The Untethered Soul

People arrange life to shield themselves from problems to “create safety and control by defining how they need life to be in order to be okay” (71) because they are afraid of experiencing pain and discomfort. However, living in this way only creates more problems. Fear comes from blocked inner energy that weakens the heart and makes people “susceptible to lower vibrations, and one of the lowest of all vibrations is fear” (73), which causes all our problems. To alleviate this situation, Singer recommends letting go of our bad experiences or our “stuff” (74) immediately every time. When we are uncentered, it is easy to get lost in distraction and experience more fear in the “haze of […] disturbance” (76). By holding on to our experiences and creating blocks, we create a cycle of bad feelings and wrong decision-making.

Singer uses the analogy of a thorn sticking out of your body to illustrate how the problems we hold on to end up governing our whole lives. There are two choices: build a life in which the chances of the thorn being touched are minimized, or just remove the thorn. The first results in a series of never-ending decisions dedicated to avoiding pain.