{"id":19550,"date":"2022-04-12T14:22:12","date_gmt":"2022-04-12T20:22:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/resources2.soundstrue.com\/?post_type=transcript&p=19550"},"modified":"2024-08-16T09:08:38","modified_gmt":"2024-08-16T15:08:38","slug":"s2-e5-look-into-the-lake-of-life","status":"publish","type":"transcript","link":"https:\/\/resources2.soundstrue.com\/transcript\/s2-e5-look-into-the-lake-of-life\/","title":{"rendered":"S2 E5: Look into the Lake of Life"},"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 taking care of your inner environment.\u00a0<\/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 m ichaelsingerpodcast.com, and you can save 15 percent off any Michael Singer program available through Sounds True when you use the code \u201cSinger15\u201d checkout. Again, that\u2019s \u201cSinger15\u201d. Now, \u201cTaking Care of Your Inner Environment\u201d with Michael Singer.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Michael Singer: <\/b>Jai gurudev<\/span><\/i>. It\u2019s so beautiful as you grow deeply, and you revisit parts of spiritual teachings, ancient as they are, and they just have deeper meaning as you go deeper. Like for example, when you go really deep\u2014and really deep doesn\u2019t mean where you go in meditation; it\u2019s where you go with life. Meditation is practice, to learn to center yourself sufficiently to where you can merge yourself in life. Until you can merge yourself in life, you\u2019re still separate. You really have not achieved that much. It doesn\u2019t matter where you can go in meditation. It doesn\u2019t matter what experiences you\u2019ve had. You\u2019re still separate. You still experience that as \u201cI experience my spirituality, how I\u2019m doing.\u201d It is when you and life become one. There is no separation. You\u2019re just in harmony and unity, a drop back into the ocean. This is true spiritual growth. It\u2019s what Christ spoke about when he said, \u201cMay they know the oneness as I\u2019ve known the oneness in me.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So, when you go deep into life, in order to do so, you have to come to know life. Most people want to know themselves. That\u2019s what they work on, getting to know themselves. It\u2019s funny. Even New Age spirituality says you should know yourself, get to know yourself. You shouldn\u2019t get to know yourself. You should forget yourself. You should get to know life. Getting to know life is getting to know God. As you get to know life and truth, you will get to know what\u2019s left of yourself because it mirrors you, it reflects you. Because you always see yourself in life, just as when you look into a lake, a still lake, you see yourself. You\u2019re not really there, but that\u2019s what you see. You see the reflection of yourself. When you look into life, into every single person, into every single event, what you really see is yourself.<\/span><\/p>\n

You pick out of this innocence called life the reflection of what\u2019s left inside of you. Don\u2019t ever forget that. It is a reflection of what\u2019s left inside of you. People, they don\u2019t understand that. They think that that means they create their universe. Not in the way you think. It\u2019s very Zen. It says, \u201cNeither affirm the existence of things nor deny their existence.\u201d That\u2019s the third Zen patriarch. That\u2019s the point we\u2019re touching here. What is out there is out there, just as the lake is out there. But what you see out there is not out there, just as when you look in the lake, you see yourself in the lake. You are not in the lake. The lake is the lake. You see yourself in the lake, because you are reflecting yourself there. What you see when you look at life is the ocean, the lake of life, but you see the reflection of yourself in there.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re into food, then you see places to eat. If you\u2019re into girls, then you see eligible women. If you\u2019re into men, you see eligible men. If you think your lover is cheating on you, you see things that make you jealous. We could all be looking at the same thing. I could have described the same scene that we\u2019re all looking at, and one sees food, one sees reasons to be jealous, and one sees male or female attractiveness. Is it out there? The objects are out there just as water is out there in the lake. What you see is not out there. You put it out there, because it\u2019s inside of you. If you are not attracted to male or female, then you don\u2019t see that. Do you see something else? You are putting out there in accordance to what is inside of you. So, you\u2019re dancing with yourself when it\u2019s said and done. That\u2019s the truth.<\/span><\/p>\n

