E167: The Real Meaning of Life—Inner Evolution

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Michael Singer: Jai guru dev, jai masters. What does it mean to live a truly meaningful life?

The way I’ll call it worldly people, but I really don’t make a distinction, is you’re successful. What does it mean to be successful? You have a good relationship, good finances. You have a career, people are impressed with you. That’s called a pretty good life until you wake up and you realize it ain’t gonna last.

It doesn’t ever last. If nothing else, you get old, you can’t do it anymore, you may even die, and you just get a bigger view of what it means to be born here on the planet Earth. It can’t possibly mean that you have a lot of money. Why? Because you’ll not have a lot of money when you die. Maybe your kids will, right?

But you will not. Period. The, the Pharaohs tried it, didn’t they? Come on. They built these pyramids. They buried their wives and everybody, their dogs and cats inside. So they’ll go home to what? Heaven with ’em. The grave robbers did real well with that because then that stuff went anywhere because a bunch of bones pay attention.

Well, what about relationships? They’re really beautiful. They certainly are. And when you die though, we like to talk about the fact that they last forever and so on. Certainly the physicality of it does not transcend death. And we can talk about. How we like to think about it. Okay, but that’s not what we’re talking about tonight.

We’re talking about what does it mean to have a really meaningful life if it ends when you die. I don’t know what to say. I mean, some people say he would die, is the most toys wins? I doubt it. They just die. So what we call a meaningful life, people of the world is ready. I didn’t suffer too much. I was happy during the time that I was here.

Okay. I built a building in my name. They’re not gonna know your name later. I said, how many people’s names do we know thousands of years ago? You’re not leaving it behind. Do you understand that If your ego so big that you think you named a building after you or you donated to a charity. And they used your name that somehow that made your life meaningful.

That’s not the meaning of life. It comes and it goes. They all came and went. What is the meaning of life? You are born and you’re going to die In between that period of time, you have problems. You have problems. I don’t wanna list them. Because there’s lots of ones you can have, alright? And you struggle, what to call it suffering.

You struggle to be okay. I wouldn’t even call it struggle and not have problems. You do have problems, but you struggle to be okay. Some people say the best you can do with your problems is cope. To me, a cope is a four letter word. ’cause you can do a lot better, but they cope. They say distract yourself.

You can have a nice relationship. You can do something, you can get, be proud of your kids. You can do all these things, but they’re conditional. If the kids don’t behave the way you expect them to, if they don’t go to the college, they want them to if they don’t support you when they get older. Some people really have kids.

They have kids, so the kids will support them. It doesn’t, sounds strange, does it? In our country it’s kinda strange ’cause they won’t do it anyways, but it, there’s just all these traditions, all these things that try to give meaning to life that basically says, I wanna be okay. That’s what I wanna do with my life.

I want to be okay. I may just be marginally, okay. I may be better than the rest in terms of having a good relationship or having finance and so on. But I guarantee you the richest people in the world, we’re very blessed. Now with the web and everything we see, we get to meet the richest people in the world.

You sure wanna change places. They look like much fun. They suffer, they’re defensive, they are afraid of what people think about them. Anybody see that? Do you see that they still have problems? Lots of problems. Do they do drugs? Do they drink? Do they constantly try to get acceptance and accolades? Well, why?

I thought money is the answer to all things. You got tons and tons, so much money. You down enough zeros, alright? It doesn’t matter, does it? I am telling you, if you are the richest man in the world in Forbes last year and number two this year, it bothers you. I’m glad you’re laughing ’cause it’s true. Okay.

There’s nothing wrong with these things. That’s what happens. People take extremes. They say, well, that’s the meaning of life. No, it’s not. You should renounce money and renounce relationships that you know, have the two extremes, neither one. How can the meaning of life be not to do anything, or how can the meaning of life to be?

I visited every country almost. I haven’t got ’em all on my bucket list. What are you saying? You are limiting the meaning to such little bit of time and space and events and it doesn’t ever work the way you expect it to anyways. Do you understand that? They don’t stand together for the kids? But I’m not saying there’s nothing wrong with these things.

There’s nothing wrong with having money. There’s nothing wrong with having children. There’s nothing wrong with having a good relationship. There’s nothing wrong with having a name in the building, right? But it’s not the meaning of life ’cause it’s transient. Comes and goes, and you have to work hard to keep it, by the way.

So it’s not the meaning of life. If you’re living for your ego, you’re living to not get bothered. The ego is always getting bothered. You understand that If you’re accepted by the whole crowd thinks you’re great and they clap, then you go to another concert. If they don’t clap, you’re bothered. There’s no end to ego.

Look at me. It’s not like, okay, I made it. No, there’s not such a thing. Alright, so now we’re gonna talk about how to find the true meaning of life now that we laid some groundwork. Okay? Why is there ego? Because I discuss this all the time. To me, there are 8.3 billion people on planet Earth right now.

