By employing a Taoist stance of “finding the center of all experience,” we can be helped in regulating life’s extremes.Īfter the house fire, everything was a confused uncertainty. Finally, in “Loving Life,” we are reminded that death is our constant, faithful companion and teacher. “Going Beyond” encourages us to pursue a lifelong practice of dismantling walls and letting go of false solidity. In “Freeing Yourself,” Singer compares a rose’s thorns to our fear of personal pain in moving toward true freedom. In “Experiencing Energy,” we’re reminded of the Infinite Source and asked not to close our hearts to the undesirable in life. In “Awakening Consciousness,” we’re asked about our internal voices and prompted to truly answer the “Who Are You?” questions. The Untethered Soul divides a stream-of-consciousness writing style into five concrete sections. If we ask what it is to create, what is the true meaning of the sacred, and ultimately what is holy, Singer would say the answers can be found only when we relax and release. Looking with God’s eyes, bringing life to his plan for beauty, submitting to his leadership and will, pursuing a heart of purity, and healing others are proven pathways to intimacy with God. Maybe you have found the slow and intentional practice that leads to true co-creation as a godly artist. Likewise, neurosis, self-doubt, worry, and confusion keep us at the center of our own manufactured worlds. Further, our attempts at self-medication, preservation, protection, and insulation are all efforts at not feeling too much. Singer would say that even this busy-ness, this work, even this can be a form of attachment. Yet, I am mindful of the words of Lesslie Newbigin in Foolishness to the Greeks: “The fact that Jesus is much more than our culture-bound vision of him can only come home to us through the witness of those who see him through other eyes.” And so, as I continue my search, as an artist and believer, to find the best methods to tap into the divine and unlock the secret regions of the heart, I work, play, pray, and make art.Īrtists often enhance our prayer life through creative expression and channel our inspiration into physical products, as a form of witness and communication. Although I admire the merits of free-flowing yogadic meditation methods, I tend to prefer the directed visio divina (divine seeing) for demystifying life’s questions. As such, though its application is still valid ten years after initial publication, The Untethered Soul was a bit of a philosophical reach for me. We want to cling to the familiar, you know. “Untethering” represents an intentional and purposeful disconnecting from security for the sake of something grander. It is this unhitching, unfastening, and unleashing that speaks especially to creative and spiritual people. Her gracious gift exemplifies the subtitle: The Journey Beyond Yourself. While I was still reflecting on this, out of nowhere, my brother’s ex-wife sent me a copy of Singer’s 2007 seminal work, The Untethered Soul (New Harbinger Publication/Noetic Books). In his 2015 publication The Surrender Experiment (Harmony Books), Singer speaks of the spiritual liberation of deep inner surrender, especially in the midst of life’s extraordinary events.
The gift of that fire was in the understanding and knowledge that all that ever really lasts, all that really ever matters, is love.Īuthor Michael Singer would agree.
In the spiritual sense, I have now gained acceptance and friendship with the transitory. How can a singular incident alter so much of what we know and trust and believe? In the physical sense, at that moment, I lost my United States military uniform, a testament I’d hoped to pass down to my children as a heritage and legacy. Even still today, it’s hard to reconcile the fact that one’s reality can be dismantled so abruptly. While living in Tampa, Florida, in the early 1990s, our family suffered an all-consuming house fire.
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