That is, as you get to know life (which is what you should be focusing on) is getting to know what is really there. If you were not there, what is there? That\u2019s a fascinating question. It\u2019s more fascinating than trying to go to Mars. It\u2019s more fascinating than exploring the far planets or delving with electron microscopes into the atoms. What is really out there if you are not projecting yourself out there? Well, you\u2019ll never find out until you forget yourself. You have to literally forget yourself. The whole spiritual path is about forgetting yourself. It\u2019s not about learning, it\u2019s not about gaining, it\u2019s not about doing, it\u2019s not about experiencing. It\u2019s not. It\u2019s about losing your sense of addiction to your personal self. Until you get rid of that, you will not be able to see what\u2019s out there.<\/span><\/p>\n

Growing deep spiritually is really experienced by how deep you can get into real life, into the reality of what is out there. Can you feel its pulse? It\u2019s very Dao? That\u2019s what Lao Tzu was trying to speak about. When you get deep into life, you understand the flow, the pulse of her. She\u2019s real, and you can feel her, but you can\u2019t feel her while you\u2019re feeling yourself. If you are very vain, if you\u2019re Narcissus and you look into the lake, all you see is the reflection of your face. You don\u2019t even see the lake. It\u2019s so funny. Narcissus walked by, he looked in the lake, and all he saw was himself, and he was so beautiful, and he just loved it so much. He didn\u2019t go back and tell anybody what the lake was like. It happened to be gorgeous, but you\u2019ll never find out what that lake was like.<\/span><\/p>\n

There were beautiful palms all around. There were peacocks on the other side, they were always spread open with it. You\u2019ll never hear about it because he didn\u2019t see that. He saw what he wanted to see. That\u2019s what it is. That\u2019s what you see when you look at life every minute of every day, you see your personal self. You\u2019ve got to realize that\u2019s what meditation\u2019s about. Meditation is about realizing that truth. It won\u2019t fix it. It\u2019s about sitting down, getting quiet and realizing, \u201cWhat a mess I am. All I do is think about myself. All I do is, when I look at somebody else, see what they\u2019re doing to me and look at like every single thing I do as in relationship to me. Everything I see is in relationship to me. I want it. I don\u2019t want it. I like it. I don\u2019t like it. It\u2019s good. It\u2019s bad. Based on what me, me, me, me, me. It all comes back to me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

You want to talk about Narcissus? OK? You got it. All you are thinking about is yourself, every single minute of every single second\u2014but don\u2019t feel bad. So is everybody else. You have to realize that. That\u2019s what\u2019s going on. Even if you think you\u2019re spiritual\u2014\u201cHow am I doing spiritually? Did I meditate? Did I meditate more than her? Oh my gosh. She\u2019s meditating more. She\u2019ll get to God sooner. I better meditate more.\u201d How does one break the cycle of seeing themselves? That is your spiritual journey. Ultimately, the door that keeps you out of merger is you.<\/span><\/p>\n

To take the analogy to the absurd, while you\u2019re looking at that lake, and you\u2019re Narcissus, and you love so much what you see, you won\u2019t go swimming. You have to mess up the face. So, you can\u2019t experience the lake. You can\u2019t get into the lake. You have to stay separate because what you care about is yourself. The door that leads to merger is exactly the door that permits Narcissus to go swimming in that lake. That\u2019s what keeps you from God. Nothing else. Yukteswar said to Yogananda, \u201cThe door is always open. Whenever you want to go, just go.\u201d Imagine, Narcissus is sitting there on a beautiful crystal-clear lake looking and he says, \u201cI\u2019m thirsty. Please help me. Could you get me some water?\u201d \u201cWhat do you mean can I get you some water? You\u2019re standing in front of this beautiful spring of the beautiful lake.\u201d \u201cI cannot mess up his little reflection.\u201d So, he\u2019s going to sit there, parch dry. What is it that permits Narcissus to drink? That\u2019s what permits you to go to God.<\/span><\/p>\n

You are separate from life because you are separating yourself from life. There is no door you have to break through. There is no wall. There\u2019s no one who\u2019s approval you have to earn. It\u2019s not what\u2019s happening. You won\u2019t merge with God because you care more about your reflection. Therefore, you won\u2019t get in the water. So, you are stopping yourself. Nobody is stopping you. You keep yourself from the merger with life because you are projecting your sense of personal self onto that which is impersonal, life itself. The lake is impersonal. It is neither beautiful nor ugly; it has nothing to do with it. It\u2019s a lake. But you are more interested in the reflection. That is what\u2019s happening with life. In the third Zen patriarch, he says, \u201cIt\u2019s so beautiful.\u201d He says, \u201cWhen a thing can no longer offend you, it ceases to exist in the old way.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