You’re one of 8.3 billion butt. You don’t like when I say that, do you? Okay, I’m special. You’re the same as the rest of them. It came out of a womb, all right? And you ended up on walking around the planet trying to be okay. And you need to die. You don’t wanna die. You just like everybody else be. You breathe air your heartbeats, things happen.

Ego is formed as follows. You don’t know who you are. You say, I’m Sally Wilson. You know that’s a label and name that somebody gave you. It’s not who you are. I’m the person that had this experience and that experience and this experience. No, you’re not. You’re the person that had the experience. You’re not the experience.

You would still exist that that experience didn’t happen. Is it true that any experience that ever happened in your life, if it didn’t happen, you would still exist? That’s not who you are as something you define yourself as. I had this experience. I played this piano at Carnegie Hall when I was five.

That’s who I am. Well, you’re 55 now and your fingers don’t even work anymore, but that’s who I am. I’ll show you the article. In other words, I don’t know who I am, but I’ve defined myself either in ways I don’t like people do that. You hear me? Don’t they? They get all depressed and I’m a terrible person. I did this, I did that.

Right? Or they define themselves a wonderful person. You’re defining yourself ’cause you don’t know who you are. You’re back in there trying to be somebody that you can live with, that people will accept. Is acceptance a big deal? Do you like being rejected? Okay. Accepted as a big deal. And you don’t like being rejected ego.

What does that mean? It means I defined something. I’m not. Ego is called a self-concept. Something you made up. Even psychology calls it your self-concept, a concept of yourself. That’s not the self, but you made this up in your mind and now you’re presented to people. This is who I am, but if they don’t like it, I can change.

I can change. Tell ’em what you want. In other words, you just made the stupidest stuff out and then you devote your life. You are saying the meaning of your life is to be accepted, to be loved people, think highly of you, and so on and so forth, and yet you just realize you’re not willing to admit it. You made something up and you can change anytime you want.

The meaning of your life is self-realization. You just get it all outta here once and all. What do you mean you’re not your ego? You know that your ego is like a mass that you created in your mind and emotions that you hold out in front of the self, in front of who you are and you put it out there and say, please like me.

Please accept this. Please don’t mind that I burped. Please don’t mind that what I wore didn’t match the party. Please don’t mind. It’s okay. I’ll change. Wait I’m home and change yes or no. That’s hiding who you are. You are in there afraid. You’re in there ins, I don’t wanna say in there insecure. That which is in there, doesn’t know anything about insecure or anything like that.

It’s just lost. The self is lost. It doesn’t know who it is. It got drop down into this body. Ah, what the heck? And it’s trying to process it. And the way it does it is by building a concept of self. And that’s what it builds and it maintain the entire life. Your concept of self has changed throughout your life.

Used to like Barbie, you used to like your first husband. Now you don’t. You’re making it up along the way for what to try to be. Okay. I’m just trying to be okay. That’s what you’ve made the meaning of your life. I’m trying to be okay and if I can ensure my money and I can get marriage vows and all kinds of things that guarantee me that what I have, I’ll keep.

You like that, don’t you? You don’t like the idea that you, you manage to achieve something and then it goes away? No, no, no, no, no. Can’t go away. So what we’re trying to do with our life is to be okay. That’s all I can tell you. That’s the best you can label it. I have a beautiful relationship and he died, or he left me with my best friend.

Now how are you doing? Ah, so you’re not okay. You are what’s called conditionally. Okay. How’s that? If conditions match what your ego likes and wants you feel, okay, but you know it won’t stay that way. Every one of you knows in that that’s what insecurity is. The fact that, you know, that’s fake. It can go away at any point, can’t it?

So what’s the meaning of your life? I told you. Behind this whole mess, behind all this noise, behind all these thoughts, behind all these emotions, behind all these attempts to be, okay, there’s a consciousness that’s in there. Aware of what’s going on. The problem is it’s so intense what’s going on, the fears, the anxieties, the desires, et cetera, et cetera, that the consciousness gets absorbed into them and you end up being a fake you.

If you ever sat down and had true therapy, it would take three minute for you to understand your fake. Somebody says, no, I’m perfectly happy with my life. Okay, what if your wife leaves you tomorrow? Why did you say that? She would never leave me? She’s not. Okay. You’re conditionally. Okay. Fair enough. I’m being tough when you’re right.

You’re conditionally. Okay. So that’s the meaning of your life, to be conditionally, okay? To go out there and manipulate people, places, and things. So they match what you made up that you are. You worry about it. You have trouble sleeping at night. You wake up in the morning. What’s it like when you wake up in the morning?

Oh boy. I am back. I don’t think so. Oh my God. Did I really say that yesterday? Do I have to face that? Oh, I don’t want to face that. I won’t go to work today. No. Nobody can relate. Have you ever had a conversation with somebody, even a friend, and when you walked away, your mind didn’t stop? Conversations. Oh, I should have said that.

I can’t believe I didn’t say that. I can’t believe I said that. In other words, you’re not okay. You’re trying to make yourself be okay by making the meaning of your life to manipulate and control the outside environment when it comes in so that you feel okay inside. But that’s tough, isn’t it? That’s, that’s a lot of work.

