{"id":19535,"date":"2022-04-08T16:26:45","date_gmt":"2022-04-08T22:26:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/resources2.soundstrue.com\/?post_type=transcript&p=19535"},"modified":"2024-08-16T08:59:52","modified_gmt":"2024-08-16T14:59:52","slug":"s2-e3-the-commitment-to-stay-conscious","status":"publish","type":"transcript","link":"https:\/\/resources2.soundstrue.com\/transcript\/s2-e3-the-commitment-to-stay-conscious\/","title":{"rendered":"S2 E3: The Commitment to Stay Conscious"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"image_print\"Print Transcript<\/span><\/a><\/div>

Tami Simon:<\/b> Welcome to the <\/span>Michael Singer Podcast<\/span><\/i>. Michael Singer is the author of the widely influential New York Times Best Sellers, <\/span>The Untethered Soul<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>The Surrender Experiment<\/span><\/i> and a new book destined to become a spiritual classic, <\/span>Living Untethered: Beyond the Human Predicament<\/span><\/i>. Michael Singer lives and teaches at the Temple of the Universe, the yoga and meditation center he founded in 1975, near Gainesville, Florida. Produced in partnership with Shanti Publications, the <\/span>Michael Singer Podcast<\/span><\/i> brings you select recordings from Michael Singer\u2019s teachings at the Temple of the Universe. This episode is on the commitment to stay conscious.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sounds True would also like you to know about an extraordinary eight-part video course we\u2019ve created with Michael Singer. It\u2019s called <\/span>Living from a Place of Surrender: The Untethered Soul in Action<\/span><\/i>. It\u2019s an online course that many people report to be utterly life changing. You can find out more at MichaelSingerPodcast.com. You can save 15 percent off any Michael Singer program available through Sounds True when you use the code \u201cSinger15\u201d at checkout. Again, that\u2019s \u201cSinger15\u201d. Now, \u201cThe Commitment to Stay Conscious\u201d with Michael Singer.<\/span><\/p>\n

Michael Singer:<\/b> Jai gurudev.<\/span><\/i> To really grow, you have to decide then that\u2019s what your life is about, nothing else. Everything else will be taken care of. In fact, it\u2019ll do better than you could ever do with it. It won\u2019t be the way you would have thought about it, but overall, it will do better, everything. Your financial life, your family life, your personal life will end up overall higher, purer, cleaner, more balanced, if what you\u2019re doing is living for growth, living for liberation, living for freedom. The rest will take care of itself. If what you are doing is living for the rest, living for your name, fame, finance, family, relationships, neither they will evolve very high, nor will you. The law works wherever you work, at whatever level you work. You do your real work. Everything below that takes care of itself because you\u2019re not messing with it. You\u2019re not disturbing the flow of the energy.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, wherever you are focusing your attention, especially in this world, you create problems, by definition. The very fact that you\u2019re focusing your attention there means you\u2019re being too detailed, too picky. There\u2019s a whole universe, and you\u2019re caught up with a spot here or there. It just [becomes] an ingrown toenail. Your mind becomes ingrown, and it can\u2019t ever be happy. So if you want to really grow and evolve, you have to devote your life to your evolution. What does that mean? People think it means that you have to leave your job or leave your family or renounce things. It doesn\u2019t. It means that every single minute of every single day, no matter what you\u2019re doing, that\u2019s what you\u2019re doing. You\u2019re going to the same place everyone else does. You\u2019re married or you\u2019re not married. You have children or you don\u2019t have children. You\u2019re working your finances at whatever level they are presented to you. You\u2019re doing what\u2019s put in front of you and being where you\u2019re put, the same passion, the same commitment, the same focus, maybe even deeper than people who really care about it do. The difference is what you care about and all that you care about is freeing yourself from yourself.<\/span><\/p>\n

The only thing binding you is you. There is nothing else. It\u2019s not your life. It\u2019s not the people around you. It\u2019s your relationship with your life and with the people around you. You can\u2019t change the outside. You fight all you want; you change it very little. But you can change your relationship with it. So, when you decide that what you want to do is grow, you don\u2019t have to change anything except your attitude about what\u2019s going on. If you think what\u2019s going on is some temporal situation that you need to mess with, control, manipulate, change so that you\u2019re OK, you will never be OK. If what you know is going on is that the world is unfolding, and if it happens to be disturbing you, it\u2019s because there\u2019s something wrong with you. If it happens to irritate you, it\u2019s because you\u2019re irritable. If it happens to cause fear, it\u2019s because you\u2019re afraid. If you weren\u2019t afraid, you wouldn\u2019t feel fear. If you weren\u2019t irritable, you wouldn\u2019t get irritated. If you didn\u2019t care what people thought of you, you wouldn\u2019t care what they thought of you or what they said about you. If you weren\u2019t out there looking for someone to take care of you or love you, then it wouldn\u2019t bother you whether people liked you or not. It\u2019s always coming from you, always.<\/span><\/p>\n