There are lines. As you grow deeper, they just mean so much. \u201cWhen a thing can no longer offend you, it ceases to exist in the old way.\u201d Things outside bother you. Have you noticed? People, things, words, events, circumstances, behavioral patterns\u2014or lack thereof. Either way, either somebody doing it or somebody not doing it, somebody saying it or somebody not saying it, somebody saying it too loud, somebody saying it too soft. \u201cDo you love me? Yes. I love you. Do you love? Yes. I love you. No, not good enough.\u201d See, we\u2019re pretty sensitive here. Things can offend you, can\u2019t they? What things? It\u2019s not all things. A leaf fell off that tree. Yes. There are lots of things that don\u2019t offend you. In fact, believe it or not, there are 800 zillion more things that don\u2019t offend you than things that offend you.<\/span><\/p>\n

If a neighbor sits there and whispers or talks loudly, that bother you? No. Just think of all the things that don\u2019t bother you that are going on in your earth now. All over the universe. Are you getting bothered? No. You\u2019re pretty picky down to just little unique things. It\u2019s far out. I hear a cell phone that sounds like the tune you put ringing in your car. It has to be just the right tune in just the right thing at just the place that offends you. Offend you. What does that mean? Something outside caused a change inside. Let\u2019s call that offend you. I don\u2019t want \u201coffends you\u201d to mean that you got upset. You\u2019re in here. You\u2019re fine. You\u2019re at peace. You now are no longer at peace. Something has offended your peace. Do you understand that? How is it that these things offend you? What is that about?<\/span><\/p>\n

If you want to find out what things you project onto life that are not life, find the things that offend you. Because there is nothing in life that is different than anything else in life. That\u2019s a person. That\u2019s a person. That\u2019s a person. That\u2019s a person. But when that person walks up and holds hands with that person, that offends you. When that person walks up, even stands near that person, it offends you. Who did that? You did. You did. That\u2019s a good clue, that you projected your reflection of personal onto the impersonal. The fact that it offends you is something you did, not something he did. It\u2019s all the same. It\u2019s just atoms moving through time and space. It\u2019s an ocean of energy. That\u2019s what\u2019s out there moving. You are projecting what\u2019s in you onto it, in certain places. Very few places. Don\u2019t worry about it.<\/span><\/p>\n

You\u2019re almost out. You\u2019re almost out. It\u2019s almost like Narcissus wouldn\u2019t mind jumping into the water where there\u2019s not his reflection. Look how much of the water doesn\u2019t have his reflection. The trouble is he so addicted to his reflection that he won\u2019t take his eyes off of it to look at the rest of the water. That\u2019s exactly what\u2019s happening. The vast majority of this universe, you are not offended by. Pluto is Pluto, Saturn is Saturn, ants are ants. Everything\u2019s what it is until they intersect with your personal. Ants are all over the place, but not in my house. Believe me, the ant didn\u2019t notice. As the ripple passes across the lake because the leaf dropped in, the ripple doesn\u2019t notice it went across your reflection. You\u2019re the one who freaked. Narcissus is sitting there looking. Then, all of a sudden, with the wind, it ripples\u2014\u201cOh, oh my God, what\u2019s happening?\u201d It was happening all over the rest of the lake. It didn\u2019t matter.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is what you\u2019re doing. It is because of your personal problem inside that you are projecting out onto this innocence, and it is innocent. It has nothing to do with you. It is completely and utterly impersonal. Every single drop of it. You are projecting yourself onto it. Therefore, it offends you. When a thing can no longer offend you, it ceases to exist in the old way. Then a person becomes a person. An ant becomes an ant. A word becomes a word. Loud becomes loud. Soft becomes soft. They just are what they are, as they always were, anyways. You are the one who gave more meaning to them. Birth is birth. Death is death. You did not create birth. You do not create death. Everything that lived was born. Everything that lived will die and has died. Reality is reality. Projecting your opinion upon reality is just a waste of time.<\/span><\/p>\n

