Lessons of the Unleashed Soul

Having read several of my books, blogs, and articles, you probably know by now that, like Michael Singer, I think we’re trying to do something that’s not working: we’re trying to find love, joy, happiness, etc. outside of us We are trying to control something that is not in our control: other people and the world around us. Everything we want to experience is part of our inner landscape; they are not out there somewhere to be found.

Singer in his book, The Untethered Soul, helps you explore your inner landscape, an activity that has been a lifelong journey for me. It begins by asking you to look at your self-concept and the internal dialogue you have with yourself. Once he begins to think about and explore his self-concept, he quickly realizes that “…the concept of ‘I’ may prove to be a bit more elusive than initially assumed.”

As a human being, you have been hurt and cursed by your ability to think about the way you think. The blessing is that it is in the world of your thoughts that you can control your experiences in life. The curse is that you are probably looking at the world for specific experiences and your self-talk acts as the judge of what is going on around you. Breaking the barrier of this thought of the inner and outer world will free you from your perceived problems.

So how do you start doing this? You become intimately aware of your inner roommate, the voice within you. You recognize that your inner voice will never be content and at peace, and you let go of the “I”. You recognize that: “Your consciousness is actually experiencing your mental model of reality, not reality itself.” When you perceive a problem, you stop asking, “What should I do about it?” and start asking, “What part of me is disturbed by this?” What part of me is ________ (jealous, angry, frustrated, irritated, etc.)? Singer says: “You can’t solve anything on the outside until you recognize how the situation affects you on the inside.” For a man unfamiliar with Perceptual Control Theory (PCT), he has captured one of the best lessons from it. Disturbance is an inside job.

Letting go of the inner judge and shifting your thinking to what I like to call the balcony view immediately relieves stress. My good friend Andrea Christopher once described it this way: It’s like I’m the math problem, then I’m working on the math problem, and finally I see myself solving the math problem. “You don’t have to think about it or analyze it; you can just be aware of it.” Doing this allows you to let go of the “I”.

From the balcony you allow yourself to “experience every note the heart can play”. You recognize that it’s all just information and it’s up to you to mute the roommate and relax in the moment. Singer gave me a more spiritual perspective on PCT, which is a very scientific explanation of human behavior.

This book was like diving deep into the pool of my own soul. PCT with a spiritual touch. I loved!

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