Surrender

I just finished reading “The Surrender Experiment” by Michael Singer. I am not sure if I like it or hate it, so that’s why I decided to write about it. Hopefully I’ll figure it out in a few more paragraphs. Someone on Twitter mentioned they read it and was excellent, and they only wished they had done so earlier. That’s what made me start, plus I had heard of another of his books, “The Untethered Soul”.

“The Surrender Experiment” covers the author’s life journey, from his university days, to his starting several companies, and finally to his present-day life. That is not extraordinary, even though he was the CEO of a multi-million-dollar company. The interesting part is that he started this process one day when he realized he had a voice in his head. He realized that every time someone would approach him, that voice would either like or dislike the person. He wondered who was that voice? And was there a way to silence it?

He went deep into meditation practice to figure out how to silence that voice. One day he meditated for hours and realized there was a source of energy available when he was at peace. Then he decided to drop out from regular life (with the exception of being a college instructor) and become a serious practitioner of meditation in order to achieve enlightenment. During this journey he decided he would not listen to the voice anymore and would instead say yes to any situation that would present.

His approach reminded me of the Jim Carrey’s movie “Yes Man”, which is one of my favorites. In that movie, like in this book, the main character forgoes his own wishes and desires and just surrendered to whatever life presented him with. Maybe that’s one of the reasons I kept reading the book, because of my fascination with letting go of saying no to opportunities because of fear. Saying yes to everything is scary because of the uncertainty of that decision.

So how does this work in practical terms? Well, for example, Michael Singer used his college fund (the only money he had at the time) to purchase a parcel of land in Central Florida. He enlisted the help of two friends to build a small cabin. But then people would wander by and ask him if they could live on the land, and he wouldn’t say no. He admits that every cell in his being would scream against it, yet he would surrender to the situation, and accept.

Eventually he started building larger living quarters to accommodate those who wanted to meditate (or live) with him. Little by little, he would purchase adjoining land and homes around the area, so that with time, this became The Temple of the Universe, which still stands today. He mentions several instances where money would land on his lap, and the amount would be almost equal to the purchase price of the land. So he would see this as a sign that Life wanted him to acquire the land, for a yet unknown purpose, but which would become apparent later on.

Then someone found out he was a good builder and would ask him to do a small project in their house. Again, he would say yes even though he didn’t want to. Many requests later led to starting a construction company. Then one day, he saw a computer at a Radio Shack (this was in the late 1970s) and he taught himself how to program. Somehow people found out about his new skill and asked him to teach it to them. Then someone asked him to create a billing program for medical purposes. This led to him opening another company, which would become a huge presence in the medical field.

So, his ascension from being a college professor to a CEO of a large company is the part of the book I didn’t like. It read like a series of coincidences in a field that does not attract my attention.  I understand that the medical field has a huge potential for profit in the US, but it was hard for me to feel attracted to it. What I found intriguing is that as reported by him, every time his company was on the brink of danger, someone would show up out of the blue with the skills needed to assist him to overcome said obstacles, or pivot to a different field where he started thriving.

It’s almost like he would be surfing on a wave, and as soon as that wave would start to end, another wave would appear and he would seamlessly jump to it, where he would continue the journey. He claims all this started to happen when he recognized that his decisions were mostly based on personal fear, coming from his ego. Being a practician of meditation, he claims he was able to disconnect from the desires of the self and be ore attuned to the desires of the Universe. So in essence, he was just a tool of Life, and he was willing to see where this would lead him.

Of course, he also had setbacks in his life, and he dealt with them in the most positive way I have ever known. I am not sure I would be able to be as detached as he was. That is when all the years of meditating came in handy. In the book he doesn’t mention his wife and daughter much, which I found a bit odd. Not sure if this is because of privacy or because his detachment style. A someone who values family bonds, this felt peculiar.

Would I recommend this book? Yes. I recognize my own internal voice and I have learned to accept it. I don’t intend to silence it, but I see it as key to finding out myself. Why does the voice comment on this particular person and not another? I also value the idea of surrendering to what life presents us. If a door opens in front of me, I realize that it’s a possible opportunity. Said another way, I have become attuned to seeing the many signs that Life presents me with. I would be interested in reading comments from others who have read this book.