When you stop doing that, then reality rules. What you see outside is what is out there. A leaf fell. That\u2019s what Zen means. Just tree\u2014you see just tree. You don\u2019t see my tree. You don\u2019t see her tree. You don\u2019t see a tree that \u201creminds me of when I was young.\u201d You don\u2019t see a tall tree. You don\u2019t see a sick tree. Why are you keep taking your thoughts and adding them to tree? Let it just be what it is. It is a tree. It is a lake. It\u2019s not you. That\u2019s true of all things in life. They were before you got here, they would be after you leave. When you walk away, they have nothing to do with you. But then when you walk back, you get offended. It\u2019s just hilarious.<\/span><\/p>\n

Growth. True, spiritual growth is about this. It\u2019s about ceasing to project yourself onto what has nothing to do with you. When you cease to project yourself, you get to see what\u2019s there. Getting to know life is more important than getting to know yourself, but you have to actually get to know real life. It\u2019s really out there. What does a lake look like? Narcissus doesn\u2019t know. Wouldn\u2019t it be neat to know? What does the rest of the water look like? What\u2019s down underneath? What happens when a leaf drops and the ripples go? What a fascinating thing. What\u2019s on the shore? What are the animals like? What is a lake like? He will never know because he only cares of what his face looks like. Do you know what life looks like? Or do you only care about what your face looks like? Because that is what you are projecting onto life.<\/span><\/p>\n

Your fears, your hopes, your dreams, your face. The true teachings are so quiet. They are so simple. When you look at a lake, see just \u201clake.\u201d \u201cThat sounds stupid.\u201d Oh no, it doesn\u2019t. If you cease to see your reflection, it\u2019s over. Your consciousness will merge instantly with the lake. You will engulf the entire lake. What keeps you from there is your interest in yourself. Since that\u2019s what you\u2019re interested in, that\u2019s what you see. Since that\u2019s what you see, and that\u2019s what you\u2019re interested in, that\u2019s what\u2019s called <\/span>maya<\/span><\/i>. Now you\u2019re caught.<\/span><\/p>\n

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TS:<\/b><\/p>\n

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, <\/span>Living Untethered<\/span><\/i>,<\/span> Michael Singer has written a follow up to the classic, <\/span>The Untethered Soul<\/span><\/i>, taking us within to our still and liberated center. You can learn more about Michael\u2019s new book at living-untethered.com.<\/span><\/p>\n

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MS:<\/b> If that\u2019s what you\u2019re interested in, then that\u2019s what you see. If I go there and I say, \u201cGive me a list of what interests you most in this world.\u201d You do the list, and I create a hologram like you\u2019ve never seen. I set up a room that when you walk in that\u2019s what\u2019s there, wherever you turn, all the things you said that interests you. You\u2019re not leaving the room. There\u2019s nothing there. It\u2019s a hologram. It doesn\u2019t matter. Since that\u2019s what interests you\u2014and I made it very easy for you to project outside by giving you the stimuli\u2014then what you\u2019re going to have going on inside of you is what interests you. Therefore, you won\u2019t leave the room. So, you are affirming the falseness, and that\u2019s maya. That\u2019s how you stay caught. What has happened is everything is here. Nothing is here.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, it\u2019s called the everything and the nothing. What is the lake? Nothing. Everything. Whatever you reflect in it is. Don\u2019t reflect anything, it\u2019s nothing. You bring into this world what is inside of you. It reflects you really well. If you think somebody loves you\u2014see, they act like they do, don\u2019t they? If you think somebody doesn\u2019t love you, then they don\u2019t. Those little things you look for that prove that they do, they\u2019re never there, are they? They don\u2019t open the door anymore and they don\u2019t ask this, and they don\u2019t do that. They don\u2019t say \u201cI love you\u201d at exactly the right tone and, \u201cYou never close your eyes anymore when I kiss you.\u201d You are doing it. As long as you have something inside of you that wants or doesn\u2019t want, that\u2019s personal. The world is such a perfect reflector of what\u2019s personal, [and] that\u2019s what you will see.<\/span><\/p>\n

Since that\u2019s what you see, by definition, that\u2019s what you\u2019re interested in. Therefore, by definition, you will not go to God. You will stay in the room where you got put, where you\u2019re seeing that which interests you. The only difference between that and getting out is you, is letting go of relating to things in a personal way. So, real spirituality, in the beginning, in the end, is always that. There are no other teachings, period. There is nothing else. You have to die to be reborn. It\u2019s that simple. You must be willing to let go of your personal self in order to merge with the universal self. How does one do that? Instead of getting to know yourself, instead of putting all of this energy into yourself, get to know life. There really is life\u2014with a capital <\/span>L<\/span><\/i>. It\u2019s really out there.<\/span><\/p>\n

