The Resilient Mind - Why You Are Not Ok - Michael Singer

Episode Date: June 2, 2023

Michael A. Singer is an acclaimed author of the highly influential book "The Untethered Soul," which reached the coveted #1 spot on the New York Times bestseller list. Not only did Singer achieve rema...rkable success with "The Untethered Soul," but his subsequent works, "The Surrender Experiment" and "Living Untethered," also became New York Times bestsellers, captivating readers worldwide.Take action and strengthen your mind with The Resilient Mind Journal. Get your free digital copy today: ⁠⁠⁠⁠Download Now⁠⁠Source: SoundsTrue Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to the Resilient Mind podcast. In this episode, you will be listening to Why You Are Not Okay with Michael Singer. Get access to the Mental Mastery Program and other exclusive episodes by becoming a subscriber. Enjoy. We can make life as difficult as we want or as blissful, simple, inspiring, challenging, beautiful as we want. It is not the outside. that determines that.
Starting point is 00:00:33 I know that's very, very hard for people to believe and understand because all the things that are going on outside. But those are outside. You live inside. Period. You're in here. Not out there. How do we know that?
Starting point is 00:00:49 Science taught us that. What do you mean? You're not looking outside. The outside is coming into you. We've been through that numerous times. You're not looking out there. Light is bouncing off of out there and coming in through your light sensitive cells and passing up your optic nerves and stimulating the brain and then rendering the view like it renders on your flat screen TV, rendering what's coming in from outside, inside. When you're watching a ballgame on TV in San Francisco and you're here, you're not in San Francisco.
Starting point is 00:01:25 You're not really watching the ballgame. I'm sorry you didn't watch the Super Bowl. A camera picked it up where it was playing out there and sent it in from Arizona, I think they played it, and sent it in and up to the satellites, not you, not your eyeballs, not any part of you at all. Just light signals, electronic signals and digital nowadays got sent up there and then bounced back and got sent through all the wires and all the satellites and everything. And then ended up on your flat screen TV, which has this ability to decode those digital signals and make them look. look like what was going on out there. That's what's happening inside of you. You don't know that. You say you do,
Starting point is 00:02:05 but you don't know that. You honestly think you're looking at me. You're not looking at me. Light is bouncing off of the atoms and molecules that make up my body, but they're not bouncing off of the air that is on both sides of my body. So the part that bounces off
Starting point is 00:02:21 gets picked up by your eyes. The part that doesn't bounce off doesn't get picked up by your eyes because it doesn't bounce off. And then your mind paints the picture, just like your flash screen TV. And who sees that? Does the picture see itself? I'll turn your TV on and have it watch itself. No, consciousness is looking at what's rendered in your mind. So the point is, are you conscious? Are you aware of what you're looking at? Are you aware if you touch your hand? Are you aware that you feel it? Who is aware? That's the beginning and end of all spirituality.
Starting point is 00:02:52 There's nothing complicated about that. Are you aware out here on your toe? No, you're aware of your toe from where in here you're always in here you have never come out ever no one has ever come out you live in here so basically like i told you yes there's lots of things that go on in the outside world you don't need to tell me about it i'm well aware of it you could tell me your story i'm sure there are lots of things listen to me i am positive that there are lots of things that happen in your life that are terrible they're not fair they're not just it shouldn't have happened to you It shouldn't happen to anybody. Everybody has a story.
Starting point is 00:03:30 There's almost 9 billion of us now, 8.5, 9 billion of us on a planet, live today. Every one of them have a story, just like yours. Not exactly like yours, but it's a story. The story of what? The events that unfolded in front of them every moment of their life, that's their story. Yours is different. Why? There's different events unfolded in front of you.
Starting point is 00:03:51 That's all that's happening. Events are unfolding on the planeted earth. There are events unfolding every single place in the universe at every moment, aren't there? And it always have been for 13.8 billion years. On the planet, 4.8 billion years, there's been something going on on every single spot on the planet. Have you seen it all? You don't even see it all now. Forget for 4.5 billion years.
Starting point is 00:04:20 It's a happening place. There were dinosaurs. There are volcanoes. There are hurricanes and tornadoes. There are bad people and good people. There are animals that bite and animals that purr. Yes or no? There's everything.
Starting point is 00:04:38 That's what's meant by the yin and the yong. There's just everything. I don't know what to tell you. I didn't make it, right? But you didn't either. It's the way it is. And it's kind of neat. Go to Mars.
Starting point is 00:04:51 Let's see how long before you get bored. Go to any planet. Go to any planet. thing we've seen with the James Webb or the Hubble and show me anything going on other than galaxies colliding with each other and burning stars, right? That's what's going on out there. And then here, there's birds and snakes and people and things and words and brains and rocket chips and computers that fit in your pocket. Has anyone noticed? It's a happening place. So things go on everywhere's every moment.
Starting point is 00:05:29 You don't see them. You don't experience them. You only experience what's in front of you. How big is that compared to everything? Why won't you think like this? Because I'm teaching you how to make life beautiful. Because you make it terrible. It is neither beautiful nor terrible.
Starting point is 00:05:47 It just is. As a Zen saying, the flowers are red, the water is blue, the grass is green. Go home, grasshopper. You've received the teachings. Those are the teachings.
