The Surrender Experiment Michael A. Singer

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1 June 15, 2017 The Surrender Experiment Michael A. Singer Author Michael A. Singer is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller The Untethered Soul. He had a deep inner awakening in 1971 while working on his doctorate in economics and went into seclusion to focus on yoga and meditation. He later founded the Temple of the Universe, a now long-established yoga and meditation center for people of any religion. He is also the creator of a software program that transformed the medical practice management industry. In short, he s a very interesting dude. Title, Subtitle, Front Flap, Table of Contents The Surrender Experiment is now a New York Times bestseller which follows his more widely known and #1 bestseller The Untethered Soul. This is a true-life story about what happens when you just let go. In this unusual autobiography, Singer describes his thriving spiritual community on over six hundred acres of pristine forest in Florida and how he developed a cutting-edge software package that transformed the medical industry. His two books are both New York Times bestsellers (and The Untethered Soul is one of Oprah s favorites). Singer s story culminates in a massive FBI raid that led to unfounded accusations by the U.S. government. How could all of

2 this spring from one man in the middle of the woods? The Surrender Experiment is about a radical decision that would lead him unwittingly to both the pinnacle of success and the brink of disaster. Section 1 Waking Up Singer describes his premise for the book - life rarely unfolds exactly as we want it. The fact that we are not in control of life s events should be self-evident. Each of us believes that things should go the way we want them, instead of being the natural result of all the forces of creation. This is an extremely difficult way to live, and it is the reason we are always struggling with life. The question is, does it have to be this way? It is the exploration of this intriguing question that this book is devoted. Singer says there must be another, better way to approach life. At the heart of his book is a simple question: Am I better off making up an alternate reality in my mind and then fighting with reality to make it be my way, or am I better off letting go of what I want and serving the same forces of reality that managed to create the entire perfection of the universe? Singer calls this the surrender experiment. He makes it clear that this type of surrender does not mean living life without the assertion of will. He claims that aligning one s will with the natural forces unfolding around us leads to some surprisingly powerful results. Chapter Summaries Chapter 1 Not with a Shout But with a Whisper The author says that as your interests change, your goals change. In fact, the underlying purpose of life changes. It usually takes a very powerful event to turn your head around so far that you never look back. Singer describes how he was continually bothered by that little voice talking inside his head. And it didn t take long for it to really annoy him. He wanted to quiet his mind: He tried numerous different social activities but they didn t help. His yearning for inner silence quickly became a passion. Chapter 2- Getting to Know Me Singer wanted to know why this voice was talking to him all the time. He also wondered why this voice had to tell him how he should feel. He realized there were two driving forces regarding this voice in his head. One was the desire to shut it up and the other was the pure

3 fascination and yearning to understand what that voice was and where it came from. He read book after book but found no direct reference to the voice talking inside. Chapter 3 The Pillars of Zen Help was about to arrive for Singer. A friend recommended the book Three Pillars of Zen by Philip Kapleau. Prior to this, religion had not played a role in his life. He was attracted to this book because it was about that voice in his head and passage after passage spoke about quieting the mind. His learnings from this book were very clear. It said to stop reading, talking, and thinking about his mind, and just do the work necessary to quiet it down. In other words, meditate. Singer began by following a tried-and-true method of sitting in a quiet spot, watching his breathing go out and in, and mentally repeating the sound of Mu. That s it. He started to meditate on his own with his best understanding of what Zen meditation is. Then, dramatically, he told himself that he wasn t going to quit until he reached enlightenment. Chapter 4 Absolute Silence As Singer gained experience, he drifted in and out of a deep state that went on for a prolonged period of time, perhaps hours. He heard a voice that said Do you or do you not want to know what is beyond you.? He kept getting into deeper and longer meditations. He found that when he did so, there was no voice. The amazing thing to Singer is that these deep meditations had a carry-over effect that lasted for weeks. Singer found deep peace when he allowed nothing to interrupt these elevated states. Chapter 5 From Absolute Peace to Absolute Turmoil Singer went on a camping trip with his wife and friends. He meditated in the wilderness and when he returned from the trip he knew his life had changed completely. He never wanted to leave the state of his deep meditations. But he also realized to stay in this state, he also had to persist in his doctoral studies in economics. Singer found that when he was in the real world, he yearned to get back to the inner peace he achieved while meditating. He started waking up at three in the morning to do his prolonged meditations. His new passion wasn t without consequences. One day his wife told him she was leaving. This sudden change in Singer s outer life had a profound effect on his inner life. His heart exuded pain all the time and his mind was literally broken. Daily life was either heaven (while in meditations) or in hell. In place of a married man with a defined career path, he started to envision himself as a meditator who was seeking a deeper truth.

