{"id":27746,"date":"2026-10-04T21:24:52","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T03:24:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/resources2.soundstrue.com\/?post_type=transcript&p=27746"},"modified":"2026-10-04T21:24:52","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T03:24:52","slug":"e223-truth-will-set-you-free","status":"publish","type":"transcript","link":"https:\/\/resources2.soundstrue.com\/transcript\/e223-truth-will-set-you-free\/","title":{"rendered":"E223: Truth Will Set You Free"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"image_print\"Print Transcript<\/span><\/a><\/div>

Tami Simon:<\/b> Welcome to the Michael Singer Podcast, presented by Sounds True in partnership with Shanti Publications. For more information about Michael Singer’s work, access to all prior episodes, and information about upcoming releases, we invite you to join us at michaelsingerpodcast.com.<\/span><\/p>\n

Michael Singer:<\/b> Mm-hmm. Jai guru dev, jai masters. It may seem to you that there’s a lot of non-truth going on in this world. But what is fake news? What are non-truths? How do they stand against truth? Or how do they know truth? You just say it enough times, and it becomes true. A bunch of people believe it, they believe it’s true. Is there such a thing as inalienable truth, period?<\/span><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, there is. So I’m going to give you a few truths, and you tell me whether they’re truth or not. You’re sitting on a small planet spinning in the middle of nowhere. Yes or no? You sure? Did I make it up? I mean, you had to take pictures. We’re taking pictures of it\u2014just a little, tiny little dot spinning around in total black space.<\/span><\/p>\n

It’s a truth, okay? What was there before the universe was made? Well, you don’t know that. Somebody can give you some teaching, preaching, something, and you choose to believe it or not believe it. What is a belief? Something you don’t know about, and you decided to believe. You don’t have to believe that you’re sitting on a little planet spinning in the middle of nowhere, do you?<\/span><\/p>\n

They’re kind of neat. That’s a big difference between belief and truth. Truth doesn’t have to be believed. Doesn’t matter. It’s still there. Isn’t that nice to know there’s such solid ground like that? It’s the truth. “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” Then don’t ask, “What is the truth?”<\/span><\/p>\n

Truth is the truth. Not “which truth,” because there’s no “which truth.” So, taking one truth: you’re sitting on a little ball spinning in the middle of nowhere, okay? Let’s take another one, if you’re not scared, right? You’re going to die. What? Why did you talk about that? Why’d you say that? Because it’s the truth.<\/span><\/p>\n

Is it a truth or not? Your body’s going to die. Yes or no? You don’t know when, you don’t know how, but it’s going to die. How do you know? Well, I did some statistics. There is a 100% correlation coefficient between that which was born and that which died, period. The plants, animals, bugs, everybody\u2014they’re born, they die.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you’re born, you’re going to die. Well, you’re born, you’re going to die. Is that a truth? Maybe you don’t like it. Maybe you don’t like that you sit on a ball spinning out of nowhere. It doesn’t matter, does it? It is the truth, period. How do you know? You know, all right? Well, people say anybody can come up with evidence about anything they want to be the truth.<\/span><\/p>\n

No, no, no, they can’t, right? The truth is you’re going to die, period. The truth is you’re on a little ball spinning out of nowhere. Truth. What does that mean? “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” If you regularly\u2014not every second, but at least every five minutes\u2014were aware that you’re sitting on a little ball spinning out of nowhere and you’re going to die, would it change your life?<\/span><\/p>\n

Completely change your life. A totally different frame of reference, totally different mindset, totally different emotion set, to understand that. And that’s what’s meant by “ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.” The truth sets you free. Why? Because you don’t have to play around with making up stuff.<\/span><\/p>\n

You don’t believe things. You don’t not believe things. You don’t have to argue. Lao Tzu said the following, right? “A wise man never argues.” For what purpose? Either you know the truth or you don’t, and if you’re making up a truth that’s not true\u2014false things\u2014I can argue with you. You made a thing up.<\/span><\/p>\n

It’s fine. Have a good time. Make up whatever you want. How about this? The truth is whatever everybody believes. No, it’s not. The truth is truth. It has nothing to do with belief. If you believe something, it may or may not come true. It may or may not be real. The truth is always real. It’s been real for a very, very long time, and it will stay the truth for a very, very long time.<\/span><\/p>\n

And if you don’t believe it, go ahead, don’t believe it. There’s no reason to argue about it, is there? People sit there and say, “What took place is that I came from Mars, and that’s what happened.” Well, if you believe that, good. Have a good time believing you’re from Mars, right?<\/span><\/p>\n

Because it’s a belief. What is it? Okay, now let’s get down to the foundation of non-truth. And again, I’m having a deep talk here. Can your mind think anything it wants? Can you think you’re from Mars? Can you think the truth of the matter is you’re a five-hundred-year reincarnated Dalai Lama, dropped down?<\/span><\/p>\n

Can you believe these things? Yeah, you can believe anything you want. Why? Because a belief is of mind. All beliefs\u2014all beliefs\u2014that’s where they come from. They come from mind. A belief is a thought that you clung to. You held onto it. “I believe this. I believe it with all my heart and soul.” Well, good.<\/span><\/p>\n

That’s fine. It doesn’t mean it’s true. There’s no foundation to it. It’s a belief. Who’s willing to listen? All beliefs have no foundation. They’re just things that you believe. I don’t know\u2014well, get other people to believe them, now they’re true. No, they’re not. They stay beliefs. There’s nothing wrong with it.<\/span><\/p>\n

You can have beliefs, but there’s a big difference between belief and truth. I told you two different truths so far. You’re sitting on a ball spinning in the middle of nowhere, and you’re going to die. “No, I’m not.” Okay, we’ll see, all right? They have a foundation. They’re the truth, and those aren’t the only truths.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are other truths. Let’s take a few others. Does the world unfold in front of you? Do you have to pedal? Do you have to like it or not like it, or is it just unfolding in front of you? How much effort is it to see the things unfolding in front of you? None. No tension, no anxiety. How about no problems? What do you mean, no problems?<\/span><\/p>\n

Are things unfolding in front of you? Are you on a little ball spinning in the middle of nowhere? Are you going to die? All right, give me a few good truths. How do you know there are things unfolding in front of you? I know that I know. You see what you see, and you shall know the truth. It’ll set you free.<\/span><\/p>\n

You see things because they’re there. You can make believe they’re not, but you have to do that with your mind. Otherwise, you’re just aware of what’s going on out there. Are you, really? We’re going to get dirtier and dirtier as we go down, right? If you are totally clear inside, and you have nothing going on, no beliefs, no hopes\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n

