It's watching

25:16

a disturbance. Relax.

25:19

Let go. Just let go.

25:22

Let go. You're seeing it. That's

25:24

fine. But you're not it. You're the one

25:26

who sees it. Just relax as

25:29

you go through these things. I'm going to

25:31

spend my life, my year circling the sun,

25:34

letting go of these

25:36

parts of my being that are like

25:38

anchors that are holding me down. I

25:41

had an experience when I was young. My parents

25:43

got divorced. I'm six years old. Let's say I

25:46

had so much trouble with it. It was so

25:48

traumatic to me, et cetera. I understand that it's

25:50

rough for a six year old, right? But now

25:52

you're 66 years old. Your

25:55

parents have been dead for 40 years and

25:57

you're still disturbed by it. wrong

26:00

with that? That's not healthy. And

26:02

what you're going to find out

26:04

is that you're disturbed by that.

26:06

Therefore, when somebody tells you their

26:08

friend is getting married, you

26:11

feel sorry for them. Because a

26:13

lot of marriages, you know, 50% of all marriage ended

26:15

divorces and divorces are really hard on the kids. Believe

26:17

me, I know it happened to me. What

26:19

are you doing? You're letting this problem

26:21

that you stored inside of yourself 40

26:25

years ago determine what it

26:27

is that you like and what you don't

26:29

like. I'm telling

26:31

you, if you watch it carefully, every

26:34

single like and dislike come

26:36

from there. You

26:39

are not deciding what you like. You

26:42

don't stare and look at something, I wonder

26:44

if I like that. And if you

26:46

do, like you're trying on a dress or something

26:48

or a suit and going a little eight-sided mirror,

26:51

I wonder if I like that. You're

26:53

trying to see how it hits you, right?

26:55

If you turn a certain way and it reminds

26:57

you of the suit that your uncle had on

26:59

the day your grandfather died,

27:02

I just

27:04

don't like it. I don't like the way it looks in the

27:06

back. You don't even realize what's happening. There

27:08

is no like or dislike. Why would you like or

27:10

dislike something? It's just a bunch of atoms floating around

27:12

in outer space. It's because

27:14

you've had past experiences and some of them

27:16

were nice and some of them were not

27:19

nice. And you stored them

27:21

inside of you. And now when the

27:23

new things come in, they stimulate those

27:25

experiences, they're called some scars in yoga,

27:27

those impressions get hit and they manifest

27:30

and you feel them as

27:32

positive or negative proclivities that pulls

27:34

you toward or away from something,

27:36

doesn't it? That's what like

27:38

and dislike are. Do not put them

27:40

on a pedestal. They are nothing. They're

27:42

worse than nothing. They are the

27:44

bane of your existence because they tie you

27:47

to your past. They have no

27:49

meaning. Have you noticed how hard it is to decide

27:51

what you like or dislike? Have

27:53

you noticed there's nothing consistent inside of you? Maybe

27:56

they took your blankie away when it was blue when

27:58

you were young and it was a terrible

28:00

experience. Now you can't handle blue. I just don't like, you know,

28:02

I don't like blue. I told you I don't like blue. Or

28:05

maybe you love blue because that

28:07

was the color of the car that you

28:09

first rode in that somebody took out

28:11

on a date and it was such a nice person.

28:13

I don't know, but all those impressions are in there,

28:15

aren't they? And now the world comes

28:18

in and it brings them up. And

28:20

if it brings them up positive, you like it. If it

28:22

brings up a negative, you don't like it. That's

28:25

the shallowest thing in the whole world.