4 Singer was also becoming a hermit. He was certain of only one thing: He was the problem and this feeling had to go. He was dead serious about changing himself but he had no idea how. Chapter 6 South of the Border A friend asked Singer if he had ever been to Mexico so he decided to go during one of his school breaks. While in Mexico, he began deep meditations twice daily. He learned that life was not as fragile as that voice in his head would lead him to believe. He began seeing all of his life experiences as a gift rather than as problems. Chapter 7 Disconnecting the Panic Button A series of events left an indelible impression on Singer s mind. He decided not to let that scared person (himself) run his life. As a result, the pain and turmoil within him began to subside but the yearning for absolute peace and silence continued to burn. Singer learned that one of life s greatest lessons is the joy of helping people. Was it possible that life had more to give us than we could ever take for ourselves? Chapter 8 Unexpected Inspiration Soon Singer realized that the probability of finishing his doctoral degree was rapidly decreasing even though he only had a few courses left. Nothing was left in him that wanted to be an economics professor. Meditations were all he cared about. He came to a crossroads on one particular exam. He hadn t really attended the course and still had to turn in a final paper. Singer just let inspiration flow into this paper. He knew exactly what to write. The inspiration for the entire paper came all at once, and then his mind digested it and gave it form. He now clearly saw the difference between creative inspiration and logical thought. It came spontaneously and with no effort or commotion. Singer wondered if there was a way to tap into this brilliance on a regular basis. Chapter 9 The Promised Land This yearning to go deeper kept increasing on a daily basis. Singer had already committed so much of himself to exploring what was beyond him he now decided to commit everything. Chapter 10 Building a Sacred Hut With a friend, Singer decided to build a hut on some land he purchased with the remainder of his college fund. In the process, his string of amazing experiences continued and it really started to blow him away. A great spiritual teacher once told him Every day bite off more than you can chew, and chew it. He finally finished building the house and his new work was to begin.

5 Chapter 11 Get Thee to a Monastery After the completion of his house, he got a gift from the invisible hand that had taken over his life. That s what he called it back then the invisible hand. He realized that his house was his temple, his monastery, and he vowed to use it well. Singer s intention was to give up everything that pulled his attention outward so he could more fully focus on the deeper inner states. However, the noisy, demanding personal part of himself didn t go away. Chapter 12 When the Discipline is Ready, the Master Appears One day a friend of Singer s gave him a book called Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda who was a holy man from India. He couldn t put the book down - he had found his teacher. If you recall, Singer claimed that the word God was not part of his everyday life. His study of Zen taught Singer how Buddha passed through absolute stillness and peace on his way to nirvana. He had also heard that Christ said that the Kingdom is within you, and was also aware that the Bible talked about a peace beyond all understanding. It dawned on him that Spirit might be another word for this inner energy flow that he received from his meditations. This book changed how he was to view everything that had been happening to him. God was no longer just a word; it represented where Singer wanted to go. He signed up for lessons on how to be a guru and put them into regular practice. He also decided to read the Bible and thought its teachings were completely in line with what he was experiencing. Singer realized he couldn t walk this path alone. He needed some help. Section 2 The Great Experiment Begins Chapter 13 The Experiment of a Lifetime Singer described how he could sit for hours with complete peace and a beautiful flow of energy but he still couldn t break through to where he wanted to go. The first thing he noticed was that most of his mental energy revolved around likes and dislikes. He decided to just stop listening to all the chatter about his personal preferences and start accepting the flow of what life was presenting to him. He clearly remembers deciding that if life was unfolding in a certain way, he wouldn t resist it because of personal preferences. He called this the surrender experiment. Chapter 14 Life Takes Charge In this chapter, Singer tells how one of his good friends and mentor, Dr. Goffman, asked him to tutor a prospective new president of a community college who needed a PhD in order to accept