It has nothing to do with you. Don\u2019t go to know her, to get to know yourself. Get to know life. Don\u2019t go to know her to make her be what you think she should be. You have to get to know her for the sake of knowing her herself, which means you can\u2019t be projecting yourself onto her. What you will see, as you start to get to know her, like I said, she has a pulse, she has a life she\u2019s real. She is real. There are times when she will be up. There are times when she will be down. There are times where she will be in joy. There are times where she\u2019ll be in sorrow. All things exist in this world, independent of you. So, I hear Solomon, \u201cFor everything there\u2019s a season, a time for every purpose under Heaven.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s what you see. That\u2019s Daoism. There will be a time for peace and there will be a time for war. There will be a time for birth. There will be a time for death. There will be a time for things coming to fruition and success. There will be a time for things withering away and going into failure. There\u2019s nothing wrong with this. There\u2019s nothing right with this. There\u2019s nothing good with this. There\u2019s nothing bad with this. Right, wrong, good, bad. Are you projecting your value system onto reality? Everything comes and goes. Everything is born and dies. Everything. Just as the seasons come and go. You think they\u2019re beautiful and you understand them.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think winter is very terrible because it kills everything, and they can\u2019t grow properly. The flowers aren\u2019t there and so on, let\u2019s get rid of it.\u201d What would happen? There wouldn\u2019t be flowers, would there? Because winter is as much part of the flowers as spring. You\u2019ve come to know that, haven\u2019t you? In business school, I thought it was neat, such a weird place, they teach Daoism. I realized that at some point, back when I went to school. I love that they actually taught, at some point, that the cycles that go on in the economy and business are healthy and that you should leave them alone, that you shouldn\u2019t try to keep everything on a steady curve going up. That if you attempted to do that, you would destroy the health of the economy. They actually teach that. It has to have its time when it dips down. Because just as in winter, there are healthy things that happen to nature as she rejuvenates and rests. As she builds up her energy and so on.<\/span><\/p>\n

When there\u2019s a downturn in the economy, there\u2019s companies that clean out inefficiencies, they re-look at things than the way they looked at them before. That\u2019s a healthy state. In forestry, we have found out that you\u2019re not supposed to stop forest fires. Really, these things fascinate me. Why? Because it\u2019s Daoism. Because it is intelligent people realizing truth, without knowing it. You do not try to stop the forest fires. You permit the natural flow of the ebb and flow of nature to take place. Why? Because there is meaning to that fire. It is healthy for the forest. Now what they try to do is say, \u201cDon\u2019t let humans intervene and cause more fires than there would\u2019ve been, nor stop the fires that would\u2019ve been. Let the natural balance of summer, spring, winter, and fall.\u201d I don\u2019t want to be around when they figure out how to affect the seasons. Don\u2019t touch it.<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s what they\u2019re learning. Let things go through their natural cycles because every stage in that cycle has its benefit. There\u2019s a pruning. Don\u2019t we prune? Do you ever see how ugly the garden looks when it\u2019s pruned? I used to say, \u201cWho ruined the garden?\u201d I\u2019d walk into the fruit trees and suddenly there\u2019s nothing but sticks. \u201cSomebody did something wrong. This is absolutely absurd.\u201d But pruning is healthy. Isn\u2019t it? These are the cycles. This is what Solomon was talking about. For everything there\u2019s a season, and there\u2019s a time for every purpose under Heaven. Just those two lines are what it means to get to know life. Because your personal self will not accept that. You do not want there to be these seasons. You want it to be the way you want it all the time. How can you know it\u2019s your personal self? That\u2019s a clue.<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019ll give you a clue. \u201cThese cycles are not OK.\u201d No, no, no, no, no, no. \u201cI am successful. It is successful all the time. I do not fail. People I love don\u2019t die. Ever. People I love, love me. Always.\u201d I could step on some toes if I went a little further. Couldn\u2019t I? I\u2019m trying not to. For everything there\u2019s a season. Look at those words: \u201cfor everything there\u2019s a season.\u201d Everything, period. There\u2019s a time to fall in love. There\u2019s a time for it to stop. There\u2019s a time for birth, a time for death. There\u2019s a time for sickness, there\u2019s a time for health. It\u2019s not like I\u2019m not supposed to get sick; that\u2019s wrong. There is a time for everything. The question is not whether there\u2019s sickness or health. The question is, are you at peace? Are you at peace with things? That\u2019s why it\u2019s Daoism.<\/span><\/p>\n