Creates a lot of tension and anxiety. That’s not the meaning of your life. That’s why you are not even close. So what’s the meaning of life? I told you self-realization. What does that mean? Take a different tact. I’ve quoted you time and time again. I read it back in the early seventies. Once Earth is a place that souls are sent to evolve again.

Earth is a place that so are sent to evolve. Maybe mores is, no, I don’t think so. Jupiter Saturn, how about a galaxy far Afro? We don’t know, right? All I know is y’all are going through some stuff down here, aren’t you? Maybe the meaning of life isn’t to avoid the stuff, but to grow through it. Go to school, being 11th grade, you know, taking geometry or taking an algebra and just say, if I can get this, I’ll be fine for the rest of my life.

And then you realize like, I got it. I got the A. No, it’s got the A. Right? Well, don’t go to calculus. Uh oh. That’s a stupid thing to do because we’re trying to do is be okay. Yeah, we’re okay with that. A. In algebra, aren’t you? So, so stay behind, stay back, take it over and over again. That’s what you’re trying to do with your life.

You want the relationship to stay the way you wanted it to be. You want your job to stay the way you want it to be. You want your finances to stay. You want it to be, you want your health to stay the way you want it to be. You want your body to not age so much, right? And you start realizing this can’t be, it’s not the meaning of life.

To try to be okay like that, to try to make the conditions outside match what you decided inside. So then what does it mean that earth is a place of so sin to evolve and you start stepping back and I hope you do. And you realize I have problems. Guess whose problems they are Mine. Guess why I have problems?

Because I define life as a problem. I said that if I’m practicing the piano and I go to do a recital when I’m six years old and I make a mistake, that’s wrong, that shouldn’t happen. I did something wrong, so I better not do that, and I better not think about that ever again as opposed to playing the piano is an evolutionary experience.

You start with the scales and you’re going to make mistakes. Otherwise don’t bother unless there’s some prodigy that just comes outta the womb that way. Okay? But that’s our not our norm. So basically, you come down to evolve in the world of piano, is to play the scales and do what? Get better at it. Why do you get better at it?

Because I think every one of you understand the practice doesn’t make it perfect. Practice makes you better. How’s that? Don’t say practice. It makes you perfect that that’s an ego thing, but practice will always make you better, will it not In a sport and an instrument, anything. If you practice, you get better.

That is evolution in that field. You’re getting better at it. Okay? What does it mean that earth is places supposed to evolve? You’re getting better at evolving. Not to evolved. Don’t do. That is a place that you were sent here to evolve. You’re not supposed to be evolved. You’re sent here to evolve. What does it mean to evolve?

It means adaptability. Just like Darwin said. It means the ability to handle the situations that life presents you. If you’re not good at handling the situation that life presents you, how are you doing? You’re freaking out and soon is everybody around you. Let’s say you get better at handling these situations, you have evolved.

You’re a very jealous person. You’ve been that way since third grade when somebody hurt you and Randolph with your other friend and you’ve carried that. Now you’re in a relationship in college and you’re very possessive and you’re sitting there being afraid of getting hurt again. And you’re being jealous and you’re where you been and, and maybe you hire a detective to check to make sure she’s been raised, been right.

Don’t laugh, they do it. You know what I’m saying? Okay. Well that’s not very evolved in the field of relationship emotions. So you have to be very possessive. You have to be very controlling. It’s a problem, is it not? It’s a problem for you and it’s a problem for the other person. Evolution means that you change by going through the situations.

You’re put through, you’re playing the piano. You evolve by practicing. You’re playing tennis. You evolve by practicing. You’re dealing with jealousy, with insecurity. You evolve by practicing the relationship to be able to get past that. How does that sound? That’s evolution. Earth is a place of soul central to evolve.

But you say that if I feel jealousy, somebody’s doing something wrong. If I feel insecure about my finances, it’s not fair. It’s not right. I didn’t do anything wrong. Some people have money and I don’t, as opposed to every single situation that life presents to me. Notice I didn’t say that life that you do with life, you are in control of life.

You have a heart attack tomorrow, you lose all your finances. You’re, oh, you’re gonna age, you’re gonna get sick. All kinds of things are go on. You’re not asking for those. You don’t get to write the script of your life. Evolution means that you can handle reality. That’s what evolution means. What is reality?

Open your eyes. It’s in front of you, but it’s not fair. I didn’t say anything about fear. I didn’t say anything about just, I said anything about right, wrong. A hurricane’s, right? Are they wrong? Are tornadoes right or wrong? It’s birthright death wrong. What are you doing? You’re taking human concepts that were built with the ego and you’re saying, if I’m gonna be okay, things better be fair.

Who define fair me? But somebody else doesn’t define fair like you are. They’re wrong. Okay, so I painted a picture of ego in there. Evolution is getting past that. Evolution is realizing, wait a minute, I’m not so evolved in here. I can’t handle things really well. If they’re happening, I can’t handle ’em. And if they’re not happening, I worry that someday they will.