28:27

Let's say you enjoy going to a

28:29

certain place on Friday nights and you've

28:31

been going there for years. And

28:34

all of a sudden someone comes up and

28:36

tells you something negative about the

28:38

place or about somebody who goes there. Now

28:40

you're not comfortable going there anymore. OMG,

28:43

give me a break. One

28:45

stupid thing goes inside your head and

28:47

all of a sudden you get this discomfort going

28:50

on and maybe to be there for years. If

28:53

you really want to see whether I'm telling the truth,

28:55

go to a high school reunion. Go

28:57

to a high school reunion and see how you feel about

29:00

these people you haven't seen for 30 years. The

29:03

same stuff's coming up. Faced

29:19

with life's challenges and

29:22

uncertainties, many of

29:24

us feel quite stressed and

29:26

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29:28

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29:30

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29:33

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29:35

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29:38

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29:42

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30:16

So basically, like and dislike are just

30:18

the impressions that were stored from your

30:20

past coming up. If you spend your

30:22

life chasing them, you're wasting your life

30:24

and you will never satisfy them because

30:26

they're not even real. So

30:28

what spirituality means, what a meaningful life

30:30

is, I am going to take a

30:33

lap around the sun. And during that

30:35

lap, I assure you that when I

30:37

come back to the starting position, there's

30:39

going to be less of me. So

30:43

a wise person who caught on, it's not that they're

30:45

not trying to be happy. It's not you go sit

30:48

in the woods somewhere by yourself, right? You

30:50

didn't give up on life. No, you use

30:52

life for something meaningful. I'm going to take

30:55

a lap around the sun and

30:57

guess what's going to happen? A lot of things are going

30:59

to happen. That's what's going to happen during that year. There

31:01

are going to be all kinds of moments unfold in front

31:03

of me. How about you? Every

31:05

single moment, there's something different unfolding

31:07

in front of me. It just keeps changing. And

31:10

what I've noticed is if I sit in here,

31:12

it hits my stuff. It's

31:15

just my stuff. It's just amazing. It's like

31:17

arrows. It just comes by and stuff starts

31:19

coming up inside of me. I like it. I don't

31:22

like it. I'm scared of it. Just

31:24

all this stuff goes on. Is that just me or is

31:26

that happening to you too? Okay. I

31:30

am going to use every

31:32

single moment to let go

31:34

of that stuff. Whoa. You

31:36

mean it can go? Of course

31:39

it can go. Let's

31:41

get something straight. There is no super glue in

31:44

there. Really? I'm

31:46

serious. If something is inside of

31:48

you from the past, it's because you're holding

31:50

it there. You are using

31:52

your will to hold it. How

31:54

do I know when it comes back up, you push it

31:56

back down because

31:59

it was stored with pain. comes up with pain.

32:01

So when this stuff starts coming up, you push

32:03

it back down. Don't you get hands

32:05

in there? Yes or no. Can you push things

32:07

around in there? Emotions, thoughts, all kinds of things.

32:09

If thoughts starts to come about your ex-husband. So

32:14

you are in control. You are doing

32:16

it. It's your house. That's used to

32:18

say regain your kingdom. This

32:20

is your house. Nobody else lives in there. Your husband

32:22

don't live in there. Your wife's don't live in there.

32:24

Your kids don't live in there. You are who lives

32:26

in there. Nobody else will ever live in there. I

32:28

don't care how close you try to get as

32:31

your house. What are you doing?

32:33

Let all that garbage be in there. Okay. It's

32:36

a very simple question. If

32:38

every single time you have an

32:40

experience that bothers you, you store

32:42

it inside, how are you going to

32:44

be doing in there? That's

32:47

the silliest idea anybody ever had to collect

32:50

bad experiences, collect

32:53

coins, stamps, something. All

32:55

right. Don't collect bad experiences. It's not

32:57

going to work out well, but

33:00

that's what we've done because nobody will talk to us like

33:02

this. They say the answer is you're

33:04

not comfortable. Get something, reward something and

33:06

get rid of something. Do something, do

33:08

something about it. No, I'm going to do something

33:11

about it. I'm going to get rid of the

33:13

reason it's there. What you have

33:15

to do is sit there and say, and I'm

33:17

saying it to you, this stuff is not supposed to

33:19

be in here. What stuff? All

33:22

of it. I'm

33:25

serious. It's not supposed to be in there.

33:27

The pass is over. What are you

33:29

doing carrying it out inside of you? That's ridiculous. It

33:32

doesn't mean you don't remember it. It merely

33:34

means you didn't suppress it. There's a big

33:37

difference. You drive down roads all the

33:39

time. There are white lines. You could

33:41

remember, you could say, yeah, that's not it

33:43

itself, but it didn't leave an impression inside

33:45

of you of like and dislike. And you don't

33:47

freak out the next time you see a line

33:49

because it wasn't the same as a mouth. It's

33:51

just an experience that you had. You

33:54

experience things. You don't have

33:56

problems with them. So

33:59

when they come in, you let them go.

34:01

That's called be here now. That's what that's about. Experiences

34:04

are meant to be experienced. They're not

34:06

meant to be renounced. There's nothing to

34:08

do with renunciation. The experiences

34:10

unfolding in front of you are sacred.

34:13

Why? Because you're missing

34:15

every other experience in the universe.

34:18

All you're having is the experience that's happening

34:20

in front of you. There are billions of

34:22

other experiences going on everywhere else. You don't

34:24

get to have those, do you? So

34:27

at least honor and respect the one you're having.

34:30

So the moment unfolds in front of

34:32

you, you experience it. I agree sometimes

34:34

it's pleasant, sometimes it's not, but then

34:36

it's over. It shouldn't be

34:38

in you anymore. And if

34:40

it's not in you anymore, all of a

34:42

sudden you're gonna be free. You're gonna find

34:44

out that you don't need things to be a

34:46

certain way for you to be okay. The

34:49

only reason you need them to be a

34:51

certain way now is because you closed yourself

34:53

by storing all this garbage inside of you.

