​​​Paperback ISBN: 978-1-572-24537-2

 

Introduction

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There are many important, practical, and useful concepts and techniques described in this book, and it is worth reading about them and considering them in your own life.  However, in this reflection on the book, I will focus on the words in the title.  “Untethered” means not being tied to anything and being free.  In the context of the book, I will discuss what this means and what the impact of this is.  The book title refers to “Soul”, not to “Body”, not to “Mind”, or not to “Person”, and this is highly significant and central to the messages in the book.

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The Soul

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In Part 1 of the book, titled “awakening consciousness”, Michael Singer stresses the need for us to be the observer of our thoughts, feelings, and emotions.  As well as using the observing to grow and to learn, if we consider the observing, we realise that the observer is, in fact, our Soul, our True Self.  We are not our thoughts, feelings, and emotions.  They are part of our earthly physical and mental presence.  The observing is important in the context of “letting go” which I will discuss later.  However, the fact that it is our Soul that is the observer needs to be understood and reflected upon.  Living a life on this planet means that our bodies and minds are constantly producing and dealing with emotions, feelings, and experiences.  These emotions and feelings can have a hugely positive or negative effect on our physical, mental, and spiritual well-being.  These emotions and feelings are a normal part of living life in the real world.

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However, we must understand and believe that these emotions and feelings are part of our physical and mental beings.  Our Soul, our Spirit, is separate but, if we can separate ourselves – become untethered, from these emotions and feeling, then our Soul can be the observer, and we can learn and benefit from all these earthly emotions, feelings, and experiences.

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Letting Go

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So, if the Soul is the observer, how can it be untethered?  Michael Singer says that it can be untethered very simply, by just “letting go”.  He explains how we have thousands of thoughts and experiences each day.  Most of these we “let go” subconsciously.  He describes it as if you are driving along a road and you will see trees, other cars, and so on, and generally not keep them in your thoughts, just let them go.

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However, what we do as humans is that we do not let some thoughts go.  In a practical sense, Michael Singer explains how our thoughts are energy and, if we don’t let them go, they build up inside and cause a blockage of energy that has a negative impact on us physically, mentally, and even spiritually.  These blockages can lead to stress, anxiety, anger, fear, and other negative emotions all of which will negatively impact us and cause illness.

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For much of the book, Michael Singer speaks of “letting go” immediately of all thoughts, feelings, and experiences.  This is one criticism or disagreement that I have with the book.  While I agree that we should “let go” of all thoughts, feelings, and experiences and we do with most, I believe, that there are some that we need to process before “letting go”.  This process does not and should not take too long but, I believe, that if we do not process some of these thoughts, feelings, and experiences, then we either miss an opportunity for spiritual growth or we miss a learning opportunity.  Let me explain.

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When we observe a negative thought or emotion or have a negative experience, we should pause and reflect on the thought, emotion, or experience.  It may even cause us pain.  We should process it by accepting that it is real and cannot be undone, and then find a positive in the situation or else determine what we can learn from the situation.  How can we grow and be better?  After we have processed it, release it, let it go.  Let it flow through and out of us.  Then when we are in a similar situation in the future, we may not experience the same negative emotion or if we do then we know how to dis-engage, untether, from it. 

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On the other hand, when we observe positive thoughts and emotions, we should also pause and reflect on the thought or emotion.  We should appreciate and be grateful for whatever it is that has generated the positive emotion – success in a career, seeing a child smile, seeing a sunset, having a valued friendship or whatever brings positivity to our lives.  When we reflect, and then appreciate or express gratitude for the experience, this will help to feed our spiritual well-being.  I describe it as “recharging” our spiritual well-being.  It is building up a reserve of inner peace and contentment that is part of our spiritual growth but will also help us in times of need or negativity in the future.

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The “letting go” is the “untethering” referred to in the title of the book.  It means that we will not “cling onto” anyone or anything.  We will not cling onto a negative emotion that will cause us illness or affect our physical, mental, or spiritual well-being.  While we should appreciate and be grateful for any positive emotion and experience, we will not “cling onto” anyone or anything and our well-being will not be dependent on anyone or anything.

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Experiencing each moment

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In the latter stages of the book, there are numerous references both directly and indirectly to experiencing each moment that we are given in this life.  This is such sage advice.  We only get one opportunity to live each moment.  We cannot save time; we can only make more efficient and better use of the time that we have.  If we can experience more of our life as the observer, then we are not clinging to anything and we are giving ourselves the opportunity to learn from our experiences.  This is not easy when living life.  Our minds will normally take control.  Therefore, it would be good practice to, at least a few times each day, to pause and reflect and see if we are observing from a Soul perspective.  The more often that we can do so the greater our learning and spiritual growth.  However, accept that we cannot be in the observer mode all of the time.

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Conclusion

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As I reflect on this book, and I try to put the theory into practice, my key takeaway is as follows.  I believe that our present lifetime on this planet is a wonderful opportunity for spiritual growth for us all.  Our bodies and minds will disappear when we eventually die.  However, our Souls will live on.  If we take the opportunity to use this life as part of our spiritual journey, then we will be able to say that we have grown and advanced spiritually.

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Letting go, with the proviso of some pausing and reflecting, is a tool and practice that will help us on our spiritual journey.

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