And if they did happen and they’re done happening, I’m still bothered by the fact that they happened. Well, that’s quite evolved. You can’t not only handle the realities in front of you, you can’t handle the one that you make up. It hadn’t happened yet. You make up a future that bothers you and you can’t handle the one that already happened.

’cause you say no, I can’t handle what happened. Well, no wonder a mass evolution means working at that level period. Under all circumstances at all times. We’ll get more into detail ’cause I know it’s scary because it’s so different than the way we live. We live to try to make it so nothing happens that bothers us, don’t we?

Whereas the bothering means there’s something in there needs to evolve. I don’t want the piano teacher coming because I’m making mistakes. I don’t want her to see me. Uh, I think you got it wrong. I think they want, see why you’re making the mistakes and help you evolve. Help me get better. That goes for everything.

But that’s not how we look at it, do we? I don’t want happening. Which makes me uncomfortable and I, I want happening, which makes me comfortable. I’ve now painted a scope of life that is so small, I don’t want it to rain tomorrow. I don’t want my husband to not call me when he’s supposed to, or, or whatever.

I’m, I get concerned if it’s 10 minutes late, you know, I need you to call on time. I, I get concerned. I don’t know what happened to you. Maybe you got killed, maybe you got a, okay. We’re very evolved. We can’t handle a 10 minute late on a phone call and you start noticing, I want you to compare it against a sport.

Compare it against an instrument. Are you willing to evolve in the sport? Of course I am. I have a coach. I do things. I practice, I go work out. Are you willing to evolve in in an instrument? Yes, of course. I have a teacher and I, I go and I practice. Are you willing to evolve period? Evolve. You evolve your inner state, evolve your heart, evolve your mind, evolve your being.

That’s the meaning of life evolution. So what does that mean? It means. That you catch on, which I hope you do with the teachings you catch on that life is not supposed to be what I want. I don’t want the piano teacher to come in and say, when you’re playing, do Remi Faso latte do, and you hit a raw at the wrong time.

We’ll just change the scale. So you’re right. No, that’s not what it’s about. It’s not about making it be the way you want it to be. So there’s two aspects. Um, we’re talking tough. Okay. There’s two aspects to realizing that life is not supposed to be the way you want it to be. One aspect is why is life the way it is?

Well, I, I’m not gonna the lecture ’cause I’ve done it before. There’s this law called cause and effect. Things happen that cause the next thing to happen or 40 things happen and they coalesce together to create the next moment. That’s what’s going on. That’s nothing to do with you. I said, do with physics and science and psychology and weather and meteorology to do with science.

It has to do with the reality of what’s unfolding in life. But no, I was supposed to be in charge. Are you in charge of what’s happening on Mars? You in charge of what’s happening in Timbuktu. You’re in charge of happening next door. You’re in charge of squat. You didn’t make believe that stuff’s under your control.

Yeah, but the little dot right there in front of you that a little tiny little dot I told you, 1.3 million Earth inside the sun, 1.3 million, the entire Earth and everybody on it fit inside the sun, and it’s one of 300 billion suns stars in your galaxy. What exactly are you in control of? How about nothing.

Except for the part that you decided you wanna be in control of. ’cause you can’t handle it the way it is. I told you once you are 99% enlightened. I. If enlightened means the ability to handle life, handle everything, and be free liberated to enjoy the experience of life. 99% of every single thing that passed through your sensors throughout your life made it right through the trees, the white lines in the road, the clouds, the people talking at your own.

No, you’re taking a lot of stuff. It’s making it right through, isn’t it? One person saying one word at the wrong time, it ain’t going anywhere. That’s that 0.1%. But stayed was the parts you can’t handle. In other words, the parts are not evolved enough to handle there. I I said it to you, right? If Earth is a place that’s socent to evolve, don’t ask me where you need to evolve the parts.

You’re worried that they might happen, the parts you can’t handle. ’cause they did happen. That’s not evolved. That’s not evolved. That’s basically saying there are things I can’t handle on a tiny little planet spin in the middle of nowheres for a few years. Come on guys, you know you’ll be here for 80, 90 years.

How long has the planet been here? 4.5 billion. How much room you take up? How can you make yourself the center of the universe? That’s ego. I am. What matters? No, you’re not. You want of 8.3 billion on here right now, and that’s the tiny planet and there’s hundreds of billion. Oh, wake up. No. No, you can’t. Why?

Because there are things that happen on this planet on a daily basis. Forget the planet, the things that happen in front of you, in front of you, within your frame of reference on this planet. That you’re not okay with, which causes you to be manipulative and controlling to have fears and anxieties and desires.

People don’t like my including desires in that. What a desire I have made up inside of me a way I want the world to unfold in front of me. How’s that for a definition? Because he ain’t get the same one. She ain’t get the same one. No one’s got the same one. Okay, but you’re proud of your desires. They would wake me up in the morning.