34:55

Now if something happens that matches well with

34:58

your garbage, all of a

35:00

sudden you feel joy, don't you? You

35:02

feel excited. If it goes the way

35:04

you want, you open up. If it

35:07

doesn't go the way you want, you close

35:09

down. It is this opening and closing that you're

35:12

experiencing as the quality of your life. What

35:15

spirituality and yoga says is, why don't you

35:17

try to look and see why it's opening

35:19

and closing instead of what I need to

35:21

do to make it open and close? And

35:23

you look and I'm telling you what you'll

35:25

see. You'll see it is the stuff I

35:27

stored inside of me that is making it

35:29

open and close. The reason

35:31

life is conditional and I have conditional

35:33

love and conditional happiness and conditional well-being

35:35

is those are the conditions. What turns

35:38

him on turns you off. What turned

35:40

you on yesterday turns you off today

35:43

because you have these conditions that get stored

35:45

inside of you. Get rid

35:47

of them. That's what I'm inviting

35:49

you to do. Seriously, I promise

35:51

you you can get rid of them, all

35:54

of them. They're not a single one that

35:56

needs to be inside. Your past does not

35:58

belong inside of you. As

36:00

you let go of these things, you're

36:02

going to find out that you're way happier

36:04

than you were before. Why? Because

36:07

it's the law of attraction and manifestation

36:09

that if I let go of this

36:11

garbage inside of me, I will attract

36:13

to me everything I want? No. No,

36:16

I hope not. I hope you don't.

36:18

What I want is that you let

36:21

go of the basis of like and

36:23

dislike. You let go of this garbage

36:25

you stored inside, and because you don't

36:27

have blockages inside anymore, you feel this

36:29

spontaneous joy and love all

36:31

the time, unconditionally. You don't

36:33

need things to be the way

36:36

you want to be okay. You're

36:38

just okay. Just like you can

36:40

be healthy. Body can be healthy.

36:42

Well, your body's healthy. You don't need anything. It's

36:45

when your body's sick that you need to go to the

36:47

doctor, you need certain foods, you need certain

36:49

medicines. It's the same thing with your spiritual energy

36:51

body. It can be fine.

36:53

It can be filled with love,

36:55

filled with joy all the time,

36:58

all the time. That's what you call

37:00

it, ever-new joy. You just feel waves

37:02

of uplifting spirit, joy, love pouring through

37:04

your being all the time, because that

37:06

happens to be your natural state. And

37:08

what you did is shove all this

37:10

garbage on top of it, so now

37:13

you're blocked. And the

37:15

only way you feel openness is when something

37:17

happens that matches your garbage. That's

37:19

why you feel joy when you meet somebody

37:21

who's just the way you like them, because

37:24

it causes you to open up. If they weren't

37:26

just the way you like them, it wouldn't happen.

37:29

If they behave tomorrow differently, behave today,

37:31

and you didn't like that one different

37:33

aspect you didn't expect to have, you

37:35

don't like it so much anymore. It

37:38

was so disappointing. I trusted you. Trusted

37:41

me to what? To be the way I expected. But

37:44

that's what you mean, isn't it? I had

37:47

a way that would open me, and you

37:49

said you loved me, and I assumed,

37:51

that's a big assumption, that therefore you would

37:53

always be the way I need you to

37:55

be, and you would never, ever not be

37:58

the way I needed you to be. I don't even know

38:00

how you know. How would I know? I only know me,

38:02

unfortunately. I don't know, you're some scars. I

38:04

wasn't around when you were six. I don't know.

