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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data on fileTo the MastersContents
PART I: Conscious A wareness
Chapter 1. A wareness of Self
Chapter 2. The Conscious Receiver
Chapter 3. Living Inside
Chapter 4. The Three-Ring Circus
Chapter 5. Exploring the Nature of Things
PART II: The Outside W orld
Chapter 6. The Moment in Front of Y ou
Chapter 7. The W orld Y ou Live In
Chapter 8. The Origin of Matter
Chapter 9. The Power of Creation
Chapter 10. It’ s Not Personal
PART III: The Mind
Chapter 11. Empty Mind
Chapter 12. Birth of the Personal Mind
Chapter 13. Fall from the Garden
Chapter 14. The V eil of the Psyche
Chapter 15. The Brilliant Human Mind
PART IV : Thoughts and Dr eams
Chapter 16. The Abstract Mind
Chapter 17. Serve Mind or Fix It
Chapter 18. W illful and Automatic ThoughtsChapter 19. Dreams and the Subconscious
Chapter 20. W aking Dreams
PART V : The Heart
Chapter 21. Understanding Emotions
Chapter 22. Why the Heart Opens and Closes
Chapter 23: Dance of the Ener gy Flow
Chapter 24. The Cause of Moods and Emotions
Chapter 25. The Secrets of the Heart
PART VI: The Human Pr edicament and Beyond
Chapter 26. The Human Predicament
Chapter 27. The Paradigm Shift
Chapter 28. W orking with the Heart
Chapter 29. Neither Suppression nor Expression
PART VII: Learning to Let Go
Chapter 30. T echniques for Freeing Y ourself
Chapter 31. Low-Hanging Fruit
Chapter 32. The Past
Chapter 33. Meditation
Chapter 34. Handling the Bigger Stuf f
PART VIII: Living a Life of Acceptance
Chapter 35. Dealing with Blocked Ener gies
Chapter 36. T ransmutation of the Ener gy
Chapter 37. The Power of Intent
Chapter 38. Exploring the Higher States
Chapter 39. In the W orld but Not of It
AcknowledgmentsPART I: 
Conscious AwarenessChapter 1. Awareness of Self
Sitting on a planet spinning through vast outer space for a handful of years
—in the broades t sense, this is the human predicament. Earth has been here
for 4.5 billion years, yet each of us is limited to roughly an eighty-year ride
on the planet, give or take a few years. We were born onto the planet, and
we will leave it when we die. That is simply the truth. What is not such a
hard and fast truth, however , is what our few years on Earth are like. Undoubtedly , life on the planet  can be a very exciting experience. It can
bring enthusiasm, passion, and inspiration at every turn. When it unfolds
that way, every day can be a beautiful adventure. Unfortuna tely, life on
Earth rarely unfolds exactly as we want it to, and if we resist, our experience
can be quite unpleasant. Resistance creates tension and anxiety , and it makes
life a burden. To avoid this burden and be able to fully embrace life, wise ones
throughout the ages have taught the importance of accepting reality . Only by
accepting reality can we work with the flow of life as it passes by and create
a better world. All of science is based on studying reality , learni ng her laws,
and then workin g with those laws to improve our lives. Scientist s can’t deny
reality; they must fully accept reality as the starting point of their endeavors. To fly, we must fully embrace the law of gravity , not deny its existence. The
same is true in the spiritual realm. Teachings such as surrender , acceptance,
and nonresistance form the basis of a deeply spiritual life. But these
concepts can be difficult to grasp. In Living Untether ed, we are embarking
on a journey into the sheer reasonableness of acceptance and the great gifts
it promises: freedom, peace, and inner enlightenment. Acceptance is best
understood as nonresistance to reality . Try as you may, no one can make an
event that has already happened  not have happened. Your only choice is to
accept the even t or resist it. During our journey together , we will explorehow and why you make this decision. But first you have to understand who
is within that has the power to decide. You are certain ly in there; you have an intuitive sense of existence
inside. What is that? It is awareness of Self, the most importa nt topic we
could ever discuss. Since we’re going to take a deep dive into the
spirituality of acceptance, we must start by understanding who is in there
accepting or resisting. There are many  ways to approa ch the nature of Self. Let’s go slowly
and start with something very simple. Imagine someone comes up to you
and asks, “Hi. Are you in there?” How would you respond? No one would
actually say, “No, I’m not in here.” That would be the ultimate non sequitur . If you’re not in there, who responded? You’re definitely in there, but what
does that mean? To isola te what “you in there”  means, imagine you’re shown three
different photog raphs. The photos are held up one after the other, and then
you’re asked, “Though the photo s changed, was it the same you who saw all
three of them?” Your response would be, “Of course it was the same me.”
Very good; that helps us get our bearings. From this simple exercise, it’s
clear that you in there are not what you look at; you are the one who’ s
looking. The pictures changed; you who saw them stayed the same. It’s not hard to understand with photographs that you are not what you
look at, but there are some objects we identify with more than others. For
example, our bodies. We identify with our bodies enough to say, “I’m a
forty-three-year -old woman who is five foot six.” Is that really who you are
in there: a forty-three-year -old, five-foot-six-inch female body? Or is the
body something you in there are aware of? To sort this out, let’s start with
your hand. If you were asked whether you can see your hand, you would
say, “Yes, I see my hand.” Okay , but what if it got cut off? Don’t worry
about the pain; just for a moment imagine it’s gone. Would you still be
there? Wouldn’ t you notice that your hand is gone? It’s like the changing
photographs: When the hand was there, you saw it. When it was gone, you
saw it was gone . You in there who “sees” did not change; what you were
looking at changed. Your body is just another thing you see. The question
remains: Who is in there doing the seeing? Note that we didn’ t have to stop with the hand. Surgery has become so
advanced that, with the help of a heart-lung machine and other medical
devices, surgeons could remove  a great deal of your body—and the samesense of Self would still be in there, aware of the changes. How  could you
be your body if it changed that much, and you in there stayed the same? Fortunately , to help you realize you are not your body , we don’t really
need to go that far. There is a much simpler , intuitive way to approach this. Surely you’ve noticed that your body didn’ t look the same when you were
three, ten, twenty , or fifty years old. It certainly won’ t look the same when
you’re eighty or ninety . But isn’t it the same you in there looking at it? When you were ten years old and you looked in the mirror , did you see what
you see now? No, but wasn’ t it you looking—then and now? You’ve been in
there the whole time, haven’ t you? That’ s the core, the essence, of
everything we’re discussing. Who are you? Who is in there looking out
through those eyes and seeing what you’re seeing? Just like when you were
shown the three photographs, you were not any of the photos—you were the
one looking at them. Likewise, when you look out at the mirror , you are not
what you see—you are the one who sees it. Little by little, through the use of these examples, we are reveal ing the
nature of Self. Your relationship  to what you see is always one of subject-
object. You are the subject, and what you are looking at is the object. There
are many different objects comi ng in through your senses, but there’ s only
one subject experiencing them— You.Chapter 2. The Conscious Receiver
Once you recognize  that you’re in there, you’re going to notice that objects
around you tend to distract your consciousness. A neighborhood dog barks,
someone walks  in the room, you smell the aroma of coffee, and your
awareness is drawn to these objects. On a daily basis, you are so distracted
by exter nal objects that you rarely remain centered on You, the conscious
receiver of these objects. Let’s take a moment to exami ne the real
relationship between this consci ous receiver and the objects it is distracted
by. To look at this scientifically , you are not even looking at the outer
objects. Right now, you are not actually looking out at what you see. What’ s
happening is that rays of light are bouncing off the molecules that make up
the outer objects. These reflecte d rays are hitting your eyes’ photoreceptors
and being transmitted back as messages through your nervous system. These messages are then rendered in your mind as an image of the external
objects. Y ou are actually seeing the objects inside, not outside. We are slowly peeling back the onion to see what it’s like to be you. Things are certainly not what they appear to be. Even science backs that up. It’s like you are sitting inside looking at a mental flat-screen monitor that is
imaging the world in front of you. You are obviously not the object you are
looking at; after all, you are not even looking at the actual object. If you
work your way back, the questio n becomes: “Who am I in here looking at a
mental image of what is in front of me?”