A being who wants to grow spiritually, who wants to really explore beyond, uses every single minute of their life for that purpose. No matter where you find yourself, it is either attracting you, repulsing you, or you\u2019re not even paying attention to it. You\u2019re looking right past it to something that does attract you or repulse you. If you are sitting here looking from here across the field and there was something out there that was attractive to you or scared you, look at all the stuff you\u2019re missing in-between, the carpet and the thing and the color of the glass and all the way through. It\u2019s almost as if you will look right past everything that\u2019s neutral to you until you see something that\u2019s either attracting you or repulsing you, that is either making you feel good or making you feel bad. It\u2019s almost as if you look for them.<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s what life is going to be like. It is either attracting you and causing those issues, it is disturbing you and causing those issues, or you don\u2019t notice it. I mean, you notice it, but you don\u2019t notice it, not in that way. You look right past it until something actually stops you. Eventually, it will. Don\u2019t worry about it. You can\u2019t even take three steps until something\u2019s either bothering you through attraction or bothering you through disturbance. But I want you to focus on that, how it is that so many objects can be neutral. You walk past desks and chairs and rain and millions and billions of things, and they don\u2019t cause attraction or repulsion.<\/span><\/p>\n

During those moments, you are centered. They are within themselves. There\u2019s a reality to that relationship. Here you are being aware of what is. There\u2019s nothing to do about it. It\u2019s not affecting your inner state. Therefore, you don\u2019t feel the need to mess with it. The chair is welcome to stay where it is. The person is welcome to say what they say. Rain is welcome to come when it comes, go when it goes. Wind blows when it does. When it doesn\u2019t, it doesn\u2019t. If that\u2019s what\u2019s happening and it\u2019s not creating a change in you either for or against, you are really in a very balanced state about that. The problem is it doesn\u2019t last very long because something is going to happen that either attracts you or disturbs you. Both are disturbances.<\/span><\/p>\n

When that happens, your natural tendency is to say, \u201cI was OK until this happened, so either I need to push away what disturbs me, or I need to get and keep and cling to that which attracts me, and therefore I won\u2019t be disturbed anymore. I can get on with my business.\u201d The trouble is there are so many things that disturb you or distract you that you\u2019ll never get on with your business. You\u2019ll get on with their business. You go from one thing that disturbs you. You finally fix it. It takes two years. Then all of a sudden, this changes or that changes, and you\u2019re constantly working on something. The something you\u2019re working on is not you. We\u2019re talking about\u2014to grow spiritually, you have to work on yourself. How can you work on yourself? You\u2019re busy working on your problems and your solutions. You\u2019re busy working on keeping that which you think makes you happy and getting away from and pushing away that which you think disturbs you. That\u2019s what you\u2019re working on, and it\u2019s a full-time job, so you have no time to work on yourself.<\/span><\/p>\n

That is what yoga\u2019s about. Yoga\u2019s about turning the whole thing upside down. In sitting, you\u2019re saying the only time I have is to work on myself, and only by working on myself can I solve these apparent problems that I have. I can\u2019t solve the problems by messing with those things outside. It\u2019s a very evolved being who understands that. You cannot solve problems by working with things outside. Why? In the same way that things that are neutral to you, you don\u2019t feel you need to solve. They take care of themselves. Leaves fall, and wind blows, and billions and trillions of things go on that don\u2019t have any effect on you. Then they solve themselves, because they weren\u2019t problems. What you want is for everything to get to that state. You want a state where you\u2019re at peace with every single thing in the universe. You can\u2019t be busy trying to make things the way you need them so that you\u2019re OK, or you will be very, very busy, all the time.<\/span><\/p>\n