Hopes are just hopes\u2014something inside you make up. That was your hope for yesterday. You don’t want it today. Can your mind change? Have you ever changed your mind? Well, it means it’s not real. If you can change your mind, it’s not real. The truth: you know you’re on a planet, you didn’t change that.<\/span><\/p>\n

You’re going to die, you didn’t change that. Things are unfolding in front of you, you didn’t change that. But you can change anything you want inside your mind. “I like it. I don’t like it. It’s right. It’s wrong. It shouldn’t be a little planet spinning in the middle of nowhere. Saturn shouldn’t have rings.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Okay, have fun. That’s your mind. That’s different than truth. So you have made up in your mind lots of things. Someday, when you go deep enough, you won’t do that. Or if it happens, you’ll laugh at it. “Oh, but you don’t understand. I really want it to be this way.” It’s not. “But it should be.” No, it shouldn’t. It is the way it is.<\/span><\/p>\n

How do you know? “Let those with eyes to see, let them see. Let those with ears to hear, let them hear.” That’s Christ’s teaching. What does that mean? It’s pretty deep stuff. It’s there. It’s unfolding. What are you doing? “But I don’t like it.” Too bad. I don’t know what to tell you. Especially when it’s very difficult.<\/span><\/p>\n

“But I wanted to have a girl, and I had a boy.” What are you doing? Things are what they are. How do you know? “Let those with eyes to see, let them see.” So you just have these deep truths. Christ taught them. He did teach them. Buddha taught them, and he did teach them. And then you have all these opinions and concepts and views and likes and dislikes.<\/span><\/p>\n

They’re of mind, aren’t they? That’s the difference between truth and mind. Mind can do whatever it wants, or whatever you want it to do. Okay? It can do anything it wants. That is non-truth. Is the mind ever the truth? Oh, we’re going deep now. I’m going to get in trouble. Is the mind ever the truth? Mind can seek truth through science, through study, through evidence, different things, try to find truths.<\/span><\/p>\n

They don’t always turn out to be the truth, because it’s still mind. It’s not a solid, inalterable truth. It’s something the mind\u2014which is fine, it’s wonderful, that’s what it’s there for, to study, to think, to create. It’s not there to make stuff up. It’s not there to be a scientist in the pharmaceutical industry who’s doing a clinical study, and it’s not going the way they want, and the mind says, “Well, I’ll just fudge that number.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Help. That’s not truth, okay? No matter how many people you get to believe it. Do people do that? Yes. That’s because they’re not seeking truth. Mind has made up what it wants, and then it’s trying to manipulate truth or experiences to match what it wants. Instead of reaching the point where you say, “I’m in here.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Oh, I forgot to ask you\u2014are you in there? Are you in there? How do you know? Prove it. It’s pretty funny. “I’m in here, okay. I’m in here.” That’s why I’m in here. That’s a truth. Were you in there yesterday? Are you sure you didn’t have to write it down? Were you in there five years ago? Literally, not memory.<\/span><\/p>\n

Were you in there when you were little, and you looked in the mirror and saw a much younger person in the mirror? Was it you who saw it? Have you been in there the whole time? Answer me. Okay? I’m not talking about bringing memory back. You know you’re there, and you’ve been there the whole time, right? Are you in there when you go to sleep?<\/span><\/p>\n

Are you in there? You in there? Hello? In there? You in there? Are you in there when you’re sleeping, in a dream state? Are you in there? Well, I come back and say, “I had a dream. Let me tell you about my dream.” I don’t understand\u2014you weren’t even here. “Yeah, I’m still there. I’m just in the dream world, right? I’m just in the world that the mind is making up, but it’s the same me, is it not?”<\/span><\/p>\n

You come back and say, “I had this unbelievable dream. I was flying.” Who’s talking? “I was flying in the dream. Now I’m back telling you about the dream.” Same I, is it not? Do they have to call each other on the phone? “Let me tell you what happened to me a moment ago.” No, you’re experiencing. Do you experience your dreams?<\/span><\/p>\n

You actually have the experience, and then you come back and tell about the experience you had. That’s a lot of continuity of consciousness, isn’t it? But what about if you go into deep sleep? Deep, non-REM, okay, whatever it is, right? There’s just\u2014you’re in deep sleep. You’re in deep sleep. Are you there?<\/span><\/p>\n

Listen to me. You come back from that state, you wake up and you say, “I went so deep, I didn’t have any dreams.” Ever said that? How do you know? These are simple questions, but we don’t pay attention. How do you know there weren’t any dreams? How do you know? You slept so deep, it was so peaceful, it was so quiet, it was so beautiful.<\/span><\/p>\n

Who was there? You were. Patanjali speaks about it in the Yoga Sutras. He says, “When you’re awake, you’re aware of this world. When you’re in dream sleep, you’re aware of that world. When you go into deep sleep, really deep sleep, you’re aware of nothing. You’re aware of void, you’re aware of emptiness.” You come back and say, “Did you dream?”<\/span><\/p>\n

“No, I didn’t dream.” “How do you know?” “I just\u2014there was nothing.” That’s right. And there was just still awareness. There’s not really nothing. You had to be aware that there were no dreams, right or wrong. You had to be aware that it was peaceful and quiet to come back and talk about it. It’s not so complicated, is it?<\/span><\/p>\n

Okay? In other words, you’re in there. You’re always in there. Waking, sleeping, non-dreaming, dreaming\u2014you’re the one that’s in there. You’re a conscious entity that’s inside, that can be aware of thoughts, can be aware of emotions, can be aware of dreams, and can be aware of deep meditation, and can be aware of deep, deep sleep.<\/span><\/p>\n

You are aware every moment, every second. You have never not been aware. You will never not be aware. There’s a deep truth, okay? How do you know it’s true? You know. You live it every day of your life. Then you raise a question. And I’m not going to answer it for you: will you be there when the body dies? What is the body?<\/span><\/p>\n

Something you’re aware of. Do you have a body? Do you have a body? How do you know? Come on, give me a break. I’m not answering these questions. I’m in here, and there’s a body that I look at. Do you have a hand? How do you know? “Because I see it.” What if you didn’t see it? “Well, I don’t know, maybe…” Stop it. I just…<\/span><\/p>\n

It’s not complicated. You’re in there. You see, hear, touch, taste, smell comes in, and you’re aware. You are the aware being. That’s my next truth. You’re an aware being. How about: there’s never a time you’re not aware? Well, what about what science or medicine calls “he was unconscious,” right? Ever had somebody come back and tell you, “Wow, let me tell you what happened when I was in a coma.<\/span><\/p>\n