Starting point is 00:06:04 No, excuse me, Master, Sinshé, why are the flowers red? Why is not the water red? Go home. And don't come back. So you understand that flowers are red, water is blue, and grass is green. There's no why. It is. You can study why. Science will show you why.
Starting point is 00:06:22 It is because of all the factors and causes that happened throughout time and space that made it be that way. Well, it's not even if you want. Or just appreciate the red flower, appreciate the blue water, appreciate the green grass. It's up to you. The point is, it is the way it is because of all the things that made it be that way. What a science study? What is a meteorology study?
Starting point is 00:06:46 You sit there and say, why did it have to rain on my birthday? They don't say that. There's nothing in the meteorology book that talks about your birthday. They sit there and look at low pressures and high. pressures and wind currents and temperature of the ocean. I look at a lot of really interesting things. And they do a pretty good job of predicting the weather. Not perfect, but a pretty good job. It has nothing to do with your birthday. It has nothing to do with your day off. It has nothing to do with the fact that you wanted to go camping, does it? I'm trying to show you why you make life
Starting point is 00:07:15 hell. You do. You suffer. You suffer because it rained when you wanted to go camping. You did that. The rain did not do that. Things just are what they are because of all the forces that made them be the way they are. Do you understand that? Now, you said yes. Do you like that?
Starting point is 00:07:37 No, I don't like it. That's the problem. You are out of harmony with reality. Reality is this unfolding. There it is. Is it right? Is it wrong? Is it good? Is it bad? Is it just? Is it fair?
Starting point is 00:07:51 It just is. So then what will be wrong? What happens? Your consciousness, which for right now, but it won't be when we're done, is locked inside of your mind, your heart, your body, and what comes in through your senses. Therefore, you only experience what is in front of you. That's what you've experienced.
Starting point is 00:08:14 It could be a book, that's in front of you. It could be a movie, that's in front of you. It could be a person, that's in front of you. Whatever's in front of you is all you've ever experienced. do you understand how small that is in relationship to what is that you've only experienced the minuscule moment that's in front of you
Starting point is 00:08:31 and missed every single other moment that's everywhere's I like statistics when I went to school and they had this term it was called statistically insignificant you ever heard it right that's what's in front of you and that's what always has been in front of you that which is statistic it doesn't even deserve to be called statistically
Starting point is 00:08:51 insignificant. It's nothing compared to what is. So what you've experienced is nothing. I'm not trying to insult you. I'm trying to tell the truth. What you have experienced throughout your entire life is nothing compared to what is. It's not even point, oh, oh, oh,
Starting point is 00:09:07 oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, raised to the minus billion, is it? And you think you know something. And you think you're important. Can I talk about that? Do you think you're important? Okay, so you are one of 8.5 billion people sitting on the planet Earth.
Starting point is 00:09:27 They're the same as you. They're breathing, living, have thoughts, okay? They just had different experiences, therefore they have different thoughts than you. Can anybody buy that? Not right, not wrong? Reality. Because they had different experiences, they have different thoughts. Because your thoughts are made up of your experiences.
Starting point is 00:09:47 All right, so now we can accept that there's 8.5 billion of you. you and you're one of 8.5 billion. That's not a very big fraction. And what does that mean to be one of 8.5 billion? How much space do you take up at any given moment on the planet Earth? What percentage of the planet Earth is your space taking up? That's so small it's ridiculous. I told you I can't help myself. I'm addicted. Take that small amount of space that you're taking up every moment, which is like nothing. And understand that 1.3,000, you know, that 1.3,000, you're 3 million planet Earths fit inside the sun. Listen to me.
Starting point is 00:10:26 Now you take your little space on this wall of dirt and then say 1.3 billion of those balls of dirt fit inside the sun. How big you feel nowadays? I'm telling you, there are no problems. You are making the problems. This is reality. You're standing on a planet, of which 1.3 billion fit inside one star, of which there are 300 billion stars in your galaxy.
Starting point is 00:10:54 How important are you? I haven't finished. I know you won't do it with me. I do it all the time. Your galaxy, which is 300 billion stars of which your sun is one, and your Earth, 1.3 million fit inside that, your galaxy is one of two trillion galaxies.
Starting point is 00:11:17 What are you doing? There. Now you can go home. I'm serious. I'm asking you, what are you doing? What are you doing? And why are you doing it? You're sitting on a little planet, spinning through space, having experiences. And you won't be here very long. Who's going to take that? Earth's been here for $4.5 billion.
Starting point is 00:11:39 How long have you to be here? How many billion? How many millions? How many thousands? How many hundreds? No, 80, 90. That's kind of what's going on around here. and you can't handle it. You can't handle that experience that I just spent this time painting for you. That's why you're not okay.
Starting point is 00:12:01 You're not okay because of what happened. Things happen everywhere's. But you're not okay because you couldn't handle what happened. Why? I ask you a question. Most of these things that happened in front of you that you couldn't handle didn't last very long. There weren't a major percentage of every breath you've taken in your life.
Starting point is 00:12:25 You know, something happened. Things happen. I told you. I gave that to you. I'm not taken away from you. Yes, terrible things happen. Things that come in. What does that mean?
Starting point is 00:12:32 Terrible things happen. Things you don't want to happen. What if you're married to somebody in your Catholic? He can't get divorced. And he's the biggest schnook that ever walked to face to the earth. Boy, that I pick wrong. And it's just, it's terrible. It's terrible.