In other words, you’re not okay and you’re trying to create a world that makes you be okay and you devoted your life to this thing that just comes and goes. You’re not evolving. It’s the same thing with your fears. Yes, if a lion jumps on you, it, it’s absolutely natural to feel fear. It’d be stupid not to, but if somebody didn’t say hello, who you thought looked like someone you knew once.

The fact that that’s bothering you for three days, that is not very evolved or the fear. That somebody told something that I said once five years ago when I was in high school. Did she tell her that I had said that about her? Now I’m so scared. Should I ask her? No, maybe it didn’t happen. This would remind her that it happened.

I don’t know what to do. Come neurotic. Have I come close to what it’s like to live in there? It’s not very evolved, is it? If evolution means what Darwin said, adaptability to your environment. We are not doing so well. Physiologically. We do very well. But psychologically you never very evolved. I’ll paint the comparison.

There’s pictures hanging on this wall. You, you may not get to know any of these guys. Alright? If you read their life story, if you come in harmony with ’em, you realize. They’re evolved. They’re evolved. They have faced situations. They would’ve thrown anyone for a total loop. They handled exactly the same as Drew White lives on the road.

Oh, that’s what a realized being is they’ve realized who they are. They are not this mess that we collected inside of ourselves. This ego that has to have everything exactly the way we want, and they’re called liberated. MTA a liberated soul. Do I know that each one of them as high as the other? I don’t know.

I don’t care. They are very evolved. From every tradition, I want every tradition, right? Obviously not gonna every evolved being, but you, you symbolically, there’s a Buddha, there’s a Islam, there’s each, he says different things. Alright? There are great beings, very high. The Sufis, oh my God, the great Sufi masters from the Islam tradition.

Very fully evolved, enlightened beings and so on. And so it’s a state that you could reach. That is the purpose of your life. Earth is a place of social sin to evolve. How are you doing in most people’s cases? You’re doing every single thing you can to not evolve. Listen to me. You’re doing everything you can to see what used to hurt you and bother you and make sure it doesn’t happen again.

Not can I learn from it, not can I learn that the next time that comes around, I’m better off. I did better. I grew. You made me cry because I’m talking to you seriously. You understand that? I grew from the situation. Somebody died who I love. Am I supposed to be joyous? Of course, you’re not supposed to be joyous.

It’s sad, it hurts. There’s a sense of loss. Are you okay with that? Not do you not feel it have evolved enough that these emotions, these human feelings. Are respected. They’re not denied. They’re not suppressed, they’re not hated. They’re not afraid of. In other words, if you did well, when someone you love, one of your parents died and you grew from it, you felt closer to them, you’re not afraid that the other one will die.

Not hoping for it or anything, right? But why would there be fear you? You’re not afraid of the white lines on the road. You’re not afraid of the people you drive by. You learn to be okay with things. Can you learn to be okay with things? If I say to you, can you learn to have somebody die and not have any feelings, and those terrible teachings.

You do have feelings. I’ll tell you a secret. If someone who really harmed you in the past and caused all kinds of trouble in your life, if they die, you try not to smile. But if someone you’re very close with dies, you can’t handle the pain. Death is death. It’s like that’s stuff you’re doing. You’re the one who made a mess in there.

’cause you couldn’t handle what the person did to you five years ago. You’re the one that can’t even think about what it would be like to live without this person. That’s so much part of my life. I had a friend once and his wife died of like 50 years together forever. And he just said to me, he said, I talked to a friend of mine that had similar situation and he said to me, you’ll never ever be okay again for the rest of your life.

But you’ll learn to live with it. Made me cry. That’s not true. That is not true. You have to understand evolution. You have to understand why you feel these feelings that are so strong and have so much trouble, and you learn to evolve enough to where they become part of your natural life flow. Doesn’t mean you don’t feel them.

1. It means you honor and respect your right to feel them. That’s what evolution is. It doesn’t mean that things don’t happen that bother you. It means you can handle the things that happened that bothered you. They asked Robert Krishna once fully enlightened being, does enlighten master ever feel anger?

He shocked me. I read this back in the seventies. He said, yes, but it’s like riding a water. When you right on water, how much trouble does it cause? Who can read it? It’s gone as it passes right through. Doesn’t mean it didn’t happen, it means you digested it. You were able to handle it. It came through, you felt the anger, you felt the fear, you felt the loss.

It processed and you got out with your life. I don’t know what to tell you, like you’re afraid to be evolved. It’s not socially acceptable to be able to handle things. It is socially acceptable to deny to perhaps denial or suppression or repression. That’s not socially acceptable, but nobody’s talking about that.

We’re talking about the natural emotions, human emotions, even spiritual emotions, whatever. They come, you naturally experience them. You honor and respect the fact that you got to feel that pain and you got to feel that loss. You’re not afraid of it. You’re evolved enough to be able to deal with it.

You’re able to handle it, okay? You’re not wishing it would happen, but you’re not afraid that it will happen. You don’t look back and I’m so sorry. The only happiest I ever had in my life was when they were with me. Well, I feel sorry for you for that because now they’re not with you. They’re not gonna have any happiness.

