Michael Singer - Learning to Still the Inner Waters of Disturbance

jigra the fastest most direct way to grow spiritually is to pick a Point Way Beyond yourself and to fix on that point and not to judge yourself for being short of that point but to notice the gap between where you are and that point so for example you say to yourself I'm not going to get disturbed by anything anymore just a little Point little bit beyond you tiny I'm not going to get disturbed by anything anymore nice point to pick certainly we'd all like to be there so I not pick a point that's worth reaching

and in order to play with that cuz make it a game it's not guilt it's not heavy it's not failure it's a game your first like any other game is you better understand the terms the rules and so you question what does it mean to get Disturbed when I say I'm not going to get disturbed by anything anymore well that's fairly easy in order to tune in to what you're not going to do anymore you have to at least for a moment I'll be it just a moment notice what it looks like inside when you're

not Disturbed notice what it looks like inside when your mind is not being bothered by things when your heart is not emoting with all kinds of emotions and maybe you're watching a sunset maybe you're taking a walk maybe you're just quiet just doing okay you just look at that and you see that it's like a still Lake inside of you there's just not as much noise as there usually is there's not as many vibrations going on inside of you you can use whatever terminology you want but you all know what I mean we say it's

quieter in there quieter in terms of noise no not physical auditory noise quieter meaning less action less vibrations less activity less disturbance if you have a lake and it's Crystal Clear it's mirror clearer mirror still you have no disturbance you have no vibrations you have no noise should something disturb that quiet you get ripples you get Eddies you get currents you get waves and so on whatever it is to whatever degree the disturbance is you get what I'll call noise where there was Stillness that is what it is like inside of you it can get

quiet in there it can get still in there it's not boring for it to be quiet or still it's beautiful for it to be quiet and still you feel a complete sense of overwhelming contentment and well-being you can look at something while you're quiet and still and it looks beautiful It looks interesting it looks exciting Stillness permits the soul to reach through and touch this world when there is disturbance inside of you then all these energies I've been discussing start to generate currents and edies and ritties and vibrations so now when you look out the

soul looks out into the world it has to look through that Veil that is now Disturbed and when it looks through that the world looks Disturbed and eventually you'll catch on that's all that's happening the disturbances are inside of you and when look out you project them it's funny it projects even a to action of a word if I look through dark glasses I'm not projecting Darkness I'm looking through dark glasses it's just physics if you look through a disturbed energy field what you look at is going to be disturbed that's why the yogis the

great scriptures use this analogy of a mirror clear leg if you are looking at your reflection and a mirror Clear Lake it could be mirror clear right it could be a mirror of your reflection you will see just what you look like if I drop things in that Lake and create currents and ripples and all kinds of noise what does your reflection look like exactly exactly the result of every single Ripple and every single current is what is going to affect your reflection isn't it where it DS down into a trough you'll have a dent

in your face where it flashes up into a wave you'll be all dist distorted that way you will be distorted in exactly the way that the disturbances exist on what you're looking at it is the same way with your energy body when you look through this energy field you don't have to do anything it distorts what you're looking at just like looking through crackled glass or anything else there's nothing you can do about it so the world looks disturbing but not the yogi or the yogan to the yogi or yogan knows the world is not

disturbing the world looks disturbing for the exact same reason that your image looks disturbing in that Lake and you either can go out and fix your image good luck you don't really want to be changing what you're looking at you want to deal with the disturbance itself which are these vibrational changes believe it or not those vibrations those distortions and disturbances in the energy field they change your whole life they change your whole world that is every single thing that's going on is going on inside of you in that energy field there is no reason

to deal with anything else so when you say that you're going to set a point out there that says I'm not going to get Disturbed anymore that's what you're saying you're saying that my energy field inside is not going to get distorted and messed up anymore and if it does not get distorted and messed up I don't have to worry about the world because it is the cause of all disturbances in this world it is what makes everything look disturbing and distorted and scary and everything if it is clean and clear you will see you

can look out and see beauty everywhere the world is just the world don't know how many can reach that state but you just get to a state where there will never be another time ever when you look in this world and you don't see the world you just see the world you don't see good and bad and right and wrong and better and worse and you know wish it was and wish it wasn't you see the world when you look at a dog you see a dog you look at a cat you see a cat