38:06

I didn't know that. I said the word marriage

38:08

or divorce and it freaked you out. I

38:11

don't know. You're really sensitive. You

38:13

have lots of stuff in there. So it

38:15

is not going to happen that

38:18

you're going to find somebody. You

38:20

are your own soulmate. Find

38:22

the wholeness within your own being by

38:25

getting rid of your blockages. And

38:27

I'm telling you, I'm guaranteeing you,

38:30

if you will let go of

38:32

this garbage you stored inside, you

38:34

will start to feel spontaneous joy,

38:36

spontaneous love, this constant state of

38:38

being fed from inside. Man

38:40

does not live by bread alone, but by every word

38:43

to leave it the mouth of the Father. You will

38:45

know exactly what that means. There will be no question

38:47

in your mind. Why? Because

38:49

you're being fed by this fountain of

38:51

joy. So

38:53

in order to do that, you change

38:55

as a true paradigm shift. Now

38:58

as you go around the sun, you spend

39:00

every minute of every second trying to manipulate

39:02

and control the environment around you to match

39:04

your garbage. Instead, when

39:06

you truly turn to a spiritual

39:09

path, you spend your entire orbit

39:11

around the sun letting go of

39:13

your garbage. And that's it. And

39:16

never the plane shall meet. There are two totally

39:18

different ways to live your life. One

39:21

works, the other doesn't. It doesn't work

39:23

to keep trying to get what you want. You

39:25

know that. You live

39:27

that. It does work. Every single thing

39:29

you let go of, you're a whole other

39:32

person. You feel better. If you say

39:34

something to me that wasn't so nice, you weren't

39:36

feeling good, you just said something not so nice,

39:38

and I hold on to it, I don't get

39:40

to like you. I don't like when I drive

39:42

down the street where you live. I sure as

39:45

heck don't like the street corner where you said

39:47

it to me on, or the car I was

39:49

driving in. You gotta go these impressions that cause

39:51

problems to me. If it happens

39:53

and I just let it go, you mean

39:56

I can do that? Yeah, you're a great

39:58

being in there. you want. You

40:01

do whatever you want in there. I'll teach you how. I

40:03

can go for an hour to inspire you to do it.

40:05

And I only need one minute to tell you how to

40:07

do it. Whereas you want to run around

40:09

and say, I need a technique. I need a patch. I

40:11

need no, no, no, no. You need

40:14

to want to do it. You can let

40:16

go of the things that happened to you.

40:18

You do not have to store them inside

40:20

of you. There is no purpose for storing

40:22

them inside of you. I want

40:25

you that if somehow she was in a bad

40:27

mood, or at least just thought she said something

40:29

not nice half the time you're wrong anyways, but

40:31

she said something or didn't say something and it

40:33

disturb you a little bit that when she walks

40:35

away, it's gone. That's what I want for you.

40:37

I will not try to get you what

40:39

you want. I'm not going to try to help you get what you want. I don't even

40:41

want you to get what you want. I

40:43

want you to get rid of the reason you want

40:45

things so that I know you'll be okay forever. If

40:48

you have children, you have children. I have a

40:50

daughter, a wonderful daughter. I don't want her to get

40:52

what she wants. I want her to

40:54

get rid of the reason she would want something so

40:56

that I know she's okay no matter what, no matter

40:59

what happens all the time. I know that

41:01

she's happy and she's fine and she can handle

41:03

it. Which do you want for your kid? That

41:05

it's conditional and only going to

41:07

happen in a little tiny little laser

41:09

beam of light or that they learn

41:11

to be always okay. So that's what

41:13

we're talking about. So basically you wake

41:15

up, be strong inside and you say,

41:17

this is my kingdom. Yes, it is

41:20

true. I have stored all this garbage

41:22

guilty, guilty, guilty. Then it says I

41:24

was little, stored every single thing that

41:26

ever fathered me is still in there.

41:28

If I, in fifth grade, I put

41:31

a rose in for a flower contest

41:33

and then the day before I brought

41:35

it in, a beetle ate one of

41:37

the little edges of the thing, right?

41:39

I hate beetles. I hate roses. I

41:42

hate contests and

41:44

I hate people who have perfect flowers.

41:46

Okay. Don't

41:49

laugh. I'm telling you that's what happens.

41:51

And guess who I have agreeing with

41:54

me, all the psychology, your

41:56

formative years, right? You got a stuff stored in

41:58

there. I am telling you. that

42:00

it does not have to stay in there. It

42:02

stays in there because you keep it in there. The

42:05

day you decide you want to stop smoking

42:07

and you really mean it, stop putting your

42:10

mouth. And it's shocking. You will find that

42:12

you stop smoking and you

42:14

will find that the urge to smoking will go

42:16

away. It is exactly the same with this. The

42:18

day that you want to stop being screwed up,

42:20

let go of the part of you that is

42:22

making you screwed up. And don't you dare tell

42:25

me I can't. Like the challenge

42:27

I give to people is, okay, she came by,

42:29

she says something not so nice. It's

42:31

starting to bother me. It's bothering me.

42:33

She walked away and I'm

42:35

standing there and let go. I can't. Let

42:37

go. I can't. I can't. She had no

42:40

right to say that. Oh, that's called not

42:42

letting go. It's called getting involved. What I'm

42:44

doing is I am justifying keeping it. I

42:47

went out to dinner. It made me sick. I

42:49

am going to take it home and I taste it

42:52

every single day. So I never forget what it was

42:54

like to eat something that made me that sick. I'm

42:56

going to show that chef for every day of my

42:58

life. I'm going to show him how sick he made

43:00

me. That's what you did with the fact

43:02

that she says, I'm going to keep it in here. I

43:04

have the right. You don't understand what she said. What are

43:06

you doing? I have the right to

43:09

screw myself up for the rest of my life. Fine.

