Michael Singer

It is not life’s events that are causing problems or stress. It is your resistance to life’s events that is causing this experience. Since the problem is caused by using your will to resist the reality of life passing through you, the solution is obvious—stop resisting.

To go beyond, you must keep going past the limits you put on things. This requires changes at the core of your being.

This is the core of spiritual work. When you are comfortable with pain passing through you, you will be free.

A wise person remains centered enough to let go every time the energy shifts into a defensive mode.

Right in the middle of your daily life, by untethering yourself from the bondage of your psyche, you actually have the ability to steal freedom for your soul. This freedom is so great it has been given a special name—liberation.

Unconditional happiness is the highest technique there is.

What differentiates a conscious, centered being from a person who is not so conscious is simply the focus of their awareness. It’s not a difference in the consciousness itself. All consciousness is the same. Just as all light from the sun is the same, all awareness is the same.

When a problem arises, don’t ask, 'What should I do about it?' Ask, 'What part of me is being disturbed by this?'

Once you’ve made this freedom the meaning of your life, there are spiritual practices that can help you. These practices are what you do with your time in order to free yourself from yourself.

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

One of the most amazing things you will ever realize is that the moment in front of you is not bothering you—you are bothering yourself about the moment in front of you. It’s not personal. You are making it personal.

The truth is the whole world is a giant Rorschach test.

Every experience makes you a greater person if you don’t resist it.

All moments in the universe are simply moments in the universe; you are the one bringing your personal preferences into these impersonal moments and making them seem personal.

Now it’s just a question of your level of commitment. Every single time you start to get disturbed, are you willing to relax and release? Or do you still need to go through another round of expressing and defending blockages?

Fortunately, there is a way out—it’s called witness consciousness. If you can learn to sit back and simply watch that voice inside your head, you can free yourself. This is not about shutting up the voice. Don’t ever fight with your mind. You’re the one who did this to your mind; how dare you complain about the mind. If you keep eating food that’s making you sick, do you yell at the food? Of course not—you change your behavior.

To quote Rumi, the great thirteenth-century Persian poet, ‘Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.’

The foundational choice we have in life is either constantly control life to compensate for our blockages or devote our lives to getting rid of our blockages.

Suffering is caused by the contrast between what you mentally decided you want and the reality unfolding in front of you. To whatever degree they don’t match, you suffer.

The question is not whether your mind is brilliant; the question is what are you doing with that brilliance?

Once the energy is no longer blocked and is flowing freely, personal needs are no longer your motivation. Your actions are the expression of love and gratitude for life. Your whole life becomes an act of service.

Once devotion (Bhakti) is developed, the aspirant then can surrender himself fully to the Infinite and be assured he will be evolving on the most rapid Path to Enlightenment.

We should never let a moment of our lives pass where we are not in complete awareness of, and have potential control over, all of the lower aspects of our being.

It All Happens For the Highest Good. Every event contributes to the balance of the system as a whole. So remember the Law of Karma, for it has been written: ‘As you sow, so then shall you reap.’

Karma, Will, and Love—three Universal Laws governing the process of evolution. Three stepping-stones aiding us on our Path to the Infinite.