The only way you can do this is to work on yourself such that all things in life have this peacefulness, have this neutrality to them, that they are all life passing by you. It\u2019s one and the same thing. There\u2019s no difference between any of it. All of it\u2019s the same, and they come and they go, and you\u2019re at peace with all of them. You have no preferences, desires, fears, hopes, dreams, concepts, views, philosophies, nothing. You\u2019re just there, and life is there, and you\u2019re at peace with it. It is at peace with you, and it\u2019s just fun. It\u2019s just fun to be there and to wake up in the morning, and then these events take place. Then you go to bed at night, and then you wake up again. That\u2019s all. Then all of these events are happening all the time, and you\u2019re experiencing your life. You\u2019re living your life.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you live like that, you will feel a depth of fullness that people rarely feel. What people normally feel is that life is passing them by, and it\u2019s happening very fast, and they\u2019re not actually tasting it or touching it. They want to go do things or change things in order to make it, so they feel a deeper experience of life. The yogi comes to realize that all of life is beautiful. All of life is fulfilling, every single moment of it. If it isn\u2019t, it\u2019s because something\u2019s wrong inside of you. If you want to fix that, you have to fix what\u2019s wrong inside of you, not what\u2019s wrong with life, because there\u2019s nothing wrong with life and not what\u2019s right with life, because there\u2019s nothing right with life.<\/span><\/p>\n

Life is like the planets. They\u2019re neither right nor wrong. They\u2019re just there. Certain planets have rings. Certain planets are further out. Certain planets are closer. They\u2019re of different diameters and sizes, shapes and colors. That\u2019s neither right nor wrong. It just is. Life is like that. People are the way they are. Situations are the way they are. Things happen when they happen. They stop when they stop. They come when they come. They go when they go. You have the honor of experiencing them, of seeing them, of being there with them. You even have the honor of interacting with them. There\u2019s nothing about the deep state that says that there is no dance going on, that there is no interaction between the self and reality of life.<\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s just no attempt to control it. There\u2019s no attempt to define how it\u2019s supposed to be, but that doesn\u2019t mean you can\u2019t enjoy the fullness of the experience that you\u2019re having. You put your whole heart and soul and being into what is before you and then the next things before you and then the next things before you, and you keep living fully your life. What you don\u2019t do, once you catch on, is to decide within your head the way you need life to be, and then use all of your energy that should be being used to work on yourself, to go out there and attempt to manipulate life, to make it be what you need for it to be. That is the essence of your spiritual growth.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now what does it mean to work on yourself day in and day out, every single moment of every single second? Don\u2019t I have to go meditate somewhere in order to work on myself or go do yoga or read books or taking my little quiet time for myself. \u201cI want to go work on myself and go off to some hut in the woods somewhere on a retreat or something.\u201d No, actually not. You work on yourself every single moment of every single day, no matter where you are or who you\u2019re with or what you\u2019re doing. You say, \u201cWell, how could that\u2014I could never do that.\u201d Why? If you meditate in the morning and you meditate in the evening, that\u2019s good, but it\u2019s not great. What you need to do\u2014let\u2019s say you meditate in the morning and you got to a state where you could have very, very deep meditation, and you feel very relieved and deep and free. Then in the evening you can do the same thing.<\/span><\/p>\n

Until you understand why it doesn\u2019t stay that way for the rest of the day, you\u2019re not getting anywhere. At some point, it\u2019s more important to understand what takes you out of that state than it is how to do your <\/span>pranayamas<\/span><\/i> to get back into that state. Why don\u2019t you stay in that state? What\u2019s pulling you out of that state? Because the truth of the matter is, obviously, you will never be able to stay in that state until you understand what\u2019s pulling you out of the state. You have to fix what\u2019s broken. You can\u2019t just put things on top of it.<\/span><\/p>\n

The depth of true spirituality, of true yoga, is about watching yourself in your day-to-day life. If you\u2019re around people and you feel nervous, then don\u2019t sit there and say, \u201cNo, I could never be centered because I\u2019m so nervous here.\u201d That\u2019s wonderful that you feel nervous. If you feel desirous, if you feel competitive, if you feel challenged, whatever the heck it is that is coming up in you because you find yourself in this situation around this person or during these events, whatever it is that\u2019s happening inside of you, you have to watch that. You have to see that, and you have to realize, this change that has happened inside of me is what\u2019s keeping me from being at peace. The situations outside are not what are keeping me from peace. They\u2019re just situations outside. You have to say, \u201cI want to be able to be at peace no matter what the situations are outside. I don\u2019t want to have to create certain situations to be at peace.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you say that, your work is over outside because what you\u2019ve basically said is the outside will unfold on a minute-to-minute basis, and that\u2019s fine. I will be there with it. If it creates disturbance inside either due to being drawn because of attractiveness or being pulled away because of fear and disturbance and repulsiveness, either way, you\u2019re watching your inner state, and you learn to work with that shift of energy that starts to happen inside of you because of your outer situations.<\/span><\/p>\n