I had these visions. I had these things. It was like this.” People have near-death experiences. They’re flatlined, right? They’re literally flatlined. They went into a state of flatline. They’re dead. They’re going to be pronounced dead. They come back, and what do they say? They say, “I saw this white light, and I went toward it.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Doesn’t matter. I’ll be very nice to you. Maybe you don’t believe in near-death experiences\u2014I don’t care. The fact that somebody came back and said, “These are the experiences I had”\u2014if they were mind making them up, I don’t care. You still were aware of it. There was someone in there that was aware. Okay, you can believe in near-death experiences.<\/span><\/p>\n

You don’t have to believe it, but I’m telling you, you’re in there, okay? And when you’re unconscious, he’s unconscious. What does that mean? Medically, being unconscious does not mean you’re not in there. It means you’re not conscious of the outside world. That’s what they mean medically about unconscious.<\/span><\/p>\n

This person is no longer receiving the outside world, okay? But they’re in there, right? You’re in there. That’s a deep truth. So what happens at death? You ready? Look at me, and in unison, say, “I don’t know.” I don’t know. You don’t know. You can believe. You can believe what you want. But why do you believe it?<\/span><\/p>\n

“Because the Bible told me so. Because the Quran told me so. The Torah told me so. Some great being told me so.” Okay, then you believe it. That’s a belief. That’s not a truth, it’s a belief. You’re welcome to believe it, but it does not make it true, does it? Can the mind change its mind about what it believes?<\/span><\/p>\n

You can do whatever you want, right? But that’s not truth. The truth that everyone’s talking about now\u2014we’ve got a few truths. Kind of nice to have some truth in it, with all this world of crazy stuff going on, right? So one truth is you’re on a planet in the middle of nowhere. Second truth is you’re going to die. Third truth is you’re a conscious being experiencing what’s in front of you.<\/span><\/p>\n

It unfolds in front of you. And the fourth truth is you’re always in there. You’re always conscious. It’s just what you’re conscious of. And like I said, Patanjali went to the deepest state\u2014Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra, very, very deep in meditation and so on. And he says that even in deep, deep sleep, you’re in there experiencing…<\/span><\/p>\n

Let’s talk about deep sleep. You’re experiencing nothing. What’s it like to experience nothing? Very peaceful. But the truth is, you’re experiencing it, or you wouldn’t know that you experienced it. So we’ve got a number of truths hanging out around here. Can we talk about non-truths? That’s so easy, it makes me laugh.<\/span><\/p>\n

Well, where did non-truth come from, all right? It came from the fact\u2014listen to me once\u2014that there are moments unfolding in front of you, right or wrong. Did you create them? The weather, the baby coming from a fertilized cell, the thirty-five trillion cells in your body doing what they do. Did you create all that?<\/span><\/p>\n

I don’t think so. They are part of what I’ll call reality. They are what happened, or what’s happening. Is that okay with you? No. “I don’t want Saturn to have rings.” Okay, now that’s not truth. That’s founded upon the fact that you made up something in your head. What if you didn’t do that?<\/span><\/p>\n

What if you didn’t make things up in there? What if you were just aware of what was unfolding? You didn’t judge it, you didn’t like it, you didn’t dislike it\u2014nothing. You’re just aware. So, be here now. You’re just aware of the reality that’s unfolding in front of you. But now I used the word “reality,” all right?<\/span><\/p>\n

What is reality? That which already happened. It’s over. No, no, it happened. Now, by the time it gets into you, you bastardize the whole thing phenomenally, because “I didn’t want it to happen,” “I wish it happened again,” “I hope it doesn’t happen again,” right or wrong. So you touched it, but reality itself is pure.<\/span><\/p>\n

It doesn’t mean it’s right, doesn’t mean it’s wrong. What is right and wrong? What is right and wrong? Something you make up. Does every single person agree with what’s right or wrong? Come on. No. “He stole my wife. That’s wrong,” except for the guy who stole her\u2014”She’s really right. I like this experience a lot.”<\/span><\/p>\n

You’re the one who comes up with right and wrong. Don’t different cultures have different concepts of right and wrong and so on? Those are concepts. I’m not saying you shouldn’t have them\u2014don’t misunderstand me. I’m just talking about truth. They’re not truth, not inalterable. They’re based on what’s going on.<\/span><\/p>\n

Do blondes have more fun? Well, you dated one in high school and she dumped you. “No, I don’t like blondes. They’re stuck up.” Do whatever you want, but it’s going to be based on your past experiences. You’ve had experiences, and they formulate your opinions. Not real. What if you didn’t have the experience? Now, the meaningful experience you had in your life that really helped mold you and stuff like that\u2014oh, you talk so seriously about that.<\/span><\/p>\n

“That was a life-changing experience.” What if you didn’t have it? You’re still alive. What if you looked to the left when it happened, or you weren’t paying attention, so you didn’t get traumatized? Can something happen that is so powerful that if you had seen it, it would traumatize you for your life as a child, and you looked away…<\/span><\/p>\n

You sneezed and didn’t see it. Can it happen? That whole life is totally different. So now you’re getting down to the deep teachings\u2014the Buddhist teachings, the noble truths. All of life is suffering. Now, nowadays, Buddha\u2014that’s pretty negative for a spiritual person. All of life is suffering, right?<\/span><\/p>\n

He didn’t mean you broke your arm all the time, your wife leaves you, or you get sick. He said, “At one point or another, you suffer.” You suffer. Have you ever suffered? Have you ever suffered? Answer me. Okay. You have time. So everyone, at some point, suffers. Everyone. All of life is suffering. And then he said an amazing thing.<\/span><\/p>\n

Really, the Buddhist teachings are phenomenal. Four noble truths. One: all life is suffering. A very simple truth. Yes, you’re right, it’s true. There’s suffering. There’s one cause of all suffering. That’s what Buddha came up with after his deep, deep meditation. He came back and said, “One cause of all suffering.”<\/span><\/p>\n

And the other monks said, “No, there’s not. There’s sickness, or people dying, or all kinds of bad things that go on. They cause suffering.” Buddha said, “No, there’s one cause of all suffering.” Now, we’re going to go very deep. What is that one cause? Ready? Preference. What? That wasn’t the list\u2014sickness and divorce and…<\/span><\/p>\n

What do you mean, preference is the cause of all suffering? Now, generally it’s translated as desire. But what is a desire other than a preference? Answer me\u2014isn’t that what a desire is, a preference? It’s a way you want something to be. The cause of all suffering is preference. What does that mean? If you don’t have a way you want something to be, it doesn’t bother you that it’s not that way. If you have a way you want something to be and it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t bother you because you didn’t carry the preference of how you want it to be.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you have a way you want something to be, you are going to suffer. Either it’s not going to happen, or it’s going to happen and then stop happening, or you’re going to worry about the fact that it might stop happening, or whatever, right? You don’t know, but you have a preference. Do you ever worry? Worry is about you having a preference.<\/span><\/p>\n