Starting point is 00:12:44 And you come home one day and there's a note. Dear Sally, he used to say, dear John, dear Sally, I'm leaving. I've had enough of this. How you doing? He'll be the lark. I can't believe it. They say, God's grace. I didn't have to get divorced.
Starting point is 00:12:59 He left. Right wrong. Right? What if you didn't have any ideas? And it was going on. And it was going on. And it was somebody to leave. Who decided?
Starting point is 00:13:09 You did. You decide. Life is unfolding in front of you. Not a lot of life. Just a little piece. Either you like it, you don't like it, or it just passes for it.
Starting point is 00:13:21 What percentage, I'm going to play with you, what percentage of your life, I'm talking, come on, your whole life, the moments unfolding in front of you, baby all the way up to where you are now, there are moments unfolding in front of you. What percentage of the ones that unfold in front of you go right through, have always just gone right through? 99.9. The trees, the cars, the people you don't know, the grass, the clouds, that somebody yelled at you, you're freaking out. There was a lot of other things going on in your frame of reference. You know, there was a building, there was a car, there was a floor, there was furniture.
Starting point is 00:13:59 They went right through it, didn't they? Please listen to me. I'm teaching you how to be free. This is not some science, stupid talk. This is reality. Why did those go through? And the thing that bothered you, which is still bothering you 20 years later, why did they go through and that one thing didn't?
Starting point is 00:14:20 Because you stopped it. they're all just passing through. When you watch your flat screen TV, I hope that it keeps passing through. You know, there's something that gets stuck there while you're trying to watch something else. Listen to me.
Starting point is 00:14:34 How would you like to watch TV that the show you just were watching, the newscaster, and now you're watching a movie, and he's still there? They're terrible. That's what you've done. It's all coming in.
Starting point is 00:14:48 Did it stay? No, it passed. Did it stay inside of you? Not everything, didn't. 99.9% went right through. But the fixes that made up what you didn't like, they didn't go through. And they're still there.
Starting point is 00:15:00 How did that happen? You did it. Now where I started. Life can be beautiful or life can be terrible. Who decides you? You did it. You said, no. No, I'm in here.
Starting point is 00:15:15 And that ain't coming in here. No way on my watch that that happened. It did happen. or it wouldn't be in there. I want to make this distinction between out there and in here. So out there had happened. Your senses picked it up.
Starting point is 00:15:31 If they didn't, there's not a problem, is it? If you happen to be looking to the left and you didn't see what happened, you didn't see a snake, you don't have a problem with snakes. Right? And so you stopped it from passing through. I'm going slow.
Starting point is 00:15:46 I don't usually go slow. Do you understand how important this is? This is teaching you how to be free. This is teaching you why every problem you have in your entire life is still there. You did it. It doesn't stop by itself.
Starting point is 00:16:02 It passes right through. The person is standing next to you. Didn't have a problem with it, with your husband leaving you. I understand the problem. I'm not bothered by it. You, when it comes in, you can't stop the event from having happened. No one has ever stopped an event that actually happened
Starting point is 00:16:20 from not having happened, have they? This is acceptance. What? You have no choice. You have a choice. You have to accept that it happened, but you don't want to accept that it's inside. So once it comes inside and you're inside,
Starting point is 00:16:36 we talked about that, your conscience is inside, it comes in, no, that doesn't feel good. Ever having anything come inside, don't feel good? Have anybody ever had anything come inside that doesn't feel good when it comes inside? What does that mean? It gets like all weird. The inside gets all shook up and weird and freaky.
Starting point is 00:16:56 Yes or no? Well, we'll know about that, don't we? All right? So there it is. Something happened. It came in, and it didn't feel good when it came in. What did you do about it? Sorry, I just have to lay the groundwork.
Starting point is 00:17:08 If you want to be free, you have to understand why you're not free. It's not enough to say, I want to be free. You have to understand why you're not free. And get rid of why you're not free, then you'll be free. You can't have reasons that you're not free. free and then decide to be free without getting rid of the reasons. That's what the Buddhist mean by work at the root. There's a reason you're not free.
Starting point is 00:17:29 Let's work with that reason. Then we'll be free. So it came in. It was freaky. And you did what? Well, it turns out that you in there are not passive. You have power in there. You have this power called willpower.
Starting point is 00:17:43 You can do things in there. You can push things away. You can hold on to things, can't you? So, this power of will, which I discuss in great detail in the new book Living on Tether, where it comes from and what it is, my God, it's running your whole life. How do you not know these things? When in school did they teach you about willpower? When in school did they teach that you're in there?
Starting point is 00:18:06 Unless it took transpersonal psychology or something. Nobody talks about you're being in there. They just try to shove thoughts in there. Think this way, think this way, think this way, think this way. You're wrong. Don't think that way. You're wrong. Okay?
Starting point is 00:18:16 I'm in here. I have power. If I experience something and it is not comfortable to me, I push it away. Just like if something outside, it feels a ball at you, you defend yourself, you protect yourself, you push it away. You do that inside, don't you? All the time, by the way. Not just with the really big things. You do it with lots of little things all day.