There was a great saint from India, an enlightened master named
Ramana Mahar shi. His entire spiritual path was to every moment
persistently ask: “Who sees when I see? Who hears when I hear? Who feels
when I feel?” Self-r ealization,  the term for enlightenment the yoga master
Paramahansa Yogananda used, means you have fully realized who you arein there. The entire spiritual journey back to the seat of Self is not about
finding yourself —it’s about realizing you are the Self. Even in a Judeo-
Christian sense, if somebody asks whether they have a soul, the correct
answer is, “No, you don’t have a soul—you in there, the consciousness, are
the soul.” Thus, “Who are you? ” becomes the quintessential question. You
can’t free yourself until you understand who it is that’s bound. Likewise,
you can’ t understand acceptance until you understand who is resisting. Let’s continue our exploration of Self. Earlier we discussed that when
you were young, you looked out through your eyes and saw a certain
reflection in the mirror . Later in your life you saw a very dif ferent reflection. From that point of view , how old are you? Not how old is your body . How
old are you in there who’ s looking out through those eyes at your body? If
you were in there when you were ten, if you were in there when you were
twenty , if you’re going to be in there on your deathbed noticing that you’re
dying, then what age are you in there? Don’ t answer that question, just let it
touch you at a very deep level. Are you willing to let go of traditional
concepts about your age? Let’s do another interesting experiment. Imagine you’re looking  in the
mirror right after taking a shower . Do you see the reflection of a male or
female body? What if suddenly , via some mysterious power , it changes? Somehow the body parts change . If you were a male, you’re now looking at
a female . If you were a female, you’re now looking at a male. Would it still
be the same you in there lookin g at that body? Would it still be the same
consciousness that has always looked out through those eyes now seeing a
very different body? You would probably be saying, “What happened? What’ s going on here?” Nevertheless, it would be the same you having the
entire experienc e. So what gender are you in there? You in there, who has
no body  parts, can’t have a gend er. All you can have is awareness that when
you look out through your eyes, the body you’re looking at has a certain
form and shape. That form and shape might be male or female, but you who
notices are neither . The question remains, who are You, the awareness that intuitively
knows you’re in there? Your body has an age and your body has a gender ,
but those concepts are irrelevant to the one who notices the body. If you
look at a tall, one-hundred-year -old vase, does that make you tall and a
hundred years old? The same is true of race. Your skin may be a certain
color , but the consciousness that notices this has no color at all. You are notyour body; you are the one who notices the characteristics of your body . You are the conscious awareness within that is looking at all of this. The
question is: Are you willing to let go of who you thought you were? Because
who you thought you were is not who you are. The same inner being is
looking at your body , your house, your car. You are the subject; all the rest
are objects of consciousness. Let’s turn to something a little lighter . At night you go to sleep, and
you often dream. You wake up in the morning, and you say, “I had a
dream.” That statement is actua lly very deep. How do you know you had a
dream? Do you merely rememb er the dream or were you actually in there
experiencing it? The answer is very simple: you were in there experiencing
it. The same you who looks through your eyes and sees the outer world was
experiencing the events occurring in the dream. There’ s only one conscious
being in there, and you are either experiencing the waking world or the
dream world. Note that when describing your interactions with both worlds,
you intuitively use the word “I,” as in “I was flying through the clouds with
my arms open wide, then I suddenly woke up and realized I was in my bed.”
In The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali,  which is a very ancient yogic  text,
Patanjali discusses the topic of deep, dreamless sleep. He says that when
you go to sleep and there are no dreams, it’s not that you are not conscious,
it’s that you are conscious of nothing. If you spend time contemplating this,
you’re going to find that you’re always conscious in there. Even people who
get knocked unconscious, or go into a coma, often come back and tell us
what they were experiencing. People have near-death experiences in which
they leave their bodies and come back to tell about it. Whatever the source
of these experiences, the same you in there experienced them and were able
to describe what you experienced. How can you call that not being
conscious? Medically , what we call “conscious” has to do with awareness of
our external surroundings. However , the concept of whether you in there are
consciously aware of anything—that’ s another story altogether . You’re
always conscious. You’ve been conscious from the beginning. You’re aware
of whate ver you focus on, internally or externally . Who are you? Who is
that consciously aware entity inside?Chapter 3. Living Inside
We are back  to the most basic truths of your life: you’re in there, you know
that you’re in there, and you’v e been in there all along. This raises some
interesting quest ions, such as, when the body dies, will you still be aware of
being? Isn’t that an interesting question? Don’ t get excited, we’re not going
to answer that for you. Eventu ally, however , there will be someone who
provides that answer: You. You are guara nteed to personally find out
someday whether you will be there after the body dies. Why do people have
so much trouble with death? It’s got to be one of the most exciting aspects
of your life. It’s truly a once-in-a -lifetime experience! That is what’ s waiting
for you at the time of death. After that final moment, either you are going to
be there or you are not. If you’re not there, don’t worry . It’s not like, “Oh
my god, I’m not here. I don’t like this.” No. You’re not there , so it’s not
going to be a problem. The other alternative, however , is much more
interesting—what if you are there? Then you’re going to find out what it’s
like to explore a whole other universe where you don’t even have a body . Let’s not talk about it further because it runs into people’ s belie fs, concepts,
or views about the subject. Let’s just let it be something to look forward to
as the ultimate once-in-a-lifetime experience. The reason some people have so much trouble with death is because
they identify with their bodies. As if that’s not enough, they also identify
with their cars and houses. People project their sense of self onto things that
are not their self. When they do that, they feel afraid to lose those things. As
you work your way through your inner growth, you won’ t identify with
these outer objects anymore. You’ll identify with the deeper sense of self
within. Now that it’s clear that you’re in there, it becomes reasonable to ask:
What do you do in there? Even more relevant, what’ s it like in there? Whatan interesting question to ask: What’ s it like in there? If people answered
honestly , most would say that it’s not always so much fun in there. In fact,
sometimes it’s downright tough. What’ s that all about? This is where we get
down to a real honest discussi on about inner growth. Most people don’t
realize that it can always be nice in there. Take the nicest it’s ever been:
holding your first child, the day of your wedding, your first kiss, winning
the lottery . Recall that state, then increase it multifold and have it be that
way all the time—except that it keeps getting higher . That is what you are
capable of experiencing inside. That’ s the truth. It is really beautiful in there,
but something is messing it up. Imagine walking into a house that has dirt,
banana peels, and pizza crusts all over the place. It happens to be a beautiful
house, but no one took care of it. It can be beautiful again, but some work
needs to be done. This is exactly the situation inside you. In fact, that is why
we’re on this inner exploration. Everybody wants the same  thing: they
would like it to be nice in there. People do all kinds of things trying to make it nice in there. Some run
around trying to have exciting experiences, find fulfilling relationships, or
even take the edge off with drinking or drugs—all for the same reason. The
problem is they’re approaching the issue in the wrong way. They’re asking
how to make it nice in there, while the more relevant question is why is it
not nice? If you find out why it’s not nice, and you get rid of that, you’re
going to find out it can be really nice in there. Life doesn’ t have to be a
game of, “Since it’s not nice in here, I need to find things that will
compensate for that in order to feel a little bit better .” That is what
everybody’ s doing. They are trying to find people, places, and things in the
outside world that will unfold in a way that makes it more comfortable
inside. People are trying to use the outside to fix the inside—b etter to find
out why it’ s not nice inside to begin with.Chapter 4. The Three-Ring Circus
“I’m in here. I’m conscious, and what I am conscious of is that it’s not
always so nice in here.”
That honest statement  is a wonderful launching pad for continuing our
exploration of Self and the power of acceptance. What is it you experience
that sometimes makes it nice inside, and sometimes makes it very difficult? There are only three things you experience in there, so let’s take a look at
them. First, you experience the outside world coming in through your
senses. There’ s a whole world out there, and what’ s in front of you comes in
through your eyes, ears, nose, and senses of taste and touch. When it comes
in, it’s either a pleasant experi ence, an unpleasant experience , or a just-
passing-through experience. Thus, the outside world is one of the things you
deal with that has a profound ef fect on your inner state. As overwhelming as the outside world can be, it’s not all you
experience inside. You also have thoughts in there. You hear the thoughts
saying, “I don’t know if I like this. I don’t even understand why she did it.”
