I had to come back and post a follow-up. The Surrender Experiment is a lifetime practice, but after reading Michael Singer's other book - The Untethered Soul - my experience of being alive is suddenly being transformed. It feels like skipping a grade in school - surprisingly powerful - so I had to share.
The practice is based on Singer's insight into consciousness. It is in the nature of consciousness to be able to be absorbed into experiences to the point of losing itself in the experience. Imagine yourself sitting in a movie theater. The movie is so interesting that you have no awareness of being in a theater - instead, you're in the movie. You (the consciousness) have been absorbed by it, and have lost context. But then a cell phone vibrates in your pocket, and suddenly you're aware of being surrounded by a hundred people in a dark room. You've stepped back from the experience.
In the same way, we can step back from our usual absorption in the constant swirl of our thoughts, feelings and sensory perceptions, and become the "I" - the awareness who sees all that nonsense going on in front of itself. When you become the observer, you can allow yourself to fully and deeply relax - no matter what else is going on inside or outside. It's an amazing trick, to be the peaceful, relaxed observer in the middle of all that noise and commotion.
This is very different from typical mindfulness meditation. When you're meditating as usual - focusing on the breath, being aware of thoughts, etc. - you're still partly absorbed by the distorted aspects of your personality. You're still in the middle of it. But when you step back into the pure observer state - which has nothing to do with thoughts or feelings inside, it just sees them in front of itself - you're in the Seat of Power. You are the fully healed spiritual being that it's your potential to become.
In that state, the distorted parts of your personality - the anxious, the angry, the scared, etc. - become simply external distractions - just as there is external noise, they are now internal noise, but nothing to do with you - just something that's there. Beautifully, as you continue remaining in and living from the Seat of Power in your daily life, those external parts that need healing will begin to heal and dissolve. It's amazing.
The practice is based on Singer's insight into consciousness. It is in the nature of consciousness to be able to be absorbed into experiences to the point of losing itself in the experience. Imagine yourself sitting in a movie theater. The movie is so interesting that you have no awareness of being in a theater - instead, you're in the movie. You (the consciousness) have been absorbed by it, and have lost context. But then a cell phone vibrates in your pocket, and suddenly you're aware of being surrounded by a hundred people in a dark room. You've stepped back from the experience.
In the same way, we can step back from our usual absorption in the constant swirl of our thoughts, feelings and sensory perceptions, and become the "I" - the awareness who sees all that nonsense going on in front of itself. When you become the observer, you can allow yourself to fully and deeply relax - no matter what else is going on inside or outside. It's an amazing trick, to be the peaceful, relaxed observer in the middle of all that noise and commotion.
This is very different from typical mindfulness meditation. When you're meditating as usual - focusing on the breath, being aware of thoughts, etc. - you're still partly absorbed by the distorted aspects of your personality. You're still in the middle of it. But when you step back into the pure observer state - which has nothing to do with thoughts or feelings inside, it just sees them in front of itself - you're in the Seat of Power. You are the fully healed spiritual being that it's your potential to become.
In that state, the distorted parts of your personality - the anxious, the angry, the scared, etc. - become simply external distractions - just as there is external noise, they are now internal noise, but nothing to do with you - just something that's there. Beautifully, as you continue remaining in and living from the Seat of Power in your daily life, those external parts that need healing will begin to heal and dissolve. It's amazing.
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