Great Pods
Understanding the Personal Mind and the Path to Liberation | The Michael Singer Podcast

Key Points

You are not what you notice - you are the one who notices (consciousness/awareness)
The mind is just a small area where thoughts are created, not your true identity
Your personal mind is a storage system of past experiences tagged with preferences (like/dislike)
Events that happened in the past only exist now in your mind - they're not real anymore
You selectively store experiences with emotional power, creating your personal collection of memories
The personal mind attacks you by bringing up stored experiences that create fear and reactions
When you resist experiences, you store them - resistance is equivalent to keeping them
Your ego is a self-concept made up of thoughts about who you think you are
The cause of all suffering is preference - wanting reality to be different than it is
You spend your life trying to make moments match your mental concepts of how things should be
The intellectual mind is open and impersonal, while the personal mind is all about "you"
Your consciousness is addicted to being distracted by the thoughts swimming in your mind
Liberation means freeing yourself from the attraction and addiction to your personal self
Life itself is your best therapist because it will find and hit your stored emotional patterns
The spiritual path involves learning to let experiences pass through without storing them
When you stop storing new experiences and release old ones, the personal mind dissolves naturally
Beyond the personal mind lies stillness, harmony, and natural knowing without mental noise
True participation in life comes from serving the moment rather than serving your personal desires
Full Transcript

Language: en
Welcome to the Michael Singer podcast
presented by Sounds True in partnership
with Shanti Publications. For more
information about Michael Singer's work,
access to all prior episodes, and
information about upcoming releases, we
invite you to join us at michaels
singingpodcast.com.
Sh masters
people say somehow I always end up
talking about mine.
Let's talk about mine.
You can't talk about something when
you're too close.
If a eight-cylinder engine is running,
you can't see the pistons. You can't see
the cam shaft. You can't see anything.
This is all a blur. You're looking at
this overall mess.
In order to understand what I mean by
mind, when I talk about mind,
you have to at least be able to get to
the edges
where there's not mind.
Maybe meditation helps.
Maybe spiritual experiences helps. Many
things can help you at least momentarily
see the edges of what your mind is.
Otherwise, you will not see it. You
think you see it. You don't see it
because it is your mind talking about
the mind. It is your mind judging the
mind. Is your mind involved in the mind?
Is your mind with its desires and its
hopes and its dreams? Oh, this dream's
not bad, but that one's good. I've got
myself together. It's mine. Okay. So
basically you come down to what do the
edges of mine look like.
It's still
you may never have reached that state
yet. You will at some point it will
happen. Don't crave it cuz that's mine.
Don't try to achieve it cuz that's mine.
Just how pervasive mind is. So at the
edges it's silent.
What's silent? Mind.
You would just call it empty mind.
It's not talking. It's not thinking.
It's not creating the vitis, the ripples
that create mind. Fine. Now take a step
in. And it doesn't take long to step in.
And what you're going to see is that
there's constant activity where
I point here above your head. Your mind
is not in your foot. the center of your
energy center of mind. It's not in your
foot. It's not in your knee. It's not in
your hand. It's not in your ear. It's
not in your heart. It's here. You hear
yourself here. You don't realize that
because you're so lost in it. There's no
not here. Yes, I think about my foot.
Fine. That's not your foot. That's you
thinking about your foot. That is a
thought in your mind about a foot.
That's very different than the foot.
Okay. I have likes and dislikes. No, you
do not. Your mind has thoughts about
likes and dislikes. You do not have
likes and dislikes. But have you noticed
your mind does? Have you noticed that
that thing talks about what you like and
what you don't like and what you want
and what you don't want and how to get
it, how to avoid it. Have you noticed it
does that? You're the one who notices.
The essence of spirituality is that
simple. You are not what you notice. You
are the one who notices. It's called
consciousness awareness.
You are aware
of what I'm talking about. If I tell you
your mind never shuts up. You don't say
yes it does.
It doesn't. It talks all the time.
Talks. Visualizes. What does it talk
about? We'll get into it in a minute.
That's how you get to know mind. But the
fact that it's mind and it's happening
up here and that you're seated up here
and you're lost in it. You're completely
lost in it. What does that mean? It
means your consciousness cannot abstract
from watching, hearing, being involved
in what it's looking at. That is the
deepest teaching you will ever get. Your
awareness cannot extricate itself, free
itself, liberate itself. That's what
liberation means. Cannot free itself,
liberate itself from looking at this
thing that we're going to talk about.
That has edges. I guarantee it has
edges. All right? And the edges aren't,
oh yeah, mind can have big thoughts. No,
those are still within the realm of
thought. Those are still mind. I teach
you. I do about think about the
galaxies. Think about how far away a
lightyear is. I want you to Well,
because then at least you're not think
about yourself. Really, it works. It's
true. What you think about can be less
binding, but it's still binding. You're
still creating thoughts and looking at
them. There is a state in which you are
not creating thoughts and you're not
looking at them. That is the spiritual
state. And I don't care if you've ever
experienced it. It's there all the time.
The mind is just a area in which
thoughts are created. The problem is
it's very prolific and there's no limit
to how big the thoughts can be. We can
discuss quantum physics how there's
vibrations underneath that all the atoms
and everything create themselves out of
that. What a big thought. It's still a
thought. The mind is just a thing. It's
just a thing. An area in the universe in
which thoughts are created and you are
the universe looking at those thoughts.
You are literally the universe. The
entire universe, the entire quantum
field, the trillions of galaxies, that
which is underlying all of that is your
consciousness. But why don't I feel
that? Because you're staring at this
petty little thing called the area of
creation that makes your thoughts.
Well, if I stared at my finger so much
that all I saw was a finger, then that's
my universe. Right or wrong? You are
staring at the thoughts of your mind.