6 the position. Against his better judgement, Singer said Yes, I would be glad to help out. I will tutor him. Singer realized he was no longer in charge of his life. Chapter 15 The Prince and the Pauper As part of the tutoring process, Singer had to take the PhD exam himself. One part of the test was on public finance, a field which he hadn t studied. What ended up happening changed the rest of his life. He reread the textbook on the subject but knew it wasn t near the immersion he needed to pass the exam. He decided to surrender and just let the flow of events take their course (he was fully prepared to fail). Three of the questions on the exam were from the exact place in the textbook that he arbitrarily opened the day before. Singer realized through this experience that life was asking him to get out of the way. Chapter 16 Following the Invisible Hand into the Unknown After passing the exam, all that was left was for Singer to write a dissertation. Something he knew would never happen. His meditations and yoga were his entire life. He could see the practice of surrender was actually done in two distinct steps. First, you let go of the personal reactions of like and dislike that form inside your mind and, second, you simply look to see what situation is unfolding in front of you. Singer says this is the clearest way he can explain his surrender experiment. Chapter 17 My First Job Interview Singer had another flow of events. Life told him to go to California over summer break to refine his yoga skills. He then interviewed for a teaching position at the local community college. Life was unfolding by itself. Singer had a dream about being in a cave and there was a flooding light coming into the cave but his exit was blocked. This dream was a foreshadowing of events to come he had to find another way out of the cave (apart from yoga and meditation). Chapter 18 Letting Go of the Rope He awoke from that dream a changed person. Singer knew that more and more discipline would not take him to where he desperately wanted go. He had been trampling down his personal self in the search of freeing his mind from the voice. Once he decided to bring out his inner self rather than suppressing it, he realized there was another way. He learned to surrender to life s flow even though he didn t understand where it was taking him. Singer didn t quit his yoga and meditation because he realized they weren t the problem he was. He knew it would take some time to come to peace with himself but was anxious to return from his summer trip to the solitude of his home in the woods. Singer needed to figure some things out.

7 Chapter 19 Acceptance, Acceptance, and More Acceptance Singer decided to build another cabin for a friend on his property. It was during this process that he started offering up his work to the invisible force that was guiding him. He didn t know it at the time, but doing this laid the groundwork for the next phase of his spiritual journey: becoming a teacher. He started teaching at the community college and instead of laying out elaborate lesson plans, he decided to let the flow take charge of his classes. He even published his first book. If he had not followed this flow of life and listened to his own preferences, Singer would not have become a carpenter, a teacher and a published author. None of these destinations were decided by him. They were a result of letting go. He was becoming surrounded by a life that had been built for him and not by him. Chapter 20 The Most Important Thing I Was Ever Asked to Do Singer was invited by a friend to visit inmates at a maximum-security prison. This turned into a lifetime passion during which he realized the value of serving others. Until this experience, his whole being was about self-realization and meditation. Fortunately, life knew better, and started to guide him away from himself through service to others. Section 3 From Solitude to Service Chapter 21 The Call of a Living Master Through a series of coincidences, Singer decided to invite a holy man from India, Baba, to his retreat near Gainesville, Florida. He didn t think this special guru would agree but he did. Again, the experiences of life showed Singer that unfolding events often lead to special relationships. Chapter 22 Shaktipat The visit from the holy man showed Singer once and for all that surrendering to the flow of life was no longer something that he gave in to but something that completely took over his life. Chapter 23 Gainesville Hosts a Guru When the guru visited, Singer learned that his ex-brother-in-law was president of the guru s operation in North America. Since he split with his former wife, Singer s life had changed completely so apparently had his lost relative s. Chapter 24 The Temple Is Built