Or perhaps, “Wow! I’d like to have a car like that. I would go for long
weekend rides in the country .” If you’re asked who is saying all this inside
your head, you’ll probably say it’s you. But it is not you. Those are
thoughts, and you are the one who is noticing the thoughts. Thoughts are
just another thing you notice in there. You notice the world coming in from
outside, and you notice the thoughts that are generated inside. Where do thoughts come from? We’re going to discuss that at length
later, but for right now, understand that thoughts and the outside world are
two of the three things you experience inside. The third  thing youexperience is your feelings or emotions. There are feelings that come up
suddenly , like fear. Your mind can say, “I feel scared,” but if you didn’ t
actually feel scared, the impact would be much less. It’s the fact that you
actually experience the emotio n of fear that causes the problem. Some
feelings are pleasant: “I felt love. I felt more love than I have ever felt
before.” You like that feeling. Other feelings are unpleasant: “I’m feeling
fear, embarrassment, and guilt coming up all at the same time.” You don’t
like that, do you? We’ve already come a long way in our exploration of Self. We’ve
proven you’re in there, and the strongest proof is you know that you’re in
there. This is your seat of awar eness. Anytim e you get lost, just stand in
front of the mirror and say, “Hi, are you in there?” Wave at yourself, and
realize, “Yep, I see somebody waving. Who am I that sees that?” This is a
way to center back to your seat of awareness. While you stand there, notice
what else you’re aware of. Notice your surroundings coming  in through
your senses, your thoughts passing through your mind, and any emotions
that arise in your heart creating feelings of comfort or discom fort within. These three inner experiences are the arena in which your consciousness
plays the game of life on planet Earth. Bottom line, you don’t stand a chance in there. The constant barrage of
these three expe riences is like a three-ring circus going on inside all the
time. The effect is so overwhelm ing it’s like a conspiracy again st you. The
outside world has a major influence on your thoughts, and your thoughts
and emotions will generally line up. It’s very rare that your mind will be
saying, “I don’t like this,” and your heart will be feeling treme ndous love. Let’s say Fred passes by and your mind says, “I don’t want to see Fred. I’m
not comfortable seeing him after the argument we had last time.” You will
start to feel fear. You were doing fine until an event came in from the
outside, took over your thoughts, and generated difficult emotions. You get
sucked into that overwhelming experience. Now if you’re asked, “What’ s it
like living in there?” you would probably say , “It’s pretty intense. I get lost a
lot and struggle to be okay .” It’s not all that much fun, is it? Buddha said all of life is suffering. He wasn’ t being negative. All of
life is suffering. If you’re rich, poor, sick, healthy , young, or old—it doesn’ t
matter . There certainly are times when you’re not suffering, but the vast
majority of what’ s going on is you’re just trying to be okay . That’s what it
boils down to. You will at some point realize that’s all you’v e done yourentire life—try to be okay . That’ s why you cried when you were little; you
weren’ t okay in there. That’ s why you wanted a certain toy; you thought it
would make you okay . That’ s why you wanted to marry this special person. That’ s why you wanted to go to Europe or Hawaii for a vacation . You get to
the point where you realize all you’re ever doing in there is trying to be
okay . First you think about what will make you okay , then you go out and
try to make it happen. What does it even mean to try to be okay? For one thing, it means
trying to make your thoughts and emotions easier to live with. There are
nice ones, and there are not-so-nice ones. You like the nice ones. That’ s
what you’re struggling with. You want your thoughts to be positive,
uplifting, and beautiful. The problem is there’ s an outside world of reality
that can come in and cause your thoughts and emotions to be very difficult. This is why life can be overwhelming. This interaction with the world, your thoughts, and your emotions
raises some very interesting questions. What are these three things, and
where do they come from? How  much control do you have over them? Why
do they sometimes make you feel good and other times make you feel bad? We’re going to explore these questions in great detail. When we’re through,
you’ll realize that what really matters is not the thoughts, the emotions, nor
the outside world. What really matters is You in there, who is experiencing
these things. How are you doing? What we’ll see is that you in there are
higher than any experience you’ve ever had. The one who is seeing all this
is the most beautiful thing in the whole universe. If you ever find your way
back to the seat of Self, that’s what you’re going to discover . This is what
Christ taught you, what Buddha taught you, what all the great spiritual
masters of every tradition have taught: The Kingdom is within you. You in
there are a very great being made in the image of God, but to know that, you
have to free yourself from all the inner commotion.Chapter 5. Exploring the Nature of Things
Your entire life is composed of consciously experiencing the three objects of
consciousness (the outer world,  the thoughts, and the emotions). Now we
are ready to explore the origin and nature of these expe riences. By
understanding where they come from, they will lose some of the distractive
power they have  over you. You will then better understand your tendency to
accept or reject them. We study these objects of consciousness not solely for
the knowledge we gain, but also for the freedom we attain. Let’s discuss the nature of the world passing before you. Every
moment that passes before you comes and goes like the frames of a motion
picture. The moments never stop; they just keep flowing through time and
space. Where did all these mom ents come from? Why do you experience
them the way that you do? What is your true relationship to what passes
before you? Perhaps even more interesting than the outer world, we’re going to
explore the nature of the mind and the emotions, including how and why
they keep changing the way they do. Though all three of these objects of
consciousness are constantly changing, you are the persistent being that is
always there experiencing them. What is your nature? What is it like to sit
back and be conscious of being conscious? That is what all spirituality is
about. When you are no longer distracted by any of the three great
distractors, your consciousness will no longer be pulled into those objects. The focus of consciousness will very naturally remain in the source of
consciousness. It’s like a flashlight shining on various objects. Instead of
looking at the objects being illum ined, if you look at the light itself, you will
realize it is the same light shining on all the different objects. Likewise, it is
the same consci ousness that is aware of all the objects passing before it,both outside and in. You are that consciousness. When you pull back to that
source of awareness, it is the most beautiful thing you will ever experience. That is the journ ey before us—to free ourselves from the distractions
that keep  drawin g us away from  our greatness and leave us struggling with
life. As you come to understand the nature of these objects you are
struggling with, you will very naturally be able to release the hold they have
on you. This act of letting go is what is meant by “acceptance” and
“surrender .” There is a state of great peace within you that cannot be
disturbed by the world, your thoughts, or even your emotions. These objects
can continue to freely exist, but they will no longer dominate your life. You
will be free to fully interact in life, but you will do so out of a sense of love
and service, rather than fear or desire. Now you understand the underlying purpose of this book: for you to
learn how to let go of the three great distractors and return to the source of
your being. As you will see, this is the only way you can fully enjoy your
time here on Earth. This is what  it means to be Living Untether ed. It doesn’ t
take forceful practices to return to your core. The highest path is learning
through your daily life to gradually let go of what is distracting your
consciousness. By accepting instead of resisting, you will eventually attain a
permanent seat of clarity—it’ s called becoming established in the seat of
Self. You will be living in the most beautiful energy you’ve ever
experienced, and it will never stop. During every moment of your life, there
will be a beautiful flow of ener gy that keeps rising within you. We are going to approach this process of freeing yourself in a very
scientific, analy tical manner . By doing so, you will become so comfortable
with the three objects of consciousness passing before you that you will no
longer have to devote your life to controlling the experience. You will see
that these passing objects repre sent the lower aspect of your being: body ,
mind, and emot ions. In drastic contrast, you can learn to establish yourself
in the higher aspect of your being: the seat of conscious awaren ess. You can
live your life in a state of complete freedom and happiness. Are you ready? Let’s embark on our journey into the exploration of our outer world, inner
world of mind and emotions, and the consciousness that exper iences it all. Let’s learn more about this path of acceptance of what passes before us.PART II: 
The Outside WorldChapter 6. The Moment in Front of You
Keeping perspe ctive is essential  at every stage on our path toward inner
freedom. The solid ground we keep coming back to is that you are in there;
you know you’re in there; and you’ve always known you are in there. But
you don’t focus on the fact that you are in there because you are too
absorbed in what is going on both inside and outside you. You get lost in the
objects of consciousness, instead of focusing on the source of
consciousness. Spiritual awaken ing is about untangling consciousness from
the objects of consciousness. To do this, it will help tremendously to
understand the nature of the objects of consciousness you deal with each
day. We begin our exploration with the outside world. What you receive in
through your five senses is a significant part of your daily expe rience. You
are inundated each day with an unending stream of sights, sounds, tastes,
smells, and touches. If we are going to explore what it is like to be You, the
conscious being living within,  we need to take the time to thoroughly
understand the outside world since it makes up such a major part of your
life. What is actually out there, where did it come from, and what is your
relationship to it? Let’s begin by exploring your relationship to the world around you. We’ll start by making a statement that you probably will not agree with: The
moment in front of you right now has absolutely nothing to do with you. Before you disagree, just look at the moment in front of you. Don’ t do
anything with it. Don’ t meditate on it or try to be positive about it. Just
notice that there is a moment in front of you. Now , look to the left; there’ s a
different momen t in front of you. Look to the right; there’ s yet another