you look at a snake you see see a snake when you look at the world you see the world the problem is because your energy field gets distorted you don't see the world you see the reflection of your energy field and therefore the world looks distorted and exactly accordance to your vibrations and then what you do which is so classic is you go out to try to change the world to make it stop being distorted it makes me laugh to even talk about the world is not distorted the world is the world so to sit

there and say I'm not going to get Disturbed anymore you very quickly tune into what that means that doesn't mean you're going to stop things from disturbing you it means you're going to work with your energy field so it doesn't get distorted anymore so it stays clear all right so you sit there and say I'm not going to get Disturbed anymore and immediately the whole thing changes it's So Beautiful to watch now once you catch on you have no responsibility for what's going on outside of you in the sense that it's going to go on

you have not said I'm going to change the outside you said I'm going to change the inside and that's what it means to work with things that are Beyond you that's beyond you to most people it's beyond you to say I'm not going to change the outside because we're so afraid and affected by the outside that the thought of leaving it alone is a scary thought but you got to contemplate that a little bit how it is that you can be afraid of life to where you can't even let it be what it is be

afraid of other people where you can't let them be who they are and you just get to where I'm not going to be like that then your work with yourself is the beauty what am I going to do about the fact that even though I said I'm not going to get Disturbed anymore between you me lamp poost I do the energy does get Disturbed it does go through these changes well that's where your real growth starts is how to learn to work with your Energies how to learn to work with yourself while your energies are

going through these changes and it really is not hard no matter how many times we talk about it it just looks easier and easier every single time you are not your energy field you are the one that is aware of it you are watching these energies go through changes you don't believe it and you don't understand it but if you would stop touching them they will go away if you can keep your hands to yourself then when the world drops its leaves and its petals and its rocks into your Lake I want you to see

your inner energy field as a lake it's a lake of energy the senses bring in the vibrational changes that happen outside and they drop into that Lake as they drop into that Lake they create ripples they make changes they make an impression ression remember Krishna once said anger to a saint is like riding on water when you ride on water it makes an impression but the moment your finger moves it's gone that's how the senses should be affecting your leg they should make an impression otherwise you wouldn't be able to see anything right the senses

have to send the messages in make an impression upon this energy field so that the Consciousness is able to experience it so you let it come in it makes its impression and if you were not to touch it if you were just to leave it alone it would be like riding on water it would make an impression and as soon as that impression is made so the conscious can see it it would disappear it would just erase it' be wiped out just like that just natural process of Clean Slate constantly yet there just enough to

experience it and then be there for the next moment and the next moment and just keep experiencing these Impressions which are gone if you keep your hands to yourself This is what will happen I've made a statement to you if you do not keep your hands to yourself then when it starts to make a ripple you either want to stop that Ripple or keep that Ripple and the moment you're playing around with it you're going to get more than you bargain for hey I say more you teach the more you realize why all the ancient

teachers use that Lake it's such a perfect example because water and energy are very close in their behavior patterns and so now if you're getting a ripple in that leg that Crystal mirror clear leg and you don't want that Ripple and your tendency is to touch it to make it go away or you like that Ripple so your tendency is to grab it in order to keep it what's going to happen every single time you touch it you create much more disturbance won't you and it won't help you keep your Ripple and it won't help

you get rid of your Ripple it'll just make a mess as simple as it does right you wouldn't able to figure out where your Ripple is anymore if you touch it enough will you either to get rid of it or to keep it and so now there's more ripples so you got to touch more and it just becomes a complete chaos inside that is the normal state of a human being it is chaos in there it is just one disturbance after the other and it just seems like a life of infinite disturbance it is only

that way because you're touching it it is not the world creating those disturbances it is not the world is coming in and making the impression upon your Lake and it's disappearing but you're not letting it it's so cute when you get back far enough and watch this you're either stopping it from making an impression because you can't handle it or you're trying to keep the impression somebody was very nice to you had a very nice experience you don't want it to go away and so you Tred to clean cling to it to hold on to

it or to push it away this is the cause of disturbance it is not what other people say to you it is not what other people do it is not your finances it is not your family it is not anything like that the cause of disturbances is these Ripple effects that go on in your energy body since it is your energy body that is disturbance that's what creates disturbance and whatever is causing it to be disturbed is the cause of disturbance and what is causing it to be disturbed is not this world what is causing