Starting point is 00:18:37 We'll talk about that. All right. So you push it away. I asked it a million times. I ask you when I get this point, where do you think it goes? Where do you think it goes if you push it away? you think it just disope, it's gone. Well, how come it keeps coming back?
Starting point is 00:18:53 How come your dreams have it in it? It does come back, doesn't it? So it remind you of it. Somebody says something. You see something remind you of it. You see the restaurant that you used to eat at with your ex-boyfriend that you love so much and he left you.
Starting point is 00:19:05 And I don't want to drive down that road anymore. So I don't know if it's still in there. Come on, you're smart people. I'm just asking you to use your wisdom, your intelligence to free yourself. You do want to be free, don't you? You don't want to feel love and inspiration and enjoy every moment of your life, don't you?
Starting point is 00:19:20 How can you if you're doing this? So if you store every single thing that ever bothered you inside of you and you do, you're going to be bothered. Are you bothered? Relative, you say, I'm doing okay today. No, I don't... I'll be okay if he says yes.
Starting point is 00:19:39 If he says yes. No, that's not what it means to be okay. That's it means to be not okay, but you need something to help you do better. But the starting position, I'm not okay. I'm scared. I got hurt. I got problems, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
Starting point is 00:19:53 I stored this stuff inside of me. Do you understand? If you store everything that ever bothered you inside of you, you're going to be bothered. And then what's going to happen is you're going to think, how do I feel better? I'm bothered. How do I feel better? I need to find somebody else. I need to want a vacation.
Starting point is 00:20:07 I need to do this. I need to eat something. I need to some drug. I need to have a drink. But I get home, just a little take the edge off. There's no edges in there. All right? But you hear what I'm saying.
Starting point is 00:20:16 That's what it means to not be okay. You try to do something and make you be okay. I want to talk about how to be okay. I don't want all the crazy things you do to compensate for the fact that you're not okay. I just showed you why you're not okay. You're not okay because you stored everything that ever bothered you inside of you. How do you expect it to be? I would use these simple examples because no one will realize that these parts of your life
Starting point is 00:20:37 that seems so minor and insignificant are significant. Who has ever had a problem with the driver in front of them? Who has ever talked to the driver in front of them? of them. What is that? Of what use is that? Of what benefit is that? What good is that due? You have decided to bother yourself about the driver in front of you. Therefore, when you get to work, you and be bothered, you can tell people about it. Oh, man, it was ridiculous. The drive-to-work is crazy. It's driving. It starts so slow. He needs his blinker. What do you just do? He's at a moment in front of you on the planet Earth that you couldn't handle. Has a big moment, isn't it? He needs his blinkers.
Starting point is 00:21:13 you're supposed to be in the right lane you're bothering yourself all the time if you want to be free this is how you learn to be free not to go somewhere or change this or do that
Starting point is 00:21:27 you have to stop bothering yourself if you stop bothering yourself you won't be as bothered remember I started this life can be beautiful inspiring overwhelming filled with love and joy or it can be terrible it can be suffering and so on
Starting point is 00:21:42 who decides you do You want to say, but the outside? Yes, the outside. I gave that to you, didn't I? I started right off. You can't say it to me. I gave you everything that happens outside. Terrible, terrible, amazingly terrible things happen outside.
Starting point is 00:21:55 And really beautiful things happen outside. And very neutral things. Most of them are neutral. They passed right. I told you that. 9.9 just passed right through. There, that's what it means to experience life, isn't it? You know what it has to be that way?
Starting point is 00:22:08 I told you, because all the forces that ever were came together and brought you the moment in front of you. If somebody's, let's get a little more serious. Somebody always tells that, oh, you only do drivers in front of you in weather. No, let's do something serious. Somebody's yelling at you. Everybody yelled at?
Starting point is 00:22:26 Somebody's yelling at you. How you doing? How you doing it's over? Okay? And you extrapolate it. Nobody likes me. He's telling the truth. No wonder he's yelling at me.
Starting point is 00:22:36 I always knew no one liked me. Boy, you make hell out of stuff, aren't you? You did that. Why is that person yelling at you? I've learned something in my life. They're not yelling at you. They're just yelling. There's a reason they're yelling.
Starting point is 00:22:50 You are such a minor part of their life. Are you kidding me? They were born. They had a childhood. They had parents that treated them a certain way. There's just so many things that happened to that soul. Remember everyone has a story, right? And now at this moment, they're standing in front of you with all of that going inside.
Starting point is 00:23:07 And you said something that hit their stuff. and bam comes flying it it has nothing to do with you it has to do with them doesn't that a person who's happy who feels love
Starting point is 00:23:23 as enjoying their life doesn't yell at you they may encourage you like a coach can encourage you come on you can do better that's not yelling at you it's encouraging you raising you working with you
Starting point is 00:23:34 but yelling at you how dare you how you're so call your names and stuff that's them that's not you do you understand that You do understand that, don't you? Have you ever yelled at anybody? Have you noticed that you yelled at them
Starting point is 00:23:47 because they did something you didn't like? Well, how did you decide what you like? Some of you learned experiences. Don't you dare say that. You sound like my mother. I'm a man. How can I sound like your mother? Do you get along with your mother?
Starting point is 00:23:59 Bet not. You're doing this. You are determining the quality of your life by how you're handling the experiences but you're just natural experiences. There's nothing. and do about them. The person is the sum of their learned experiences.
