Life is a vast movement of experiences and things. It is a teacher, a friend, a lover. It also creates chaos, suffering, pain & fear. We ask ourselves why these things happen. The yin and yang of experience. Mother nature brings with it a vast unknown, a place where all things happen. How do we make sense of it? How do we find balance within a world of so much exploration. There is a space within us, that we can watch the flow of live & grow. A space where we experience all of life, yet remain fully present and detached. What does it mean to be untethered?
Understanding the core root of self is the journey we must embark upon. We want our comforts in life, and often many of us believe this is the road to truly great life. However, many studies have shown this not to be the case. Have you ever found yourself in a comfort zone to realise it doesn’t fulfil you? Life is yin and yang. Creation & destruction. Balance & Chaos. Our comforts can change in a day. Life will always be a teacher of growth. If you have found this article, chances are this message is for you. Let’s take a look at what creates life. What is life really? It’s a set of events that happen moment to moment & create feelings & emotions. The Untethered soul watches.
There are always 3 things that fight to gain the attention of the untethered soul (you). Thoughts, feelings & objects. A thought appears, or a feeling arises. The soul grabs hold. Otherwise its objects around it such as people, phones, TV, birds, trees or anything in the outside world. You become tethered to existence. So, who is the ‘I’ that’s attention is grabbed. Who is the pure awareness that sits behind all experience, the pure consciousness? Not the voice in your head, not the feelings that arise, but the one that experiences all of them? The silent watcher behind all things. Lets ponder this. You ate an ice cream and you loved it, now you are thinking about it all day. But what if you never ate that ice cream? What if never went to that high school? What would the thoughts be? So ask yourself, are your thoughts really you? Or just products of experience?
Acknowledge first, there is voice in your head. A mental dialogue that consistently runs over and over again. It tells you to do many things, always pulling you into directions. You basically create the outside world in yourself and live in the mind. Watch carefully, as you do this all the time. When its cold outside you repeat in your head “It’s cold”. You already knew that. So why do you need to repeat it? It’s because you use your mind as a protection mechanism, to make yourself feel more secure. As long as that is what you want, you will continue to use & identity with the chatter. All the while life is unfolding all around you.
This voice seems to criticise you alot too. If you had a friend like this, you surely would not keep them around, nor listen to them. Yet you consistently listen to this voice. You go so far as to argue back & forth with it. We deem people ‘crazy’ when we hear them speaking to themselves out loud, yet we do this all the time in our heads? So which voice are you? The one that criticises, or the one that speaks back to the critic? Have you ever thought you are the watcher behind? The one that watches both of these voices. Once you become conscious of consciousness itself, you are in a totally different state. You are now aware of who you are, you have become an awakened being. The more you are willing to just let the world be, just sit back, watch it, be aware of it, this is when the world will let you be who you truly are. The awareness, the self, the soul.
The secret to staying aware is to stay open, open all your energy and sit the seat of love and enthusiasm. Have you noticed how open you feel when you do this? Why can’t you do this all the time? Inner energy is the most important thing. Notice how life becomes when you are not enthused, it’s dull. Through meditation, through awareness, you can learn to keep your centres open, it all starts with breathing deeply into your heart, exhale and open up. Feel the deep breathe all through your body, in calm, open, peace. There is nothing that is worth closing your heart over. We need to learn to let those disturbances go when something disturbs us, we hold it, closing ourself. Learn to open your heart and let it go, nothing is worth the price of a closed heart.
The heart is the absolute masterpiece of creation. It is the most phenomenal instrument, with the potential to create vibrations and harmonies that are far beyond the beauty of pianos, strings, and flutes. When you are taken away by music. Is it not your heart that creates such beauty? Is it not the heart that fills you up? We fall in love through the heart, when it’s open, it’s the most wonderful feeling we have. Remember, you are not the heart, you are the experiencer of your heart. Do not let the disturbances of life block your heart. Real spiritual growth happens when there is only one of you inside. There’s not a part that’s scared and another that’s protecting that part. All parts are unified. Become one. Become being.
We sit within our comfort zones and find it hard to go beyond fear. We desire things which make us distort life. Life is generally distorted by 2 things. Fear & Desire. If you remove these distortions, you will get to glimpse life as it is. Fear & Desire generally allow us to stay within our comfort zones. What if we were to go beyond? Feel no edges and just see life for what it truly is, then you would see a clear picture of life itself. The day would unfold and the mind would not say anything. It could simply interact without distortion. Desire to fall in love distorts the true love that is meant for you. Fear of the unknown may stop you from taking that new job. Fear may paralyze you in a situation. It is not to say we do not set our boundaries in life, but rather we can see clearly and decide without fear & desire. You will attain much clarity through this approach.
We all want to be happy, but we don’t stay happy. We allow life to create unhappiness within us. We want to be happy, but its only when external circumstances meet our demands. “My wife left me, how can I be happy?”. So you want to be happy, but only if you have someone by your side? Life will always throw challenges, life is really about learning to dance in the rain. We cannot let our happiness be conditional. This is a practice. I understand the depths of experience. There is a pain to life that can be truly immense at times, however, we must learn to be able to bring about our inner smile, no matter what the situation presents. We can grieve and allow feelings to come up, but we should always smile from within, smile from the heart. Know that you can smile at any time no matter the outside world.
While life moves, we must stay balanced in the centre of it all. Balance is the way to creating a great life. Finding balance is one thing, but the balance I am speaking of requires maintenance. Just like a sailor needs to adjust his sails to balance the boat with the winds, we must learn to balance our lives. If we spend too much time playing, life becomes boring. Too much work, we don’t enjoy life. However, if we work and then play in balance, life is rewarding. I thoroughly enjoy watching TV when I know I’ve worked hard.
Life is impermanence, we live in a world where we will always face the cycle of life & death. This is a fact, this is who we are. The human condition is one of impermanence. It is important to understand this, and to allow yourself to let go. Let go of the false solidity that brings you pain. Life always moves and we must learnt to move with it. Solidity does not exist, just experience. If you take this fact into your being, you will appreciate every single moment you have here. Learn to dance with life and life will become a wondrous mystery that unfolds in pure beauty. Every moment will be honoured. When hard times come, know too that they will pass, as there is no solidity.
In final comments, life is about seeing through the eyes of the creator, god, awareness. Know that beauty has allowed of life to unfold. It has allowed all of life to become what it is. There is much to the known universe to discover, but know that even hard times create stronger souls. Without death, we could not enjoy life. Without fear, we would not know peace. Nature is the mother, the unknown that explodes life. Learn to respect it. Grow and become all that you need to be.
This article was written thanks to a book I have read called ‘The Untethered Soul‘. Thank you Michael Singer.
We Will Teach You 