The Untethered Soul

Singer begins by stating that everybody has a “mental dialogue going on inside [their] head that never stops” (7). To free oneself from this endless inner conversation, one must “step back and view it objectively” (9); simply notice the chatter without getting carried away by thought and realize that you are not the mind’s dialogue. While we tend to think that our problems are caused by the pain and difficulties we face in life, it is actually “the commotion the mind makes about life that really causes problems” (10). The inner voice not only causes problems for us but also makes us feel comfortable with the world because it gives us an illusion of control: Our thoughts buffer the unfiltered raw experience of reality and “re-create the outside world” (13) in a way that suits our mindset. 

The true Self is “The Witness” (16), the subject who observes objects but is not identified with those objects. Singers asks readers to stop thinking that the outside world of objects can solve our inner problems; only we can change our perspective from “outer solution consciousness” to “inner solution consciousness” (16). We do this by taking the seat of consciousness and simply being aware that we are simply noticing the chaos of the mind. Singer characterizes this endless chatter of our minds as a roommate and “inner troublemaker” (21) who is unreliable and whom we would find intolerable if they were a flesh-and-blood person.

Chapter 3 introduces one of life’s big questions: “Who am I?” (23). The answer has nothing to do with our relationships, our careers, what we look like, or any other labels, as we might think. The answer is surprisingly simple: You are you, the “continuity of conscious awareness of being” (25) who witnesses all of the thoughts and emotions in your mind but who is a distinct spiritual being. You, as this distinct entity, have a quality of “awareness, consciousness, an intuitive sense of existence” (27) and can understand your experiences clearly without the intrusion of thought. Your conscious being has been called different things in various traditions, from the “Buddhist Self” to the “Hindu Atman” or “Judeo-Christian Soul” (29), but these all refer to the same being—you.

Consciousness can focus on different objects, and when we are centered in pure awareness, we notice that these objects are “passing before you at all three levels: mental, emotional, and physical” (32). Being uncentered increases the likelihood that you will get lost in these objects and focus on them so intently that “your sense of awareness loses itself in the object […] it just becomes object-conscious” (32). Many people spend their whole lives lost in this way and never step back into the seat of consciousness. Singer compares this predicament to a fully immersive movie in which you, the viewer, can even feel the emotions of the actors on-screen, making the viewer fully absorbed and never realizing that the movie is not real life. The opposite of this is “[turning] the light of consciousness back onto itself” (36) and being aware of being aware, a condition that leads to deep spiritual growth and experiences.