Why bother waking up?

20 March 2026

Let’s start by defining what it is to wake up. The phrase has a lot of different meanings and depends how weird you want to get. I like to rest on Michael Singer‘s wisdom which is neither too serious or woo-woo. It’s a fairly grounded take. In season 3, episode 2 (recorded quite some time ago now) at around the 3’57, Singer defines what it means to wake up. It’s worth listening to this for a few minutes. It basically states that waking up means you become aware that you are the witness, awareness itself, staring at your thoughts and emotions. You are not the thoughts and emotions. Once you get to that realization, you can get going on your journey.

Now why would you even want to wake up to that? In case you hadn’t noticed, for most people the contents of their mind is a mess. That thing in there doesn’t shut up. It has something to say about everything and it usually isn’t all that positive. Why is it like that? Again, Singer explains, your mind is a computer that is the sum of its learned experiences. You are staring at that thing. And you stored all the things that bothered you over the course of your life. How do you think that’s going to look? Probably pretty bothered.

There is a way out, though. All this faulty programming can be undone. There’s no superglue in there. You need to let it go. Surrender. The foundation of spirituality. It doesn’t mean that things will no longer bother you. Everything has its vibration and at the core of it, it’s only energy. A snake has a different vibration than a butterfly. No matter how uncomfortable it gets in there, you have to let it flow. The moment you start repressing or denying (not letting energy in) you start to create blockages. The root of those blockages is the heart. Where you failed to deal with a situation on an energetic level (you didn’t let it flow through properly), the heart got disturbed. What the heart can’t deal with is handed over to the mind. That’s why that thing doesn’t shut up. It’s trying to release and purge the energy that wasn’t dealt with. Until you learn to release it (which takes a lot of practice, start with the small things in life), it’s going to bother you night and day. When you live in fear (either ruminating on the past or worrying about the future), your energy is going to be severely compromised.

Once you do make progress with letting things go (starting with the low hanging fruit in your life), the energy starts to flow better and you regain lightness. There are other techniques like micro-dosing mushrooms that are like cheat codes and a preview of what could be. When you are sincere on your path, you get glimpses of what life could be like. You smile and laugh for no reason. Trauma starts to fall off. Obviously the bigger things take time and you have to go into more difficult situations and just do your best. The technique Singer teaches is to relax and release. Even when it feels pretty icky inside. Just don’t tense up and resist (the opposite of relaxation). That causes the energy to be blocked. Energy will keep circling around itself until you let it complete its journey through you. I like Singer’s analogy here. Take the worst meal you’ve ever had (a situation that really bothered you) and ask the waiter for a doggy bag so you can try a piece of it every day (keep bringing the subject back up). Real smart, eh?

The more you practice being present and becoming established as the witness (the seat of self), the less the story of your character reels you in. Just quietly observe. That ego thing (Don Juan called it ‘the foreign installation’) is not OK. Your mind is a single-room occupancy. You’re the only one living there, so get to work in cleaning it up. You should see it like a wild horse. It is powerful and will run the show unless you (awareness, the will) steps in and takes the reigns. You have to instill discipline and let that thing know who the new sheriff around town is. As you get better at doing that, the mind will start to quieten down. Singer says there will come a turning point on your journey, and this is where it gets good. Instead of being drawn down and lost to fear (being absorbed by the story of your character), the energy changes direction. It now pulls you from up and behind. This force is called ‘shakti’ (which is the foundation of everything), meaning power or energy in Sanskrit. Once you get a taste of that, there’s really no going back. You don’t renounce the world. You still have fun playing the game of life, but become more calm, at peace and detached from outcomes. Why? You no longer need anything because you aren’t operating out of fear (which is where desire comes from). Singer says as you’re being pulled up like a vacuum, you become aware that you are not a separate being. You become merged with the whole quantum field! That is the oneness people who have trippy experiences describe. Pretty cool, right? That’s where the term yoga comes from, it means ‘merger’.

Another line Singer likes to use, “the great way is not difficult for those who have no preferences”, or as he puts it “the great way is not difficult for those who prefer everything”. There is another Latin phrase a friend of mine uses, “amor fati”, love your fate. Trust in the plan and stop making life about ‘you’ and that crazy ego maniac. Once you truly step into alignment and understand that life is about soul evolution, not about getting what you want on a superficial level, all of a sudden life becomes worth living. It may not serve to you what you want, but trust that it is necessary, and if situations keep repeating, choose a wiser path. I am not there yet but am really starting to get acute glimpses into what this feels like. Things start to fall into place. You meet people on your wavelength. You get tested in ways you would have failed at before. This is how you break the loops and patterns that were keeping you enslaved. You naturally feel the nod of what to do. A compass and as I now like to say, ‘signal’, becomes clear. It’s the one true voice that knows what’s up. People call it the higher self. It has nothing to do with the noise of the psyche. Psilocybin is a great way to get to know it. ;). Meditation also, for people of a more practical sober mind.

There is much more to say, but enjoy the ride. For me, taking the at times very difficult journey has been worth all the pain. There are some really bad days, but you stored a lot of really awful things over the years. What was stored with pain is coming back with pain. As you begin to face fear and walk through the white hot fires of your heart, on the other side is where heaven is. I am sure of it. As Christ said, “I and my Father are one”. What he was referring to was a state of consciousness that everyone with awareness can achieve. It’s the reason we’re here. Get to it!