- Books on My Shelf 2013
Welcome back to SunnyRoomStudio. This week, from my shelf, I’m picking a book by Michael A. Singer — The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself (2007, New Harbinger).
Singer begins like this: “In case you haven’t noticed, you have a mental dialogue going on inside your head that never stops. It just keeps going and going.”
He points out that if you instantly become defensive, denying such a voice: that, precisely, IS the voice.
But the first chapter ends with this: “Come to know the one who watches the voice, and you will come to know one of the great mysteries of creation.”
Ever stepped on the bridge — the one representing awakening consciousness?
Many people seem to believe that whatever their minds come up with is the “be all, end all” of existence. That the endless progression of thoughts they experience each hour, each day, is necessary. Blindly, they wade in, hoping to identify a few useful thoughts, change others, and ignore most. And many believe this kind of navigation through the endless swirl of thoughts most minds produce (unrequested) is what gets them safely through life.
Sounds tiring, doesn’t it? Sort of like a funny guessing game, knowing which thought to take seriously, which one to disregard or modify.
To attain true inner freedom, you must be able to objectively
watch your problems instead of being lost in them. ~ Michael Singer
If you want to experience yourself on a more spiritual level, removed from the “normal” mind chatter, Singer’s book will be most helpful to you. Too often spiritual conversations sound like mental back and forth, a tennis match or something. I believe this v. I believe that.
- Spirituality, however, is about experience; it’s not a mind game.
So if you’re not experiencing your spirituality, you’re probably trapped in mental patterns you aren’t even aware of. One day you believe this; the next day you believe something else. Or you learned the beliefs of a certain religion as a child and have never looked beyond this model of reality that is probably nothing more. Much like a model airplane, it’s not the “real thing.”
Singer concludes his book with a chapter called, The Loving Eyes of God. He writes:
“When the drop of consciousness that knows itself as an individual drifts back far enough, it becomes like the drop that falls into the ocean … the individual consciousness falls into the Universal Oneness. And that’s it.”
Another term for oneness is universal consciousness.
The goal of life is to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe.
~ Joseph Campbell
If you are tired of living on a superficial level, ready to grow in all the ways that matter, Singer is an author to explore and appreciate. He illuminates the journey beyond self in many ways. And he gives you more than a glimpse of universal consciousness.
Thanks for visiting SunnyRoomStudio: a creative, sunny space for kindred spirits.
Looking for book suggestions?
I maintain an informal list here in SRS. See top menu or click here.
See you again Friday, November 8th, as our 3-month review of books on my shelf continues.
I hope you are also digging into the books on your shelves. Dust them off. Open to page “whatever.”
Sit down, read your favorite chapter. Read the first page, the last page.
Journal about your discoveries. A book is just a book until you read it for the second time.
Enjoy the journey. ~ dh
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