it to be disturbed is you now that's a good thing because it means you're already free it means you don't have to change everybody and everything else outside of you in order to come to a state of Peace you only have to work with yourself it also means that you don't have to try to stop the disturbances from happening because in truth it is your effort to stop the disturbances that is making the disturbances and you also don't have to try to keep things a certain way because it's your effort to try to keep them

a certain way inside or outside that is causing disturbance now right there everyone's lost it's too Zen okay it's too much to doubt people want to do something they want to use their will they want to have a technique they want to have something that they can get their hands on that will make the disturbance go away but it's such a paradox because it's the act of getting your hands on it that is creating the disturbance so if you say to yourself I don't want to be disturbed anymore what you are saying to yourself is

I want to learn to sit inside without touching that's what it means people are so busy renouncing the outside has nothing to do with the outside you renounce the outside all you want you're still stuck with the inside if you learn to sit inside without touching it will all go away it will all go away what does it mean to sit inside without touching again it's not something that requires you know 6 10 hours of meditation a day for you know 3 we Retreats has nothing to do with that ultimately that helps a great deal

don't get me wrong but that's not what it has to do with what it has to do with something very very real it has to do with now that we understand this process of disturbance you understand what gets Disturbed you understand what it means to not be disturbed you understand what is causing the disturbance the Dynamics of the world coming in making its impression as it should making its impression upon the lake and creating a certain amount of ripples which will then go away right that's not the cause of disturbance you are the cause of

disturbance your touching is the cause of disturbance so now if you want to end disturbance if you want to not have any more disturbance anymore your work is when the world comes into the senses makes the impression upon your energy field your energy body and it begins its little ripples it little vibrations and then you see this tendency it's so subtle maybe only meditators can see it I don't know right but you will see it you will see the tendency for your Consciousness for your being for you who's watching to touch the tendency to do

something about it the tendency to get involved the tendency to engage the tendency in truth it's only two words the tendency to resist or to cling you're either trying to push it away or you're trying to keep it from going away you feel this as an Impulse as a drive as an urge as some sort of an energy attraction toward the vibration have you felt that can you see that until you sit there all day seeing that tend you can't get out if it's only something you see like once in the Blue Moon oh isn't

that interesting what do you think is going on the rest of the time the rest of the time you're getting involved in it and you're creating the disturbances and then you sit down to you know to for your 10 minutes meditation you say oh it's really too Disturbed in here well I bet it is okay you've sat there and built up quite a storm ever get yourself really going you drive yourself crazy you just keep touching this stupid thing you keep making more thoughts and keep having more emotions the thoughts create emotions the emotions create

thoughts the thoughts create emotions and it starts bouncing off and you've got this whole hurricane going on in there on top of your little Lake can you get tornadoes in there ever had a tornado in there in a nice still Lake about 10 of them at once you can make quite a mess in there you're doing that the world is not doing that if you were to leave it alone no matter what's going on it would just come in and dissipate it would come in it would be like remember I want you to remember certain

things on this talk you see the Talk's not just analogies you will find if you listen that during the course of your everyday life you will see these things real your inner energy field is to be looked at as a lake that can vibrate and have things touch it and make vibrations this concept of riding on water you let things in you let them make impression they need to make but then they're gone and you're going to see they will go except that you can't leave them alone and I want the work to be at

that place where you feel the tendency to get involved so the first thing is I can sit there and talk to about what should I do if I'm sitting there and I feel this tendency to be involved but what's the purpose of talking about that if you're not sitting there your job is to get conscious enough because that's what it's about consciousness to get conscious enough to see that things come in they make these Impressions most of them it's fine but periodically there's this tendency to touch this tendency to involve to touch what to touch

the person outside has nothing to do with the outside when you're getting somewhere you will see the tendency to touch is to touch the vibration that got made inside that's what you're trying to touch you're trying to get involved in this vibration that is either B bothering you or enticing you and if it is bothering you you're trying to keep it away from you I think I told you once before you'll watch carefully what you'll see literally is happening is these vibrations they start on the Outer Edge which is where the lake starts and just

like vibrations in a lake go down deeper than just the surface these vibrations are reaching down trying to go pass through you and what will happen is as they go toward your chakras and it could be any of the chakras most I always talk about the heart because that's the easiest one to work with as they move in toward your energy centers if you don't like that vibration you will feel tremendous resistance to let that thing get near to your heart you do not want it to come in close to that center it's almost like