moment in front of you. Those moments were there before you looked at
them, and they will still be there when you’re done looking. How manymoments exist in the world right now that you are not looking at? How
about in the entire universe? You must admit that those moments have
nothing to do with you. They belong to themselves and their relationship to
all that surrounds them. You didn’ t create them, and you don’t make them
come and go. They are just there. The moment in front of you is just another
moment in the universe that exists even when you are not looking at it. It is
completely impersonal. Nonetheless, the moment in front of you doesn’ t seem impers onal; it
seems very personal. That is why it can cause so much trouble . You suffer
when the mome nt in front of you is not the way you want, and you rejoice
when it matches  your preferences. As we will explore in later chapters, this
is because of something you are bringing into the momen t—it is not
something intrinsic to the moment itself. 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. This is our first encounter with seeing how difficult it is to surrender
our habitual way of looking at things. We are perfectly willing to admit that
what is going on in T imbuktu right now has nothing to do with us. Likewise,
we have  no problem admitting that the rings of Saturn, the big storm on
Jupiter , and the sands of Mars have nothing to do with us. In other words,
more than 99.99 999 percent of the universe has nothing to do with us, but
somehow the .00001 percent does. Which .00001 percent does? The part
that’s in front of you. Somehow , because you’re looking at it, it’s no longer
part of the impersonal universe. It has become personal. The problem is, you have made a really big deal out the mom ent in
front of you throughout your life by bringing your personal preferences into
that moment. Notice that the billions of people who are not looking at the
moment in front of you don’t have any problem with it. They couldn’ t care
less about it. It’s not stirring up their thoughts, and it’s not stirring up their
emotions. When  you’re no longer experiencing that moment, it generally
won’ t be bothering you either . Instead, the moment you turn to next will be
bothering you. “Why is she sitting there?” “Who’ s she talkin g to?” “The
lights are way too bright.” All of a sudden this new moment starts affecting
you because you’re looking at it. The truth of the matter is, it existed exactly
the same before you looked at it. One of the most amazing things  you will
ever realize is that the moment in front of you is not bothering you—you arebothering yourself about the moment in front of you. It’s not personal—you
are making it personal. There are countless moments unfolding in the
universe at any given time, and your relationship to all of them is exactly
the same: you are the subject, they are the object. Once you realiz e this truth intellectually , it still won’ t look that way in
your everyday life. To help, let’s take a field trip out to Fisherman’ s Wharf
in San Francisc o, overlooking the beautiful Pacific Ocean. While you’re
gazing out there, ask yourself whether what you see in front of you has
anything to do with you. You see waves, you see spray , you may even see
some whales or sea lions. That just happens to be what is unfolding in front
of you at that moment. If you had come on a different day, or even a
different hour, what you’d see would be quite different. But this would not
bother you. It would only bothe r you if you came to the whar f with some
personal prefere nces: “I want to see a whale.” “I want to see the giant waves
people told me about.” With these preferences, you will have a very
different experie nce than someone who simply came to see what the Pacific
Ocean looked like that day. One person can simply enjoy the experience; the
other has to struggle to make the experience match their personal
preferences. In the case of the ocean, it is not difficult to see that the moment  before
you has nothing to do with you, and you have the right to simp ly enjoy the
experience. Because you don’t generally identify yourself with the ocean,
this is easier to do than with the rest of your life. But let there be no doubt,
your relationship to what is in front of you is always the same, whether you
are looking at the ocean or at your life. These moments are just what
happens to be happening at that particular time and place in the universe
where you happen to be standing . None of it is personal. But since you seem
to take the moment in front of you so personally , let’s continue our
exploration of the outside world by looking at where that moment came
from and why it is the way it is.Chapter 7. The World You Live In
If you want to know where the moment in front of you came from, it makes
sense to go to our scientists. They have inquired about this as far back as
Aristotle and Plato. From the beginning of our existence, humans have
pondered: Wher e did all of this come fr om? What made it? Why is it here? If
we ask scientists today , they will say that what you are looking at when you
look at the outside world is actually a blending of much smaller objects. Your eyesight and all your senses are averaging molecular structures. As
we’ve already explored, you are not actually looking out at the world; it is
coming into you through your senses. To see how this works, let’s examine the nature of color . When you
look at the world, it certainly appears to have color . But other than light,
itself, objects have no color . The only reason you experien ce color is
because the light bouncing off the objects has color . You see this when
examining a prism. If you shine light through a prism, you will get different
colors. It is called the electr omagnetic spectrum. Light has different
wavelengths, and you perceive each visible wavelength as color . Remember
ROY -G-BIV : red, orange, yellow , green, blue, indigo, violet. They make up
the colors of the visible part of the light spectrum. When light waves hit a
physical object, the different atoms and molecules of that object absorb
some frequencies of the light and reflect others. Objects themselves have no
color; it is the light reflecting off them that has the differen t colors we
perceive. This is a perfect example of how truth is not always what it
appears to be. We will see this time and again as we examine the true nature
of what consciousness experiences. Scientists used to think the atom was the smallest possible unit, and it
could not be subdivided any further . Today we understand that an atom is
composed of electrons, neutrons, and protons. It forms the basic unit ofeverything we look at every day. We could stop right here and have some
fun with the very personal way we look at things. For example, what exactly
do you mean when you say you like something? What is it you claim to be
liking? If you like the color of the wall, that’s like saying you like part of the
electromagnetic spectrum and not other parts. Likewise with any outside
object. Do you really like some atoms and not others? It gets a little weird,
doesn’ t it? This truth is very powerful because all you’re ever looking at is a
bunch of atoms with light bouncing of f them. After hundreds of years of study , scientists have told us that atoms get
pulled together into molecules through the laws of covalent and ionic bonds. This may sound  complicated, but they are really just the laws of magnetism
determining which atoms will bond together . These laws, in turn, determine
what you will see in the outside world. Certainly at this level you can see
that it’s not personal. It has nothing to do with you. You don’t decide which
atoms or molecu les bond together naturally . It’s been going on all over the
universe for billions of years. Our scientists have told us there are currently only 118 different types
of atoms in the known universe, with 92 of them occurring naturally on
Earth. These are what make up the periodic table of elements. The periodic
table represents the building blocks of what you are seeing and interacting
with every mom ent of your life. This is not just on Earth. All the stars, the
planets, and everything everywh ere that we’ve encountered are made from
these basic elements. Many of you have studied the natural  sciences in
school, but what if you apply what you’ve learned to your everyday life? What’ s in front of you is simply the accumulation of mass amounts of atoms
being pulled together by the laws of nature—it’ s all just scienc e, nothing is
personal. Becom ing personally offended by the flow of atoms as they pass
by you is so illogical. Why would you get upset because of how a bunch of
atoms joined together? Don’ t worry , before we’re done we will have fully
explored the phenomena of getting personally upset over a bunch of atoms. From here, it gets really interesting because the question becomes,
“Where did the atoms come from?” Now we’re inquiring about the origin of
matter . Understanding where the atoms come from can give you a sense of
your place in the universe. All that’s happening in your daily  life is your
consciousness is looking at electrons, neutrons, and protons that have pulled
together to form atoms and molecules. Since this is the world you live in,let’s take time to explore where it all came from. Understanding this has the
potential to alter your entire view of life.Chapter 8. The Origin of Matter
If you study the origin of matter , you’ll find that scientists throug hout the
world pretty much agree on a basic model of creation. They have an
understanding that about 13.8 billion years ago there was a giant explosion
called the big bang . Prior to this explosion, it is thought that all the galaxies
and everything within them, all the mass and matter of the universe, fit into
a space smaller than an atom. This is modern science speaking, not some
crazy theory . With awe and appreciation as our goal, let’s explore how the
science of creation can serve to liberate us spiritually . After the big bang, the energy expanding out was so hot that it didn’ t
have any shape or form. It was just unbridled radiation. Within a fraction of
a second, subatomic particles began to form from this energy field. No
elements as we know them could form because the radiation was too hot,
and it was expanding out at the speed of light. Thus the entire universe was
without form for about 380 thousand years. After that, the radiation cooled
down enough to where the fundamental forces of gravity and
electromagnetism could pull the subatomic particles together to form the
first atoms. We know these subatomic particles as electrons, neutrons, and
protons. It was all born from the primordial energy field and the subatomic
particles emanat ing from that field. Modern science calls this the quantum
field, and quantum physics is the science that studies these subatomic
particles and how they create matter as we know it. The first atoms were hydrogen because it is the simplest structure: one
negative electron and one positive proton. Because of the force of
magnetism, these particles attracted each other to form an atom. As
hydrogen atoms began to form, masses and masses of thick hydrogen gas
clouds accumulated. As these clouds thinned out, subatomic light particles
called photons started to escape, and that was the beginning of light as weknow it. Interesting that the Bible says, “In the beginning…the earth was
without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep” (Gen.