That is the first major step in true spiritual growth, which is, you\u2019re not working on the outside. You\u2019re working on the inside and not just when you\u2019re meditating. Every single minute of every single day, those are situations that are happening outside of you so that you can work with the inside of you. If the same situation happened every moment, same people, same things, same words, nothing would happen. You\u2019d get very used to it. But because all these varieties of things go on and you can never tell how people are going to behave or what\u2019s going to happen, it\u2019s going to cause shifts inside of you because you\u2019re not prepared. It catches you by surprise.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then you have a choice. If you say, \u201cOh my God, this caught me by surprise. What did I do wrong? I should have planned better so that I couldn\u2019t get caught by surprise so that this didn\u2019t disturb me.\u201d Or you sit there and say, \u201cGood, life unfolded. It caught me by surprise. Now I have to work on myself so that I\u2019m able to grow enough to where, if these situations take place, I\u2019m OK, I\u2019m at peace, I\u2019m able to experience life as it is, not as I defined it to be.\u201d Again, how do you work on yourself in what we call the pathless path, in the path in which life itself is your path? It is your guru. It is your teacher. All the circumstances of life are attempting to free you, to liberate you.<\/span><\/p>\n

How do you do that work? First, you have to stay conscious. Some people still lose their center. What does that mean? You\u2019re there. You\u2019re saying, \u201cI\u2019m going to work on myself, and now I\u2019m going to go into this room or be with these people or have this experience, and usually it bothers me, but I\u2019m not going to let it bother me. I\u2019m going to stay very aware and conscious of what\u2019s going on, and then I\u2019m going to come out of the room. I\u2019ll be so excited that I was able to stay the same before I walked in the room, while I was in the room, and when I came out.\u201d You say that to yourself. You should do that. You literally should do that. You should remind yourself that that is your goal when you walk in the room, not to impress people, not to do this, not to do that. Your goal is, \u201cNow I\u2019m centered and calm. Here I am. I would like to walk in the room, sit down, do whatever\u2019s going on, be a proper participant, and when I leave, be right back where I was before I walked in, without any loss of continuity of purpose or consciousness.\u201d That\u2019s a true meditation, deep center.<\/span><\/p>\n

In most cases, if you walk in and then you walk out, you\u2019ll go, \u201cWhat happened?\u201d You were there before you walked in. Then you\u2019re not there for a while. But you don\u2019t know that you\u2019re not there because you\u2019re that much not there. Then you walk out, and all of a sudden, \u201cOh, I said I was going to\u2014\u201d and you blew it. You weren\u2019t able to keep the continuity of consciousness across the experience and back to that point. That\u2019s your work. See, your work isn\u2019t that other stuff. I told you.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you really want to know the truth, when you hurt your fingers and your tendons and things in your hands after surgery or an accident or something, sometimes they give you therapy, a type of therapy. It\u2019s occupational therapy or something like that. Is that what they call it? All right. You make ash trays. They give you these ash trays, and you make them on a wheel. You move the clay, and you do this stuff. I told you once before. When it\u2019s done, after a week of this, and the doc comes in to check you out, I know it\u2019s going to shock you. He ain\u2019t going to look at your ash trays. He don\u2019t care about your ash trays. I know you feel very self-conscious about them. You thought you wanted to have the nicest ones. You got all your ego involved in that stuff. You did all this stuff. He\u2019s going to look at your hands. You\u2019re gonna get all insulted, man. You spent all your time making those ash trays, and you like the guy, and you thought he\u2019d be impressed. But all he wants to know is the strength that\u2019s in your hands. When it\u2019s said and done, you\u2019re going to walk out, and they\u2019re going to throw the ash trays away. Whoa. That doesn\u2019t seem right, does it? Sure, it does.<\/span><\/p>\n

