E190: The Seat of Consciousness—Freedom Beyond the Ego
6/15/202649 min
You are not your thoughts, emotions, preferences, or psychological patterns—you are the consciousness that is aware of them. Suffering comes from holding onto experiences, building an ego out of what you could not handle, and then trying to manipulate life so you never feel discomfort again. Spiritual liberation comes through remaining established in the seat of consciousness, letting experiences pass through without resistance, and eventually dissolving the separate self back into universal consciousness.
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First 90 secondsMichael Singer· Host0:00
Jagad Guru, Dai Masters. People discuss free will. Everything you do willfully is done with will. If you want your arm to move, you make it move. Nobody else did it. You did it. You sent energy, Shakti, you sent it down to those muscles, and they contracted, and they relaxed. How did you decide to do it? I don't care, you just did. Your nose itched, somebody yelled at you, you thought of something neat, got scared. Whatever it is, you moved that arm. That is free will. So don't get into these things. People say you don't have free will. They say it with reason. They say it because they understand that you are the sum of your learned experiences. Therefore, it's almost like habit. It's like a reaction. You just... Do you have free will? Well, no, because your sex drives are driving you, because your fear is driving you, and they say that's not free will. Fair enough, because you do have drives, all kind. Not just physiological, psychological. The things that make you act. So they're saying that you don't really have free will. It's not true. The truth of the matter is, if you really didn't want to give into anger, you could not give into anger. You've done it. You've been in situations