You worry that what you want won’t happen and what you don’t want will happen. It starts with preference. You’re going deep\u2014the deep Buddha teaching. It’s so deep. You understand that? The Western world, we don’t understand how deep his teachings were, right? Four single-sentence words combined together.<\/span><\/p>\n

That’s how simple the deep teachings are. Of course, they write all kinds of stuff about that, like they do with everything else. But his teachings were: all life is suffering. The cause of suffering is desire, preference. Well, what if people die? Is that okay with you? Well, we just said they do, right?<\/span><\/p>\n

“Well, I have a preference. I don’t want to die.” Well, you’re going to suffer your entire life. If you don’t want to die, you will worry about it. Be careful\u2014it runs your entire life. One preference can run your entire life. Right or wrong? He had pretty deep teachings, didn’t he? But no one takes him at that. “He couldn’t mean that.” He does mean that. He means, if you don’t develop within your mind, which is where preferences get made\u2014”I don’t like the color.” What kind of thing is that? “This is just a color. I don’t like that color. I want a different shade.” It didn’t turn out the way I wanted.<\/span><\/p>\n

What is that? Preference, preference, preference, preference, preference, preference. “I don’t know. I got married, and I thought it would be different than it is.” Preference. “He or she doesn’t act the way I expected them to.” Preference. I’m pushing very hard on you today. If you don’t have a way you want it or don’t want it to be, it is what it is, and it comes in and goes through.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why? So the next thing can happen, so that reality can unfold in front of you. The Third Zen Patriarch has a line\u2014very deep teaching. He wrote a treatise on faith mind, okay, and the first line is all you need: “The great way is not difficult for those who have no preferences.” That is so true. There’s another truth.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you’re not in there making up how you want it to be, it doesn’t bother you the way it is, and that’s regardless of whether you want it to be or not want it to be. It just\u2014believe it or not, as stupid as it sounds\u2014it just is what it is. Are you okay with that? “Like I have a choice.” Well, you do. You can suffer about it.<\/span><\/p>\n

You can suffer because it’s not the way you want. You can suffer because it is the way you want, and then you worry that it might not be later, so on and so forth. Do people ever behave differently than you thought they would? Does that cause suffering? Now let me ask you a deeper question: is that because of how they behaved, or because of the fact that you had a preference about how they were going to behave?<\/span><\/p>\n

Because the great way is not difficult for those who have no preferences. We can talk more about it later, because it’s very shocking to discuss this with you, all right? But those are the teachings. Now Buddha shocked everyone with this truth, which is, by definition, if you don’t have a preference, it doesn’t bother you.<\/span><\/p>\n

It can’t bother you. “I don’t have a preference.” Does that mean you have to go hide in the mountains somewhere? No. “It’s unfolding, and I don’t have a preference.” “Here’s your lunch.” “It’s not as big as I want it to be.” “I don’t like that they’re smoking in the…” Preference, preference, preference, preference, preference, preference, preference.<\/span><\/p>\n

Causes suffering, doesn’t it? That is the truth. If you have a preference, you’re going to suffer. Now, what if you get what you want? Then… that’s fine. That’s wonderful. But it doesn’t stay that way. When’s the last time every single moment of your life was the way you wanted it to be and stayed that way?<\/span><\/p>\n

Right? Because you have preferences. If you didn’t, it would be fine. Then you get down to the really shocking truth\u2014Buddha’s third noble truth: to end suffering, end preference. Literally, all life is suffering. The cause of suffering is desire, or preference. To end suffering, end preference. Ooh, whoa. Now that one, you have a lot of trouble with.<\/span><\/p>\n

So to make it digestible, I was given permission from the gods above\u2014Buddha himself, right\u2014to make a slight change in the Third Zen Patriarch’s first sentence, all right? Here, are you ready? You’ll do much better with it, okay? The great way, meaning enlightenment, freedom, liberation\u2014the great way is not difficult for those who prefer everything.<\/span><\/p>\n

What’s the difference between preferring nothing and preferring everything? Nothing. If you prefer everything, it’s the same as preferring nothing. It’s all your way. You win. It’s all your way. No suffering. Literally, if you prefer everything, you don’t suffer. They’re the same thing, aren’t they? You guys are getting into deep talks tonight.<\/span><\/p>\n

You understand that? But look how deep the Buddha is. My God, he starved himself. He left a family. He was a prince. He left a wife and a kid to go wander off and try to find truth. He wanted to find truth. He sat under the Bodhi tree, and he starved himself into a skeleton, right? And he meditated all the time.<\/span><\/p>\n

He went through so much, till boom, he became enlightened. What does that mean? He saw that it was all mind, right? And if you don’t do that with your mind, it’s a whole other life. It’s a whole other universe. You’re free to be free, to be free. Nothing’s stopping you. And when you’re free to be free to be free, you go up.<\/span><\/p>\n

We can discuss a little later what liberation really means. But the foundation is, you’re not sitting there staring at your preferences, which is what you’re doing right now. Nothing wrong with it\u2014just hers aren’t the same as yours, and yours aren’t the same as they were yesterday or five minutes ago.<\/span><\/p>\n

That’s what Buddhists mean when they say everything’s temporal. It’s changing, right? But the problem is, you have preferences. You have a way you want it to be, therefore you suffer. So that’s a deep truth. Buddhist teachings are deep truths, right? You’re a planet spinning in the middle of nowhere. You’re going to die.<\/span><\/p>\n

The world unfolds in front of you. That’s a solid truth here. You’re in there, always aware, right? And now you understand that if you’re in there, and you’re staring at a mind that has filled itself with preferences, hopes, dreams, concepts, views, opinions, preferences\u2014you hear me?\u2014you’re kind of full of it, and your consciousness is staring at that.<\/span><\/p>\n

You’re going to be bothered all the time. Does anybody ever have tension? You know, the word “tension” means\u2014you know why? Because you have a way in there you want it to be, and there’s a world unfolding in front of you, whether you like it or not, and these are opposing energies. You have the energy inside yourself trying to make it be the way you want or not be the way you don’t want, and then you have the energy of the outside world unfolding in accordance with the laws of cause and effect.<\/span><\/p>\n

That’s why things are the way they are in front… People say, “Why does it have to be like that?” I love that one. Can we touch on that one real quickly? Why does it have to be like that? Why did she have to say that? Why did she have to do that? Why’d it have to be like that? Do you really want the answer?<\/span><\/p>\n