Those ash trays were about strengthening your fingers, strengthening your hands, increasing the mobility. Life is just like that. It will get thrown away. In fact, it\u2019s constantly getting thrown away. Every meeting, every moment, every discourse you have, all the different things, they come and go, don\u2019t they? They seem so important before they happen, and the next thing you know you\u2019re at the next important one, and you don\u2019t even remember the one that got you all uptight that was going to be so important. They\u2019re just gone. Nobody\u2019s saying nothing. Nobody\u2019s giving them back. Nobody\u2019s doing anything. They\u2019re just like the ash tray. The purpose of them was not the event. The purpose of them is what happened to you while you were interacting with that situation. It is about spiritual therapy, instead of occupational or physical. It is spiritual therapy. That\u2019s what life is. It is putting you through situations that, if you\u2019re conscious, you practice maintaining your consciousness in that situation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Anybody\u2014maybe not anybody\u2014but most people can maintain their consciousness alone out on a pier looking out over the ocean, not everybody. Some people are very uptight about the ocean or about wind bothering their hair or something like that. See, they can\u2019t stay conscious. But many of you could stand there, and you could handle that situation. But there are situations that could happen while you\u2019re there, a car screeches on a brake, or somebody else walks out there. There are just a million things that could happen where you don\u2019t stay conscious, aren\u2019t there?<\/span><\/p>\n

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TS:<\/b> Living with the uncertainty and the pressures of our time, many of us are feeling quite stressed and overwhelmed. But does it have to be this way? With his new book, Living Untethered, Michael Singer has written a follow up to the classic, The Untethered Soul, taking us within to our still and liberated center. You can learn more about Michael\u2019s new book at Living-Untethered.com. That\u2019s Living-Untethered.com.<\/span><\/p>\n

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MS:<\/b> They\u2019re the events that unfolded in life. You were there. You were aware. You maintained your consciousness, and then all of a sudden, your consciousness is gone, and then you come back. That act of losing your center and then coming back is a very, very spiritual thing. The truth is it is the core of your path. All of your practices, all the practices you do with yoga or Zen or whatever it is, whatever techniques you use, they are just practices for learning how to do what I just talked about. They\u2019re just not [very meaningful] unto themselves. You start by reminding yourself that you\u2019re going to stay centered. You permit life to unfold the way she does. If she manages to find something that challenges your ability to remain centered, this is not a bad thing. This is a good thing.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve got to qualify that\u2014not for any of you guys\u2014but if you were just starting on this journey and you couldn\u2019t keep your center even for a moment, then it\u2019s not so good, because you don\u2019t have your bearings. Yogananda used to say that when you start on a path, it\u2019s sort of like putting a fence around a little garden. Once you plant those seeds, they need a little protection in order to start to root themselves and so on. You don\u2019t want them handling hurricanes and hard rains and dogs running over them when they\u2019re first seedlings and they\u2019re starting. They need protection.<\/span><\/p>\n

Likewise, when you first start on a path and you don\u2019t know anything about staying centered, you\u2019re always neurotic, you\u2019re always uptight, it\u2019s good that you have some space. That\u2019s what retreats are for and all these things, that you have some space to practice remembering what it is like to remain centered, what it\u2019s like to be there instead of being lost in the whole mess that\u2019s happening. I\u2019m talking about advanced growth here. Once you\u2019re through with all of that and you\u2019ve worked on yourself sufficiently, you get to the point where the only thing that life is about\u2014it\u2019s not about going on a retreat. It is the retreat, period. You\u2019ve got to get the whole view. From birth to death is the retreat you took this time. It\u2019s a spiritual retreat.<\/span><\/p>\n

On this spiritual retreat, what is going to happen is there are going to be various situations that happen to you that attempt to hone your ability to remain centered. Your life is for the purpose of your being able to remain centered, clear, calm, filled with spirit and awareness and consciousness, while all, and I mean all, of the events of your life pass before you and you interact with them. The interaction part might get really hard for you, so for a moment let\u2019s just talk about passing before you. (We\u2019ll get into interaction in a moment. That\u2019s advanced studies.) At first, if you can\u2019t stay centered while it\u2019s happening, you\u2019re just going to get lost. What happens is the energy comes up. It disturbs something inside of you. Your energy comes up, and it overwhelms you. It\u2019s almost like getting drowned. The consciousness gets pulled down into the emotions, the mind and all the disturbed energies. The next thing you know, all you are about is this situation that\u2019s happening outside of you. That\u2019s all your mind\u2019s thinking about. That\u2019s all your heart\u2019s feeling. All of your will, all of your <\/span>chi<\/span><\/i>, all of your energy, everything is just about this situation that\u2019s disturbing you. You\u2019ve lost your sense of self. You\u2019ve lost your center.<\/span><\/p>\n