Yeah, I’m gonna be loyal. I’m not gonna talk about that. You show me the relationship with somebody who says to you, I’m dying. Make sure you stay happy. Make sure you find somebody else if you need to. You know, oh, I’m blessing. Don’t ever feel guilty there. That’s someone who loves you. Now. You better not ever get married again.

You better not find somebody. I’ll be jealous in heaven. Anybody see the difference that we’re talking about, right? That’s evolution. That person evolves enough past their personal self to care more about someone else than they care about themselves. Even though they’re gonna be dead, doesn’t matter. I don’t want you doing it anyways.

You understand? That’s alright. That’s just, wow. That’s okay. We’re not highly evolved. It’s okay, but understand that’s not very evolved. To sit there and say, I’m gonna manipulate the world after I die, right? And make sure it’d be the way I want it to be, et cetera, et cetera. It just means you didn’t evolve much while you were here.

You were caught. You were caught, you couldn’t handle stuff, and you tried to cement it down so you feel like it won’t happen again. I don’t know what to tell you. Evolution means what it says. I am here. To change. Einstein was, had to say, I wish I would. I don’t remember the exact words. ’cause one of his quotes says something like, I am not meant to be tomorrow the way I am today.

I am meant to change right or wrong, although I just cement to doubt. What are you doing here? Why bother you? Wasted your life, get a whole bunch of experience that you really like. I think it was called Groundhog Day. I was in a movie, something like that, right? Except those weren’t all ones they liked.

Alright. Just get a whole bunch of experiences you really liked. Write ’em down and go to God and say, here, this is what I wanna feel every experience, every day of my life for the rest of my life. You wasted your birth. I wanna play the piano the same as I did in my fifth grade recital. Even the mistakes I made.

So I feel okay about ’em every day. Well, you didn’t grow, you didn’t evolve, you didn’t learn. Earth is a place of soul are sent to evolve. So you don’t try to nail it down and say, it has to be the way I want it to be. Yeah. It has to be the way you want it to be. For you to be okay. No, you’re supposed to be okay all the time.

I, I don’t, then you interpret that as meaning you’re supposed to be happy doing, oh boy, they died. No, no. There’s this, this piano piece, right? It goes,

ever heard it? I think it’s called The Funeral March. Very sad, very moving. Who wrote it? Chopin. One of the great composers. Ever captured what it felt like to feel that, that makes it a very great piece. That’s what art does. But no, you, you can’t handle it. It’s wrong. It’s bad. So instead of sitting there and saying to life, Robert Christner said it, Helter Skelter, come with me.

You’re here to grow. I’m gonna cry. If I asked you, are you to not grow, you’d say no, but you’re trying not to grow by having the things that made you feel good before happen again, and not having the things that happen before made you feel bad, not happen again. You’ve made that the meaning of your life to not grow.

I just define it in a way you don’t wanna hear it. You want things that happened before that made you feel good to happen again, and you don’t want things to happen before it made you feel bad to happen again. So you wanna manipulate the world so you don’t have to grow, you know, to change. A great being is open to life.

They go through what they need to go through. Again, I have nice Jewish yogi quote in Christ. He said, if you’re called to court. Don’t think what you’re gonna say. The words will come out naturally. It’s like, don’t plan this stuff. Just be real. Be real. Grow. Grow. Don’t go to bed with an argument with your neighbor.

Work it out before you, you both go to bed. In other words, challenge yourself to grow. I dunno what, what words can I use? Isn’t that growth? I challenge myself to be better than I was yesterday. Now, what does that mean? To be better? To do better and win more. No, that’s still your stuff. You wake up in the morning, you will come to the point if you understand the teachings, the real growth, real evolution.

You wake up in the morning, so you wake up and you sit there and say, okay, I made it through yesterday. How do you know I’m here? I obviously made it through yesterday. Congratulations. Are you bringing all the problems and dis difficulties and non evol states that happened yesterday into today? I don’t wanna.

So you wake up in the morning and you look and you see, do you have all this junk in your head that you’re afraid of what you said yesterday or what’s gonna happen today, so on. And you, you don’t just suppress it. These are real teachings. People don’t witness consciousness. Here is my experience. I’m doing this for 55 years best I could every day.

You don’t suppress your mind. You don’t hate your mind, you don’t blame your mind. You look at it and you sit there and say, we’re gonna do better today. There. We’re going to evolve. Not your bad. Go away. Take my hand. I helped rise you. You had trouble with that conversation you had with somebody. You gotta be on a test that you thought deserved an A, and you got all kind of freaking out going on in there.

Well, that’s not very evolved. You’re supposed to be able to handle stuff. It doesn’t mean you don’t deal with it. We’ll come back to that in a minute. There’s a big difference between evolving through the situation you’re put in and not doing anything to raise the situation. Alright? So you sit there and you’re in an airport and some mother’s yelling at the kid, treated ’em terrible, alright?