43:11

I don't know why you want that right. I don't

43:13

want that right. So you tell me,

43:16

but I don't know how to let it go. I

43:18

can't let it go. I can't let it go. It'll

43:21

be terrible right now. Here's a million dollars,

43:24

million dollars. Let it go.

43:28

Really? Yep. Right.

43:31

If you're really caught for how long? 10 seconds.

43:35

Okay, it's gone. And if you

43:37

can let it go for 10 seconds, you let

43:40

it go for 10 minutes. Either you do or

43:42

you do not have the ability to let go.

43:44

See people say to me, what do you mean by let go? Now you understand

43:46

what I mean by let go. I mean, you

43:48

are in there noticing this bothered you, aren't you?

43:51

You're noticing your mind complaining about it. You're noticing

43:53

a hard hurting you about it. Okay.

43:56

Just relax, relax. You

43:59

don't change it. Just relax and

44:01

say, for a million dollars, or

44:04

better yet, for happiness, for eternal

44:06

happiness, all right? I

44:08

will relax. I will relax and

44:10

give it the space it needs to pass.

44:13

And I guarantee it will pass. If

44:15

you're hooked on heroin and you go through

44:17

withdrawal, it'll pass. If

44:19

you don't go through withdrawal, it won't. But

44:21

if you do go through withdrawal, it will pass. Well,

44:24

this ain't nowhere near being hooked on heroin. She just

44:27

said something not nice. It'd be a big deal. Let

44:29

it go. You understand what

44:31

I meant now by letting go. A

44:34

wise person does that with

44:36

everything. A wise

44:38

person says, if I want

44:40

to be happy, then I have to be willing

44:42

to be happy. You understand that?

44:45

Right. We're back to the path of unconditional

44:47

happiness. If I want

44:49

to feel love, then I have to not

44:51

close my heart. I have to

44:53

be willing to keep my heart open because there ain't no love when your

44:55

heart's closed, if you haven't noticed. So if

44:57

something happens and it starts to close my

44:59

heart, I'm going to relax and let it go. I'm

45:02

going to learn to let it pass. Let

45:04

it go. And you're going to fall

45:06

in over time. I know that you don't know how

45:08

to do it now. No one's ever done it. We

45:10

weren't taught to do it. I went to graduate school

45:13

and all the way to kindergarten graduate school. Nobody

45:15

ever taught us any of this. Did they?

45:17

They taught us the opposite. How to

45:19

manipulate into coal. So basically you

45:22

come down and you say this year, the end of

45:24

the year, or do we start our

45:26

year? You say, I'm going to let

45:28

go of this stuff in here. That's what I'm going to

45:30

do. I'm in here. It's my house. I'm letting it go.

45:33

And then every time it comes up, every time

45:35

something happens, it hits your stuff. You

45:37

let it go. Just relax. Keep

45:39

relaxing. And at first, you don't know

45:41

how to do it. I tell you, you don't know how

45:43

to play the piano at first. You don't have to do

45:45

calculus. When you went to a calculus class, you did this

45:47

thing called learning. Why can't you learn this?

45:50

The most important thing you will ever learn is

45:53

how to let go of the garbage that

45:55

you're building up inside yourself because you can't

45:57

be OK with this garbage in there. So

46:00

you relax with the new stuff, and

46:02

little by little the old stuff will come out by itself. It's

46:05

a life-o stack, last in, first out. If you keep

46:07

shoving more on top of it, that's the problem of

46:09

the day. You won't feel this stuff from underneath. Everyone

46:11

will all come up, but in general, you have to

46:13

be busy with the fact that you didn't say something

46:15

nice to you or somebody beeped at you or it

46:17

rained when you didn't want it to. You

46:19

put all these little things there, and just on top

46:22

of the bigger things, they won't come back up. I'm

46:24

warning you, if you let go of the little things,

46:26

the bigger things are going to come up all by

46:28

themselves. You start having dreams that

46:30

you never dreamt about before. You'll look at somebody,

46:32

and all of a sudden you start crying, reminding

46:35

you of your mother, and saying, oh, I've forgotten

46:37

about that. I love it. I want more of

46:39

it. You have to love that. I

46:42

don't want this inside of me.