Because it’s going to take me your whole life to tell you. This happened: there was a big bang, and then everything put itself together, and then that happened, and the stars shone, and then they blew up, all right? And then pieces of this blew up, and then this little planet ended up spinning out there because of all this stuff, and then the little protozoa crawled out of the ocean, right?<\/span><\/p>\n

And then this thing, and then amphibious animals came around, and they went there and that happened, and evolution evolved, survival of the fittest, interaction\u2014it all changed and changed. And then you showed up, and then she showed up, and she had different experiences than you.<\/span><\/p>\n

Her mother did this, and her father did this, and her first boyfriend did this, and this did this. Isn’t that why she is the way she is? Okay? And then it ended up right here at this moment, and she said what she said. And you want to say, “Why’d you have to say that?” I don’t think I want to know. Because that’s why she said it.<\/span><\/p>\n

It’s cause and effect unfolding from the beginning of time. That’s why it’s in front of you the way it is. “But I don’t like it. I don’t think I want to talk about that. I don’t like that Saturn has rings.” I don’t like that Saturn has rings. I can march up and down with a sign: “Saturn should not have rings.”<\/span><\/p>\n

I’m going to march around with a sign: “She should not have said that.” Things happen because of all the coalition of forces that happened before them, including psychology, what happened to her mother, father, and all kinds of stuff, right? And then they happen, and then they unfold, and that’s why they unfold.<\/span><\/p>\n

And if you say, “Why’d you have to say that?” you’re pretty lost, because what you’re really saying is, “My past experiences don’t match what I wanted to hear that you did with your past experiences.” Shocking that we’re not all exactly the same. “You shouldn’t have done that.” I love it. “You shouldn’t have done that.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, see how absurd that is? It’s just life unfolding, but you can’t handle it, and that’s how it got the way it is. Life unfolds. Things unfold. It rains, it doesn’t rain. It’s this, it’s that. All kinds of things unfold. People say things. They don’t say things, right? And your consciousness is there. When you are in a state where you’re okay with that, that consciousness is aware of what the person said.<\/span><\/p>\n

It’s aware that it’s raining. It’s aware that it’s hot. It’s just aware. That’s what you are. You’re an aware being. But you’re not okay with that. There are things that happen that come in, and you decide\u2014which you’re welcome to, this part I don’t have trouble with\u2014you decide this was not comfortable. Yes, things have their nature.<\/span><\/p>\n

They unfold differently. Different animals behave differently. Snakes are different than butterflies. They all have a vibration. They come in. The question is not, “Did they come in?” The question is not, “Are they all comfortable the same?” They’re not the same. The question is, are you okay with how they are? Are you okay that it’s raining?<\/span><\/p>\n

No. See, everyone blames me. They say, “You use the same examples, Mickey.” I sure do, because you can’t handle them, because you have the nerve to say, “I don’t like that it’s raining.” Give me a violin, right? I mean, give me a break. It has nothing to do with you, and you have no control over it. So why don’t you just make yourself suffer because you don’t like that it’s raining?<\/span><\/p>\n

Or you sit there and say, “If I don’t like that it’s raining, I respect and honor that, and I let it be. The feelings don’t feel real good right now. They’ll change. It’s okay, right?” No, “I’m going to move. I’m going to look up on the web and find out which place has the least rain.” All right? Well, you’d better check which places don’t have any water.<\/span><\/p>\n

You’ve got some serious work to do to make it be the way you want. Like, Arizona doesn’t have a lot of rain, but they have rattlesnakes. Well, you see what I’m saying? That’s why you have trouble with decisions. You have all these preferences, and you’re trying to decide which way of doing things will match my preferences.<\/span><\/p>\n

None of them. How do you like that? You could move to Arizona and be happy as a lark, and then you start seeing a bunch of rattlesnakes, right? “Well, why’d I move here?” Now suffer about that. See, to understand what you’re doing: as experiences come in, they just are what they are. That’s the Zen teaching.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Flowers are red. Water’s blue. Grass is green.” What? What kind of teaching is that? A really good one. It basically says things are what they are. “But I don’t like that grass is green.” Okay, a good taste of deep teachings, all right? But I said to you that “the great way is not difficult for those who have no preferences” is exactly the same as “the great way is not difficult for those who prefer everything.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Can you see that? Do you understand that? If every single thing that unfolded in front of you was the same as everything else, and you were fine with it, and there were no preferences, you really have no preferences. You prefer everything, and there’s no duality. It’s deep. And I have found that you all, with the Western mind\u2014which is fine\u2014are much more comfortable with “the great way is not difficult for those who prefer everything” than with “those who have no preferences.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Well, how do I have no preferences? I have preferences. I don’t understand how you can have no preferences. I don’t even want to have no preferences. I like a certain kind of ice cream. I like a certain kind of woman or man.<\/span><\/p>\n

I like certain things\u2014all kinds of stuff. I like what I like. And the deeper teachings are fine. I love it. But what happens if what you like isn’t happening? Let’s fix that: like everything. So “the great way is not difficult for those who prefer everything.” That\u2014you could stomach that much better than saying, “Oh, no, I can’t prefer.<\/span><\/p>\n

I’m a renunciate. I can’t prefer anything.” No, no, no, there’s no renunciation. There’s acceptance. They’re totally different things. Renunciation: “I’m not supposed to prefer things.” No, no, no, that’s ridiculous. That’s called suppression. You get good and sick by deciding not to prefer what you prefer and pushing it away and thinking you’re going to get spiritual.<\/span><\/p>\n

No, you’re not. You’re going to get sick. You get ulcers, tension, anxiety. Tension, remember? Two forces opposing each other: the reality, and you not liking it. Well, you want to be okay? You want to be happy for the rest of your life? You want to feel true spiritual depth? If you find that you prefer something, I don’t want to tell you not to prefer it.<\/span><\/p>\n

I want to tell you to add to the list of what you prefer. On a daily basis, add to the list of what you prefer. Somebody’s driving in front of you really slowly, and you’re in a rush\u2014is that okay with you? “No, I’d rather get uptight. I’d rather talk to the person and point out, ‘Look at the sign. Look at the sign.<\/span><\/p>\n

It says sixty. You’re going forty-two.'” Go on, they don’t hear you. They have nothing to do with you. You’re just making yourself sick. You’re creating tension and anxiety and making yourself sick by having that preference. What preference? The preference that things be the way you want them to be. Well, how do I not have the preference?<\/span><\/p>\n