1:2). That is pretty close to how science sees it. In those beginning times, no
light could escape from the ultrathick gas clouds. Once the expansion
thinned the clouds out enough, suddenly “Let there be light: and there was
light” (Gen. 1:3). It’s amazing, the similarity of the beginning of creation as
told in Genesis and as presented in modern, scientifically based cosmology . Now that we see where hydrogen atoms come from, we can explore the
source of the other elements that make up our world. As the expansion
slowed down even more, another one of the fundamental force s came into
play—the force of gravity . Gravity , of course, is the force that has the effect
of pulling together objects that have mass. Since hydrogen atoms have
mass, as the atoms were pulled closer together , the gravity became so strong
that it fused two atoms into one. When two hydrogen nuclei fuse into one, a
helium atom is created. This process of fusing lighter elements into heavier
ones is called nuclear fusion , and it’s been going on throughout the universe
for hundreds of millions of years. It is worth noting that every single time this fusion of two atoms takes
place, there is a tremendous release of atomic energy. All of a sudden,
nuclear explosions began taking place throughout the universe, releasing
powerful radiant energy. This is the birth of what we call the primary stars. A star is born by the fusing together of hydrogen atoms, which releases
tremendous amounts of energy and leaves helium atoms as its byproduct. You can think of helium as the ash left behind by this hydrogen fusion
process. Wherev er the clouds of hydrogen gas were thickest after the big
bang, the first primary stars started to burn. That is literally where stars
come from. Every star you look at to this day was born through the
hydrogen fusion process. Though this all started 13.8 billion years ago, we have scientific
evidence of it today . Stars are being born right now, and we can observe the
process. If you have binoculars strong enough to see the Orion Nebula, you
will see gases with stars shining inside. Nebulae, like the Orion and
Horsehead, are not just beautiful pictures of glowing, colorful gas clouds. They are nurseries for stars. Stars are being born inside those gas clouds via
the exact same process that happened 13.8 billion years ago when the first
stars were created. Stars are born and, as we shall see, also die in a cosmic
cycle of life mirroring what is going on here on Earth.In our exploration thus far, we have a universe limited to hydrog en and
helium gases and brilliant burning stars that light up the cosmos. But the
outer world we interact with each day is much more complex. Where did the
rest come from? To understand this, we must first take a close r look at the
life cycle of a star. As the hydrogen gases within a star keep fusing, gravity
pulls the produced helium into the core of the star because helium is heavier
than hydrogen. This increases the gravitational pull of the core enough to
offset the outward radiance of the explosions caused by hydrogen fusion. This is how the star stays stabl e. What happens when the star runs out of
hydrogen to fuse? The star will start to die. In the early stages of the dying process, any hydrogen remaining
outside the core will ignite and expand outward to create a “red giant” star
that is many times the size of the original star. To put this in perspective,
when a star the size of our Sun begins to run out of hydrogen to burn, it will
expand into a red giant large enough to swallow the Earth. But don’t worry ,
scientists estimate that our Sun has enough hydrogen to burn for another
five billion years. Meanwhile, as a star stops fusing hydrogen, the gravitational pull of
the helium core will become greater and greater because there are no longer
fusion explosions to offset it. The star will start to collapse into its core. Depending upon  the original size of the star, its core will either drift off into
space, or the increased force of the gravity on the core will become great
enough to begin fusing helium into more complex elements, such as carbon. The fusion process of these more complex elements will reignite the star,
even hotter than before. Depending upon the size of the star, these “death
throes” can go on again and again. Cycle after cycle, more and more
complex elements will become the byproduct of fusion of lighter elements,
and eventually the star will begin to collapse again as it runs out of fuel. Every time this death cycle takes place, more and more elem ents of the
periodic table are created. How many of these cycles of death and rebirth a star will go through is
dependent upon  the original size of the star. The larger the star, the greater
the gravitational  force exerted during its collapse, and thus the greater the
force available to reignite the fusion process of the more complex elements. In most stars, this process will stop when the byproduct of fusion is iron
(element 26 in the periodic table). This is because iron absorbs more heat
during fusion than the fusion process creates. Thus, iron will not sustain afusion reaction. Large stars will progress until they have cores of iron
surrounded by shells of the remaining elements from the previous cycles
that were not fully burned. This is how the lighter elements on the periodic
table (1 to 26) were created, all the elements from hydrogen to iron. As interesting and educational as all of this is, remember that the
purpose of this discussion is to see where “the outside world” comes from. As amazing as it seems, the elem ents that make up our world were forged in
the stars. Take your body , for example. We have already explained where all
the elem ents that make up your body come from—they are the direct
byproducts of what makes the stars shine. Almost 99 percent of the mass of
the human body is made up of six elements: oxygen, carbon, hydrogen,
nitrogen, calcium, and phospho rus. All of these elements are lighter than
iron, and thus were produced by the burning of commonplac e stars. We
know all of this as fact, not theory. Scientists have studied stars at all stages
of the stellar life cycle, and we know what they are made of. Regardless,
some people ask, “Don’ t these scientific facts challenge my belief that God
is the creator of the universe? ” An appropriate response would be, “Of
course not. They  merely show you how God created all the structures in the
universe.”