8 Baba came into town and changed Singer s life from one of solitude to one of service. At this point, the number of tasks life was giving him was out of control but he was surrendering to it. A new way of life soon unfolded with the visit of another guru, Mataji who began the process of turning Singer s cabin in the woods into a spiritual center. He did this by constructing a temple on the property. It was to be universal in its appeal, embrace all religions and be of the universe itself. Thus, it came to be called Temple of the Universe. Chapter 25 Opening the Heart Chakra The temple quickly turned into a destination for the people into yoga and the New Age movement. Yet another Indian visitor guided Singer in life s flow, Amrit Desai. The simple touch of Amrit s hand had permanently opened Singer s heart chakra. Amrit encouraged people to come to Singer s Temple for daily meditations (without discussing it with Singer). Once again, life was not asking Singer, it was telling him. Every single Sunday for over thirty-five years, seventy to eighty people found their way to Singer s temple in the middle of the woods. He never advertised or even had signs. People just found their way. Chapter 26 Get Thee to an Ashram Singer s temple address and phone number were now everywhere in the New Age community. He formed a relationship with Donna at the temple who later became his wife. They visited a spiritual community during their wedding trip and it now appeared they were destined to live in a spiritual community as well. Section 4 The Business of Surrender Chapter 27 A Company is Born A local deputy toured Singer s compound and was intrigued by the construction of his Temple. The deputy asked Singer to remodel his home. That job, completely unasked for and unexpected, became the start of his construction company, Built with Love. Word got around and Singer was asked to do more and more construction jobs. Just as retreats taught him to serve, so doing home improvements became part of his spiritual practices. Singer realized that whatever he was doing had one thing in common: they had all been given to him by surrendering to life s incomprehensible flow.

9 Chapter 28 - The Master Builder With his construction company s success, Singer now had to deal with the money that was coming in. He used the money from one of his construction jobs to purchase his neighbor s property in the name of the Temple. It was an occurrence that was to be repeated several times in the future. Chapter 29 Community Banking This is another chapter on life s flow. Singer tells how a community banker made him a loan to fund his construction company. He later returned the favor when he loaned the banker money to start a video store. Chapter 30 The Ever-Expanding Temple of the Universe Singer describes how his business practices continually changed. His construction company taught him how to run a small business properly and he brought the same discipline to running the Temple. It also seemed that Built with Love kept earning just enough money to allow Singer to purchase bordering properties as they came up for sale. Surrendering to the Universal Flow taught him how to keep regular spiritual practices while working in the world. It also taught him how to build and run a successful company that would support his ever-expanding spiritual work. He was being taught how to serve others by sponsoring statewide retreats for leading spiritual figures and by providing a home for what grew to a dozen or so very spiritual seekers. Chapter 31 Metamorphosis of a Creature Another aspect of Singer s life that was teaching him about surrender was his prison work. The men at the maximum-security prison were particularly open to his teachings since it was all about their inner freedom. The walls could hold their bodies but nothing could imprison their souls. Section 5 Something Priceless is Born Chapter 32 From the Personal Self to the Personal Computer In this chapter, the author tells how he wound up running a $300-million-a-year computer software company, with twenty-three hundred people reporting to him. He happened into a Radio Shack store and purchased one of the first personal computers on the market. From the first time he touched the machine, he had an inner calling from the deepest recesses of his

10 being. Of course, he just surrendered to what was happening and was keenly aware that something very special was going on. To his surprise, several people came to him to write code for their computers as Singer became more and more proficient at programming. As with everything else, he decided to follow the flow and started a company called Personal Programming. Soon he had more requests than he could handle so he became a dealer for one of the top accounting software packages (he didn t have to write as much of the code himself). In his new company, his formula for success was very simple: Do whatever is put in front of you with all your heart and soul without regard for personal results. Chapter 33 The Birth of the Medical Manager When Singer started developing full system solutions for his clients, Personal Programming took off. Through all of this, he hardly changed his lifestyle. The money the businesses were earning got donated to the Temple to support land purchases and in serving the community. Then he got a call that would transform his life yet again. A couple of doctors were looking for a medical billing system. What they wanted was the ability to do patient and insurance billing using a personal computer. Singer didn t want to take on the assignment but took a deep breath and told the doctors he would do his best. Little did Singer know that this was the start of a journey to computerize the medical industry that would span almost three decades. The new product, The Medical Manager, took almost two years to develop and during that time he never thought of expanding it beyond the doctors he was working for. Turns out, Singer was destined to manage hundreds of highly skilled software developers working for thousands of customers. Chapter 34 The Early Programmers Singer accepted the medical project as the next task given to him by the flow of life. Two employees showed up just when he needed them. Barbara appeared when Singer needed help with managing the programming business and Radha took responsibility for all the accounting and office management for the businesses and the Temple. The software was launched and Singer never thought about what would happen after those sites were installed. The program s destiny after the initial installations would have to unfold completely on its own. Chapter 35 Preparing for Launch Singer found a software distributor who just happened by at the exact moment when needed. They entered into a distribution agreement and the software program now had the infrastructure for growth.