You think your mind is expansive. Do you
understand how tiny your mind is?
Everybody's got one,
don't they? And they all can create all
these thoughts, but they're within the
confines of this tiny little area that
you're staring at. And you stare at it
all the time. You not just stare at it,
you identify with it. You say, "That's
what I am.
I am my thoughts.
I am my thoughts. You don't say it out
loud unless somebody makes you. You're
saying intuitively, I am my thoughts.
What do you mean? When I was in fifth
grade, something happened to me. Notice
I, me, you're defining yourself as the
one that had the experience in fifth
grade. It's not even there anymore.
Let's start with that. How many things
only exist in your mind? How about your
entire past? It doesn't exist anywhere
anymore. She my sister. She remembers it
differently than I remember the event
that we had together. Who's right?
Where's the event? It doesn't exist. It
existed for a moment in time and space.
And that's all. It wasn't there before.
It's not there after. But what's
reality? Reality are the atoms that
created that event. All of the energy
that created that event in that moment.
And then it did something else. The same
atoms created something else. The same
energy created something else
immediately. It didn't even last a
nancond. It did not stay in the same
place. But it's inside of you for the
rest of your life. Where? In your tummy,
in your mind. What does that mean? It
means you have this ability to hold on
to things in an area around your head
and you made that real. You literally
collected the events that actually
happened. Some of them anyways, the big
ones. You collected them, decided to
keep them somewhere. It's like a storage
bin, a filing cabinet, and you took
these things that aren't there anymore.
You stuck them in a filing cabinet. And
to you, they're still there. They're
real. They're just as real as if they
happen. There are people you will not
talk to again because of what happened
three years ago. There are people all
you do is think about them because of
what happened three years ago. It's not
there anymore, is it? It's only in this
makebelieve place
called your mind. Not even the mind.
Your mind. It's not in my mind. It's not
her mind. Is what's in his mind and her
&gt;&gt; No.
It's not a chance. It's a place you
stored events that already happened.
They're not there anymore. They're not
real. They're kind of meaningless.
They'll never happen again.
But your mind is afraid they will.
Look what you've done. So you took this
I'm going to call it a filing cabinet.
Computer memory bank. Okay. You store
things in a memory bank, can't you? So
you sat there and said, "This event
happened. I'm going to keep this one.
I'm going to keep that one. I'm going to
keep that one, but I don't like it, so
I'm going to push it away so I never
think about it." Obviously, if you don't
think about it, you kept it. You don't
have to keep the white lines on the
road. You don't have to keep every cloud
that goes by. You don't keep every
person that walks by you in New York
City on a sidewalk, do you? You don't
keep every word that you ever heard
anybody say,
but you keep some of them. All right,
there you start understand mine. That's
pretty weird. I'm telling you, it's
weird. Otherwise, what's happening is
called be here now. What's happening is
what's happening.
It's very different. The things actually
happening, isn't it? I'm trying to paint
mine for you. I want you to finally get
it. It's not real. The fact that you
stored all that stuff selectively,
there's no basis that you kept one
versus another except you decided to.
Who decided to? My mind.
And what happens? And this is like
17,000 layer chess. If you keep one, it
decides whether you keep the next one.
Wow. And then that builds. So, I'm going
to detail. You kept the fact that
someone didn't say hello to you
yesterday. Do you know how much
commotion that's going to make in your
I'm afraid to see them next time. Should
I talk to them? Should I ask why they
didn't say hello? Or will I get
embarrassed? Maybe they didn't hear me.
Oh my god, they didn't say it cuz they
don't like me. I don't know if I want to
hear. Does it do all that? Answer me.
That's mind. It's not you.
It's the fact that you stored this thing
in there and now it in a sense it has a
life of its own. Why? Because something
hits it and it comes back. Does the
stuff come back that you stored in
there? Why? Why does your stuff come
back and hers doesn't? Why does your
stuff come back this year but didn't
come back last year or didn't come back
last year and comes back this year? It
does all that, doesn't it? It's pretty
crazy stuff. going on in there. But you
don't see it as crazy. You not only
don't see it as crazy, you see it as
That's me. I am that voice in my head. I
am those thoughts. And I better deal
with myself.
And what does that mean? Okay, now we're
going to You see it's a storage bin. Got
it? And you can stick stuff in there,
can't you? And it gets sticky. And what
is stuck in there can get hit by what
comes in next time. and it can hit
The stuff that you stored in there from
before can hit the stuff that you stored
from before and all of a sudden you're
spacing out and all upset. That's where
your moods come from. That's where
everything comes from. It doesn't just
come from mind. And I told you what you
did with your mind. You see it? You
stored this stuff in there. That's the
foundation.
Okay? I I've been quoting you lately
that psychology says man is the sum of
his learned experiences. It's not true.
You're the consciousness that's looking
at the sum of your learned experiences.
Big difference. But it is absolutely
true that what you're looking at in your
mind is very 16 layered complicated
stuff. That is a sum of your learned
experiences. You saw a movie when you
were 12 years old and some lady had a
miscarriage and it ruined her life and
you don't have children. How many people
had babies and didn't have miscarriages
and you want to sit there and devote
your entire life not having a baby? I'm
not saying you should have a baby or
not, but I'm telling you that's
ridiculous. But you do it, don't you?
I'm trying to bring it to the surface.
What is common to us that should be
absurd or you saw a movie where someone
had baby after baby after baby, she made
a whole soccer team, 11 children, and
followed where they went and what they
did and so on. I want to have 11
children. I don't know you want to have
11 children just because that movie
showed you that. But you will think like
that. That's what happens with mind. You
store stuff in. It's a place you store
stuff and then it keeps coming back. And
in a sense what it does, I'm going to
say the word. It attacks you.
