Michael Singer teaches that the highest spiritual path is the life unfolding in front of you, rather than any technique applied to it. He frames spiritual maturity as the ability to honor and respect each moment as it appears, including the moments one would prefer not to encounter.
Transcript
I was a very simple affair it unfolds you interact with it it really is that simple what is so difficult about this that which is is and that which is not is not it's like the simplest thing in the world that which is in front of you is in front of you nothing else in front of you there's only one thing in front of you at a time there it is those are the people the places the things circumstances that's what's in front of you why is that in front of me you could live as long as you want and it would take me longer than that to explain why one moment is in front of you because of all the forces that caused to be there right or wrong there's all these forces that cause things to be the way they are it's none of my business none of your business so it ends up in front of you nothing cuz you deserve it please don't do that that's really not a very spiritual thing to do to think the whole world's about you and at the moment in front of you is because of something you did wrong or something you did right I don't think so I think if you look at the moment in front of you it's because of the 700 billion zillion other things that happen everywhere that caused the moment to unfold in front of you okay with you why do we have to make up something about it it thrives n it is what it is every moment whichever ones in front of you is the moment that is in front of you spirituality is not about how to get there or why or karma or what did I deserve or anything like that that's all mine stuff what spirituality is about is this is the moment that the universe created this in front of me this is the moment the LORD hath made I don't care what you want to say it's just the moment that's there period what am I going to do about it that's what spirituality is about what am I going do about this moment that is manifesting in front of me there are lots of different things you could do you could complain about it but please understand then that's what you did about it there's nothing you can do something else about it that moment was there you complained about it doesn't sound very productive doesn't sound very high doesn't sound like if I have but one moment to live I'm gonna complain about it please understand that so you have to decide what am I going to do about this moment that the universe has put in front of me I'm telling you get over this question of why get over this question of why do I have to be like - how did that happen or anything like that's meaningless in other words that's what you ended up doing with the moment in front of you somebody comes up to me she comes up to me and says god I've been looking for you I miss you I love you that's the moment in front of me I'd say what I'm gonna do with it right Jai wonder why she said that was she trying to get out I wonder how many people she says that - I wonder she really means it okay that's what you do with it there were lots of other things you could do with it that's what you chose to do it please understand isn't it's not multiple choice you get one that's what you did with that moment you minded you chose to go to your mind about the moment you can do that if you want I don't really understand the productive nature of that or what you're gonna get from that but I want you to just somewhere to slow it down I wish I could just slow it down and hold a moment there it is what do you want to do with it and I'm telling them at a time we're done looking at the various scenes you can do it you don't understand that spirituality and that's life is what you do at the moment that's in front of you why there is no other moment happening to you there never will be there will just be the moment that's in front of you everything else is what mind if you are not dealing with the moment in front of you then you are in your mind there's no other place for you to be because there's only one universe and that's the moment that's in front of you please can I shake you wake you up alright it's the only one that's there if you want to leave and not deal with the moment that's there you need to make up something in your mind and then go there because this is the one God made this is the one nature made this is the one reality made this is the only one there is so with mine you can go to your past and miss the moment that's here you can go to the future and miss the moment that's here or you can deal with the moment that's here let's make believe that were wise enough to understand if I keep missing reality I will miss my life that's what's gonna happen if you keep missing the moments that's in front of you there will be no experience of this thing called life you might as well go to sleep I swear to you it's just the same as dreaming it's just walking dreaming your mind during a dream is making up things your mind that is not in the moment is making up things it's either in the past the future they say the other thing so please that's the foundation of spirituality to finally come to grips that you have a choice deal with reality deal with the moment that's in front of you or make up anything you want so now let's make believe you're caught on and you want to interact with the moment that's in front of you what are you going to do at the moment in front of you so even if you're dealing with a woman in front of you what will happen to me but 99% of the people is they'll try to look at the moment in front of you and your mind will start about what do I like it do I not like it should I complain about it I like it how can I keep it I don't like it how could I make it go away so you only touch the moment just enough to stimulate your mind and the next thing you know there's nothing going on but mind so you're either out of the moment because you're in your mind or you're in the moment thinking about what you want to do it why you like it why you don't like it or why did this happen to happen to me etc so let's skip all the possible things you can do about it which are lots of different things and talk about some really amazing stuff you could do about it let's talk about some serious options let's say that you learned it'll teach you how in a minute it's not hard you just make it hard is what does it mean I'm in the moment and I'm not going with my mind my mind is doing whatever it's doing but I'm staying here with what's going on with what's in front of me because that's what matters to me is to be here with reality in fact I see reality as the manifestation of God this is what the universe is making in front of me this moment it is a holy thing no matter what it is it is holder than anything I can think about because my mind isn't holy and it just makes up stuff right so that which is out here that got made my reality take up by made by all the forces that ever existed is absolutely at all times holier than anything that's going on in my mind why it's real versus everything is going on my mind is make-believe it's made up stuff what is going on now in front of me is connected to everything that ever was and it is manifesting in front of me so not only is it rock solid it's mine the only things yours is that which is presenting itself in front of you at this moment all right that's really that's your connection to God - that's a real thing going on so if I don't get caught in my minds reaction to it which is what we tend to do if I don't I can learn to stay here with it now what now you have the right to decide what do you want to do about it otherwise you're just reacting to what your mind reacts and to all the noise is going on in there that's not a decision that's a reaction so if I'm sitting here with it what are my choices a really beautiful choice is to honor and respect it some people have a lot of trouble with that because I said I can honor and respect something I can honor and respect but I can't honor respect something I cannot respect in other words the mind gets to decide okay it is only if my mind likes it and my mind agrees that it should be going on and it matches what I like and what et cetera et cetera then I can respect it well that's back to mind you're back to mine and this is the hardest thing for people to break through on their spiritual journey your mind is not going to help you and not the personal mind it's not going to help you it's always going to hamper you that's what's so easy don't worry about making a decision there is no decision to be made if you are thinking about it instead of interacting with it in reality you are lost and no good will come of it period the world is not unfolding for you to judge it it is not unfolding for you to get what you want or decide what to do about it it is unfolding because it is the manifestation of creation it is an awesome thing though it's so awesome some believable if you were reading the Bible and it says in the beginning on day one God created heavens on earth and on day two he created light and undeath right and you're saying what if I told you I could take you there while it was happening and you could be there and watch day for get made whoa I mean pretty unbelievable wouldn't it to actually be right at the moment when this is happening well you get to day seven and got rested whatever happens the only one I know he rested right it's okay what have inundated nobody says what happened I'm dating it's been confusing me for so long obviously there was a day eight because we're still here it didn't stop there was a day eight there was a day nine and there was a day ten right there were these days but at this point we're probably you know where are we you know and a six billion four hundred thirty two thousand seven hundred twenty-two no we're still out there pretty far away it's still being created it not only didn't stop on day six or day five or day seven or day eight every single day is another day being created the same as day five six and seven and you get to be there you get to see that which has never existed yet it is the next thing after all of creation standing on the shoulders of all of creation here's the next moment that gets created and it's right in front of you that's what you could do about it you could see it like that oh wow heavy interesting to see you like that wouldn't it like you'd feel honor if your respect it feel an interaction between you and the process of creation and it would move you to the core of your being you've been listening to an excerpt from Michael singers the untethered soul lecture series vol 7 honoring and respecting reality