11 Section 6 The Forces of Natural Growth Chapter 36 Foundations of a Successful Business The product was branded The Medical Manager and was launched at a Las Vegas trade show. The market was ripe for medical billing software and there was tremendous interest at the show. Soon thereafter, orders flowed in and Singer s team became legendary for their ability to rapidly design software. The spiritual growth that came from the business was also very deep. Singer did not become a traditional businessman but remained a person whose spiritual path surrendered to the flow of life. The product and the company took another leap when the software was connected to the billing programs of major insurance companies. Again, another person just happened to show up who made this leap possible. Chapter 37 The Industry Knocks on Our Door The next phase in the company s miraculous growth happened when Blue Cross Blue Shield of New York City wanted to drop its system and market The Medical Manager under a private label. Soon thereafter, all the other Blue Cross Blue Shields ended up marketing the software. The right people just kept showing up at the right time. Chapter 38 The Temple Keeps Growing Singer s yoga and meditations were essential as the demands for running the organization increased. Many changes were taking place that brought about challenging situations. Singer learned to sit quietly and wait to see what constructive action was being asked of him. Section 7 When Dark Clouds Become Rainbows Chapter 39 A Touch of Magic Both the business and the Temple went through natural stages of growth. Singer always hoped for a steady state but that was never to happen. The crazy growth continued. Over the years, the Temple would end up with an enormous amount of property, and each purchase along the way seemed to have something magical about it.

12 Chapter 40 The Scary Messenger of Change The next level of change happened when the company had to grow to more than three hundred employees to keep up with demand. This had the effect of permanently freeing Singer from an entire layer of his personal mind. A zoning inspector surprisingly showed up at the Temple and said the business didn t have a permit to operate in that location. He coincidentally received a call from a neighbor who had a beautiful 85-acre property which Singer was able to buy and get zoned for business use. Singer moved his programming company to a new building on this land. Eventually, the company would end up with five buildings and more than 85,000 square feet of high-tech office space. Chapter 41 The Foundation is Built for the Future Personalized Programming s growth was astonishing and with it came all the problems associated with a rapidly growing company. Another key employee, Tim, happened to show up just when Singer needed a major rewrite on the software package. It took nearly five years to release the new product but it would keep the company competitive for many years to come. Chapter 42 Meanwhile Back at the Ranch One of Singer s spiritual guru s, Amrit, got into some problems with his followers. Singer said that he learned a lot about surrender by being with Amrit during this ordeal. What he saw was that no matter who we are, life is going to put us through the changes we need to go through. The question is: Are we willing to use this force in our transformation? Section 8 Embracing Explosive Expansion Chapter 43 The Medical Manager Sprouts Wings Dramatic changes were on the horizon in the medical industry. The distributor of his software worked on a plan to consolidate all of the dealers selling the product. To make this happen, the distributor needed to buy Personalized Programming, which Singer was very uncomfortable doing. This became just like all the previous times when Singer had to put away his strong personal preferences and surrender to the idea. Chapter 44 Medical Manager Corporation MMGR When the smoke cleared, Singer became the CEO of the combined companies which would trade on NASDAQ under the symbol MMGR. Singer had given everything up but it kept coming back tenfold. It wasn t the money that moved him; it was the invisible hand of life that blew him away.

13 Chapter 45 Becoming CEO Yet another key employee turned up at just the right moment, Sabrina. She was the person Singer turned to for executive help when he became CEO. His first major initiative was to sit down with Sabrina and get their 100,000+ doctors fully up on electronic claims. Chapter 46 The Internet and Health Care The author saw time and again how what appeared to be a problem turned out to be a guiding force for change. That was certainly the case as the internet was about to change the medical industry. Events continued to unfold and Singer found himself flying on a personal jet to meet, Marty, who wanted to purchase MMGR to compete with the new landscape of internet companies like WebMD. Chapter 47 Merging But Not with the Universe After the merger, Singer found himself the head of an entire team of world-class executives. The question before them: Would they have enough time to build out a highly, sophisticated web offering before WebMD attracted too much of the available funding? During this tumultuous time, WebMD happened to acquire the clearinghouse through which Singer s company was channeling all of its clients hundreds of millions of claims a year. Chapter 48 Building Rome in a Day In order to save the company, it was decided to try and negotiate a merger with WebMD. The deal was consummated but the joy was short-lived as the internet bubble began to burst just weeks after the announcement. The new task was how to save the combined company. Singer found himself part of a team of executives who, instead of complaining, simply rolled up their sleeves and tackled this monumental project. When everyone on the team tapped their inner strength, Singer was in awe of what could be accomplished. Singer and team ended up owning three more companies WebMD, Healtheon and Envoy. Chapter 49 Hanging Out in Washington As the team put the companies together and turned around its fortunes, Singer realized that the more challenges life put before him, the less his inner energy flow was affected by outside conditions. As long as he made getting rid of himself his only goal, every new situation was a fruitful experience.