Your mind attacks you. It brings back
that you had an accident on 39th once
five years ago. When does it bring it
back? When you're driving down 39th or
when you're about to turn on 39th, how
do you feel? Scared? Did the accident
happen every day? Did it happen to
everybody? Is there more of a
probability that the accident's going to
happen on that street at that thing than
was anything ever before when you never
had an accident? The statistics, oh,
they must be higher. I had an accident
there. They're no different than anybody
else or anything. But they're different
to you, aren't they? It doesn't make any
sense intellectually, honestly. It makes
no sense. There is no difference. I
mean, you'll see those flowers on the
side of the road, the plastic ones,
right, that people put memorial, and you
think, I'm not going to drive down that
road. It's not covered with flowers.
There's one thing over there with
flowers that one person was drunk or
something and had an accident. You don't
even know the person. You don't even
know what happened. And you're all
upset. But people die in car accidents.
They die in car accidents before you saw
those flowers and after saw the flowers.
But your mind's not bothering you. You
have to understand mind or you will
never get out. That's why I talk about
mind all the time. Why? Because that's
where you are. You're caught in that
thing and it's destroying your life and
destroying the life of everybody around
Why? Because not only do you want it to
be the way your mind wants it to be, you
want everybody to want it to be the way
your mind wants it to be. You want
everyone to behave the way your mind
You want everyone to believe in what
your mind believes in. There is nothing
special about what you believe. It's a
thought in the mind. It can change
Okay? Now getting quiet. I want you to
get quiet. I hope you get shocked and
stunned that I'm talking like this. Mind
is a place that you stored your past
experiences. And you didn't just store
them. You stored them with power, with
emotion. You stored them with this stuff
called I like and I dislike. That's why
the great Zen teachings talk about
preferences.
Now we went from you stored events.
Fine. You stored an event in your mind.
You stored that you used to swim
and you almost won the title. Something
went wrong. You should have got that.
Was that 12 years ago when you're in
high school? You stored it with that,
didn't you? You know what that means?
You didn't even store it neutral. You
even stored it as it happened. You
stored it as the effect it had on you
inside. You stored all the emotions, all
the preferences and dislikes and likes.
So far, do you understand how much
trouble you're in? It's bad enough that
you stored the thing and then
something's going to happen. It's going
to pop back up because it reminded you
of it. But you stored it with all this
power. You don't bother storing stuff
that doesn't have likes and dislikes.
Okay? And the more you like the event
and didn't like the event, the stronger
it is stored in there and the more
likely it is to come back up and the
more trouble it is to cause. Why'd you
call it trouble? What if I liked it?
You're in trouble. The example I always
use is you're in love. Young lady in
love and you met your perfect guy and oh
my god, it's so exciting and you're
waiting see
but you have a mommy who's very
materialistic. Some of them are okay.
And she told you, "Look, someday the
person you love is gonna come to you and
get down on one knee and ask you to
marry them. It better be at least be a
carrot and a half. Walk away if it's not
a carrot and a half." She could have
told you that. I know people their
parents told them stuff like that. Well,
what's going to happen now? It's going
to change your feelings. You're going to
be all excited and it's all there and
you're going to open it up and it's.3
What's the difference? It's a piece of
stone. It means nothing. But it did
inside your mind, didn't it? I made an
example that most you guys can't relate
to, I hope. Right? But you just look at
all the things you're like that with
that because you stored it positive, you
want it to happen again and it doesn't
you get what is disappointment.
Ready? You never get disappointed. There
is no such thing as disappointed. Mind
made it up. It's one of those things
mind made up. It made up that I wanted
to be a certain way. Where'd you get
that? I saw a movie. James Bond did it
and I don't know, somebody did something
that impressed me. And so I stored it
inside my mind with I like now you get
disappointed. Otherwise, there's just
events. I got events to disappoint you.
They're events in the universe. Then the
next thing that'll fight teach you all
the time. Every single place in the
universe, there's something going on.
Every single spot in Einstein's time
space continuum, there is something
going on. And what's in front of you is
just one of those. Please, please, once
do not let your mind not listen to me,
dare to open it. Is that not true?
There's just one of those events
happening in front of you. One's
happening over there. over there. Every
single place in the entire universe,
Mars, Saturn, Jupiter, galaxies, there's
something going on. Why is what's going
on in front of you any different than
any of those? Why is the event that's
happening there and not here in front of
me different from each other? They're
not. If I turn this way, then that's
that one. You're doing it. You're doing
it. Your mind is saying that event is
different. Every one of those events has
a history. If science turned its tools
toward any one of And it's doing it all
the time, by the way, toward any one of
those events, it would try to figure out
why it is the way it is. You know what
science does? Try to understand and
figure out why are things the way they
are. What's the cause and effect? What's
the previous culmination and summation
of events that took place that caused
that to be that way at that moment? Why
is a hurricane there right now? Why is
there a tornado? Why is there this? Why
is there that? That's why. It means
there's history. If there was not an
answer, there would be no science.
It's called cause and effect. That is
the foundation of all of science,
including psychology. Why'd you behave
like that at that time? Well, mommy did
this and daddy did this. I ate something
bad the night before and somebody said
something to me right before I saw you.
And what are you saying? You're saying
that every moment that's unfolding has a
reason that it's unfolding. I know you
don't like it, but is it true that every
single thing that ever happened and will
ever happen in the entire universe,
wherever it is, has a history of why it
unfolded that way. And you decided in
your mind to like it or not like it.
What does that mean? What does that
mean? Who are you? I like it.
That's a really important thing that you
like it. Give me a break.
Oh, I love you. You're laughing instead
of crying. You'll be crying when you go
I beg you. Now, what we're doing is
we're using your higher mind, your
intellectual mind, your clearer mind.