When the situation ceases, your disturbed energies inside calm down, and they cease. Therefore, it\u2019s like the water receding. Now you find yourself some solid ground. The next thing you know you pop back up, don\u2019t you? You find, \u201cOh, here I am. What happened? Oh, my God, how did I get so upset by that?\u201d It\u2019s something like that. You\u2019ve regained your center. I\u2019m telling you, what it means to work on yourself is to do whatever is necessary to prolong the periods of time before you get sucked in and shorten the period of time until you come back out. That, for a while, is your spiritual journey.<\/span><\/p>\n

The first phase is, in order to protect the seed, plant the seed, protect it so that it even remembers that it\u2019s back here, that it\u2019s centered. Your next advanced phases are to sit there and eliminate the gaps in your consciousness.<\/span><\/p>\n

Consciousness must have a single continuity. Even before you wake up in the morning, you should be there, and you know what I\u2019m talking about. When you become really consciousness, you are aware of yourself waking up. You\u2019re aware, if you\u2019re having dreams, of the dreams fading away and of your consciousness returning to the center of mind and of heart. You watch these things happen. Very good, you\u2019re a conscious being. You have seen this. When you go to bed at night, you put your head down, and you\u2019re conscious of yourself until it falls asleep. Everything in between should be that conscious, and I mean it. I\u2019m challenging you. There should not be one single millisecond that you don\u2019t know that you know that you know that you\u2019re there. What happens is most people can\u2019t do that all that well. Then that\u2019s the work. That\u2019s your work.<\/span><\/p>\n

How do you work with that? You remind yourself constantly, \u201cWhat I am about is remaining centered. I am about remaining conscious. I care more about remaining conscious than I do what people think of me. I care more about remaining conscious than I do money. I care more about remaining conscious than I do whether people like me or not.\u201d It doesn\u2019t mean you renounce those things. It\u2019s not about renunciation. It\u2019s about the center and purpose of your life being spirit. You can stay in your whole life. It\u2019s a question of whether what you\u2019re about is your center. Are you about consciousness or the object of consciousness? You remind yourself constantly\u2014\u201cI am about consciousness.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The world is not here to disturb you, no more than that clay ash tray are there to disturb you or trick you. They are there to help you. The world will show you where you\u2019re not done yet. Situations will unfold that you find you tend to lose yourself. Just remember, you don\u2019t have to. There is no reason to lose your center ever in this world. The world has no meaning. It\u2019s going to come and go. Pretty soon you\u2019re going to die, and nothing is going to go with you. I could give you a million truisms, but they\u2019re so trite they sound stupid. It is true that the stupid thing keeps coming and going, isn\u2019t it? It\u2019s like water in a river that\u2019s flowing by you, and you\u2019re worrying about this little piece over here. What for? It\u2019s gone. So, what, are you going to go run after it? If you just stand there, it comes and goes. No moments ever stop. They just come and go.<\/span><\/p>\n

A person yells at you. Then they stop. Then it\u2019s either over or it\u2019s not. Your house burns down. Then it\u2019s ashes. It doesn\u2019t keep burning, nothing. It just all comes and goes. That\u2019s a truism. It is also a truism that you\u2019re going to die soon. All of these things mean you shouldn\u2019t take it so seriously enough to trade your spiritual consciousness for what the heck\u2019s going on. You shouldn\u2019t trade consciousness for object of consciousness. They are just things that are passing through. And soon, very soon, you will die. That\u2019s all there is to it, and you have to be very comfortable with that. You should contemplate that and be aware, that soon you\u2019re going to die. All this stuff that seems so important and seems so meaningful will be meaningless. It\u2019s meaningless, just like the ash tray. It has no meaning.<\/span><\/p>\n

If those truisms aren\u2019t enough, then why don\u2019t you just check out on the fact, just in case you thought that maybe this was all weird and not true, that every single thing that\u2019s happening to you, and I mean every single moment of every single day, is sitting on a little ball spinning around in the middle of nowhere. I mean nowhere. You should go on the web. They have pictures of half Earth, a crescent Earth taken from Mars through a telescope. They couldn\u2019t see it well, so they took, they said, the kind of telescope you would use out in the field, and they looked at Earth from Mars. They had the Mariner up there, looked at Earth from Mars, and they sent us that picture that\u2019s just absolutely beautiful.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why don\u2019t you look at that and realize every single thing that is happening to you is just happening on that little ball in the middle of nowhere. How in the world can anything bother you? How can anything bother you? There\u2019s nothing happening that\u2019s big enough to bother you in the face of those truths. Do you understand that? It is temporal, and you\u2019re temporal. It\u2019s temporal; you\u2019re temporal. Even if it wasn\u2019t, it\u2019s all happening on a little speck of dust in the middle of nowhere.<\/span><\/p>\n

