Book Review : The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer

There is not much I can say right here to do this book justice. In my opinion it's in the top 5 self-help/spiritual books of all time and if you can apply the revelations to your own life you will never be sad or stuck every again. It's almost perfect. There is a dive into God in the last chapter that did not resonate with me, other than that : 9.8/10

"This over all : to thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man." - William Shakespeare.

When you hear that voice in your head, you are the one who hears and notices the voice so it's not you. But can't you talk to yourself? This is what confuses me about this part of the book. I mean you can talk out aloud to yourself, and you are talking and listening at the same time. So why not in your head?

Anyway, let's assume the book is correct and continue. There is nothing more important to true growth than realizing that you are not the voice of the the mind - you are the one who hears it. If you don't understand this, you will try to figure out which of the many things the voice says is really you. People go through so many changes in the name of "trying to find myself." They want to discover which of these voices, which of these aspects of their personality, is who they really are.

The answer is simple : None of them.

The truth is that most of life will unfold in accordance with forces far outside your control, regardless of what your mind says about it.

If you are willing to be objective and watch all your thoughts, you will see that the vast majority of them have no relevance. For example, if you spend your time hoping that it doesn't rain tomorrow, you are wasting your time. Your thoughts don't change the rain.

Reality is just to real for most of us, so we temper it with the mind.

You will come to see that the mind talks all the time because you gave it a job to do. You use it as a protection mechanism, a form of defense. Ultimately, it makes you feel more secure. As long as that's what you want, you will be forced to constantly use your mind to buffer yourself from life, instead of living it.

True growth is about transcending the part of you that is not okay and needs protection.

Come to know that one who watches the voice, and you will come to know one of the great mysteries of creation.

You're ready to grow when you finally realize the "I" who is always talking inside will never be content. It always has a problem with something. Honestly, when was the last time you really had nothing bothering you? Before you had your current problem, there was a different problem. And if you're wise, you will realize that after this one's gone, there will be another one.

The bottom line is, you'll never be free of problems until you are free from the part within you that has so many problems. When a problem is disturbing you, don't ask "What should I do about it?" Ask, "What part of me is being disturbed by this?" Once you see clearly the disturbed part, then ask, "Who is it that sees this? Who notices this inner disturbance? Asking this is the solution to your every problem. The very fact that you can see the disturbance means that you are not it. You are "The Witness."

To attain true inner freedom, you must be able to objectively watch your problems instead of being lost in them. You have to break the habit of thinking that the solution to your problems is to rearrange things outside.

Spend a day listening to your inner voice. Every time you meet somebody, every time the phone rings, just try to watch. A good time to watch it talk is while you're taking a shower. You will see that it never lets you just take a peaceful shower. Your shower is for washing the body, not for listening to the mind talking nonstop! See if you can stay conscious enough throughout the entire experience to be aware of what's going on. You'll be shocked by what you find. It just jumps from one subject to the next. The incessant chatter seems so neurotic that you won't believe that it's always that way. But it is. After you've spent a day with your inner friend, what is the probability you'd go to them for advice?

Will you dare to do this experiment? Don't try to make the person inside you stop talking. Just try to get to know what you live with inside by externalising the voice. Give it a body and put it out there in the world just like everybody else. Let it be a person who says on the outside exactly what the voice of your mind says inside.

How would you feel if someone outside really talked to you the way your inner voice does?

Have you ever bothered to check your inner friends credentials? How many times has that voice been totally wrong.

"She doesn't care for you anymore. That's why she hasn't called. She's going to break up with you tonight. I can feel it coming; I know it. You shouldn't even answer the phone if she calls." - LOL

When you've sincerely tried these practices of self-observation and awareness, you'll see that you're in trouble. You'll realize that you've only had one problem your entire life, and you're looking at it. Your inner troublemaker is pretty much the cause of every problem you've ever had.

Once you've decided to free yourself from the mental melodrama, you are ready for the teachings and spiritual practices. They will free yourself from yourself.