And that's not based on your past
experience. That's based on reason,
logic, intelligence, understanding,
causality. You have to be a genius. You
got one of those. It's called the
impersonal mind. The abstract mind.
Okay. Then there's this mind. It's still
mine. Still mine. Still within the realm
of that bubble. But then there is called
the personal mind. What is the personal
mind? The one that you made by holding
on to the experiences that happened in
the past that you did not let go of.
They are your personal collection,
aren't they?
Nobody else has that collection, do
they? No one has going on in their
personal mind what you have going on.
How could they? Because there's the some
of their learned experiences. Yours are
some of your learned experiences. And
every single person is different. And
they are so powerful because you store
them with power. Your intellectual mind
is open. It's open. If a true scientist
has been spending five years researching
something and finds out he missed
something and another scientist say,
"Oh, you shouldn't have gone here." He
says, "Thank you." He doesn't get
insulted. He doesn't get scared. He
don't feel embarrassed.
Why? Because it's a purely intellectual
abstract. I'm interested in truth and
understanding. It is not about me. I
don't know prizes. I don't need people
clapping. I don't need nothing. I just
want to find out why this is going on
the way it is. And if you can help me
and you win the prize, muzzle tough.
That's a scientist. No personal. See,
it's impersonal, isn't it? You can be
that way. And so basically that's in a
level of a thought, a level of mind. But
the personal mind is not like that. And
let's take a moment to talk about what
it's like. It's totally about you. what
you like, what you don't like, what
happened that you liked, what happened
that you didn't like. And you not only
say that I didn't like it, you say it
shouldn't have happened.
What is that?
&gt;&gt; It's enough that I decided how I wanted
it, but once I decided how I wanted it,
it's wrong that it happened. The cause
and effect, the whole thing about
Einstein's time space continuum that
everything is what it is based on
whatever was, it ain't what I want.
It is not what I want. Therefore, it's
wrong. You're wrong. You're wrong.
Does your mind do that? Cuz don't you
dare say no. I've been doing this for 55
years. All right. I mean, here your mind
does that. But you don't see it as your
mind. You actually see it as right.
That mind is never right. The
intellectual mind can come up with
things that are beautiful theories,
concept, views, discoveries, all
wonderful things and it can hold
although Newton was wrong, Einstein to
all right so even when they think
they're right at the intellectual level
but that's fine we're all glad right
that we went to the next level but not
the personal mind there are people whose
personal mind is as follows you're at a
party with your husband or wife or
significant other and you say something
really stupid it's just wrong you know
you just had your numbers long, right?
And people are sitting there looking at
you and you're other standing next to
you and you turn to them and say, "You
see what I'm saying, right?" There's no
way he sees what you're saying. But let
me tell you a secret. He better say,
"Yes, I see what you're saying."
Now you understand the personal mind.
You got one. And then all the junk that
will come up if he doesn't say that.
This is the human problem, isn't it? The
personal mind is absurd.
It doesn't serve any purpose. It just
causes big trouble. And if you're caught
in your personal mind, and you are, I
guarantee you, your intellectual mind is
thousands of times more powerful than
you think it is, but you're in your
personal mind.
Again, what's the personal mind? The sum
of my learned experiences, but they're
not neutral. I only kept them because
they're power packed. I labeled them
like, dislike,
really like, really don't like. Take a
breath. Are you looking at mine? Now
understand, it's just it's like taking a
fishbowl, putting it over your head, and
having the fishies swim inside.
It has an outside. It's not the whole
universe. Not even close. I already
showed you it ain't her mind. It's just
a thing that's swimming around in there.
All those little fishies you collected.
But they're very distracting, aren't
they? How distracting. You can't get
your consciousness off of them.
And that's the spiritual problem. That's
the entire spiritual problem is that
your consciousness is addicted and
that's the right word is addicted to
being distracted by what's swimming
around in there in this little tiny
area. It's so small I can't even think
about it. The little tiny area that you
call me. It's just your mind. While
you're doing that, you are lost. Doesn't
matter how smart you think you are.
Doesn't matter how right. There are
people who take position. But I'm right.
She shouldn't have done that. I can't
believe she did. I'm gonna tell every
she did that. This Whoa. But you don't
understand. I do understand very well.
It's just those little fish in there
that you stored in there and caught and
then decided they're wrong. And which
ones are right. Tomorrow, somebody will
say something to you either about her or
she'll say it that's very complimentary
and it will stop doing what it did
yesterday. It is the most fickle thing
that ever existed. the personal mind is
the fall from God, but it's not because
God's staring at it. All right? So,
God's still involved. God is staring at
those thoughts. And you think, I'm
telling you, I don't care how much I
talk to you about it. You think they're
right. You walk right out there and do
the same thing again. And don't get
embarrassed. We're just making sure you
get your bearings. Why is it that way? I
told you why it's that way. Because
events happen. Yes, events happen. They
come in. They have a vibration. You feel
them. Rattlesnakes don't feel like
butterflies. People that say nice things
to you don't feel the same as people who
dish you. But I want to make sure that's
primal. What does that mean? That means
the rattlesnake is actually a
rattlesnake. It's actually in front of
you scaring you. The person is actually
saying something nice to you,
complimenting you, and this person's
actually dissing you. What's the
difference? I'm telling you, if you be
afraid of being dissed and somebody
comes up to you, you will see them
dissing you when they're not. Yes or no?
You can't even tell. You can't tell.
Why? Because what comes in has to pass
through this garbage that you stored in
your personal mind. And it's pretty
complex, isn't it? It's got 16,000
layers on top of each other. They all
hit each other. And next thing you know,
you're scared. Have you ever been
talking to somebody and be afraid of
what they're going to say? Ever talking
to somebody and decide you know what
they said and never heard another word
they said and that was it in man. Get me
out of here. You don't know anything.