You finally get to the point where you commit yourself to your work, which is to remain conscious. Nothing is worth losing your center over. There is nothing you\u2019re going to fix except you, because there ain\u2019t nothing broken except you. The world unfolds. It always has, it always will. You are not going to change it, I\u2019m sorry, nor do you have the right to. You can only love it, interact with it, be part of it, participate in it. You can\u2019t define how it\u2019s supposed to be and then go out there and screw with it. You make a mess.<\/span><\/p>\n

You finally make the commitment, which is, what I am about is remaining conscious through all the circumstances that happen in life. All right, the moment you do that, you\u2019re going to find out that it has nothing to do with the circumstances in life. It has to do with what effect those circumstances have on your inner state. If those circumstances cause fear, then can you stay conscious in the face of fear? If they cause desire, can you stay conscious in the face of desire? If they cause anxiety, likewise, jealousy, likewise, lust, greed, this, that, anything, who cares? Whatever the heck it is that it causes inside, the question is, can you remain centered while that thing is going on inside of you? Because it too is temporal. All that comes and goes, even your own energies, and that becomes your work again.<\/span><\/p>\n

You\u2019re now right down to where a real spiritual being\u2019s work is. Every minute of every day, they welcome the circumstances that take place, and they are conscious enough to see what effect those circumstances have on their heart and their mind, and they remain calm, centered behind it, permitting the mind to say what it must and then go away, permitting the heart to do what it must and then go away. Your work is to be able to do that. If you can\u2019t do that, that\u2019s a good thing, not a bad thing. Why? Because it means that the ash trays are working. In other words, if I give you that clay and that ash tray, you say, \u201cNo. This is no good for me. My hands are too weak. I can\u2019t knead the clay. Stop it. This is wrong. I\u2019m not coming back tomorrow to do this. This won\u2019t work for me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

If you can\u2019t find the strength in your hands to knead that clay, well, that\u2019s a perfect exercise. I found the right one, didn\u2019t I? All right? You say, \u201cBut every time I turn it like this, I get a cramp.\u201d Good, turn it. Turn it like that, because it means you\u2019re exercising muscles that you weren\u2019t exercising before. That\u2019s what it means when you can\u2019t keep your center. Good, good, because it means that there is something getting hit inside that is strong enough to still pull you out of your commitment. As long as there\u2019s something outside that is strong enough to cause a change inside, to pull you out of your intention of remaining centered, it means you\u2019ve got some work to do.<\/span><\/p>\n

All right, now we see that. Now how do you do that work, the real specific work? It\u2019s fun. It\u2019s easy. What do you do if you can\u2019t stay centered when you go to visit your parents? Some people are that way. You go to visit your parents, and you\u2019re fine. You do fine, and then you go, and somehow you just can\u2019t hold it together, and you find yourself falling back into your old patterns and getting into arguments and doing these things. All right, what do you do? You work on it. You literally center yourself before you walk into that room. That\u2019s what you do. You breathe, just within yourself, and then you see how long you can sit there without opening your mouth. How many things can get said to you without you saying things back? Then you start to see why it\u2019s so hard to not get sucked in. You just do what you need to do to watch, and then you\u2019ll notice inside yourself deep stuff that you never noticed before, insecurities and fears and resentments and things that you stored inside of you that these people stimulate, and you can\u2019t handle those things. That\u2019s why you can\u2019t handle the people.<\/span><\/p>\n

You keep staying centered, and you let that be the purpose of your life. Then when these things come up, you let them go. All of a sudden, going home to visit mom and dad is a spiritual experience. All of a sudden, meeting your ex is a spiritual experience. All of a sudden, all of these things that you thought were so disturbing that you didn\u2019t want to happen, the fact that they can still get to you means you have work in that area, and you just decide to do that work because you don\u2019t have a choice anyways. That\u2019s what I think is funny. \u201cNo, I\u2019m not going to do that work.\u201d Okay, suffer. You either use it to liberate you, or you suffer. It is either leading you to a higher state of consciousness and freedom and exhilaration and openness, or you suffer with it. That is your choice. So, you do this work, and you just, little by little, stay conscious, let go, stay conscious.<\/span><\/p>\n