And it freaks you out ’cause you were treated that way. Or, or, or more so. ’cause you had problems with your parents, right? You’re gonna get angry, you’re gonna feel. God knows what you’re gonna do. You’re gonna feel reactive. Well, that may not be the highest way to deal with that situation. You have no idea what the mother’s going through.

You have no idea what the kid did. You have no idea about anything, do you? You just know about your reaction and if you act out of it, you may get arrested. You may cause all kinds of trouble. Do you understand that? Okay, so you say, but what am I supposed to do? You’re supposed to first handle it. Statue evolution, can I handle this moment that is in front of me, not my interpretation of the moment, not how I want it to be or don’t want it to be.

This is obviously in front of me. Be here now. Can I come to some level of peace with this moment? Not with the mother, and not with the kid. Hear me with myself. Can I let go more than I was able to before? Now it may very well be that when you come and come even for two seconds is evolution. Do you understand that?

Because before you weren’t able to, you just, wow, okay. You center, you look at it. Then look at the situation with as much clarity as you can. It may well be you go in there and interferon and tell her, stop treating your kid down. You hear me, but you’re willing to accept the consequences ’cause you were clear when you made the decision.

That’s very different than reacting. I always get that way. ’cause reminds what my mother did. Well then you got a problem. No, my mother has a problem. Mommy ain’t alive anymore. You’re not with her. Don’t do that. Can you handle what happened? Can you handle what happened in your childhood? Why do you think it’s the whole field of psychology?

And mostly Freudian, right? And why? Why did they say developmental years determined the rest of your life? That’s ridiculous. You had experiences. You did not handle them well, of course you didn’t. You were a child, said you weren’t given the right guidance. Of course you didn’t. But what happens when you start to wake up and you look back and say, yeah, my sister got the blue bike and I wanted it, and I haven’t talked to her for three years.

Maybe I should give her a call. Congratulations. I’m so proud of you. You just evolved. Can you handle the call? Don’t think you’re gonna be able to, not after all that junk you store down there, you understand that you practice just like, I’m just like the piano you practice. Maybe the first call doesn’t go well.

Maybe you sit there saying, I’m not saying I’m not gonna talk about that bike. I ain’t talking about red or blue or bikes and you get, I’ve been, I’ve been there when I was younger, right? You get in a situation where the first thing you talk about is the bike and a big thing blows up, right? It’s okay.

It’s okay. You’re evolving, you’re not evolved. Earth is a place of soul is sent to evolve. Alright? So you look at it and you laugh. Oh boy. Didn’t do so good there and you, and you talk to your lower self, the one that said, oh, drunk than her. And you say the same thing every time. We’ll do better next time, just like when you play tennis and the ball goes the net.

Okay, coach, we’ll do better next time. You have the right to evolve. Don’t protect yourself. Free revolution. And you have the right to have nice experiences. Don’t sit there and say It is wrong to have a nice experience, but if you have a nice experience and you feel it opening, you get calm. Don’t go weird on me, and then look and see.

Is this in harmony with the rest of my life or is this some infatuation thing, you know, run away from your kids and the husband or, or run away from your job? ’cause this looks like more fun. You just, with clarity, you look, but then you act. Nobody sit, you don’t act. Your life’s an interactive sport. And the truth is, ’cause we’re talking.

So honestly, you will make wrong decisions. Who says it’s wrong? Well, maybe there’s no such thing as wrong. You’ll make experiences that make you grow. You’ll react and hit somebody. You run away or say something mean. Okay. ’cause you didn’t stay centered is that growthful? Everything is for your growth.

Every single thing your entire universe is forever is for your growth. Earth is a place of so to evolve and when you leave earth and before you came, you’re still evolving. That’s what it’s all about. It’s an evolution game, alright? Until you reach the highest, you go through what you need to go through, you have evolution to go through, and your life on this planet is a stimulus for your evolution.

And what you’re doing is fighting it every single step of the way and basically saying, I don’t want anything to happen That bothers me. That will include all the things that ever bothered me before. That’s why I know it’ll bother me and I want it to happen. Everything that doesn’t bother me, that makes me happy.

In other words, I don’t wanna evolve. I wanna stay the way I am and get away from me. And you’re gonna pay for it if you bother me, and you probably pay for it if I like you. Okay? But can you relate to what I’m talking about, the difference as opposed to you wake up in the morning, take a breath. It doesn’t matter what happened yesterday.

No shame. No blame, no guilt. Just I did my best. Okay. How do you make sure you did your best? You wake up in the morning, you quiet down as best you can, and you say. I’m gonna handle today. I’m gonna handle today. I’m gonna go through today. Well, what’s gonna happen? I don’t know, right? But I’m gonna do my best with whatever’s put in front of me.

How to get put in front of you? Cause and effect. You did not get your job. Somebody lost theirs and then they looked in the paper and they saw your name. Cause and effect. Cause and effect. Cause you didn’t do these things. Life is unfolding. It’s billions and trillions of causes creating one effect and then the next effect.