You only know what it looked like when
it passed through your stuff. Do you
know how personal your stuff is? 100%.
If you hadn't seen the movie when you
were five, you would not be thinking the
way you're thinking now. But it really
did happen. Fine. So did everything
else. I keep trying to show you that the
things that are most important to you,
you don't understand. I was driving and
I didn't do anything and the guy ran a
light and he hit me when it happened 22
years ago, but I still won't drive.
There's no way. I'm not stupid. I know
what happens. Okay. Is that rational?
Some people say, "Of course you had a
terrible accident." That's ridiculous.
People drive all the time. You drove all
the time before, but you took this one
incident, turned it into this major
mishagos that's going to run your entire
life when it's just one spot in the time
space continuum. Can you imagine what it
would be like if you didn't do that? You
could live your life.
You could actually experience the
reality of what's unfolding in front of
you on a regular process. Fine. You had
a car accident 22 years ago. So what?
It's over. But it's really important.
It's no more important than anything
else of anybody driving anywhere at any
time or any accident or non-AC ever
happened. It's a moment in Einstein's
time of space continuum that you
couldn't handle. You could not handle
that happened to you. So what did you
do? I kept it. I keep teaching you that.
I know that's the smartest thing to do.
This event bothered me more than
anything in my entire life. I'm keeping
it. It's gone. It's over. It was over 22
years ago. There's no remnants left at
all. They tore the road down and then
repay you. They build a expressway with
with with bridges all over the place.
All right. But you kept it. It only
exists in one place which is inside your
mind. Why would you do such a thing? You
answer me. Does that make sense?
Wouldn't it make much more sense if we
had our way to sit there and say
every life some rain fall? Let's go.
What's the next event? And literally be
here now. Be interfacing with the
reality that's unfolding in front of you
to the best of your ability, enjoying
it, dancing with it, interacting with
it, but not going back and storing this
garbage. That is the personal mind. All
the stuff you stored. We're so lost in
it that I would bet you that most of
psychology does not think you can't have
They think, "Oh, no. That's part of who
you are." Isn't that part of who you
Let's check it out. How'd it get in
there? Somebody walks up to you and says
something to you. You hear it. It
bothers you a little bit. for whatever
reason, it will not stay inside of you
unless you hold it.
It will come in and you will do this
thing called resist. You're in there,
aren't you? Can you resist? Do you
resist experiences, emotions, and
thoughts and things? When you resist,
that's equivalent to saying, "I'm
keeping this sucker. I'm not going to
let this pass through me. I'm not going
to let it continue its event journey
through the universe. It happened. Now
is the present. It happened. Now is the
present. I can't let it do that because
I don't want it to pass through me. I
don't want it to get closer to me. I
don't like it. I don't like what it
feels like. I do not want this inside of
me. What you're really saying is I do
not want this to have happened. You tell
me how many things that have happened
can you undo so they didn't happen. None
ever for the history of creation, nor
will it ever be. If they happen, they
happen. The question is not did they
happen. The question is can you let them
have happened or can you in their god
you the most powerful thing in the
universe you're the only thing that
matters right your ego saying no I don't
want this to have happened okay very
good you have a problem now it happened
it can't not have happened but you don't
want it to have happened now we have two
opposing forces reality and your
personal ego that sits there and says I
don't want this are you relating to this
do you do that I don't want this to
happen. Okay? Sometimes it's so fast you
don't even notice it. What you're doing
is protecting your ego from the
experience that doesn't fit it.
If you wanted it to happen, well, okay,
well, that happened, right? But if past
experiences built a self-concept, which
is that's the core of your personal mind
is your ego. Your concept of who you say
you are. I'm not somebody you can talk
to like that. You have an ego. What is
ego? collection of thoughts that you
collected that some of your learned
experiences that are deciding this is
who I am. It's not who you are. You're
looking at it just like any other part
of your mind. But when something comes
in and doesn't match that core, it's
called your self-concept. That the core
thoughts of who you think you are. I
love the fact that call it self-concept.
What is a concept? It's a concept not
reality. It's the opposite of reality.
It's a concept of reality. What is a
concept? something you made up in your
mind. So, you made up a you in there and
now an event happens that doesn't match
what you made up. It don't feel good and
you don't want it coming in there. And
so, you end up resisting it. When you
resist it, you store it. Anything you
didn't open up to let it pass is still
in there
because you resisted it. The Hoover Dam
is stopping the Colorado River from
flowing through every single minute. The
Colorado River is trying to push past
that dam. Every minute, every single
thing you ever stored in there and
didn't let pass through is trying to get
out. Just like that. Damn. Slightest
thing happened, it pops up, doesn't it?
So, you didn't even see it. Just feels
yiky down there. I just don't feel right
today. All of it is that stuff you store
down there. And you stored a lot down
there. So, you built this mind. See, not
the mind, the personal mind. It's just a
subset of that entire universe of mine.
You built this tiny little thing called
me and it made a mess. Do you have
trouble living here on this planet? The
Buddha said, "All life is suffering."
Wow, what a negative attitude.
And you know what he said? The more I
grow, the more those four noble truths,
at least the first three, the other is
the path, but they're they're
breathtaking.
What an amazing thing. All of life is
suffering. The cause of suffering is
preference.
They use the word desire. Same thing. A
preference is a desire. Desire is a
preference. I like preference better
because you can't get away with the same
desires extreme and lust and greed.
That's what you think desire is, right?
And preference, you can't get away from
that sucker. All right? The cause of
suffering is preference. What does that
mean? You have a way you want reality to
be. Therefore, you suffer.
