A Michael Singer Teaching About the Mind That Has Propelled Me Forward

It’s super helpful.

Photo by set.sj on Unsplash

This is going to be another one of my “Oh my God, this teaching is sooo great!” articles. And the reason I’m writing this particular one is because…

This teaching is sooo great!

Some of you might be thinking, “He writes all these articles saying, ‘This is the greatest teaching ever!’ But they can’t all be the best, right? Is Gerken just hyping us?”

Good question, for those of you posing it. And there’s an answer.

Which is this. All these teachings I write about are just different ways of expressing the big truths of spirituality.

Incorporating the deep truths

And I firmly believe that the more ways we are exposed to these truths, the better able we are to incorporate them into the deepest parts of our being. So that’s the ‘why’ of it all.

Which brings us to today’s mindblower. It’s a teaching that comes from none other than…

The Sultan of Spirituality.

The Wellspring of Wisdom.

The Man, the Myth, the Legend…

Michael Singer.

(Gotta spice this spiritual stuff up a little, right?)

Anyhoo, Mickey’s teaching is, as usual, incredibly simple, but uber helpful.

This is what he said in a recent talk:

“There is nothing your personal mind says that is worth listening to. Nothing.”

It’s a bold statement. It’s also true.

What Mickey means

First, let’s clarify what Singer is saying. Most important is his specifying the personal mind.

He isn’t saying that everything the mind does or says isn’t worth listening to. Our minds are brilliant and can help us in myriad ways.

From everyday things like figuring out what we need at the grocery store to big ones like noticing that our teenager’s mood has been off more than is normal, that they may need help, and then using our mind to formulate a plan.

Those are examples of the conscious mind at work. We, our conscious selves, summon our minds to help us.

The personal, chattering mind

What Mickey is talking about is the personal mind. This is the part of the mind that operates independently of our conscious selves.

It’s that near-constant chatter going on in our heads, AKA, the voice inside the head.

It’s what got Mickey started on the spiritual path over fifty years ago. Here’s how it went down.

A momentous convo on the couch

He was chatting on the couch with his then brother-in-law when there was a lull in the conversation. Then Mickey broke the silence with--

Mickey: “Do you have a voice inside your head that constantly talks?”

Brother-in-law: “Yes! Mine talks all the time!”

Mickey says that that conversation led to his study of Zen Buddhism and then eventually to the Yoga tradition.

Understanding this is central to growth

All because of that voice in the head? You bet. Because understanding what it is, and what it is not, is essential for liberation.

What it is is the personal mind, also called the ego.

What it is not is who we are. What we are is the consciousness that is aware of the yappy voice.

What does this voice talk about? And where does it get its material?

Life provides the material

From our learned experiences. That is, things happen to us, we hold onto them and then later they surface, in the form of the voice in the head.

Here is an example to illustrate:

Your first love cheated on you in high school, and it crushed you. Twenty years later you start dating a great guy and that learned, prior experience arises as the voice in the head saying,

“Don’t trust him. They all cheat.”

This thought/voice doesn’t come to you when you’re at your desk with a yellow legal pad in front of you and “Thoughts on Patrick” written at the top.

Personal mind thoughts are involuntary

No. That thought comes to you at random times like sitting in traffic or while taking a shower.

Your conscious self didn’t ask your mind to ponder this. Your personal mind just dredged it up from your psyche and presto, up it came.

Hopefully, that gives you the context of what the personal mind is and how it operates. It is monumentally important that we all understand this.

Avoiding the trap

Why? Because if we don’t, we fall into the same trap that 99 percent of humanity does: Thinking that that voice in the head is who we are.

For the umpteenth time: IT IS NOT!

And anything, I mean anything, we can do to help us de-identify with that voice is massively important and helpful.

Which is precisely what Mickey’s bold statement does.

Again, he said:

“There is nothing your personal mind says that is worth listening to. Nothing.”

What should we do with this?

USE IT!

I’ve been using it and it has been a big help. How?

My racing mind on the bike

Let’s take my 45-minute cycling workouts. As I pedal away, with nothing to entertain me but my yip-yappy personal mind, I continually catch myself in some stream of thoughts. Like what?

Tons of subjects. A recent one deals with a parent of one of my kid’s friends who I’m not fond of.

My mind just drifts there, for no reason at all. Nothing’s happened. I rarely see this person. It’s just negative thoughts popping up.

But now when this happens, my conscious self becomes aware that I’m having these thoughts and I go straight to--

“None of these thoughts are worth listening to. None. They’re just manufactured by this bizarre ego-software that constantly takes over my ‘psyche computer.’”

So what do we do with all this? We become vigilant about noticing when we are lost in a thought stream and then immediately tell ourselves that whatever those thoughts were about are not worth listening to.

The more we do that, the quieter and more distant those rambling thoughts become. Why?

The great Indian sage, Sri Yukteswar, captured it perfectly when he said, in reference to the ego:

“An ignored guest quickly leaves.”

This is of paramount importance so please lean in here.

The ego/personal mind needs the attention of our consciousness for sustenance. That attention is what fuels it.

Which is precisely why our egos are so dramatic. It’s how they suck us in!

“I can’t believe she said that! I am NEVER speaking to that bitch again!”

That’s not you talking. It’s your drama queen ego trying to lure you down to your lower self.

Don’t take the bait!

The takeaway

Instead, practice looking at EVERYTHING your personal mind is saying and telling yourself that it’s not worth listening to.

NONE of it.

If you do this, the real, conscious, all-powerful you will get stronger while that voice of the personal mind will become fainter and fainter.

And that, my friends, is the path to liberation.