Starting point is 00:24:16 The sum of your own experiences. Good luck. Because they're totally different experiences. So you wake up. It's not personal. And it's the hardest thing in the new book. I dare to say that. Nothing's personal. It's not. You're taking it personal because it's hitting your personal stuff. It's hitting the stuff that you stored in there that you couldn't handle. What if it's the stuff
Starting point is 00:24:38 that I really like? Do you love it? I told you this saying, why you're extracting. picture in the lower right. She wanted to brought the Durga statue back in late 70s, very, very high soul. When she turned to me, she was really sin yes. She doesn't talk personal or anything, but we were close. And she turned to me when she said, Mickey, Mickey?
Starting point is 00:24:54 Yes, Mother, don't you just love when they yell at you? There's so much energy. I love it. There's a lot of energy in there, right? The trouble is you don't want it. You can't handle it. So inside, you push it away. And what happens?
Starting point is 00:25:14 You don't like the person. anymore. You don't want to go to work anymore. You make a thing out of it. It's just an event. How many other people were talking or yelling or not yelling out of the 8.5 billion on the planet Earth at the time you were having that experience? It's just an experience. You happen to be standing. That's why I look at it. The person is not yelling at you. You just happen to be standing in the place where someone's yelling. Well, if you weren't, if you were late, it wouldn't happen. If that person who you said something and yelled at you, had received a phone call
Starting point is 00:25:47 before they talked to you, that they won the lottery. And you walked in there and said the exact same thing, they'd laugh. That's funny, and walk away. Right or wrong. Please, I'm begging you. You have to neutralize what you've done to yourself. You've taken these experiences that when they come in,
Starting point is 00:26:06 they hit all kinds of garbage inside of you, and they feel yicky. And, by the way, blog about it. Everyone will agree with you. They're trying to argue mine was worse than yours. The society's not helping you much, are they? They're agreeing with you. That's terrible.
Starting point is 00:26:22 I can't believe you're still talking or walking. I have you traumatized as that happened to me. Right? Don't even bother going to a therapist. I tried. It doesn't help. It's reasonable you're depressed. Get depressed.
Starting point is 00:26:39 So I'm talking a little different. I'm talking honest to you. You stored this stuff inside of you. You do it all the time every single day. and the big ones are definitely in there. And then people do things or events happen and they remind you of them and they come flying up.
Starting point is 00:26:53 You can be driving down the road and see a billboard and start crying. It's a reminder. People say, isn't the sunset? I give this the other day. Everybody liked it. Sunsets are beautiful, aren't they? Can you imagine seeing the beautiful sunset?
Starting point is 00:27:06 Well, what if your girlfriend left you when you took her out to see a sunset? She finally said, look, this is really nice, but I've had it with you. And she walked away into the sunset. How are you doing with sunsets now for the next 20 years? I'd rather not. Have I exaggerated?
Starting point is 00:27:23 I want to know. Have I exaggerated? Wake up. Wake up. So basically you understand what happened. You couldn't handle a moment that I'm falling in front of you. So you resisted it inside. So it stayed inside, like Freud said.
Starting point is 00:27:37 Suppression, repression, resistance. I call resistance. I say it's just resistance. You're not suppressing the fact of the person didn't use the blinker. you're just resisting it, but it's still affect your energy. It affects your energy flow. You get yourself all disturbed by the fact somebody didn't use your blinker or somebody cut you off or whatever heck it is.
Starting point is 00:27:54 So basically, you push it away, you can store it inside. How many of those do you have, by the way, I forgot to ask you. Probably, my example, the $300 billion in the galaxy, it doesn't come close. How much that stuff do you have inside of you? You store the moments inside you that you don't like, even the little ones and the big ones. And so you have a warehouse of problems inside of you. They're not even happening outside anymore.
Starting point is 00:28:18 Please. I know if you had bad experience, it's very hard to listen to this. It's funny, you don't want to neutralize them. You want everyone to understand how bad they are. Why? Wouldn't you rather have them not be in there? Wouldn't you rather have an experience that's really, really bad? And have it be over, and when it's over outside, it's over inside.
Starting point is 00:28:36 I ask you a question. Or do you really want to make a big deal out of it just for kicks? I mean, for not kicks. I asked the question again. The event took place, agreed. It stopped taking place. It went away. Your parents got divorced.
Starting point is 00:28:50 This person mistreated you. Things happened. Not fair, not right. Nobody's saying that. Okay? It just is. It's over. Wouldn't you not have the over inside?
Starting point is 00:29:01 It bothered you then. Do you want it to bother for the rest of your life? But you did, didn't you? Because you couldn't handle it. That's what comes down to. That's the whole purpose, the bottom, the root of the whole thing. You couldn't handle it.
Starting point is 00:29:15 But no, but if you could handle it, it still have happened. It still will have come in, but it would have passed through. Like the trees and the clouds and every other experience that you had. It's an experience I had. Yeah, yeah, I got fired. I got fired, when, 20 years ago? What was happening now? I've been afraid to get a job ever since.
Starting point is 00:29:35 I don't get fired again. If I don't have a job, I won't get fired. Ah! No! I got fired. What happened? fun. And that's going to work for a while. Is it possible you could do that? But what did you do then? I went to look for jobs. That was fun. I met new people. I got to an interview with people.