The stars are the furnaces that were used to create the universe. Every
single atom you interact with was created in the stars, and at this very
moment billion s and billions of stars are forging more elements. In
Pittsbur gh we have steel furnace s that are so hot we can forge steel. We use
that material to build our giant skyscrapers. Likewise, the stars are the
furnaces that have forged the atoms we interact with every day. Hopefully ,
you will never again look up at the stars in the same way .Chapter 9. The Power of Creation
Now that we’ve  seen how ordinary stars create the lighter elements of our
world, we can move on to an even more fascinating topic: how the heavier
elements on the periodic table are created, like gold, platinum , and silver . The heavier elem ents are all those with an atomic number greater than iron
(26). Iron forms the dividing line because it absorbs more heat than it
releases during fusion. As such, iron doesn’ t emanate enough heat energy to
stop a star from  collapsing. Unless the original star was except ionally large
to begin with (a “red super giant”), it will finally die when it gets to an iron
core. What happens during the death  of a red super giant star is one of the
most amazing events in the known universe, and it provides the energy
source needed to create the heavier elements. If the star is large enough
before its collapse, the intensity of the collapse can actually crush the atoms
in the core. Instead of fusing the iron atoms together , this tremendous force
pushes their electrons into the nucleus itself. Since electrons are negatively
charged and the protons in the nucleus are positively charged, they attract
each other and form neutrons, which have no charge. Once this happens, all
that is left of the iron core is a mass of tightly packed neutrons. There are no
atoms left—no electrons and no protons. The intensity of the collapse of this
large star down to just neutrons  has destroyed the structure of matter as we
know it. What is left is a neutron star, and it is tiny in size but enormous in
mass. Neutron stars are physically about the size of a city but have a mass
that is more than three-hundre d-thousand times heavier than the planet
Earth. The density of a neutron star is so great that if you brought a teaspoon
of it down to Earth, it would weigh twelve trillion pounds.The amount of energy released  by the collapsing of the star’s core
down to just neutrons is so powerful that it creates a colossa l explosion
called a supernova . This explosion is so enormous that a single supernova
emits more light than the combined light of all the billions of stars in its
galaxy put together . It is the brightest, most powerful explosion we have
discovered in our universe. As it turns out, the enormous energy force generated during a
supernova explo sion is precisely what is needed to create the rest of the
elements we interact with each day. What the force of gravity was unable to
do durin g the creation of the lighter elements, the massive explosion of a
supernova is able to do—fuse the heavier elements. The next time you look
at your gold wedding ring, or open a tin can, reflect on the fact that these
elements requir ed the combined power of billions of stars to come into
existence. You are surrounded by the myriad objects you interact with each day. There are giant skyscrapers and tiny paper clips that effortlessly come in
through your senses. At their root, every single one of these objects is made
of atoms. You have just taken the time to understand where all these atoms
come from and how you did not create them—they were created  in the stars. This should serve to humble you and leave you in awe of the power of
creation manifesting before you. Hopefully , this deep sense of humility and
awe will assist you on your spiritual journey toward freedom and liberation.Chapter 10. It’s Not Personal
We just explored  where the world  around you comes from. It began with the
big bang , and then all the different types of elements were created through
the process of atomic fusion. When stars explode at death, all the matter that
built up in their outer shells gets blown out into interstellar space. Carbon,
oxygen, silicon, gold, and silver were all floating around as clouds of
elements in space, then gravity  pulled them together to form the planets. This is how the planet Earth formed with its ninety-two natural elements, all
of which were forged in the stars. This process has gone on for over thirteen
billion years, and everything you interact with each day is composed of this
“star dust,” inclu ding your body . This is the truth, and we shoul d remember
and contemplate it regularly . Let’s come back to where we started this discussion. W e began with the
fact that there is always a moment in front of you. Just open your eyes, and
there it is. Where did it come from? Now we know . The momen t in front of
you came from the stars. The atoms were baked together in the solar
furnaces, then pulled together into this mass we call Earth. You studied what
happened next in science class. The elements joined together to form stable
molecules, such as H 2O, based on the laws of electromagnetism. Because of
the interaction of these laws, there’ s water in the oceans. As other more
complex molecu les formed, they created the primordial soup from which
living organisms formed. Every part of every cell in your body is composed
of elements created in the stars, billions of years ago. This explains where your body came from, but it does not explain
where You came from. You are not made of atoms; you are the
consciousness that is aware of the objects that are made of atoms. Y our body
may be the result of the long process of Darwinian evolution, but what
about you in there? Where did you come from, how did you get in there, andwhy is it the way it is in there? The natural sciences may explain the
outside, but what about the inside? This is exactly what we will be exploring
in the coming chapters. What science has discovered about reality should give you more
respect for creation, not less. The fact that we are able to explain these
phenomenal events that took place should leave you with a sense of awe. Just look at how it ended up after 13.8 billion years. Dare to look at what’ s
in front of you in this light. Now that you know where it all came from, pay
attention. What’ s in front of you is a very holy thing, all of it. Now consider whether this process of creation had anything to do with
you. Were you around causing any of this to happen? Will you be around for
the next billion years causing all that is going to happen to take place—
everywhere? Of course not. The universe is a phenomenal system of cause
and effect. Wha t was, causes what is; what is, causes what will be. This has
been happening from the beginn ing of time throughout the universe. Every
single moment in front of you took billions of years with everything
happening exactly like it did to manifest as it is. To fully understand what this means, it helps to look at a simple
example from your family history . If your great-great-great-g randmother
didn’ t meet your great-great-g reat-grandfather , you’re not here. That’ s
simply the truth. Let’s take a moment to tell a story of how they met so you
can see how dependent everything is on everything else. The story begins all
the way back with the dinosaurs . After a fierce storm in what is now South
Central Florida, there was a big dinosaur lumbering around. When this
dinosaur put its big footprint down into the wet soil, it caused a gigantic
imprint in the mud. Over time, rainwater accumulated in this deep imprint,
and the earth began to erode around it. Eventually , the water area grew so
large it became what we now call Lake Okeechobee. Millions of years later, the Mayaimi tribe settled by that lake because
of the fresh water , fish, and other animals. Centuries passed, and Spanish
settlers built a small town on the edge of the lake. Your great-great-great-
grandmother was a descendent of the Mayaimi, and your great-great-great-
grandfather was visiting the small Spanish settlement. One day while it was
pouring rain around the lake, your great-great-great-grandfather was
drinking in the local saloon. He was so drunk when he stepped out of the
saloon, he never noticed your great-great-great-grandmother walking by
sopping wet. Just as he stumbled down the stairs falling drunk to theground, your great-great-great-grandmother slipped in the mud and fell right
on top of him. Well, they looked at each other , started laughing, and it was
love at first sight. The rest is history . In other words, if the dinosaur hadn’ t walked there millions of years
ago, and if the Mayaimi tribe hadn’ t settled there, and if the Spaniards
hadn’ t built a town there, and if it hadn’ t been raining that day, and if
grandpa hadn’ t fallen down drunk at the exact spot where grandma slipped
in the mud—you’re not here, and neither are a lot of other things. Every
single thing is the result of every single thing that ever happened throughout
time and space. Y ou’re not the doer; you are the experiencer of reality . If this is true, and it is, then it’s pretty silly to think, “It took 13.8
billion years for this moment to get here, and every single thing had to
happen exactly as it did—but I don’t like it.” That’ s funny . It’s like saying
that you don’ t like that Saturn has rings. Now do you see why we took the time to explore where what’ s in front
of you came from? It has nothing to do with you; it is the result of trillions
of factors that caused it to be the way it is. This is our first encounter of
what surrender and acceptance really mean. You don’t surrender the outside
world—you totally accept it. What you surrender is your personal, made-up
judgment of it. If you were asked whether it’s okay with you that Saturn has
rings, you would probably look very puzzled and say, “What’ s it got to do
with me? That’ s a crazy questi on.” The truth is every single thing is that
way. It has nothing to do with you. It has to do with the forces that caused it
to be the way it is, and those forces stretch back billions of years. The total
acceptance of this truth is surren der. You must let go of the part of you that
thinks it has the right to like and dislike the result of billions of years of
interactions. Surrender is letting go of the part of you that is not living the
truth. That is true surrender . Eventually , you will come to realize that the moment in front of you is
a very holy thing. Our scientific exploration of where that moment came
from is actually  very spiritual. Quantum physicists are exploring how the
entire universe is emanating from an omnipresent, undif ferentiated field of
energy—the quantum field. They are showing us how everythin g is made of
light. That used to be a strictly spiritual concept. Our scientists are our
priests. They are teaching us how the underlying force of creation created
creation. Science shows us that every moment before us is worthy of greatrespect. A spiritual person unde rstands these truths, ingrains them into their
being, and lives their life accordingly . If it took 13.8 billion years for the moment in front of you to get there,
and it took 13.8 billion years for you to end up in front of that moment,
every moment is indeed a matc h made in heaven. Nobody else is standing
there experiencing exactly what  you’re experiencing. Truth is, no one ever
did, and no one ever will. That exact moment will never be here again. All
moments just keep passing through time and space. You are being given a
unique show that took billions of years to create—it’ s right in front of you,
and you’re complaining about it. We all think we have very good reasons to
complain. The intention of this journey we are on together is to take away
those reasons, whatever they are. The mom ent in front of you is a gift from creation. There are shapes,
colors, and sounds. There are people and lots of things to do. It’s not that
way on Mars, nor on any place we have seen thus far in studies of the
universe. But we don’t live our lives with a constant sense of awe and
appreciation. That’ s why these discussions about cosmology and quantum
physics are spiritual. They are taking away your right to make everything
personal when it’s not personal . Your consciousness may be aware of the
moment in front of you, but you did not create that moment. You are simply
being given this wonderful opportunity to experience a moment in creation. It took billions of years to get here—be sure you don’ t miss it. People make such a big deal out of science versus God, as if the two
are at odds with each other . The real problem is that people don’t truly
believe in either . If you believed that science explains the creation of all
things, you would live your life with the constant awareness that everything
you are interacting with is emanating from the quantum field, pulling itself
together into atoms and molecu les, then appearing as the form before you. You would not like it or dislike it; you would be in awe of it. Likewise, if
you really believed God was the creator of all things, you would live in awe
and appreciation of the marvel of the Divine Creation. You would not like it
or dislike it; you would be blown away that it even exists. You live in a world where a seed falls on the ground, and it has a built-
in chemist that knows how to break down the molecules of dirt and water ,
mix them  with sunlight, and combine those substances into a cornstalk or a
tree. You’re taught that this “intelligent chemist” is the complex DNA
molecule. Wher e did this amazing molecular structure come from? All itselements were forged in the stars and then naturally got pulled together into
the DNA structure by the four fundamental forces (gravity ,
electromagnetism, and the strong and weak nuclear forces). Human
intelligence had nothing to do with the creation of DNA, yet DNA is
responsible for all the plant and animal life on Earth. We live in a world that
is so perfect it should constant ly blow our minds. But we are so lost in
making it all personal that we miss both the greatness of science and the
greatness of God. We began this exploration by asking what it’s like for you in there. You
know you’re in there—what is the nature of the experiences you’re having? To answer this, we explored the origin and nature  of the outside world in
which you live. Hopefully , you have more respect and apprec iation for it
right now. That moment in front of you is special. You might want to
practice appreciating it and notice the ef fect that has on your life.