there's a Vortex there and it's pulling the thing in and you then push it away and you'll see eventually actually you're touching is literally an attempt to keep that vibration from going into your heart center from going in there and so the act of pushing it away away from a chakra it's something I'd love for you to visualize and see that these energies are coming in and you're holding them away all internally you can feel it you do resist this stuff and so the energy vibrations try to come in and you push them away or

they touching your heart and you like them so you hold on to them so that's literally what's happening you got to be conscious enough to be there now what do you do if you see the tendency to touch it was a trick question I got you because if you do the work to be conscious and be there so that you're aware that you feel this tendency to go down and touch those energies you did about 99.9% of the work my part's easy because once you're there it means you've already transcended the energy if those energies

are so overwhelming to you you're not even there the minute they happen you got sucked in you don't even know where you are you're just fighting with the energies the moment you get conscious enough to where you can actually watch these energies start to come my job is easy what do do you do if you feel the tendency to reach out and touch someone you do the exact same thing that if you're trying to stop smoking if you're a smoker or an eater or whatever it is you feel this tendency to pick up a cigarette

you feel this tendency to have a snack you feel the tendency to do something a habit you're trying to break when you feel the tendency to pick up the cigarette it's a drive it's an urge it's an energy movement that wants to do itself you just don't do it you just just don't pick up the cigarette if you are sitting inside and you feel this tendency to touch the energies that have come in you simply don't do it just exactly the same Act of will that keeps you from picking up the cigarette is the act

of will that permits you to remain in yourself instead of going out to meet these energies you do not leave the self you do not not go out to meet the energies I'm serious I'm talking to you very seriously how do you not leave the self the energies are interacting with each other almost magnetically and it's tending to pull you into it to do so you must leave your seat of Consciousness you must leave the self you must lean forward and engage is a key word you have to engage and get involved if the moment

you feel the urge to touch and get involved with these Energies that are vibrating inside of you now you lean back inside you can lean back outside if you want it's okay helps a little bit all right but really it's inside you fall back relax and fall away from the energies now you're getting conscious when you can feel the energies notice yourself and then get a concept of toward verses away one movement will move you toward those energies if you fall the o here I'll do this way when you feel the tendency to go toward

the energies go in the opposite direction of which the energies are pulling you like maybe some people don't know what it means to go backwards or fall behind go in the opposite direction of what the energies are pulling you relax first though don't tense while they're pulling you because then you'll be pulling them with you all right you have to literally relax your heart relax yourself the very part that's trying to get pull you relax it and then you lean away from the pull there that is your spiritual growth if you make it to that

moment where you're conscious when that's going on then every single moment of your life you are going to God that's how you go to God as surely as walking upstairs takes you upstairs if you go step by step up each stair if every time these energies pull you toward them either because you're trying to stop them or you're trying to cling to them I just want that energetic tendency to get drawn toward the vti toward this energy movement you just instantaneously relax your shoulders relax your chest relax your whole inner being and fall backwards that's

it if you do that you will not touch those energies you will not they will stay as long as they need to stay but you are not exacerbating them and you know it doesn't seem like it but it will quiet down not instantaneously doesn't have to be like that something was wrong these energies you didn't aggravate them like let's say you had a scab something on your your arm or your finger and you kept picking at it and so it never healed and somebody said to you I know how to heal it they said how

it's a deep yoga technique be conscious first okay I will for three weeks guaranteed be very very conscious all right of what of this tendency to touch it you'll feel this tendency this urge every once in a while to touch it and pick at it yes don't okay okay then magic will happen just by doning but what was I supposed to do that was just to don't all right just by dting don't do it it don't touch it don't go with that tendency I'm not even telling you don't touch it I had nothing about touching

it just don't go with the tendency to touch it and what will happen it will heal because you're not exacerbating it it is the same thing with your inner state it didn't heal today it didn't heal in one hour did it you didn't see any difference right away but it will heal one it is that way with your inner state if you stop touching it it will come to rest will happen gradually if every single time you feel that draw toward those energies you relax and release it will happen now what you've done is very

