The Untethered Soul (Michael A. Singer)
High in Sizzle, Low on Steak
[My 2-star Amazon review (May 23, 2013) of “The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself” by Michael A. Singer.]
“The Untethered Soul” is a protypical two-star New Age book, a formulaic, superficial text that takes bits and pieces of Hindu Advaita Vedanta and dresses them up in a heavy dose of “storyized” psycholology, while ignoring deeper philosophical and spiritual considerations. It is “packaged” for the Matrix-bound masses, those who drink at the respective (but not respected by me) fountains of Oprah and the Doctor of Drivel himself, Deepak Chopra.
Michael Singer’s essential argument can be summarized in a paragraph, but through his “storyized” psychologization, it drags on for chapters. His argument, which I agree with, is that human beings suffer because they live as the false self, or ego-‘I,’ created through mind games in their head, instead of as the True Self, the Real ‘I,’ pure Awareness rooted in the Heart. A truckload of New Age and neo-Advaita authors make the same argument that Singer does, and like Singer, they are incapable of digging beneath the surface with it.
It is obvious from all sorts of details that Singer lacks a deep understanding of the Advaita Vedanta Teaching—that of the great Indian guru Ramana Maharshi (1879-1950)—that he draws from in his book. For example, he mentions the spiritual Heart, but never identifies its location (to the right of the center of the chest) or differentiates it from the heart chakra (anahata) or describes its function. Moreover, he has little understanding of yoga philosophy. For example, he says that chi is Shakti or Spirit, and it’s not; its prana—subtle life-energy rather than spiritual Light-energy.
Finally, there is virtually nothing in this book pertaining to the nuts and bolts of the practice of Self-enquiry and the en-Lighten-ment process, which necessarily involves Kundalini, the Self’s Energetic dimension. In other words, this text is dumbed down and de-esotericized, to make it fit for mass marketing to maximize the ROI for the author, who seems to have a shady history as a businessman.
If you really want to understand “the untethered soul”—meaning Self (or Soul)-realization, then read Ramana Maharshi himself, not a pop interpreter of him like Singer. And if you want to encounter Dharmas superior to Advaita Vedanta (which doesn’t account for the Self as Siva-Shakti; only as Siva), then move on to Hindu Kashmir Shaivism, Tibetan Dzogchen, and Adi Da’s Daism.
[My 2-star Amazon review (May 23, 2013) of “The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself” by Michael A. Singer.]
“The Untethered Soul” is a protypical two-star New Age book, a formulaic, superficial text that takes bits and pieces of Hindu Advaita Vedanta and dresses them up in a heavy dose of “storyized” psycholology, while ignoring deeper philosophical and spiritual considerations. It is “packaged” for the Matrix-bound masses, those who drink at the respective (but not respected by me) fountains of Oprah and the Doctor of Drivel himself, Deepak Chopra.
Michael Singer’s essential argument can be summarized in a paragraph, but through his “storyized” psychologization, it drags on for chapters. His argument, which I agree with, is that human beings suffer because they live as the false self, or ego-‘I,’ created through mind games in their head, instead of as the True Self, the Real ‘I,’ pure Awareness rooted in the Heart. A truckload of New Age and neo-Advaita authors make the same argument that Singer does, and like Singer, they are incapable of digging beneath the surface with it.
It is obvious from all sorts of details that Singer lacks a deep understanding of the Advaita Vedanta Teaching—that of the great Indian guru Ramana Maharshi (1879-1950)—that he draws from in his book. For example, he mentions the spiritual Heart, but never identifies its location (to the right of the center of the chest) or differentiates it from the heart chakra (anahata) or describes its function. Moreover, he has little understanding of yoga philosophy. For example, he says that chi is Shakti or Spirit, and it’s not; its prana—subtle life-energy rather than spiritual Light-energy.
Finally, there is virtually nothing in this book pertaining to the nuts and bolts of the practice of Self-enquiry and the en-Lighten-ment process, which necessarily involves Kundalini, the Self’s Energetic dimension. In other words, this text is dumbed down and de-esotericized, to make it fit for mass marketing to maximize the ROI for the author, who seems to have a shady history as a businessman.
If you really want to understand “the untethered soul”—meaning Self (or Soul)-realization, then read Ramana Maharshi himself, not a pop interpreter of him like Singer. And if you want to encounter Dharmas superior to Advaita Vedanta (which doesn’t account for the Self as Siva-Shakti; only as Siva), then move on to Hindu Kashmir Shaivism, Tibetan Dzogchen, and Adi Da’s Daism.