I'm not saying what to do about it. But
do you see the truth? If you did not
make up in your mind, where did you get
an idea how reality be? You still didn't
get it from reality.
Excuse me, sir. I made it up.
&gt;&gt; Yes, you did. You made up You made up a
world inside your mind that isn't there.
and it bothers you that it's not there
and you worry and you have anxiety and
you have desires and preferences and
hopes and dreams and all kinds of things
that are about what you made up. Again,
I I hate to do this but say pop your
bubble. People say hopes are spiritual.
I'm giving you some room. If you're
depressed and you have no hope in life,
hope is very spiritual. If you're not
that broken, what is hope? What is hope?
I hope someday it'll be the way I want.
When was last time you hoped it wouldn't
What are your dreams? I dream someday
the world will be the way I want. It's
still based on the eye. Somebody else
has totally different hopes. So, it's
totally different dreams and they think
they're just as right as yours are. So,
Buddha's right. The cause of all
suffering is that you did this thing and
make up in this world of openness of
mind a world. Yeah. Did you or did you
not make up a world inside your mind the
way you want it to be? Does it always
end up like that?
&gt;&gt; Come on, look at me. I like we're having
now a discussion. Right. So you use this
memory bank, this storage bank to make
up this thing of called your concept of
how things should be. If they're not
that way, you suffer. If they are that
way, you get excited. So what do you do
with your entire life? Now we're going
to define your entire life. I try to
make it be the way I want. I try to make
sure it's not the way I don't want. I
try my best to make the moments
unfolding in front of me be the way I
want them to be. And I try my best to
make sure they're not the way I don't
want them to be. Which moments, the
Einstein, time, space, continuum moments
that are the result of everything that
ever happened coalesing together in
every one of those moments. I wonder how
good I'll do trying to make every moment
be the way I want it to be. How you done
so far? Even when you get it the way you
want it to be, you worry it'll stop,
don't you? Or better yet, you change
your mind.
I'm not sure I should have married you.
I don't feel like I thought I would have
been. I got a midlife crisis. I thought
by now if I have the kids and the thing
and the station wagons and the job and
these things that I would feel happy,
but I don't. I somehow my concept of
what I wanted wasn't right. I'm going to
go drop out and they do that. Isn't that
what a midlife crisis is? The one I made
up didn't work.
Can you make up another one? I tell you,
that's my favorite. When someone says,
"No, don't leave. Don't leave. I'm so
sorry. I can be different. I swear I can
be different. Just tell me how you want
me to be. In other words, you made
yourself up and you can make up a new
one if you're scared enough. You hear
me? So, the cause of suffering is
because you made up a concept in your
mind of how reality should be. And it's
not that way. And so, to end suffering
is not to try and make it be the way you
want it to be. How about the third noble
truth? to end suffering and preference.
But that's way too strong. You got freak
out over that sucker. You know, I can't
handle that. Well, what you mean? I
shouldn't know anything. I just sit
there and let everything happen, not do
anything. No, it didn't say that.
You can't even imagine what a world
without your personal mind looks like.
You know what it looks like? Perfection.
Why? Because that's what it is. It is
every moment unfolding in accordance to
the laws of everything. In the moment
that it's unfolding and you not
resisting a single thing, interacting
with it, participating with it, serving
it, helping it be the best that it can
be. That's a saint. That's an
enlightened great being. There is no
personal motive. There is no personal
concepts or views or hopes or dreams.
Why would there be? They're not storing
that garbage, but that doesn't mean they
don't participate. They're the ones who
truly participate because they're not
participating for themselves, which is
so tiny, it's ridiculous. Why are there
wars? Cuz we're all participating for
ourselves. And none of us agree. Do we?
Just read the news. Do we all agree how
it's supposed to be? Yes or no? Don't
you all agree the way it is now? And
you're going to say no, but you all mean
for different reasons.
And tomorrow you'll have another one.
There's not a chance
John Lenn has to come back. Imagine all
the people. Yeah. Imagine all you want.
That's also mine because it ain't gonna
happen. It is not gonna happen while
you're doing what I'm talking to you
about. Well, you're storing inside your
mind the sum of your learned experiences
and tagging them as I want, I don't
want, and then going out there trying to
make them happen. You're at war. You're
at war with everybody and everything,
including your spouse and your children,
cuz you have a way you want them to be.
You made this up with your mind. Use
your brilliant intellectual mind that
can discover things and create things
and said, "Oh, intellectual mind, don't
create air conditioning. Don't fly to
the moon. Don't fix medicine." All
right? Just come on down here and figure
out what I want and how to get it. And
that is your personal mind. And it uses
your intellect to do it. It comes up
with plots and plans and concept. I once
taught it something like that. Like what
does it what does it really look like
when you're sitting to work with your
mind? The first thing it says is what's
my motive? I have to have a motive.
What's my How about this? What's my
objective there? Nice and neutral. Do
you have an objective? What you want to
happen today? Objective. What you want
to happen over your life? I have an
objective. Okay, very good. I something
I made up. Yeah, I don't have to have an
objective. Life's going to do it and
I'll participate. But I made up me. Me.
Just this little thing that 8.3 billion
of you running around at the same time.
But mine was matters. I made one up.
Okay, good. And you're just on one
little planet. No matter what the rest
of the universe that you're what you
made up has nothing to do with. Do you
understand what you made up has nothing
to do with anybody else or any other
place in the whole universe? It's just
about you. So you made up a strategy
about what I want what I want to happen.
But you know it's not happen by itself.