great you've permitted the world to go about its business therefore it's not disturbing you you're not disturbing it you've permitted the world to come in through your senses and to drop its leaves and Pebbles into the lake of your energy you have no choice the world is free to be the world it's none of your business I mean how ill must you be to be born onto this planet and not being able to handle the planet the way it was when you were born on it that the only way I'm going to be okay is

if everything changes I don't understand okay why can't you handle the planet right you'll have plenty of opportunity to deal with it it's in front of you but you have to be able to handle it so you leave the environment alone basically it is what it is it then comes in God forbid you should leave it alone it's going to come in and drop its little Pebbles into your Lake because that's what it does that's what the senses do you didn't cut off your senses you didn't cut off the environment wow so far you're pretty

free the environment's free and you're free your senses are free and you're free and the pebbles in the lake are free right everybody leaves them alone now the trouble starts cuz you're going to see that's where the trouble is the soul couldn't care less about what's going on out there and the Soul couldn't care less about the senses soul is very close to that Lake the soul sees itself reflected in that Lake it's narcissus it got lost it lost itself in the reflection of your energy field are you're listening to me that's what's happening and

when those vibrations come in to your senses and drop their vibrations their energy Pebbles into your energy field and it vibrates in accordance to that that's what you care about that's what you're resisting that's what you're clinging to that's what you're involved in so the tendency for the soul to be drawn into those vibrations is all you have to work with you have to work with anything else that's where it's all happening and when those vibrations take place if you fall away from them back behind them you're not touching them you're not disturbing them and

if you don't disturb them eventually they will not disturb you right you just have some leftover work to do for the mesh you already made so you fall back if every single time every single time people can't hear that either every single time you relax and release it will happen very very quickly if something happens that's bigger than what you thought you were able to relax or release through yoga has a technique for that too ready relax and release through it anyways that's the advanced technique only for people that manage to get past the first

stage you get to the next stage until eventually that's all you're doing is relax Ing and releasing away from the tendency to touch now you may think and I won't get into it big you may think that if you do that your life will fall apart no your life will come together relationships your finances everything will be healthier whatever that means and you don't know what it would have been otherwise but you will be more in harmony with your Dharma in those things if you're are not creating disturbances for you to distort your interaction with

them you'll be clear enough to interact with them at the highest level that is meant to be that's all I can answer you you'd like me to say oh you'll get rich and you'll get married and all these wonderful things will happen no one will ever get sick and lions will lay down with Lambs I'm not going to say that to you I'm not going to say that I was very careful where I picked my words there's the words if you do this everything in your life will be to the highest possible place it should

be and could be in accordance to what is so if you were supposed to be going through difficult Financial Times instead of it being a complete mess it will be some difficult Financial Times that you're at peace with if it's a relationship and you're attracted to somebody or repulsed by somebody or something's happening changing it's not that it won't happen the world goes on it's not like some magic that's supposed to make it be the way you want it to be it just is what it is and the fact that you're in harmony with it

takes the edge off of it in other words it won't bother you anymore that's all I can tell you all right and that's got to be the highest it can be if nothing's bothering you anymore no matter what it's doing and so you don't get afraid that if you fall back behind it your life will fall apart your life will not fall apart it will not your life will come together it will come into a Harmony and to fall back behind it does not mean you don't interact with the world it means you don't touch

the vibrations that are coming in you can interact with the world perfectly well without trying to manipulate those vibrations there's no problem with it you just interact with the world truth is you can interact better with the world without creating disturbance so it becomes very very simple if you set out in front of yourself that I'm going to live a life life without disturbance you can't do it it's not something you can do but you can work with that which I talked about you can sit back behind yourself and not permit yourself to get sucked

into the vibrations when they come in it takes practice but as you do it without knowing what happened eventually you will be living a life without disturbance you won't be able to answer how it happened you won't be able to say when it happened it isn't like something touched you and all your disturbances go away it's very much like that little boo boo on your finger or arm got healed when did it actually go away I don't know it was so gradual it was so natural that the only thing you didn't do anymore was touch

it and it healed that is what is going to happen inside of you if you don't touch those vibrations you you will start to have a life without disturbance what does it mean to have a life without disturbance it means the world will unfold you feel no responsibility for it you feel no blame you feel no guilt you feel no pride no shame no pride and no shame it's just unfolding it's not even personal you don't even feel personal how about if you never took anything personal again for the rest of your life the world