46:44

So if I have to go through the growth

46:47

of what it's like to let it go, I

46:49

am willing to do that. I

46:51

am ready, willing, and able. In fact, it is the

46:53

meaning of my life. It used to

46:55

be the meaning of my life was to make the world

46:57

match my junk. Now the meaning

46:59

of my life is to let go of my

47:01

junk. And I'm telling you, it works. It can't

47:03

not work. How can it not

47:06

work? You just keep letting go.

47:08

Relax and release. Relax and release. Then

47:11

people say to me, but what about the outside

47:13

world? Don't I have to do anything

47:15

there? Isn't there a real world out there? And the answer

47:17

is yes. Yes. There's a real world

47:19

out there, and you're supposed to

47:21

be interacting with it. I

47:23

didn't think he was going to say that. All

47:25

right. Well, what does that mean? Right

47:28

now, you're interacting with the moments that

47:30

unfold in front of you on

47:32

a basis of taking from

47:35

them, trying to be okay, trying

47:37

to get from them what you want and make them

47:39

not be the way you don't want. You're

47:41

using the moments that are unfolding in front of

47:43

you to try and make yourself be okay. When

47:46

you live this life, you are first

47:48

letting go of these problems you have

47:51

inside, and then you're going to find out

47:53

all of a sudden that you can face the moments

47:55

that are unfolding outside as a singer of

47:57

themselves, not in relationship to your personal self.

48:00

Not in relationship to I like it, do I not like

48:02

it, what do I do to make it so I do

48:04

like it, what do I do to make it so that

48:06

it's not about me, it's about itself.

48:09

There's a moment unfolding in front of me

48:11

and it's asking me to interact with it,

48:13

not me trying to make it give me

48:15

what I want. You stop

48:18

being a taker and you become a giver

48:20

and the next thing you're going to know is all

48:22

of a sudden you realize life is so simple. It

48:24

unfolds in front of you and you dance with it. Not

48:27

I make up how I want it to be and

48:30

beat it over the head if it's not that way

48:32

and keep grabbing and taking and manipulating. No, no. You

48:35

honor that the moment has the right

48:37

to exist. I don't care how much you

48:39

don't like it, it has the right to exist. How do you know it's there?

48:43

Reality wins. If it is

48:45

manifest, especially your past, it

48:48

had the right to happen, didn't it? It

48:51

happened. And so you relax your way through

48:53

it and then you serve the moments that are

48:55

unfolding in front of you. I had

48:57

somebody the other day ask me, I still don't get

48:59

it. What does it mean to

49:01

let go? And we're going to close on this. So

49:03

I gave her an example. She said it

49:06

helps a lot. Okay. You're standing

49:08

in an elevator. There's six people in the

49:10

elevator, it's not terribly big elevator. There's

49:12

somebody at the front of the elevator, inside the

49:14

elevator and he's holding the door button every time

49:17

somebody else comes up and

49:19

you're very uncomfortable. You're having to be the kind of

49:21

person that's kind of claustrophobic and you're not real comfortable

49:23

having all these people packed in the elevator. Perfect

49:26

situation. There's really nothing

49:29

wrong. Like the elevator is rated for enough

49:31

people. Don't worry about it. It's basically just

49:33

a personal preference that you have. It's just

49:35

some stuff. Whoever knows how it got there

49:37

where you're just not comfortable in a crowd.

49:40

Believe me, it's past impressions. So

49:43

you're there. Here it goes. You have

49:45

the following choices. One, manifest

49:47

your discomfort. Stop it. What's the matter with you?

49:49

There's too many people there. Stop pushing that button.

49:52

Stop pushing that button. In other words, I can't

49:54

handle it so you don't do it. It's

49:56

making me uncomfortable. It's wrong. That person's wrong to

49:59

be doing. How do you know? I can feel

50:01

it. I bet you can. So

50:03

that's one way you can deal with

50:06

it, is manifest it externally in an

50:08

attempt to manipulate the environment outside of

50:10

you. That is, you are not

50:12

accepting, you are not surrendering, you are controlling. Fair

50:15

enough. When you do so, that's

50:19

taking on karma. In

50:21

other words, if you're taking this garbage

50:23

that's inside of you that's uncomfortable, and

50:26

you are manifesting outside of you, you

50:28

are laying a trip on other people's

50:30

heads, and it will leave

50:32

impressions out there. You'll go for a

50:35

job someday. It just

50:37

happens that way. You'll go for a job someday, and the

50:39

person that was pushing the open button is your boss, who

50:42

you're interviewing with. You're going, oh, geez,

50:44

got it, got my mouth shut. Things

50:47

happen, don't they? All right? Now, here's the

50:49

second way you can deal with it. Little

50:51

higher, but it's still not letting go.

50:54

That is, I know

50:56

I'm not supposed to express it, shut up, bite your

50:58

tongue, it's not saying anything. In

51:00

other words, suppress it. If

51:03

I can't express it, I'm going to

51:06

have to suppress it. At

51:08

least you're not taking on the external karma.