Starting point is 00:29:55 I got better with each interview. It was really a wonderful time of my life. Can you do that? Possibly. I don't say can you. Is it possible that someone could do that? Wouldn't it be better? Well then that's the answer, isn't it? That's the answer of how not to have problems. Don't define those problems. Define them as experiences. Because that's what they are, aren't they? The experience I had at that moment when life was passing before me. If it's a problem, I said it was a problem.
Starting point is 00:30:27 Otherwise it's an experience. I still got you? I know it's hard because we've had things that really hurt us, haven't we? We have things that really hurt us. I know. I understand. I have total compassion. We all understand. We don't have the same things, but we've all had things that hurt us.
Starting point is 00:30:47 I'm just asking you, do you want it to still be hurting you? Because it's not happening anymore. I don't want it to still be hurting you. I like you. Why would I want it to still be hurting you? Yes, of course, while it's happening, it's difficult. But if it's over, I'm not asking not to have problems and experience that's happening. Okay, we have to deal with things.
Starting point is 00:31:05 I'm only begging you to understand that if it's not happening, it shouldn't be bothering you. If it's not happening, it's bothering you, you did that. I want to talk about how not to do that. That is spiritual growth. Because I'm telling you, when you're done doing that and the stuff that you stored in there for no reason, there was a reason to happen, but there's no reason to keep it in there, it will come up by itself.
Starting point is 00:31:27 Won't it come up by itself? It does come back up, doesn't it? And what do you do when it comes back up? You push it back down. I don't want to deal with this. I can't deal with this. I can't deal with what you said. I can't.
Starting point is 00:31:38 I remind him what my father did. I didn't like my father? Nope. Nope, I'm sorry, I cannot deal with this. There you go. And it talked like that. In other words, you push it back down. Maybe what we need to learn to do
Starting point is 00:31:50 is to let it go. I don't want this in me. Why? It's painful. And there's no reason for it to be painful because it's not happening. In other words, you stored pain. The event's not happening.
Starting point is 00:32:03 You stored pain, didn't you? And now we try to come back up, it's painful. And so you push it back down. So the essence of all the spirituality Yes, it's good to meditate. Some people say, maybe it doesn't like meditation. I do, I meditate. I've meditated all my life.
Starting point is 00:32:17 Meditation is wonderful. Lots of teachers teach you meditation. Lots of techniques, all right? I want to teach you what to do when you're not meditating. Okay? That doesn't mean you shouldn't meditate. That's your business. But I want to teach you what to do when you're not meditating
Starting point is 00:32:30 because that's a very big part of your life. And if you will do this, you can find out that meditation is spontaneous. You can find that you're sitting in watching a movie or watching TV or doing something and all of a sudden, all of a lot of you. All the shakt you'll come pouring up inside of you. You'll feel like you're completely intoxicated, raised to the highest level. Why? Because that's what's inside of you.
Starting point is 00:32:50 The stuff you shoved in there is blocking that. So if you let go of that stuff, that's the highest thing you can do. That's the highest thing you can do is don't put any more in and let go what's in there. That is the meaning of your life. You have stuff in there, don't you? The purpose of your life is not to make life be so it doesn't hit your stuff. not to try to get everything you want so you're compensating for the fact that you're not okay.
Starting point is 00:33:16 Perfect of your life is letting go of all this garbage that you've stored inside of you and not storing anymore and raising yourself. Okay, how do you do that? It comes up, you let it go. I don't know how to. I know you don't.
Starting point is 00:33:29 I'm being compassionate. See, if I was a Zen teacher, let it go. But my mommy, let it go. Okay? But you don't know how to, do you? Wouldn't it be nice if you could? That's all I want to get you to. Wouldn't it be nice if when it comes up you can let it go,
Starting point is 00:33:44 bye-bye, mom, bye-bye, bad boyfriend, bye-bye high school. Bye-bye. Bye-bye, ex-wife, bye-bye-husband. Bye-bye. You don't have to be in here anymore. Would you like that? You don't have to be in here anymore. There's no reason you can't do that except you're not ready.
Starting point is 00:34:05 You haven't learned. It's about learning. That's what I'm trying to teach you. You learn all kinds of things. They teach you all the time. You learn to play the piano. How? By sitting down playing Beethoven?
Starting point is 00:34:15 No, by starting with the scales. You learn to sport. How? By playing against the finest team that ever was? No. By practicing. By learning techniques and practicing them, you get better. Why is this not the same?
Starting point is 00:34:29 No one will teach you like this. I just not like that. I can't let go. Well, you haven't learned to let go. You didn't play tennis real well the first time I've got up a racket. You need to do all kinds of stuff. You learn. learn this
Starting point is 00:34:42 learn this learn what learn how to handle the situations that come inside of you that don't feel so good and I'll tell you secret you can't handle the ones that do feel good you cling to them
Starting point is 00:34:59 but just have a word called clinging oh my god I love what he said to me it's so beautiful I've never felt so much love in my life where's he going no no stay here stay here for a minute say it again
Starting point is 00:35:10 you can't even handle the ones it do feel good. You want them to happen again. And you get upset and you get jealous and insecure. What is that all about? Jealousy, insecurity, need, dependency. I liked it. You don't feel need, dependency, and jealousy
Starting point is 00:35:25 about something you didn't like. That's just, there's two sides of the coin. That which you couldn't handle, because you didn't like it, you suppress it, you suppress it, you suppress it. And that which you couldn't handle because it doesn't keep happening.