Living-Untethered-by-Michael-Singer.txt
Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms:

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Lucasfilm Entertainment Company Ltd. LLC, are used in this book pursuant to the Fair Use
Doctrine for purposes of commentary and other transformative uses. No sponsorship or
endorsement of this book by, and no af filiation with, the trademark owner are claimed or implied
by the author or publisher. Whispers fr om Eternity  by Paramahansa Y ogananda is published by Self-Realization Fellowship, Los
Angeles CA. All Bible verses are from the King James V ersion unless otherwise specified. A copublication of New Harbinger Publications and Sounds T rue
Copyright © 2022 by Michael A. Singer
New Harbinger Publications, Inc. 5674 Shattuck A venue
Oakland, CA 94609
www. newharbinger. com
Cover and interior design by Amy Shoup; Horse illustration by Sara Christian; Acquired by
Catharine Meyers; Edited by Jennifer Holder
All Rights Reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data on fileTo the MastersContents
PART I: Conscious A wareness
Chapter 1. A wareness of Self
Chapter 2. The Conscious Receiver
Chapter 3. Living Inside
Chapter 4. The Three-Ring Circus
Chapter 5. Exploring the Nature of Things
PART II: The Outside W orld
Chapter 6. The Moment in Front of Y ou
Chapter 7. The W orld Y ou Live In
Chapter 8. The Origin of Matter
Chapter 9. The Power of Creation
Chapter 10. It’ s Not Personal
PART III: The Mind
Chapter 11. Empty Mind
Chapter 12. Birth of the Personal Mind
Chapter 13. Fall from the Garden
Chapter 14. The V eil of the Psyche
Chapter 15. The Brilliant Human Mind
PART IV : Thoughts and Dr eams
Chapter 16. The Abstract Mind
Chapter 17. Serve Mind or Fix It
Chapter 18. W illful and Automatic ThoughtsChapter 19. Dreams and the Subconscious
Chapter 20. W aking Dreams
PART V : The Heart
Chapter 21. Understanding Emotions
Chapter 22. Why the Heart Opens and Closes
Chapter 23: Dance of the Ener gy Flow
Chapter 24. The Cause of Moods and Emotions
Chapter 25. The Secrets of the Heart
PART VI: The Human Pr edicament and Beyond
Chapter 26. The Human Predicament
Chapter 27. The Paradigm Shift
Chapter 28. W orking with the Heart
Chapter 29. Neither Suppression nor Expression
PART VII: Learning to Let Go
Chapter 30. T echniques for Freeing Y ourself
Chapter 31. Low-Hanging Fruit
Chapter 32. The Past
Chapter 33. Meditation
Chapter 34. Handling the Bigger Stuf f
PART VIII: Living a Life of Acceptance
Chapter 35. Dealing with Blocked Ener gies
Chapter 36. T ransmutation of the Ener gy
Chapter 37. The Power of Intent
Chapter 38. Exploring the Higher States
Chapter 39. In the W orld but Not of It
AcknowledgmentsPART I: 
Conscious AwarenessChapter 1. Awareness of Self
Sitting on a planet spinning through vast outer space for a handful of years
—in the broades t sense, this is the human predicament. Earth has been here
for 4. 5 billion years, yet each of us is limited to roughly an eighty-year ride
on the planet, give or take a few years. We were born onto the planet, and
we will leave it when we die. That is simply the truth. What is not such a
hard and fast truth, however, is what our few years on Earth are like. Undoubtedly, life on the planet  can be a very exciting experience. It can
bring enthusiasm, passion, and inspiration at every turn. When it unfolds
that way, every day can be a beautiful adventure. Unfortuna tely, life on
Earth rarely unfolds exactly as we want it to, and if we resist, our experience
can be quite unpleasant. Resistance creates tension and anxiety, and it makes
life a burden. To avoid this burden and be able to fully embrace life, wise ones
throughout the ages have taught the importance of accepting reality. Only by
accepting reality can we work with the flow of life as it passes by and create
a better world. All of science is based on studying reality, learni ng her laws,
and then workin g with those laws to improve our lives. Scientist s can’t deny
reality; they must fully accept reality as the starting point of their endeavors. To fly, we must fully embrace the law of gravity, not deny its existence. The
same is true in the spiritual realm. Teachings such as surrender, acceptance,
and nonresistance form the basis of a deeply spiritual life. But these
concepts can be difficult to grasp. In Living Untether ed, we are embarking
on a journey into the sheer reasonableness of acceptance and the great gifts
it promises: freedom, peace, and inner enlightenment. Acceptance is best
understood as nonresistance to reality. Try as you may, no one can make an
event that has already happened  not have happened. Your only choice is to
accept the even t or resist it. During our journey together, we will explorehow and why you make this decision. But first you have to understand who
is within that has the power to decide. You are certain ly in there; you have an intuitive sense of existence
inside. What is that. It is awareness of Self, the most importa nt topic we
could ever discuss. Since we’re going to take a deep dive into the
spirituality of acceptance, we must start by understanding who is in there
accepting or resisting. There are many  ways to approa ch the nature of Self. Let’s go slowly
and start with something very simple. Imagine someone comes up to you
and asks, “Hi. Are you in there. ” How would you respond. No one would
actually say, “No, I’m not in here. ” That would be the ultimate non sequitur. If you’re not in there, who responded. You’re definitely in there, but what
does that mean. To isola te what “you in there”  means, imagine you’re shown three
different photog raphs. The photos are held up one after the other, and then
you’re asked, “Though the photo s changed, was it the same you who saw all
three of them. ” Your response would be, “Of course it was the same me. ”
Very good; that helps us get our bearings. From this simple exercise, it’s
clear that you in there are not what you look at; you are the one who’ s
looking. The pictures changed; you who saw them stayed the same. It’s not hard to understand with photographs that you are not what you
look at, but there are some objects we identify with more than others. For
example, our bodies. We identify with our bodies enough to say, “I’m a
forty-three-year -old woman who is five foot six. ” Is that really who you are
in there: a forty-three-year -old, five-foot-six-inch female body. Or is the
body something you in there are aware of. To sort this out, let’s start with
your hand. If you were asked whether you can see your hand, you would
say, “Yes, I see my hand. ” Okay, but what if it got cut off. Don’t worry
about the pain; just for a moment imagine it’s gone. Would you still be
there. Wouldn’ t you notice that your hand is gone. It’s like the changing
photographs: When the hand was there, you saw it. When it was gone, you
saw it was gone. You in there who “sees” did not change; what you were
looking at changed. Your body is just another thing you see. The question
remains: Who is in there doing the seeing. Note that we didn’ t have to stop with the hand. Surgery has become so
advanced that, with the help of a heart-lung machine and other medical
devices, surgeons could remove  a great deal of your body—and the samesense of Self would still be in there, aware of the changes. How  could you
be your body if it changed that much, and you in there stayed the same. Fortunately, to help you realize you are not your body, we don’t really
need to go that far. There is a much simpler, intuitive way to approach this. Surely you’ve noticed that your body didn’ t look the same when you were
three, ten, twenty, or fifty years old. It certainly won’ t look the same when
you’re eighty or ninety. But isn’t it the same you in there looking at it. When you were ten years old and you looked in the mirror, did you see what
you see now. No, but wasn’ t it you looking—then and now. You’ve been in
there the whole time, haven’ t you. That’ s the core, the essence, of
everything we’re discussing. Who are you. Who is in there looking out
through those eyes and seeing what you’re seeing. Just like when you were