51:11

You bit your tongue, you don't do that stuff,

51:13

but I think we're all mature enough to understand

51:15

that's not going to be healthy down there. You're

51:17

going to blow a gasket at some point, you

51:19

go out there and do something, all right? Because

51:21

it'll come back up because you stored all this

51:24

garbage inside of you. So

51:26

that's the second level, not terribly spiritual,

51:28

but more so than dumping your stuff.

51:31

You're polluting your environment with your garbage. All

51:33

right? It's just like a factory dumping all

51:35

the leftover chemicals into the river. You're

51:37

taking the junk that's left over inside of you and dumping

51:40

it out to the world. They will do

51:42

that, don't they? All right? So you

51:44

at least don't do that. So you come back a level,

51:46

all right? Next level. You

51:49

become conscious enough, strong enough to where

51:51

you start doing what people

51:53

call accepting. Okay? Listen

51:56

to the difference now. It's okay.

51:58

This is just my stuff. It's my stuff.

52:00

I can handle it. It's not a problem.

52:03

And they're welcome to come into the elevator.

52:05

It's nice to let other people come in

52:07

the elevator. Why should it have to be

52:09

my way? In other words, you start accepting

52:12

the reality of the situation. And

52:14

of course you're taught that acceptance is a very high thing. It

52:17

is high compared to suppressing

52:19

and expressing your garbage. You're rationalizing it.

52:22

You're finding a way to live with

52:24

it and so on. But the part

52:26

of you that made you so disturbed

52:30

that caused the whole problem did

52:32

not go away because you accepted

52:34

the situation. You avoided

52:36

suppressing. You avoided creating more

52:39

disturbance inside and you avoided

52:41

creating disturbance outside. Okay.

52:43

You did good. I'll take it away from you.

52:46

But that's not what surrender is. Surrender

52:48

is I am conscious

52:50

enough to notice that some garbage

52:52

is coming up inside of me about the number

52:54

of people that are in the elevator or how

52:57

close they stand to me. I don't

52:59

want to make it past this moment and think I'm

53:01

okay. I don't want this inside of me. I

53:04

want to use this moment to go to God.

53:07

I want to use this moment to grow spiritually.

53:09

I want to use this moment not to accept

53:11

that some people think there are enough people in

53:13

the elevator. You ever have some new age

53:16

do be stuff. I want to use this moment

53:18

to real stuff. I want to let go. I

53:21

want to let go of the part of me that is

53:23

causing this disturbance. That's

53:25

letting go. I

53:28

don't usually teach you that team. You see

53:30

the difference? Each of the tiers. It

53:32

is only when you do the last one that

53:35

the real spiritual growth takes place. Now you will

53:37

make a nice world doing the middle one. Believe

53:40

me. No, I wish everybody could

53:42

accept you're at least not causing trouble outside

53:44

or inside. You rationalized it. You made it

53:46

fit. You feel good. I feel good about

53:48

it. All right. But I'm telling you this

53:50

stuff is going to come up again. If

53:53

not in the elevator somewhere else, you know,

53:55

you left that part of you allowed to

53:58

exist, you just learned. live

54:00

with it, you learn to be more comfortable with it. I'm

54:03

telling you the highest growth and the

54:05

one that really leads to deep spirituality

54:08

is I'm the witness. I'm noticing

54:10

he's standing on the planet earth inside

54:12

of an elevator freaking out about the

54:15

door opening. I don't think

54:17

so. It's not a matter

54:19

of accepting that some people look at differently. It's a

54:21

matter of none and none. I ain't

54:24

keeping this stuff inside of me. I'm

54:26

not giving myself some right. It's

54:29

the difference. Somebody asked me the other day, I

54:31

tried a little answer or something and I said,

54:34

acceptance and surrender. And he

54:36

said, aren't they the same? Exactly. In

54:39

acceptance, I gave myself the right to not like it,

54:41

but I accepted it. Other people looked at it different

54:43

ways. I kept the right that

54:46

I didn't like it this way, but I

54:48

accepted that this was reality, that this is

54:50

how other people wanted it. It

54:52

sounds very nice, doesn't it? Notice I

54:54

kept the right to see it my

54:56

way. Right? No, no, no, no. You

54:59

must not be reborn. You

55:02

got to be willing to let go of yourself

55:05

at the deepest room level. And so you

55:07

just take one look and you say, this

55:09

is causing disturbance inside of me. It's

55:11

out. It's gone. How

55:13

do I, how do I get it gone? It's really there. It's

55:16

there, but you're not it. You're the one who's

55:18

noticing it. That's why you meditate.