Starting point is 00:35:36 And so by the time you're done, basket case. You're busy, it could be, trying to avoid... stuff you don't want to happen again and trying to get stuff to happen that you want to happen again. Pretty busy, aren't you? There's nothing going on. I told you. Somebody asked you, what did you do today? I did a 360 on my axis. What did you do this year? Big 360. I took a trip around the sun, man. I took a lap around the sun.
Starting point is 00:36:01 Wake up. Get bigger. Get your consciousness off of the limit of your personal mind. That's what we're talking about. Right now, your awareness of being is locked inside this tiny, little mess called every problem you ever built inside your mind is bothering you and your heart is limited your your consciousness is locked inside of that does it have to be no consciousness can be aware of anything that's what you're aware of and so i teach you that one way to expand consciousness is to expand mind because consciousness is locked in the mind right now eventually it won't be that's what enlightenment is when your consciousness no longer is addicted to stare at at your tiny little mind made up of your tiny little experiences when your
Starting point is 00:36:48 consciousness does not have to stare at your mind that's what liberated consciousness is that's what enlightened beings realized there Baba said my consciousness is like a drop of water staring at me when it stopped it fell into the ocean find it find a drop of water once it falls into the ocean what did Christ say my father and I are one now you understand what he meant that's what enlightenment is is the real that your consciousness is one with the universe. You're a very great being.
Starting point is 00:37:18 What if that's true, and it is, that your consciousness in there, looking at your thoughts, looking at your heart, looking at all this, staring at it, is really the entire universe. My father and I are one. Man is created in the image of God. You know me?
Starting point is 00:37:33 That's who you are, and look what you're doing with that consciousness. Okay? You're a very great being, but you're staring at something that's not so great. aren't you? And you're trying to make it look great or be depressed because it's not great. What are you doing? You're way bigger than that. I'm just trying to help you get to a point.
Starting point is 00:37:54 Now one way to do that is if you're staring at your mind, if you'll think about the galaxies and you'll think about how small the planet is and you'll think about the fact that your experiences are nothing, you've expanded your mind to stop being fixated on you. That's a very healthy thing. It's called Guiana Yoga, Yoga, Wisdom. You can expand that out. then your consciousness expands. It's easier to get out
Starting point is 00:38:15 if you're not fixated on your own mind and about your ego self. So now how do you learn to do this? You start with the small things. That's what I tried to teach you. I don't know if everybody else does. You don't start with the big things. I know you got stuff in there.
Starting point is 00:38:28 Yes, somebody did this to you. Yes, this. Yes. I understand. But I don't want it bothering you for the rest of your life. How about that? I'm your friend. Okay, so I agree it happened.
Starting point is 00:38:39 How do you do it? You don't start with that. You can't start with that. that's like saying i never played the piano i'll play mozart no you won't or i'll play the williams sisters in tennis and never picked up a racket before no you won't you'll get to scourge and you'll leave so i'm not don't work with that big stuff no don't worry about it don't even worry about it i know it's in there you know it's in there don't even worry about it you need to learn how to let go when something is not comfortable. You'll need to learn how to not resist life. You don't do that by taking everything.
Starting point is 00:39:17 You do that with the driver in front of you. It's fun. Make it a game. You can handle the fact that the person is driving 10 miles an hour below speed limit in the left lane. They didn't use their blinker or that their heads looking down at their phone at the stoplight and you have to beep to get them going. It's not a big deal. You can handle that, can't you? You don't, but you could. that's what I want. You can play the scales. Not perfectly, maybe, but you can play the scales. You can handle these little tiny, stupid little things that happen in life that, by the way, you have no control over.
Starting point is 00:39:54 You bother yourself about something that's meaningless, and you have no control over it. That's where I want you to work. I want you to work at that level where you're just saying, no, this is silly. I'm not going to be bothered with this. How sing a song, do a mantra, count, watch you. your breath, say something nice about the person in front of you. Before you beep, because they'll look at their phone, sit there and say, always look at their phone, they're having fun, look at the phone on the planet Earth.
Starting point is 00:40:19 All right, have fun. I started this talk by saying life can be fun or it can be hell. Who is determining? You are. Make it fun. People play video games. I never did. But people have video games, right?
Starting point is 00:40:34 And they're shooting things and facethips and monsters and so on, right? And imagine if the person's so neurotic that if a monster comes, they go, and they freak out forever because the monster came out or somebody shot them in the video game. No, you're supposed to having fun. You're supposed to having fun. Did you hear me?
Starting point is 00:40:57 Earth is God's idea of Disney World. There's birds that sing. I go, walks through what do you come from? They're just here. There's all kinds of colors and shit. shapes and sows are there compared to every other planet that we've seen there's nothing going. There's not an amoeba.
Starting point is 00:41:19 They're not a protozoa. There's nothing. They're not even a roach. Okay? And here there's everything. How many species are there? Ha, ha, ha. God, wake up. You are ruining your own life. And so you start practicing this thing called
Starting point is 00:41:36 acceptance, honoring and respecting the moments of the unfolding in front of you. But just do with the little things. you don't think they matter. You think it doesn't matter. What? Oh, it's raining out. I can't believe it's rain.