And it’s like you’re inheriting the experiences of your life. You’re not creating them. And me, me, the biggest proof is this. See, you see beautiful and big and full grown person. It’s started as a single cell. It made that body by itself. Well, you sure care what it looks like, don’t you? Give me a break and it will keep making itself wound it and get older and older and start off two feet and God wants five.

You are not the dude. I just don’t know how you can think like this. You are the experiencer of the experience you’re having. Did you understand why I used the example of a single cell turning to your body? Did that happen or do you think your mother did it or your father no. Life did it the same life that when you’re driving down the road and you’re stopping at a stoplight and a car’s running a stoplight, and the exact moment that your brakes must stop enough and their brakes don’t stop enough, and you get in this thing called an accident.

How many causes had to be exactly right, starting to who made the brakes. And I told you what happened is the guy had a fight with his wife the night before and didn’t torque exactly right the brake pad because he was upset, didn’t pay full attention. And five years later, that’s why it did not stop enough for you not to hit.

Whose fault is it? Everybody’s, nobody’s. I don’t know what to tell you. There’s no such thing as an accident. All the forces and creation had to come together over all of time to culminate in that moment, did it not? So you start catching on. I guess I could handle it. Why Guess it happened. And in the morning you say, I’m going to handle today and you won’t be able to do it.

And I love it. And I’d love for you to see. You can’t do it. How do you know you couldn’t do it? You’ll know. How can I tell whether I handle it or not? Believe me, you’ll know. All right. And then in the evening, I don’t want much time. Some people say 15 minutes, more than 15 evening, you can do more. You can do less.

Whatever you want. Even you sit down. How do I do? I yelled at this. I did that. I threw this. I, I did. I avoided this. Alright. I argued about this. I defended myself, even though I know was lying. You don’t need to get down to detail. You just sit there and say, we can do better.

Can’t we? That’s how you get better at tennis. You practice. I’m begging you understand. You are not meant to be perfect. You are meant to get it right. You’re meant to grow and learn, and that’s what life is about. Every moment of your life, every situation, the ones that hurt you, the ones that lift you, all of them, they’re just, they’re just teachers.

They’re your teachers. But what if it really hurt? It meant you weren’t really ready to handle that. It’s not wrong, not blaming you. You obviously weren’t perfect when you got bored or you wouldn’t be here to evolve, right? You were not able to handle that. It tore you into peace. You got all upset. It bothered you for months, you know, hard to let go and you can’t see the person ever again.

I can’t even live in Gainesville anymore ’cause I drive by. It reminds me of the restaurant we used to go to and the movie used to go to and so on. You gotta evolve. I don’t wanna Okay, fine. Don’t. Because you’re giving up the meaning of your life. Understand that I used to teach this, but then I realized that people didn’t understand it.

You’re meant to go back with less than you came down with less stuff, less unevolved aspects of your being. You used life properly. You became a greater being. Perfect. You don’t have to be perfect. You have to be better. You just have to be better. And each time that you practice, you will get better. If you’re a very, very jealous person, you’re afraid of what your husband and wife are doing and so on, and when you wanna call for the detective, you challenge every time they come.

Where were you? What do you right? You just listen to a talk like this and you say, how do I know what’s going on? Obviously I know what’s going on inside of me. I have a problem. I have a problem with jealousy. Okay? Be honest. Don’t deny it. Don’t suppress it. Please don’t suppress. It just gets worse.

Suppressing it. You standing out, pop out. One way or another, just look at it and say, I think I can do better. I think I could do better. I could just once not ask him or her, where were you? Why you’re so late. Handle it. Then find out nothing happened. The world didn’t fall apart ’cause I didn’t manipulate it or control it or try to take care of the part of me that wanted to manipulate and control it.

And the probability is, I guarantee you, the vast majority of the time the stuff that’s going on inside of you is just inside of you. And you dare, you dare to face it. You’re to face yourself not beyond what you can do, just what you can. You let go. It’s called Letting Go. Let go. You realize, Hey, I’m okay.

It’s like somebody who can’t handle the wind. Oh my God, I gotta blow me away. I get die. The kids. Oh, oh my God. Right? And then all of a sudden the parents says, just stand there for a second. No, for a second. You okay? Yeah, but I didn’t like it. Were you okay? Yeah. Then two seconds. I don’t care. Whatever pace you wanna move at just every single day.

Is a different person who woke up than one who woke up the day before. ’cause you used that day to evolve. And if you do that, you are gonna be stunned to find out how much absurdity you created for yourself. By doing that inside your head and you’ll start to let go and you’ll be better off. And so will your husband and wife and so will the kids and so will the job.

So will everything, right? People write me from all over the world, we get so many emails and they all say the same thing. You changed my life. I did not change your life. You changed your life. If you didn’t do it, it would not have changed. You dared to face. This junk that got built inside of you. That says, winning means getting what I want.

Winning means handling. What is start letting go and where do you see, and then you can actually help raise it. Alright. Earth is a place that so of sin to evolve. That’s how you measure success. How are you doing? Good Ative.

Tami Simon: 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 [email protected]. Thanks so much for listening. Sounds true. Waking up the world.