Are you at peace with falling in love? Are you at peace with the end of love? Who told you it\u2019s to last forever? For everything there is a season and a time for every purpose under heaven. Once you understand, it has nothing to do with you. It is the ebb and flow of life. It goes through its cycles. If you want to get to know her, you must be willing to feel her pulse. You can\u2019t be stepping back here saying, \u201cNo, I want it my way.\u201d The world has its ebb and flow. It has its cycle, and it should have its cycles. You do not understand those cycles and you will never understand those cycles. How could you possibly? You only see this tiny bit of life. It\u2019s a whole. Its cycles are in harmony with its universal self. You only see the way when it passes by. You say, \u201cOh, it shouldn\u2019t be doing that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Why? \u201cBecause it messed up my face and the reflection. That\u2019s why.\u201d You\u2019ll always do it in relationship to you. You want to know how wrong you are? Every single time you say something\u2019s good or bad, or wrong, or better, or worse, or preferred, or not preferred,\u00a0 I\u2019m going to ask you, \u201cBased on what?\u201d Every one of those things is a relative term. Good, bad, right, wrong, preferred, not preferred. Those are relative terms. She doesn\u2019t agree. She doesn\u2019t agree. Everyone\u2019s got their own thing, don\u2019t they? They\u2019re relative. I\u2019m going to ask you, \u201cBased on what?\u201d And if you\u2019re honest, you\u2019re going to say, \u201cBased on me. Based on my view of the world, based on my value system.\u201d So, what? Who cares about your value system? There\u2019s Narcissus again. There you are, looking into the universe and seeing the reflection of yourself, and saying that\u2019s what matters. So, just get to the point where you stop putting so much weight on yourself. Stop being Narcissus. Your face is just one of 700 billion things in the universe.<\/span><\/p>\n

Your spiritual journey is about ceasing to think that you matter. It is about ceasing to think that you are the center of your universe. The universe is the center of the universe. It\u2019s about lake, not about face. It just keeps coming back to the same thing. You have to wake up to that. So, your spiritual growth is not about getting into yourself or changing your views or even to go in there and mess around with your mind. It\u2019s crazy. Your mind doesn\u2019t matter. It\u2019s a nothing. You know what it takes to erase a hard disk? Just take a good magnet, pass it across, it\u2019s gone. It\u2019s just meaningless, what you have in there. Stop rearranging the darn thing. What matters is life itself. God, the universal. Get to know her. How? By ceasing to be so interested in yourself. So, when you look into the lake of life\u2014and that\u2019s what you\u2019re doing every minute of every day\u2014you understand that you\u2019re looking into the lake of life.<\/span><\/p>\n

When you look into the lake of life, will you please stop seeing yourself? There are lots and lots and lots of things out there. Stop seeing yourself. \u201cHow do I know that I\u2019m seeing myself?\u201d I will give you the biggest clue it ever was. It offends you. You feel a change in the force, in the energy, in the <\/span>shakti<\/span><\/i> flow. Sometimes you do, don\u2019t you? Lots of times. If you look out into this lake of life and it causes a change in the flow of the <\/span>chi<\/span><\/i> inside of you, you have projected yourself into life and it hit your projection. \u201cI want this to happen. I want that to happen.\u201d \u201cThe cause of suffering is desires\u201d\u2014Buddha. It\u2019s all the same teaching. You are projecting from inside out. Therefore, the innocence of life is hitting your projections, causing you to suffer, causing change to happen inside your peace. It\u2019s disturbing the peace.<\/span><\/p>\n