I told you, in the end\u2014and you might as well make it in the beginning, because in the end it is not a mental thing, it is not an emotional thing\u2014it is as follows:<\/span><\/p>\n

You notice that the energy is starting to get disturbed. Before you figure out why, don\u2019t even think about it. Just relax your shoulders, relax your chest. Relax your stomach and let go. What does that mean, \u201cAnd let go\u201d? Be willing that, if it wants to go, to let it go. Don\u2019t get into it. Don\u2019t analyze it. Don\u2019t blame anybody. Just let it go. These things that you stored inside of you that are causing your energy to get disturbed, they will go. Over time, they will go if you do that. Eventually, that\u2019s all you do. If you do that constantly, you will never lose your center ever again at any time ever, period. No matter what is going on, you will have the honor of being there to watch it go on, and that\u2019ll be so much fun, all right?<\/span><\/p>\n

You\u2019re there until, eventually, you couldn\u2019t make yourself not be there if you tried. If it was getting so bad and so disturbing that you wish you didn\u2019t have to be there to watch it, you\u2019d watch yourself wishing that you didn\u2019t have to be there to watch it. Eventually, you can\u2019t turn it off. Consciousness is like the light of the sun. It shines upon all things, truly, day and night, and you just think it doesn\u2019t, right? It is, at all times, sitting there shining.<\/span><\/p>\n

The consciousness of the centered one is always aware of what\u2019s going on, period. That awareness will burn through everything. But you have to be willing to do the work, and so that means never blaming anybody for giving you an opportunity to grow. That means never preferring one situation over another enough to where you leave your consciousness to try to make it happen and then think, \u201cOh, now I\u2019ll go back to my consciousness.\u201d You don\u2019t ever leave.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you have a preference of one circumstance over another, it\u2019s because there\u2019s something wrong with you. You still have disturbances and blockages inside of you. I guarantee you, if you like one thing over another, it is because that thing makes you feel better inside, and that makes you feel worse inside, guaranteed. The question is not, how do I get this and get rid of that? The question is, why do I do that? Why does it do that? Why are you not just as comfortable in the heat as you are the cold? Why are you not just as comfortable in the daylight as in the night? Why are you not comfortable around rich people or poor people or anything? Why? Why are you not just as comfortable? The answer is because of you, not because of them, and you decide, \u201cI ain\u2019t going to buy into that. I am never blaming anything or anyone ever again. I just want to do the work of letting go of what\u2019s binding me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s what it means to do spiritual work. So, we start it. You have to do the inner work. But that\u2019s the inner work. Meditation will help you, but it is not an end in and of itself. Mantra will help you. It\u2019s not an end in and of itself. Spiritual practice, yoga, spiritual company, all these things are wonderful things, but they are not ends in and of themselves. The thing that leads to the end in and of itself is that you commit yourself to maintain your center of consciousness, and nothing has the right to take it away. You do the work to make that a reality. <\/span>Jai gurudev.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

TS:<\/b> You\u2019ve been listening to the <\/span>Michael Singer Podcast<\/span><\/i>, produced by Sounds True, in partnership with Shanti Publications. Sounds True is the co-publisher of a new book with Michael Singer, <\/span>Living Untethered: Beyond the Human Predicament<\/span><\/i>, and has also produced with Michael Singer an extraordinary eight-part video course, <\/span>Living from a Place of Surrender: The Untethered Soul in Action<\/span><\/i>. You can find out more at michaelsingerpodcast.com, and save 15 percent when you use the code \u201cSinger15\u201d at checkout. That\u2019s \u201cSinger15\u201d. The music you heard is the song \u201cGiving It All\u201d by Be Still The Earth. Thank you so much for listening. Sounds True: waking up the world.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a9 Sounds True Inc. Episodes: \u00a9 2024 Michael A. Singer. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n

No part of this transcript may be used or reproduced in any manner <\/span><\/i>without written permission of Sounds True<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","meta":{"_expiration-date-status":"","_expiration-date":0,"_expiration-date-type":"","_expiration-date-categories":[],"_expiration-date-options":[]},"class_list":["post-19535","transcript","type-transcript","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nS2 E3 The Commitment To Stay Conscious - Transcript | Sounds True<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Read the full transcript from this Sounds True conversation with S2 E3 The Commitment To Stay Conscious. 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