By preferring the way it is. What do you mean? I told you, you work with your mind. You can help your mind. You sit there and say, “Fine, she’s driving forty-two miles an hour in a sixty mile-an-hour zone. I’m in a rush.” But she’s somebody’s grandmother. It’s the last year that she can drive. Why don’t we tailgate her and beep a lot?<\/span><\/p>\n

Or why don’t we just respect that this is the reality for right now? There\u2014you just added acceptance to your preference list. “I’m fine. I’m fine with how she’s driving.” I’ve done it, because I tend to want to drive fast, and I’m there, and I watch it. I watch it, but I’ve gotten much, much better. Much, much better.<\/span><\/p>\n

And so there’s a tractor driving in a row, whatever the heck it is, right? And I have to slow down. Why? Because it’s not safe to pass, okay? And so I’m there. Now I have a choice: get anxious, not like it, talk to the… “Come on, tractors shouldn’t be on the road. They’re supposed to be in the field.<\/span><\/p>\n

What’s wrong? Who gives you permission?” Blah, blah, blah. Go have fun, right? Or sit there and realize, “Nice time to be quiet.” “You’re going to be late.” So what? What is late? You’re sitting on a planet that’s in the middle of nowhere. They told you that, and you’re only going to be here for a few years.<\/span><\/p>\n

You can’t handle the fact that a tractor’s driving on the road? What you do is say, “Yes, I can handle it. I’m going to handle it, and I’m not going to participate in this anxiety and neurosis that the entire world happens to have around a tractor on this road.” The reason is because they’ve got to mow, and they’ve got to do this and that, and they’ve got permission and a special permit, and who knows?<\/span><\/p>\n

There’s a reason, believe me. It’s just not the one you want, because you want it to be “they shouldn’t be here.” All right? So you drive down the road, you calm down, you spend the moment to come to peace, right? And then two blocks down the road, the tractor turns off. Happened to me the other day. It turns off.<\/span><\/p>\n

They were going six miles an hour driving down a highway, right? And then they turn off. Aren’t you glad you didn’t make yourself neurotic? You just decide: I start with, “I can handle life.” What is life? “Let those with eyes to see.” It’s that which is unfolding in front of you. It’s called reality. Can I handle it?<\/span><\/p>\n

It’s a rhetorical question. You’d better be able to handle it, otherwise you’re going to suffer. And so you sit there and say, “Yes, I can handle it.” That’s your starting position. That’s not the ending position. You go through so many phases of your growth. The first is, okay, I can handle it. Okay, that’s good.<\/span><\/p>\n

That’s better than not being able to handle it and being so neurotic about it. But then you get to the point where you say, “Wow, there’s actually a tractor on the planet Earth.” Like, just like the rovers on Mars. It’s like, wow, there’s this thing moving on the planet. And you look at it and you say, “Well, what is a tractor?”<\/span><\/p>\n

People used to do it by hand, right? And that’s when they came up with this big wheel thing that can do the whole job in a day that used to take a month, right? Wow. And you start marveling at the amazement of life. The one I talk about all the time now is like there’s this little fertilized cell.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ever heard about it? Little fertilized cell. It’s microscopic. Ready? It knows how to make a baby. What knows how to make a baby? That tiny cell knows how to make livers, kidneys, brain, nerve, pancreas, pineal gland, every gland, every single part of the body. It knows how to make it and put it where it belongs.<\/span><\/p>\n

No doctor did it. No wife did it. No husband did it. That single fertilized cell\u2014and if that’s not a miracle, what’s a miracle? That a single fertilized cell knows how to make a baby? “Oh, you’re making a cockamamie thing.” There’s a DNA molecule in there. It’s what knows how to make the baby. Okay, so a bunch of atoms linked together a certain way knows how to make a baby.<\/span><\/p>\n

I’m really impressed. What you’re dealing with is “oh my God.” So now everything blows you away. Why? Because it should. It is. It’s phenomenal. So you’re standing there yelling at me\u2014I’m not there yet, by the way\u2014but you’re standing there yelling at me, blaming me for stuff I didn’t do, and I’m marveling that this thing is talking.<\/span><\/p>\n

There was a fertilized cell, and it knew how to take Twinkies and Coca-Cola, take it apart, and turn it into molecular structures, like chemists would do, and make this whole body out of that stuff. So all of a sudden, because you changed your view of life, because you changed your willingness to look and see reality, truth, instead of caring about what you want and what you don’t want and what you like and what you don’t like, now there’s no tension, no anxiety.<\/span><\/p>\n

There’s just marvel. So now it’s not a matter of “okay, it’s okay.” Now it’s like a “wow.” Wow, that cell made this thing that is driving fifteen miles an hour, all right? Wake up to reality. And eventually you just have this respect for life. “But what about people who do bad things?” You have respect for life.<\/span><\/p>\n

You’re the sum of your learned experiences. Just stop\u2014if one experience didn’t happen in your life, your mind would look at things differently. Isn’t that amazing? Okay? If a different experience happened, you’d look at it differently. Well, that’s true of everybody. They’re the sum of their learned experiences.<\/span><\/p>\n

What do you mean, you like them or you don’t like them? You just honor and respect that that person got born, consciousness is in there, and it had these experiences, and it’s behaving the way it behaves. Right? I like, again, Christ’s teachings. What was that one? My favorite: “Forgive them, Lord, for they know not what they do.”<\/span><\/p>\n

And so you just get to the point where, when you’re in that state, those high states, you don’t judge. You’ve heard that: “Judge not, that ye be not judged.” The Third Zen Patriarch says, “You end the burdensome practice of judging.” On what basis? Come on, let’s get it over with right now. On what basis do you judge what’s right and what’s wrong, what’s good and what’s bad, what people should do and what they shouldn’t do, what they shouldn’t have done?<\/span><\/p>\n

What basis do you judge on? Yours. That’s really funny. You make it up based on your past experiences, and then you judge everybody else and everything else as though it should have matched the way you want it to be. Nobody else wants to be the way you do. Do you understand that? Well, some people do\u2014yeah, if they want to impress you or…<\/span><\/p>\n

Don’t worry, they’ll change. They’re married, they’ll change. And you just get to the point where you start realizing, “What am I doing? Why don’t I just honor and respect life?” Then you get to the next stage, which is… that’s the foundation. If you honor and respect life, it’s because it’s none of your business.<\/span><\/p>\n

But whose business is it? Life’s. It’s the law of cause and effect. That’s why what’s going on out there\u2014God, call it whatever you want\u2014things are what they are because they are. That’s it. It’s not good, bad, right, wrong, believing, not believing, all that kind of junk, all right? There’s just\u2014you have clarity.<\/span><\/p>\n