You want to stop that? You want to find true spirituality? You have to let go of projecting yourself onto life. How do you do that? On a minute-to-minute daily basis, every single time, every single time that something offends you, that something causes the noise to start inside. You got some of that noise? It starts with a change in the chi, then a change in the heart, then noise in the mind. Watch it. Do it. It\u2019s like dropping a pebble in the lake. It all starts. If anything, at any time, 24\/7, full time job, if anything in this world appears to affect what is going on inside of you in that way, don\u2019t get involved in thinking about what to do about it. That\u2019s just causing more trouble. Let go, just relax and release, and fall back into the self, and let that noise settle down.<\/span><\/p>\n

Let the ripples stop. If you do that, what you\u2019re doing is you\u2019re saying, \u201cI don\u2019t believe in this maya. I don\u2019t believe in this game that says I\u2019ve projected myself onto that which is not me. Therefore, I see myself in what is not me. I\u2019m going to interact based on that. I\u2019m not going to interact based on that. I\u2019m not, period. I know that is not reality. So, what I\u2019m going to do when I look at my face in the lake, a ripple comes across and they get all upset? I\u2019m not going to figure out how to stop the ripple. I\u2019m not going to get upset. I\u2019m not going to blame somebody. I\u2019m not going to yell at the person down there who threw a pebble in the lake. I\u2019m going to relax and release the energy that got disturbed inside of me because I don\u2019t want that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

You just keep letting go of everything. Everything. If you do that, a phenomenal thing will happen to you. You will find peace so deep inside of you, and you will find your harmony with life. You are in harmony with life and, believe it or not, life is in harmony with herself. If you think there\u2019s something to fix out there, you\u2019re broken. I\u2019ll challenge you to the bottom of your core. Everything that ever was, everything that is, and everything that will ever be, is God, period. There is nothing else. Life is God made visible. You are looking at aspects of the divine. For you to think there\u2019s something wrong out there that you need to fix, is for you to say that winter is wrong. There are many seasons, there are many, many different things that go on, period. Are you able to be at peace with all of it?<\/span><\/p>\n

Because when you are, the door is open. When a thing can no longer offend you, it just is what it is. When it all is what it is, you\u2019ll find that you are one with all of it. The separation stops and that\u2019s your merger. So, spirituality is beyond what anybody wants to deal with. That\u2019s why they hid the mystical teachings in the ancient Tibet tradition. You couldn\u2019t get near the deep teachings. They were hidden away. The basic premise was, in the rare case that someone was actually capable of hearing the teachings, the rare thing would happen, which is they would get them. But you have teachings. The truth is, Christ put them around the table. You have to die to be reborn. You have to die to be reborn. St. Paul said, \u201cI die daily.\u201d It\u2019s all right there. Let go of yourself that is projecting yourself onto life.<\/span><\/p>\n

It will kill you to do that. You will see things happening outside that appear to be causing tremendous trouble. There\u2019s nothing happening. Winter, spring, summer, fall is happening. None of them has anything to do with you. If it seems to have something to do with you it\u2019s because you projected yourself. If you try to let go, without touching and getting involved and doing all of that, manipulating, controlling, forcing people, places and things, it will rip at your heart. It will feel like\u2014sometimes you say it, \u201cThat would kill me not to do that or say that, or go after him.\u201d Yes, it will kill you, and you have to die lovingly and willingly until that\u2019s what you enjoy, that feeling of freeing yourself by letting go of your ignorance, by letting go of illusions that you hold inside yourself.<\/span><\/p>\n

You can actually live like that. You can literally live. You may end up getting married. You don\u2019t have to get married. You may end up married. Why? Because for everything there\u2019s a season and a time for every purpose. Maybe that will be one. You may not end up getting married. It\u2019s just how it unfolds. They\u2019re all beautiful. You have to give up preference. You give up sitting there thinking that \u201cI know what I want.\u201d What you want is reality. What you want is the merger with truth. That\u2019s what\u2019s you want. There is nothing else left, nothing. This is how a great being lives. Hear me? So, I left you a few things. One, you are looking into the lake of life at all times. What are you seeing? Question whether you\u2019re seeing the reflection of what\u2019s inside of you. You\u2019ll know. Do you hear me? Stop it. Stop it. Stop looking into the lake of life and seeing yourself. Look into the lake of life and see God.<\/span> Jai gurudev<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/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. 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-19550","transcript","type-transcript","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nS2 E5 Look Into The Lake Of Life - Transcript | Sounds True<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Read the full transcript from this Sounds True conversation with S2 E5 Look Into The Lake Of Life. 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