If you want to free yourself, you must first become conscious enough to understand your predicament. Then you must commit yourself to the inner work of freedom. You do this as though your life depended on it, because it does. As it is right now, your life is not your own; it belongs to your inner roommate, the psyche. You have to take it back. Stand firm in the seat of the witness and release the hold that the habitual mind has on you. This is your life - reclaim it.

Ask yourself, "Who am I? Who sees when I see? Who hears when I hear? Who knows that I am aware? Who am I?"

Does the witness of your thoughts exist even when thoughts are not present? Of course. You are very aware of your presence, your sense of existence, without the help of thoughts.

Consciousness is the highest word you will ever utter. There is nothing higher or deeper than consciousness. Consciousness is pure awareness? How do we know awareness exists? Because without awareness you wouldn't be here. There would be no sense of "me."

If you go very deep, that is where you live. You live in the seat of consciousness. You will eventually sit far back enough inside to see all your thoughts and emotions, as well as outer form. All of these objects are in front of you. Behind it all, there you are. There is your true home. You are as familiar and comfortable with your thought patterns as you are with the living space of your home.

You have normal emotions. Some fear, some love, some insecurity. If certain things happen, these emotions flare up and then settle down again. You know this so well that you are very busy inside making sure nothing happens to create those disturbances. In fact, you are so preoccupied with controlling your world of thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations that you don't even know you're in there. That is the normal state for most people.

If you ever want to re-centre, just start saying "hello" inside, over and over. Then notice that you are aware of that thought.

Let's study consciousness with the example of a movie. You use two sense, seeing and hearing, that need to be synchronised. With an engaging film, you may go the full two hours without any awareness of yourself. You are only using two of your sense but you are completely absorbed.

Now imagine that movies are made that NOT ONLY could engage all FIVE senses but ALSO make your thoughts and emotions synchronise with what's happening on the screen. If you experienced that movie it would be the end of you. As scary as it sounds, that is your predicament in life. Unless you are fully seated in witness consciousness, you're not back there being aware that you're the one watching all of this. That is what it means to be lost.

When you are a centred being, your consciousness is always aware of being conscious. Your awareness of being is independent of the inner and outer objects you happen to be aware of. What if consciousness were to focus on itself? When that happens, instead of being aware of your thoughts, you're aware that you're aware of your thoughts.

You're always contemplating something, but this time you're contemplating the source of consciousness. This is true meditation.

In the highest state, the focus of consciousness is turned back to the Self. You are an awakened being. It's really just the most natural thing in the world. Here I am. Here I always was. The world ceases to be a problem. It's just something you're watching.

You realise that you're not who you thought you were. You're not even a human being. You just happen to be watching one. You will begin to have deep experiences within your own centre of consciousness. These will be deep, intuitive experiences of the true nature of Self. You will find that you are tremendously expansive. When you start to explore consciousness instead of form, you realise that your consciousness only appears to be small and limited because you are focusing on small and limited objects. That's exactly what happens when you're watching TV - there's nothing else in your world.

Have you ever noticed that when you are mentally and emotionally drained, food doesn't help that much? Conversely, if you look at the times in your life when you were in love, or excited and inspired by something, you were so filled with energy that you didn't even want to eat. This energy we are discussing does not come from the calories your body burns from food. There is another internal source of energy.

When something depressing happens in your life you will probably stay at home. You don't have the energy to clean up so everything ends up sprawled all over the floor. You can hardly get out of bed.

If the situation is suddenly and unexpectedly resolved, look how quickly your energy comes back! It will blow you away. So where did all that energy come from? There was no sudden change in your eating or sleeping habits.

You actually have a phenomenal amount of energy inside you, always available. The only reason you don't feel this energy all the time is because you block it. That is why you have no energy when you are depressed.

This flow of energy comes from the depth of your being. It's been called manty names. In ancient Chinese medicine, it is called Chi.