14 Section 9 Total Surrender Chapter 50 The Raid Singer got an emergency call and was informed that more that 50 FBI agents were raiding his company. He had no idea of what was going on so he did the only thing he knew how to do surrender. Chapter 51 Attorneys, Attorneys, and More Attorneys The raid and his legal situation made the headlines in the Wall Street Journal and the local paper in Gainesville. Singer knew that he didn t do anything wrong so he decided to use these events to free himself from whatever was left of that scared person inside him. The attorneys explained to him that it didn t matter if he were as clean as a whistle, a raid of this magnitude foreshadowed major problems. The government confiscated most of his records. He and his attorneys speculated the FBI was trying to build a case on one of Singer s former employees, Bobby, who took bribes when they were consolidating the software vendors (Singer had no part in this scheme but the government was pursuing him nonetheless). Chapter 52 United States of America v. Michael A. Singer As the government investigators worked their way through the documents and interviewed people in the company, they would eventually realize that the employee, Bobby, who was at the heart of the case, was the only one who had done anything wrong. However, Singer was one of the chief targets of the investigation. Bobby had managed to get the government on his side by claiming whistle-blower status. As a result, Singer had to submit his letter of resignation and he went back to the Temple while the investigation proceeded. In 2005, Singer received notification that he and nine others were under arrest. The summons read United States of America v. Michael A. Singer. Chapter 53 Preparing a Defense Singer was floored when he first read the indictment. The government presented in the strongest possible terms how Singer and the others colluded in the bribery. The government and the prosecutor has been duped by Bobby. Singer was about to embark on a very personal tour of the American justice system. The further the defense team got into reviewing the government s charges, the more it became obvious that no one except Bobby and his group had done anything wrong.

15 Chapter 54 The Constitution and the Bill of Rights Once Singer and his defense team had access to the disclosure materials, they could prepare a defense. The attorneys used the Constitution to force the prosecutors to specify exactly which dealer acquisitions and which accounting entries were going to be presented at trial. Over the next few years, it became painfully obvious to Singer that only a single piece of paper stood between him and the abyss. That piece of paper was the U.S. Constitution. Behind all of this was the realization that somehow Bobby had managed to find a way to make Singer and his team criminally responsible. Little by little, they unraveled the convoluted mess Bobby had created. It had been four years since the raid, and things were finally beginning to look up. Chapter 55 Divine Intervention Motion by motion, Singer and his defense team challenged the relevance and/or trustworthiness of what the government intended to present to the jury. Then, as suddenly as the whole nightmare had begun it was over. The government agreed to drop all charges against Singer. The judge in the case pointed out that the pretrial defense cost more than $190 million. It had been more than seven years since Bobby had walked into the U.S. Attorney s office and begun telling his lies. Chapter 56 Returning to the Beginning Singer sums up his experiences as giving in to the Universal Flow. Each twist and turn had reached deep inside him and forced Singer past his personal boundaries. He came out on the other side a transformed person. When life s way becomes your way, all the noise stops, and there is a great peace. Kenyon is a former CEO who started his consulting practice after founding several companies and doing turnaround work at a marketing services company. He works with business owners who are disappointed with stalled or inconsistent growth. He is a certified Gazelles coach, a certified Value Builder coach and a certified Topgrading coach. Kenyon works with many different organizations including the Entrepreneurs Organization (EO) and the Young Presidents Organization (YPO). He has an M.B.A. and B.A. from the University of Kansas and is on the board of directors for Catalyst Marketing in Rochester, New York.