Starting point is 00:41:46 That matters. I love the rain. It makes their big crops so I can eat. You're welcome to use positive thinking. You're welcome to use mantra. You're welcome to use breathing. I don't care. But please don't just do that stupid thing you're doing
Starting point is 00:42:03 of letting these things ruin your life. Just more negativity, more negativity, more problems. If you have a nice experience, somebody comes up and says, guy, you know, I've never said it somewhere in kindergarten, but to me you walk on water. He's the most beautiful person I've ever met. You're so beautiful, but I'm embarrassed to say it. Okay? Say, that was nice. I wonder what will happen next. Maybe it would be a nicer thing next, the next moment. Don't cling. That's it. There's, oh, my God, I need that. You know why you need that?
Starting point is 00:42:30 Because you're not okay inside. If you were okay inside, you're saying, it was fun too. It was raining. Okay, we won't go camping. We'll play tinluings. and stand outside and watch the raindrops fall. You're welcome to have fun, aren't you? And don't tell me it's not logical. It is logical. What's not logical is what you're doing to yourself. And so you practice letting go.
Starting point is 00:42:51 You've heard me use those words before. This is what letting go means. I'm in here, an event's taking place outside, and my mind is complaining about it. Why? Because I stored every single thing inside. It makes you not okay, and it wants to express itself.
Starting point is 00:43:05 That's why you combine complaints all the time. People ask me, that. Why does that voice talk all the time? And why is it so negative? That's why. Because you stored negativity inside of you and it wants to release it. He's trying to release it. That's what all the negativity is, all that talk. Oh, what does this happen? Oh, my God. I would die if that happened. Why are you thinking like that? What's the matter with you? Of course you're not going to be okay. Oh, my God. He talked about anything fired. I don't want to get fired. I'm not going to come out to temple anymore. I can't handle what he talks about. Oh, have fun. And so you just sit there and say, I'm going to learn to handle things how by practicing with the little things.
Starting point is 00:43:37 just doing something positive, something constructive. You can fix this. So you practice with the small things letting go, and then you're going to find out something a little bigger happens. And you practice letting go, so you're better at it. And you start making some decisions. Do I want this to bother me? No, it's bothering you.
Starting point is 00:43:56 I'm not saying it's not bothering you. Do I want this to keep bothering me? That's the difference. You're not going to make life so when it comes in, it's always going to feel wonderful. Somebody wants to ask Ramakrishna. I can't even say his name. you're so high, one of the highest means of the face of the earth, fully enlightened, gone by-bye.
Starting point is 00:44:12 They asked him, does an enlightened being ever feel anger? I'll bet you would say no. You know, he said, yes. He said yes, but it's like riding on water. That's what I've been teaching you. Is riding on water have a problem? The moment you make the market's gone, it comes in, it passes through. You didn't keep it inside.
Starting point is 00:44:34 It's not a problem. It's fine. has the right to unfold the way it is. The Buddhists say everything has this nature. Not all the natures when they come in feel good. A rattling, coiled-up rattlesnake 10 feet away from you, that is not a really pleasant experience.
Starting point is 00:44:52 Unless you say, wow, what a rush. Okay? And then the main part being, when it crawls away, it's over. And I'm afraid from now on to walk outside ever in your entire life. I'm going to move in the city. Why, there are no rattlesnakes. So you just keep letting go. Yes, it happens.
Starting point is 00:45:10 I'm not denying it happens. I give you that. I'm compassionate. I'm so compassionate. I don't want it still to be in there. And so you let it go. You let it go. How?
Starting point is 00:45:19 Practice, practice, practice, practice. And first, this is small stuff. And have fun with it. And then something bigger will happen. You'll have fun with that. And then something bigger will happen. And then someday, something will happen at work or in a relationship, but like that. And you'll be driving away.
Starting point is 00:45:32 And you realize, somebody told me this once. I respected it so deeply. And he said, you know, I look back that would have bothered me years ago. I didn't even notice it. Oh my God! That's growth.
Starting point is 00:45:45 Not that it didn't happen. Not you made it not happen. It got strong enough to control everybody so it doesn't happen. It doesn't matter that it happens. You're not afraid of life. You're not afraid of relationships. You're not afraid of love.
Starting point is 00:45:57 You're not afraid of life. You're not afraid of people. You're not afraid of animals. You're not afraid. Does that mean you don't deal with it? Of course you deal with it. You deal with it. A lion's jumping at you.
Starting point is 00:46:05 If somebody asked Master once when they was teaching the people. kind of teachings. What if a lion jumps at you? Right? Run. But what if somebody's driving in front of you that's not nice? Don't get out with a gun and men have road rage or don't freak out. Let go. I'm begging you. Do you understand? Is it logical to you now, right? And don't forget, everything you're doing is on this tiny little six foot by three foot square. You're standing on the planet in the of nowhere is freaking yourself out. How about we stop doing that?
Starting point is 00:46:38 That's how you change the world. You change yourself. If you do this, everywhere you walk, you'll raise everything around you. That's how you change the world. One percent of time, you. Thank you for tuning into this episode. If you're enjoying the content,
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