May 7, 2026 · 50 min · 19 segments
Suffering is not caused solely by external events, but by the internal impressions we have stored from the past. Spiritual growth comes from letting go of these stored disturbances by relaxing through…
Michael SingerHost
I think one of the great misunderstandings, and the mind will always misunderstand, about surrender, about acceptance, about spirituality, is that if you surrender, if you tolerate what's going on, you will end up getting what you want.
Can I say that again? If you surrender, you struggle inside to try to accept what's going on, that there's this fairness, there's this justice, this grace, that you will be rewarded by getting what you want outside.
There's periods in your growth where you will see that, and you will someday find out that you don't need those, you don't even want those.
It is the times where you have trouble surrendering, you have trouble accepting, and you try to make it so that you're okay, that you're not growing.
'Cause what you're basically saying is, "I want things to be the way I want them to be.
And that by trying to let go of the ego, by trying to surrender, I'll get them that way." What you'll find out as you grow, as I just said, that your real growth happens when what's happening outside or inside is not tolerable to you, is not comfortable to you, and you reach a point where you can actually be conscious enough to say, "Why is this not comfortable to me?" There's just events happening outside of me, and I keep trying to teach you, and I know no one gets it, they're happening everywheres.
Not the same events, but there are events happening on every single spot on the entire planet, every single moment, aren't there? You seem to be okay with those.
I think one of the great misunderstandings, and the mind will always misunderstand, about surrender, about acceptance, about spirituality, is that if you surrender, if you tolerate what's going on, you will end up getting what you want.
Can I say that again? If you surrender, you struggle inside to try to accept what's going on, that there's this fairness, there's this justice, this grace, that you will be rewarded by getting what you want outside.
There's periods in your growth where you will see that, and you will someday find out that you don't need those, you don't even want those.
It is the times where you have trouble surrendering, you have trouble accepting, and you try to make it so that you're okay, that you're not growing.
'Cause what you're basically saying is, "I want things to be the way I want them to be.
And that by trying to let go of the ego, by trying to surrender, I'll get them that way." What you'll find out as you grow, as I just said, that your real growth happens when what's happening outside or inside is not tolerable to you, is not comfortable to you, and you reach a point where you can actually be conscious enough to say, "Why is this not comfortable to me?" There's just events happening outside of me, and I keep trying to teach you, and I know no one gets it, they're happening everywheres.
Not the same events, but there are events happening on every single spot on the entire planet, every single moment, aren't there? You seem to be okay with those.
Every episode on Radar is fully transcribed, speaker-labeled, and rich with metadata. Here is a taste of this one. Try Radar for free to see the rest.
3 of 8
The Cause Of Suffering
He explains suffering’s surprising root cause.
How Prejudice Is Formed
He traces bias back to impressions.
Why Getting What You Want Hurts
He reveals desire’s exhausting trap cycle.
+5 more clips · 6 min 40 sec of audio in all
7 of 22
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
All 8 clips — the highlight moments, each cut as its own audio, with a title and a speaker
All 19 segments — the transcript broken into labeled sections, every ad read marked
All 22 topics — jump to every other episode discussing the same subject
Every related episode — other shows Radar links to this one
No account is needed to search Radar.