My clarity is: I’m here, and it’s there, and you just kiss it as it goes by. Why? Because it’s going by. “No, it’s not. I will not let it go by. I’m going to hold onto this for the rest of my life, what you said to me.” “Have fun,” because you won’t. So you suppress things, you hold onto things. How about not doing that?<\/span><\/p>\n

How about learning to not do that? And you get to the point where you realize, “I am making myself a mess because I can’t handle what happened to me.” What if you could handle what happened to you? Say you met somebody who had a terrible experience\u2014I don’t know, an arm got cut off, this happened, somebody mistreated them, something like that\u2014and you saw them a year later, and they were fine. And you kind of checked it out: most people aren’t fine after something like that. And you talked about it, and they were fine talking about it\u2014no sensitive subject. What if you could handle life? Then you wouldn’t suffer.<\/span><\/p>\n

You understand that? The great way is not difficult if you either have no preferences or prefer everything. What a learning experience I had: they accused me of something I didn’t do, and this happened and that happened. Every day I had to go through all that stuff, right? Did I grow? Holy mackerel.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was one of the hardest things to go through in my whole life, and I went through it. Now I don’t have to worry for the rest of my life, because I know I can handle things. Which way do you want to be\u2014that it doesn’t ever happen, or that you learn from it? Okay? And you just change your whole attitude in there.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is not true that things are supposed to be the way you want them to be. That’s not true. That’s a non-truth. We’re talking about truths. You’re born, you’re going to die, you’re on a planet. “Things should be the way I want them to be.” Nah. Nah. Buzzer. Things should not be the way you want them to be. They should be the way they are.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why? Because they are the result of everything that ever was. What I’d like to get across, and I don’t know if I can, right\u2014your mind and heart in there are the sum of your learned experiences. Psychology teaches that, and they’re right, okay? You’re in there, and all that stuff you’re carrying in there, with preferences and hopes and dreams and concepts and views and opinions, are the sum of your learned experiences.<\/span><\/p>\n

You did not make up what you like or dislike. You were programmed\u2014by what? Your past experiences. Somebody said something to you that you didn’t like, it hurt you. Okay, ready? Let’s go around being hurt all the time, or let’s never see that person again. That is being the sum of your learned experiences. The outside world is not the sum of your learned experiences.<\/span><\/p>\n

It’s the sum of its own learned experiences\u2014called cause and effect. What is happening in front of you is the result of all the forces that made it be that way. “But I don’t like it.” I’m sorry, I’m truly sorry. I have compassion. But I don’t know why you\u2014you can do it if you want, but you’re going to suffer. Or you sit there and say, “Things are what they are because they’re the way they are.”<\/span><\/p>\n

You say, “That wasn’t supposed to happen.” Oh, yes it was, because it happened. How do you know it was supposed to happen? Because it happened. It has history behind it. It has a history of cause and effect. So the outside world is the sum of its learned experiences. Your inside world is the sum of your learned experiences, and they have nothing to do with each other.<\/span><\/p>\n

The outside world didn’t experience your experiences. It experienced its own experiences\u2014called science, cause and effect, why things are the way they are. And then you have what you’ve made up in your mind, your own experiences. Can you understand they’re not going to match? Why would they match? You meet somebody, they match your learned experience.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Oh my God, I really like this,” right? Then ten minutes later, they do or say something. “I can’t believe I thought I liked you.” It’s just… “And then, why did you have to say that?” “Well, my mother used to talk to me that way.” “Mine didn’t.” As opposed to, “Really? Your mother talked to you like that? Tell me about that.<\/span><\/p>\n

That’s fascinating. Mine didn’t talk to me anything like that,” right? What’s the effect? It just\u2014be open. Just understand it’s a totally different sum of experiences sitting there. Totally different. And every moment it gets different. You go to work, your wife or husband stays home or doesn’t, or they go to work.<\/span><\/p>\n

You have totally different experiences. You’re going to come back different. “He lost his job today.” He comes back: “You had a wonderful day.” “Yes, I had my experiences today. You had your experiences today. How can I help? How can I love? How can I give?” Not “you are supposed to be the way I want you to be,” because you’re not, and you will never be the way I want you to be.<\/span><\/p>\n

Because the way I want you to be is the sum of my learned experiences, and you are the sum of your learned experiences. Now you understand why relationships are so hard? They’re not hard. Here’s a nice way to look at relationships: there are 8.3 billion people on planet Earth. You cannot get to know them all.<\/span><\/p>\n

It’s really very, very difficult, okay? But you can get to know one. How? By getting to know one. Which one should I pick? Just get to know one. What do you mean, they’re different? They’re different. “But I don’t want them to be different.” Too bad. They’re not the same as you. So you finally get to the point: relationships are more easy.<\/span><\/p>\n

That’s an exaggeration, but anyway, relationships are easier. You’re getting to know somebody. They’re not going to be like you. Can you honor and respect the differences, as opposed to liking it only when it happens to be the same for a moment? If you do that\u2014imagine two people doing that, being together to help each other change, grow, have beauty, and so on, and not judge.<\/span><\/p>\n

Not judge, and sit there and say, “You shouldn’t have done it. I can’t believe you did that.” So you just get to the point where all these truths come together and say what? You’re a very great being. You’re the one who’s in there. You live in there. You’ve been in there the whole time. It started that way, and you’re going to die, at least off this plane.<\/span><\/p>\n

Do you really want to suffer as much as you’re suffering? And do you really want to say the way to get it to stop suffering is to get it the way I want it to be? And all the stress and anxiety and fear\u2014it’s not going to be the way you want it to be. “But what if I make it be that way?” You have will. You have the ability to go out there and manipulate.<\/span><\/p>\n

That’s what it’s called\u2014manipulate. Manipulate, fight, struggle to try to make it be the way I want. Make what be the way you want? In front of me, there’s this moment. Well, believe me, there are many more that aren’t in front of you that are going to cause, and effect, and the one in front of you is not going to stay there.<\/span><\/p>\n

You’re going to change. It’s going to change. It’s not about getting what you want. It’s about expanding your world of understanding and honoring and respecting reality. That’s what it is. And if you do that, then everything matches you. You’re just fascinated by it. You’re fascinated by every moment of your life. It blows you away.<\/span><\/p>\n

What do I mean, blows you away? You don’t keep your mind contracted around it and judge and do all the junk you do. Okay, now we have to\u2014I have a few minutes left. I kept saying we’ll do something about\u2014what about interaction with life? Are we supposed to be passive all the time? Just let it be what it is?<\/span><\/p>\n