shown the three photographs, you were not any of the photos—you were the
one looking at them. Likewise, when you look out at the mirror, you are not
what you see—you are the one who sees it. Little by little, through the use of these examples, we are reveal ing the
nature of Self. Your relationship  to what you see is always one of subject-
object. You are the subject, and what you are looking at is the object. There
are many different objects comi ng in through your senses, but there’ s only
one subject experiencing them— You. Chapter 2. The Conscious Receiver
Once you recognize  that you’re in there, you’re going to notice that objects
around you tend to distract your consciousness. A neighborhood dog barks,
someone walks  in the room, you smell the aroma of coffee, and your
awareness is drawn to these objects. On a daily basis, you are so distracted
by exter nal objects that you rarely remain centered on You, the conscious
receiver of these objects. Let’s take a moment to exami ne the real
relationship between this consci ous receiver and the objects it is distracted
by. To look at this scientifically, you are not even looking at the outer
objects. Right now, you are not actually looking out at what you see. What’ s
happening is that rays of light are bouncing off the molecules that make up
the outer objects. These reflecte d rays are hitting your eyes’ photoreceptors
and being transmitted back as messages through your nervous system. These messages are then rendered in your mind as an image of the external
objects. Y ou are actually seeing the objects inside, not outside. We are slowly peeling back the onion to see what it’s like to be you. Things are certainly not what they appear to be. Even science backs that up. It’s like you are sitting inside looking at a mental flat-screen monitor that is
imaging the world in front of you. You are obviously not the object you are
looking at; after all, you are not even looking at the actual object. If you
work your way back, the questio n becomes: “Who am I in here looking at a
mental image of what is in front of me. ”
There was a great saint from India, an enlightened master named
Ramana Mahar shi. His entire spiritual path was to every moment
persistently ask: “Who sees when I see. Who hears when I hear. Who feels
when I feel. ” Self-r ealization,  the term for enlightenment the yoga master
Paramahansa Yogananda used, means you have fully realized who you arein there. The entire spiritual journey back to the seat of Self is not about
finding yourself —it’s about realizing you are the Self. Even in a Judeo-
Christian sense, if somebody asks whether they have a soul, the correct
answer is, “No, you don’t have a soul—you in there, the consciousness, are
the soul. ” Thus, “Who are you. ” becomes the quintessential question. You
can’t free yourself until you understand who it is that’s bound. Likewise,
you can’ t understand acceptance until you understand who is resisting. Let’s continue our exploration of Self. Earlier we discussed that when
you were young, you looked out through your eyes and saw a certain
reflection in the mirror. Later in your life you saw a very dif ferent reflection. From that point of view, how old are you. Not how old is your body. How
old are you in there who’ s looking out through those eyes at your body. If
you were in there when you were ten, if you were in there when you were
twenty, if you’re going to be in there on your deathbed noticing that you’re
dying, then what age are you in there. Don’ t answer that question, just let it
touch you at a very deep level. Are you willing to let go of traditional
concepts about your age. Let’s do another interesting experiment. Imagine you’re looking  in the
mirror right after taking a shower. Do you see the reflection of a male or
female body. What if suddenly, via some mysterious power, it changes. Somehow the body parts change. If you were a male, you’re now looking at
a female. If you were a female, you’re now looking at a male. Would it still
be the same you in there lookin g at that body. Would it still be the same
consciousness that has always looked out through those eyes now seeing a
very different body. You would probably be saying, “What happened. What’ s going on here. ” Nevertheless, it would be the same you having the
entire experienc e. So what gender are you in there. You in there, who has
no body  parts, can’t have a gend er. All you can have is awareness that when
you look out through your eyes, the body you’re looking at has a certain
form and shape. That form and shape might be male or female, but you who
notices are neither. The question remains, who are You, the awareness that intuitively
knows you’re in there. Your body has an age and your body has a gender,
but those concepts are irrelevant to the one who notices the body. If you
look at a tall, one-hundred-year -old vase, does that make you tall and a
hundred years old. The same is true of race. Your skin may be a certain
color, but the consciousness that notices this has no color at all. You are notyour body; you are the one who notices the characteristics of your body. You are the conscious awareness within that is looking at all of this. The
question is: Are you willing to let go of who you thought you were. Because
who you thought you were is not who you are. The same inner being is
looking at your body, your house, your car. You are the subject; all the rest
are objects of consciousness. Let’s turn to something a little lighter. At night you go to sleep, and
you often dream. You wake up in the morning, and you say, “I had a
dream. ” That statement is actua lly very deep. How do you know you had a
dream. Do you merely rememb er the dream or were you actually in there
experiencing it. The answer is very simple: you were in there experiencing
it. The same you who looks through your eyes and sees the outer world was
experiencing the events occurring in the dream. There’ s only one conscious
being in there, and you are either experiencing the waking world or the
dream world. Note that when describing your interactions with both worlds,
you intuitively use the word “I,” as in “I was flying through the clouds with
my arms open wide, then I suddenly woke up and realized I was in my bed. ”
In The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali,  which is a very ancient yogic  text,
Patanjali discusses the topic of deep, dreamless sleep. He says that when
you go to sleep and there are no dreams, it’s not that you are not conscious,
it’s that you are conscious of nothing. If you spend time contemplating this,
you’re going to find that you’re always conscious in there. Even people who
get knocked unconscious, or go into a coma, often come back and tell us
what they were experiencing. People have near-death experiences in which
they leave their bodies and come back to tell about it. Whatever the source
of these experiences, the same you in there experienced them and were able
to describe what you experienced. How can you call that not being
conscious. Medically, what we call “conscious” has to do with awareness of
our external surroundings. However, the concept of whether you in there are
consciously aware of anything—that’ s another story altogether. You’re
always conscious. You’ve been conscious from the beginning. You’re aware
of whate ver you focus on, internally or externally.
Paramahansa Yogananda
Who is the author of the book "Whispers from Eternity"?
To explore the nature of self and the power of acceptance
What is the main focus of the book "Living Untethered"?
To help the reader understand who they are and how to let go of distractions and find inner peace
What is the purpose of the book "Living Untethered"?
The author is using scientific and spiritual concepts to help the reader understand the true nature of their existence
What is the author's approach to exploring the nature of self?
To help the reader understand the true nature of their experiences and to live a life of acceptance and inner freedom
What is the author's intention with the book "Living Untethered"?