was unfolding and you were sitting there that's the start of living a life without disturbance does that mean you're cold and detached no it's the opposite because when the world comes in it doesn't have all this interference you feel it at a much deeper level your heart gets moved with everything that happens you feel greater Joys and greater sorrows and greater everything but it just lasts while it lasts and therefore you're not afraid of it one thing that happens when you live a life of no disturbance is there is no fear I'm talking deep yoga

here natural deep yoga why would there be no fear what you're afraid of is those vibrations you're not afraid of this world you're afraid that some vibration is going to get in there that you can't handle you take anything you think you're afraid of and then magically make believe that for some reason when it happened it caused a nice vibration inside of you the play opposite that and tell me whether you're still afraid of it you say no then take the thing you're least afraid of right now and make it so that when it happens

the worst vibration goes on inside that you've ever felt and tell me whether you're afraid of it prove my point all right what you care about is those energy movements inside you become Fearless completely Fearless when you are no longer touching those energies once you have realized those energies cannot touch you they just go through the little write on water stuff how could you be afraid of that which is like writing on water I'm going to write this really mean nasty thing but I'm going to do it on water with my finger think you can

handle it I think I can handle it I'm not sure I know what you wrote okay that is what it's like inside of you it doesn't matter what comes in it doesn't matter what it writes because you're not touching ing it it is like riding on water therefore over time not at once but over time you become Fearless you won't know when it happened you will not be able to put your finger on it but you'll just notice that the world can go about its business and there's nothing inside that's resisting there's nothing inside that's

clinging there's nothing inside resisting there's nothing inside that's afraid because you realize all that the world can do is ride on your water okay that's all it can do is ride on your water unless you touch it then you start to get the mess do you all understand that there is nothing more empowering than what I just told you the only thing the world can do is write on your water it can't hurt you unless you resist and if you go in there and start messing with it resisting or clinging it creates hurricanes and tornadoes

and all kinds of very interesting things but then it's under your control isn't it completely 100% you get to decide that's very empowering so your fearlessness comes from understanding the only thing that can disturb me is if I touch it I ain't touching it and you have the right to say that don't you you're in there and all you have to do is fall away from the tendency to touch people think things like jealousy and fear and anxiety and self-consciousness and embarrassment and insecurity that you can't really get rid of these things you can just

learn to live with them that is not true what is happening is you're really holding them at Bay and that's why they don't go away if every time they move you relax and fall back behind them really and don't think it's right to have them or somebody's doing something wrong or just literally just sit there and say no everything's fine to be I'm just going to relax and fall back behind them but you do it at the level I'm talking about it's going to go away it will go away everything will go away so your

transformation becomes every moment of every day if you do something like I said which is to pick something that's beyond yourself I'm not going to have any disturbances anymore and then you do what I said but you have to do it from a deep level now you may say to me I can't stay at that level to even make that decision I just it's not quiet enough if that's true then that's probably why they invented meditation because meditation will will teach you to be quiet enough during your everyday life to where you can make that

decision I always leave it up to you to decide what practices you're going to do I ain't give you no practice never have probably never will all right why because I'd rather give you the understanding of why you would want to use practices now do you understand where you need to sit then go there you're capable of sitting there it's not like I don't have that place inside of me yes you do he I guarantee you if you're in there you're in there therefore you have the ability to sit there without touching if you don't

have the ability it's for two reasons either you don't want you really do want to touch and you're just coming out here because it's pretty all right and then you're you're free to do it you're welcome to do it or you're not managing to stay conscious enough to make the decision you're saying well I always notice afterwards that I should have not touched then meditate do yoga because it will give you inner strength to become conscious sooner but I don't think that's the game I think the game is no matter where you sit in the

side the moment you see the energy move and start to pull on you you have to let go right then at that second there isn't any time for procrastination there isn't any time for I'll do it a little bit later have to just right then let go and I think you can do that I know you can do that and if you do that you won't say to me well I wasn't there till I came back there's always a moment where you see what's going on you just waited too long you got to do it

right away that many you feel the energy starts to shift you're going to get used to what it feels like you just let go right then you know play around don't push it away just relax and release let it do what it wants this is a lot of fun I think it's the most exciting journey I know it is the most exciting Journey that anyone could ever take this journey Beyond work on these things agative