You’re supposed to let it be what it is. Why? Because it’s that way. What did I tell you? If it already happened, you ain’t changing it. Nobody has ever changed what already happened. That was a good truth\u2014I forgot that one, all right? Nobody has ever changed what already happened. All you can do is accept it or reject it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Suppression, denial, repression\u2014all Freudian stuff. In other words, “I don’t want it to be the way it is, so I make believe it’s not that way. I push it away.” Okay? Or, “Fine, it’s not exactly how I thought it would be, but that’s fine. I can be okay with it.” All right? And if you do that, little by little, your world of preference diminishes, because you’re okay.<\/span><\/p>\n

“You said something, you’re my friend,” and I started to get insulted and offended, and I looked at her, and I said, “She probably had a bad day. And who knows what she ate yesterday that made her upset,” right? It’s okay that she said that, or that she didn’t say that. So you start honoring and respecting reality, and not expecting it to be the way you want it to be or would like it to be, or not be the way you don’t want it to be, and you honor and respect it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then what do you do? You come down and you pay attention to what’s unfolding, and to the best of your ability, you’re not judging, you’re not rejecting, you’re accepting\u2014so on\u2014you are serving. You literally get to the point where, yes, you have preferences, yes you do, but you couldn’t care less about them.<\/span><\/p>\n

You don’t even go out of your way\u2014just like white noise. They’re there, okay, fine. The question is, can I help? This moment is unfolding in front of me. Is there energy unfolding that I can be of assistance to, to help it balance, to coordinate? Can I bring beauty into the world? Can I bring love into the world?<\/span><\/p>\n

“But I don’t feel it.” Are you capable of being a little closed\u2014you didn’t like what somebody did\u2014and still not suppress it? Just let that be. Okay, there’s a moment that didn’t feel good, but I’m going to serve the moments unfolding in front of me. You’re capable of that. You just have to go slowly. You go slowly by accepting the driver in front of you.<\/span><\/p>\n

You go slowly\u2014play with it. It’s a game. “I accept the way the person is driving in front of me.” Today I was driving behind a big truck\u2014one of those big things that carries all the wood chips and all that stuff, right? Giant truck, all right? And I’m driving, I’m being careful, paying attention, and all of a sudden he turns.<\/span><\/p>\n

All right? Then, no blinker, no anything\u2014he just turns. Whoa, all right? And so my wife said, “Nice blinker, buddy.” And I looked at her and I said, “That’s adorable. That’s just adorable,” right? Just don’t judge yourself, don’t be mad at yourself, don’t suppress yourself. Just notice. Just notice what’s going on in there, and notice that if you buy into that, now for the next ten minutes, “I can’t believe that truck drove like that.<\/span><\/p>\n

What’s wrong with that guy?” All right? There’s the wood chips blowing off right onto the windshield, and he turns, and… No. It’s just there. That happened. Okay, I’m fine. So that’s the difference. Yes, you start with acceptance. We’ve had a number of foundational truths. Will you please accept the reality that those are truth?<\/span><\/p>\n

You’re going to die. Is that okay with you? It doesn’t mean you want to die now, doesn’t mean you don’t have a little fear or trepidation about it, but you accept the reality that you’re going to die. Can you do that? Or does it freak you out to think about it? All right? I’ve given you a number of truths. At the start of the show, we talked about how there’s a lot of non-truth nowadays, isn’t there?<\/span><\/p>\n

Just say it enough times and it’s the truth. It’s very funny, okay? And so you don’t want to be like that. You sit there and say, “I’m going to hold onto foundational truths that don’t change, and see what happens to me inside now,” because what’s going to happen is you’re going to get free. And I’ll close it off there. What does it mean to get free?<\/span><\/p>\n

It means right now, you, in there\u2014remember, we spent a whole lot of time talking about the fact that you’re in there. You’re always conscious, but you’re staring, and distracted by the garbage you stored inside your mind and your heart. “But isn’t that important?” I don’t know. There are 8.3 billion people running around, and everybody’s had their experiences and will, right?<\/span><\/p>\n

It’s just like, okay, fine, I had experiences. They’re statistically insignificant. I love that. How many experiences did you not have that were going on at the same moment that you were having an experience? I always challenge you with that. Seven hundred billion zillion, and you had one, and that’s the foundation for your truth.<\/span><\/p>\n

Well, I call that statistically insignificant. “But that means I have no meaning.” No, it doesn’t. It means that what you’re staring at has very little meaning, because anything could happen. But you, who are staring at it\u2014now that’s where you go. When you wake up and stop staring and being distracted by your personal mind, and personal heart, and your body, you just realize, “Okay, I’m in here, and I…<\/span><\/p>\n

Those things distract me.” Yes, okay, but they don’t have to keep distracting you. You have to understand it doesn’t matter. Have a thought: “God, I can’t believe it happened five years ago. I still don’t like it.” That’s absurd. Learn to let it go. Learn to not marry that sort of thing, and learn to not be distracted by it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Liberate yourself. Free yourself. And what happens? I said that I would promise you, that as you let go of the anchor, which is your little self\u2014it’s so tiny, it’s ridiculous\u2014what part of the universe are you? How long will you live? The earth’s been around for four and a half billion years. How many of you have been around, or are going to be around?<\/span><\/p>\n

I don’t know, eighty, ninety? And you start catching on that if I let go of the little made-up self, then what’s left is the self, and that’s something very, very great. It doesn’t go away. And you find out that the more you let go of what you’re staring at, the more joy there is inside.<\/span><\/p>\n

We call it Sat-Chit-Ananda\u2014eternal conscious ecstasy. Eternal conscious ecstasy. That’s in there. Right now, that’s in there, but you’re staring at your mind instead. Okay, I have to stop. These are foundational teachings. Work with them. Like I said, what if every five minutes you remember you’re on a planet spinning in the middle of nowhere, and you’re going to die soon?<\/span><\/p>\n

It would change everything. All right. Jai guru dev.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tami Simon:<\/b> You’ve been listening to the Michael Singer Podcast, produced by Sounds True in partnership with Shanti Publications. For more information on Michael’s body of work and all back episodes, please join us at michaelsingerpodcast.com. Thanks so much for listening. Sounds True: waking up the world.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","meta":{"_expiration-date-status":"","_expiration-date":0,"_expiration-date-type":"","_expiration-date-categories":[],"_expiration-date-options":[]},"class_list":["post-27746","transcript","type-transcript","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nE223: Truth Will Set You Free | Sounds True<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"E223: Truth Will Set You Free | Sounds True\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Tami Simon: Welcome to the Michael Singer Podcast, presented by Sounds True in partnership with Shanti Publications. 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