So the next thing your mind does aside
from making up a strategy about you, it
makes up tactics. That's a military
Strategy and tactics. When I first saw
that, I said, "That's the army. Go go go
study West Point. You'll find out about
strategy and tactics." What are my
tactics? Well, I can dress really nice
and a thing. I can diss her and make him
not like her by saying really negative
thing. Let's see. I could drive. That's
your tactic about how to get your
strategy the way you want. Anybody got
any of those? Anybody find themselves
thinking about that kind of stuff?
There. I hope you're embarrassing. I
want you to blush, but I don't want you
to be embarrassed. I just want you to
wake up. While you are doing that, you
will never be okay. You can momentarily
get what you want and for a moment feel
good. Somebody likes you, somebody
apologizes, they can work at it. Doesn't
at all because of what I told you. This
thing that's going on in your personal
mind is a mess and has nothing to do
with reality. And you're not going to
control reality. Ain't it funny? I'm a
nice Jewish yogi. And I said this and I
heard not my will but thy will be done.
Who said that? Oh, one of the highest
means to walk the face of the planet.
What does that mean? Not my will but thy
will be done. When he went up there
before they arrested him, he was
praying. He said, "May I pass this cup?"
And what did he say? No. I'm sorry. Not
my will but thy will. Let it be
reality's way. Right. Really the story.
Is it not true that when Judas was going
to go out there and turn him in, he
walked over and kissed Judas in the
cheek and said, "Go do what you must do.
This is what must unfold." And he was
willing to live from the impersonal
And it's pretty neat stuff, isn't it?
Guess what? Buddha did the exact same
thing. And all the great beings did the
exact same thing. What is it called? Die
to be reborn. What do you mean die? Die
of the personal self. to reborn and what
we haven't talked we talked about the
intellectual self we haven't talked
about beyond mind you do not have to
live in your mind but in order to not
live in your mind you can't run away
from it that would just be mind telling
you oh I'll drop out I don't get married
I'll renounce every that's mine doing
the same stuff what you have to be
willing to do is look at that's why
witness consciousness is the big step
are you willing to watch your mind your
personal mind. We've talked about it. I
kind of made you look at a little bit
here, didn't I? Are you willing to look
at it, realize, whoa, that thing's got
problems. It thinks it's the center of
the universe. It thinks things should be
the way it wants them to be. And every
way it wants to be, just made up, and it
could change it in a minute, in a
second. And it starts watching that. You
start noticing that, and you don't go in
there and fight with it and renounce and
do this kind of stuff. You just start
seeing it and it starts looking not so
good. It starts looking like it's the
risk. That's what I got and I've lived
it for a very I'm not perfect but I live
for a very long time. The risk listen to
me. I've never said this to you. The
risk of not listening to it is way less
than the risk of listening to it. And I
saw that a long time ago. It just makes
a mess out of everything. It gets
embarrassed. It gets ashamed. It gets
scared. It gets self-conscious. It
doesn't like itself and then loves
itself. Doesn't like itself. It looks at
everybody else as a mirror of who it is.
If somebody likes you, oh, I'm good. If
somebody doesn't like you, I'm no good.
It has nothing to do with you. It has to
do with them. The only reason anybody
wouldn't like you is because they have
something inside themselves that doesn't
do okay with you.
Where'd that come from? Somebody else
could love you to pieces. Okay, people
like stray dogs and cats. Other people,
oh my god, get the dog catcher. Some of
you learn experiences. And so you end up
watching it and realizing the greatest.
You don't realize which part's right or
wrong. You just look at the whole thing.
That's what I'm trying to get you to do.
Look at the whole fishbowl and every one
of those fish swimming in there and
saying, "I don't think so." That's where
you get I don't think so. I don't think
I'm going to live my life by listening
to any one of those fish that swims by
at any given moment and then something
else bumps into it and says something
else and no nope. Nope. There. Now
you're ready. Now you're ready. That's
where you're ready for spiritual growth.
Does it mean it went away? No, it does
not mean it went away. You are addicted
to looking at that. You have to go
through withdrawal. The self, the
consciousness has to be willing to go
through withdrawal of being all involved
and every one of those things are
swimming by and thinking it matters if
somebody likes you or doesn't like you
or if you think you don't even care if
somebody likes you or doesn't like you.
You care if you think they don't like
you. You care if you think that somebody
doesn't like you because this other
person didn't like you that somebody
told I don't even get it. It's too
complicated for me. It's crazy living in
there. You don't want to live in there,
do you? It's not like you want to live
in there and fix it. You're not going to
fix it. There no fixing that sucker. So,
some of your learned experiences and you
tagged it with what you like and what
you don't like and you're running around
trying to make it work and not work and
you're worried and anxious and all kinds
of where's anxiety come from? It might
not be the way I want. That's anxiety.
It might be the way I don't want. That's
anxiety. Don't worry. It won't be the
way you want and it will be the way you
don't want.
Well, then it's a game of most of the
time. How many times can it give us the
way I want? Go on. Compromise. All
right. Then ruin your life. No, this
thing is unnecessary.
The ego is unnecessary.
Life will unfold without you. Don't
worry. Your heart will beat. Your lungs
will go in and out. The planet will
orbit. Babies will get made out of
fertilized little cells. The DNA knows
what it's doing.
800 billion zillion trillion things are
doing it by themselves and you're trying
to make I don't want to see it on my
face when I go to the prom that's pretty
little I don't want him to dance with
her more than 3 minutes if you dance
more than 3 minutes I'm going to get
jealous how small did we make this thing
but yet everything else happening by
itself and you just wake up and you say
I don't want to be like this there
that's when you woke up well what do I
do suppress it suppression doesn't work
suppression doesn't work it stays in
That's what you did to be in there. You
suppressed it. Renounce. Renunciation.