55:20

That's why you do mantra to maintain

55:22

a center of stability that is so

55:25

strong that anything that goes on inside

55:27

of you can't pull you into it.

55:29

It's a disturbance you're seeing. And

55:32

if you will relax you in there,

55:34

not make it relax, you relax, just

55:37

relax. Oh my God,

55:39

relax. Yes. I'll

55:42

tell you, you will not want to do it.

55:44

This is real growth. You relax and

55:47

it starts pulling. Relax. It

55:49

can't touch you. It's just

55:51

something that's stuck inside that's trying

55:53

to purify, that's trying to release.

55:56

If you will grow at that level,

55:58

I am assuring you. Your

56:00

days will start to get lighter and lighter because

56:03

you're letting go at a very deep level. And

56:05

you just do that with everything. Every

56:07

chance you get. Let go of

56:09

the part of you that wants to resist and

56:13

to be deeper than not resist me. And

56:15

if you will do this, underneath that

56:17

stuff you're letting go of is the

56:19

Shakti, is real

56:21

spirit. And if you give

56:24

it enough room, it starts flowing and

56:26

it flows up and you start feeling it

56:28

course through your whole being every second of

56:30

your life. From the moment you wake up

56:32

in the morning there's ecstasy that's going on.

56:34

Oh, that's where I want you. I'm just

56:36

telling it to you because that's what's going

56:38

on inside of you right now. But you've

56:40

closed the blinds with this

56:42

garbage and nobody will be honest

56:45

enough to tell you, you

56:47

got to let go of yourself. Except Christ. I

56:49

like Christ a lot. So a Jewish yogi

56:51

that loves Christ, he said it, you

56:53

must die to be reborn. You

56:56

have to let go of yourself. Now

56:58

what did the Buddha say? All life

57:00

is suffering. The cause of suffering is

57:02

you. You built this preference system inside

57:04

of you to end suffering. Let it

57:06

go. To end

57:08

suffering and desire. Right? Just

57:11

let go of the part of you that

57:13

is separate in the world into like and

57:15

dislike and everything will change. And

57:17

I'm telling you, every one of you are capable

57:19

of it. It's not some

57:21

Buddhist boss somewhere. So right. It's better that

57:24

you're doing it in your life, in your

57:26

marriage, in with your children, in business. Why?

57:29

I guess it's hitting your stuff. You're going off to

57:31

live in the cave somewhere and leave everything. What's

57:34

going to hit your stuff? It's perfectly reasonable.

57:36

You go about your everyday life. It's the

57:38

life you attracted around yourself. So it's going

57:40

to be the one that hits your stuff.

57:43

And when it does, let it go. So if you're a

57:45

soccer mom, instead of complaining, I got to go pick up

57:47

the kids. They're going to be in soccer. And I'm just

57:49

like, oh, let go of that.

57:52

Let go of that. But no,

57:54

no, but let go. Let

57:56

go. Anybody hearing me? I know it's

57:59

scary about it. try a little bit, right?

58:01

Let go. You do

58:03

not want to keep the part of you

58:05

that's not okay. You

58:08

want to be the part that is

58:10

okay. Therefore, you have to let go

58:12

of the part that's not okay, not

58:14

placate it, not try to manipulate a

58:16

world that makes it be okay. It

58:18

doesn't know how to be okay. It's

58:20

never been okay your whole life. Let

58:23

it go. Let it go.

58:25

That's the deep spiritual growth. So,

58:27

if we're coming to the end of

58:29

the year, you take a circle around the

58:31

sun. Remember that. You just slow

58:33

down a spaceship and out of space causing trouble for

58:35

yourself. Okay,

58:38

come on, wake up, let

58:41

go. It's very

58:43

good. You work with these things. You've

59:02

been listening to the Michael Singer podcast,

59:05

produced by Sounds True in

59:08

partnership with Shanti Publications. Sounds

59:11

True is the co-publisher of

59:13

Michael Singer's newest book, Living

59:16

Untethered, beyond the human predicament.

59:19

We've also joined with him to

59:21

produce an extraordinary eight-part video course.

59:24

It's called Living from a Place of

59:26

Surrender, The Untethered Soul

59:28

in Action. You can find

59:30

out more at michaelsingerpodcast.com,

59:34

and you can save 15% off any

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Michael Singer program available through

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Sounds True when you use the

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code SINGER15 at

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checkout. That's SINGER numeral one,

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numeral five at checkout. The

59:49

music you heard on this podcast is

59:51

the song, Giving It All by Be

59:53

Still the Earth. Thank

59:55

you so much for listening. Sounds

59:57

true. Waking up the world. you