No, no, no, no, no, no. In order to have
to renounce it, you already tagged it as
good or bad. You already decided, I want
it, but I don't want to want it. Robert
used to talk about that. Okay, I must
want it or I wouldn't want to renounce
it. And I want it really bad. You don't
renounce the white lines in the road.
You don't renounce all kinds of things.
The only thing you think you're supposed
to renounce are the things you want. So
now you have this thing you want really
bad and you think the answer is to
announce it. If you have to step back
from it and hold it back because you're
so addicted to it that you're going to
make a mess out of yourself and
everybody else, by all means, but that
is not a strategy of getting out of your
personal mind to renounce it. Can you
see that? All you're doing is pushing it
away. You still must want it, although
you don't have to renounce it. All
right? So it's deeper. I want you to get
the deep. What is the deepest? Why did I
store this stuff to start with? If it's
the stuff I stored that's making me want
and not want based on some of my learned
experiences,
maybe I better stop putting stuff in
there on a momentto- moment basis
because it's a bear to carry that stuff
in there. And maybe if it wants to come
up, I better help it come up. Maybe it's
about cleansing, about letting go of not
having that stuff in there. And I had
one minute to close out with technique.
There's your technique. That's your
liberation. All the other things you'll
play around with. When it's said and
done, you're in there and you'll see
that it still resists and it's still
cling clinging if you like it and
resisting if you don't like it. While
you're doing that, you're just storing
more. You put more fish in the fishbowl.
So, are you willing to on a daily basis,
moment to moment, watch the tiny little
things? I don't like what she said. I
don't like what she's wearing. I like
that he didn't say hello to, you know,
just the tiny little things. Notice that
you used to store those because they
used to come back up. They formed your
opinion about somebody that's not. Are
you willing to take a breath and say, "I
don't want to store it." Are you capable
of not storing it? Yes. But you have to
learn how to. You just relax during the
process of resistance. You'll see it
start to resist or cling. Relax. Oh, you
will want to get that straight. I don't
care how much I talk to you. You will
not want to. Just like a drug addict.
They're trying to stop the drug, but
they will not want to not do it. Right?
There's no way I can make them not want
the drug. Do you understand that? You
have to be willing to say, "It's bigger
than what I want right now. I want to
experiment with not storing at least one
of these suckers. All right. Okay. It's
hot out. I am not going to complain.
Why? It's fun. It's hot. So what? Let
go. Relax. Don't resist. Let it come all
the way in. And touch you and pass.
You're going to find out it can pass
through. It will pass through if you
don't touch it. And then bigger things
happen. And then your old stuff starts
coming up all by myself. Do I need a
therapist? There's nothing wrong with a
therapist. I'm gonna tell you right now,
you know who your best therapist is?
Life. Why? It's gonna hit your stuff.
Don't use a therapist. There's nothing
wrong with therapist. But I'm g tell you
right now, if you go out there into the
world of life, you're getting hit. It
will find out where your stuff. Yes or
no? Does life find out where your stuff
&gt;&gt; Doesn't even take a second, does it?
There you go. There's your therapist.
The question isn't that. Are you willing
to let it go? And eventually, you will
reach the point where the answer is yes.
I want to know what it's like to live in
here without this stuff in here. I would
love to be liberated. That's what
liberation means. Free free of this this
attraction and addiction to myself. And
when you do that, now we'll close out.
What happens as you let go? The personal
mind dissolves. There's no reason for it
to be there. It doesn't have those
preferences. It honors the heat. It
honors the cold. I once taught somebody,
it's not that the great way is not
difficult for those have no preferences.
It's also true that the great way is not
typical of those who prefer everything.
They prefer everything. It's like having
no preferences. Good. Do it that way.
Just say how much you like the he like
how look at him. He came over here. He
said something really mean to me. I love
it. Now it goes right through. So there
is your understanding of mine. You got a
better understanding. It's a thing and
you're staring at it. It's not you. You
don't have to stare at it and it doesn't
have to be there. But that's work.
That's deep spiritual work. Well, that's
the purpose of your life is liberation.
And eventually you will touch places
where that mind's not there. You got
outside the fishbowl. And the
intellectual mind is not driven like the
personal mind. And the next thing you
know it will be quiet.
Some people call it the voice of the
silence. You know, it's just the voice
of the stillness, the voice of silence.
What does that mean? You will know what
to do. Not intellectually,
not personally. You'll just be in
harmony with the unfolding of the
moments in front of you. Just like a
rattlesnake gives off a vibration, the
moment gives off a vibration. You
literally, and I have to stop, you will
get to the point where if you go to eat
something, you listen to me. If you're
still and you're quiet, you're not
making all this commotion, you'll reach
out there to take something, your entire
energy system will shut down.
Don't eat that. How do animals know how
to not eat poison things? You don't see
dead animals lying over the place. How
do they know sense? It's not psychic.
You just you're in harmony. You're in
harmony with the vibration of things.
Everything has a vibration. I don't like
to call it psychic. It's natural, right?
The every moment is giving up a
vibration. You would have to worry
somebody's lying to you. One, you
wouldn't even care because you have no
objectives. And two, you will know
they're not telling the truth. So, what
do you do about it? Run away? No. Be
quiet. Understand? Let that be a factor
of how you're making your decisions.
Wait. Do you see how well you do?
Especially if you're not living off your
personal self or your personal
reactions. Okay. Do we have a nice talk?
Do you understand mind, ego mind,
personal mind and no mind? Just
openness. openness. You're receptive.
Okay. Very good. Chiff.
You've been listening to the Michael
Singer podcast produced by Sounds True
in partnership with Shanti Publications.
For more information on Michael's body
of work and all back episodes, please
join us at michaelelsingerpodcast.com.
Thanks so much for listening. Sounds
true. Waking up the world.
← All Summaries
Watch on YouTube