Three Essays on Universal Law
The Laws of Karma, Will, and Love
This is our third Note on one of Michael Singer's books. Michael Singer is one of my new, favorite spiritual teachers. The book has a chapter-essay on each of his three Laws: The Law of Karma, The Law of Will, and The Law of Love. It’s packed with Big Ideas and I’m excited to explore a handful of my favorites, so let’s jump straight in!
Big Ideas
- The Law of Cause and Effect (aka Karma)Aka, The Law of Cause and Effect.
- The Law of WillBe proactive. Stimulus... response.
- How to Develop Will powerHow to build it.
- Building Solid FoundationsPut them in place, Hero!
- The Law of LoveStart with yourself then expand.
“Just because the state of enlightenment lies beyond the mind does not mean that the mind should be viewed as a hindrance on the Path. The true aspirant fully uses his body, emotions, and mind in order to help him toward his Goal. The lower aspects of man are only a barrier when they are allowed to work for their own, habit-formed desires. They become the aspirant’s dearest friend when they are employed in spiritual pursuits.
It is in this spirit that the current work, Three Essays on Universal Law, has been written... The reader who studies these Laws with one eye focused on the pages and the other eye focused within himself will gradually notice a framework emerging around which he can structure the seemingly unconnected events of his life. Each reader is invited to study these Higher Laws with the same intellectual skepticism which is characteristic of non-spiritual, academic studies. Nothing in these pages should be blindly accepted. Since the three Laws presented in this work play a major role in governing our everyday lives, if they are Truth, they should be able to stand the test of daily observation in the Laboratory of Life. The greatest end which this work can serve is to stimulate us to turn our intellects, now overburdened with solving life’s problems, toward solving the mysteries of life itself.”
~ Michael A. Singer from Three Essays on Universal Law
Michael Singer is one of my new, favorite spiritual teachers.
After reading The Untethered Soul and Living Untethered, I decided to take a deeper dive into his work. I went to Amazon to see what else he’s written. I found this book and another one that he wrote nearly 50 years ago. It’s fantastic. (Get a copy here.)
The book has a chapter-essay on each of his three Laws: The Law of Karma, The Law of Will, and The Law of Love.
It’s packed with Big Ideas and I’m excited to explore a handful of my favorites, so let’s jump straight in!
Quick note: In his acknowledgments, Singer gives “heartfelt recognition to Paramahansa Yogananda for his unending flow of inspiration. The wisdom of this great Teacher forms the guidance behind all my constructive thoughts and actions.”
After reading *that,* I got a bunch of Yogananda’s books. Check out our Notes on The Law of Success, How to Be a Success, Living Fearlessly and To Be Victorious in Life for some of his powerful practical spirituality.
Download MP3
Download PDFKarma, Will, and Love—three Universal Laws governing the process of evolution. Three stepping-stones aiding us on our Path to the Infinite.
Get the BookThe Law of Cause and Effect (aka Karma)
“We merely ‘step back’ and view our everyday experiences from the soul’s point of view, that of the ‘Objective Observer.’
Once attaining this ‘Witness’ perspective of life, a definite meaning comes into focus. For example, when we walk up and touch a hot stove the body gets burned, and thus, we learn ‘a lesson.’ Or if we stay up too long without sleep the body gets sick, and, again, we have been taught ‘a lesson.’ This holds true for staying out in the rain, eating the wrong kinds of food, staying too long underwater, and so on. By means of the Law of Cause and Effect, which will invariably repeat itself given the same conditions, we learn many ‘lessons’ concerning the care of the body. For there are certain activities which are in balance with the use of our bodily tool, while others are not. Imagine for a moment that there was no one to tell us about proper care of the body. Still, we shall, by way of experience (i.e., Cause and Effect), soon learn the do’s and don’ts involved. The Law of Cause and Effect is actually teaching us something—how to come into balance with the physical plane. If we are slow to learn, no matter, for the law operates every time we transgress it. Sooner or later we will learn how to escape the negative effects and pursue the positive ones.”
Right after I typed that passage out, my 1,000-second timer went off.
As you know if you’ve been following along, that’s the prompt/trigger/cue for me to get up and, if it’s my AM1 Deep Work block (which it is as I type this), bang out a set of 11 burpees.
So, that’s what I did.
As I hammered out the 11 burpees I thought about WHY I do them.
It’s simple.
I KNOW (with ZERO doubt!) that I feel more Energized when I go to bed early, spend 9-10 hours in bed, meditate, do my burpees, and hit the other 30+ Energy Targets I set up in my Big 3 protocol in the Heroic app.
And, I REALLY like feeling REALLY Energized so I can show up as my best, most Heroic Self in service to YOU and to our Mission so...
It’s easy for me to do the right thing. All day every day.
Except, of course, when I don’t. (Hah!)
Alas, I’m still human and, tragically, I will not be the first perfect human being ;) and there are plenty of times when I’m lazy and the little demon takes over (pushing my Daimon aside!) and I do things that I know aren’t optimal which leads to feeling *less* than Heroically Energized.
Then I step back half an inch, let my Daimon view the situation from “the soul’s point of view” (aka the “Objective Observer,” aka the “Witness”) and MAKE THE CONNECTION between doing X and experiencing Y.
I shine a spotlight on what needs work, remind myself of what works when I do it and then take a hammer to the construction project that is my life as I strengthen the habits that help me stay plugged in and weaken the habits that don’t.
THAT’s the Law of Cause and Effect in action.
In short: If we do THIS, then we experience THAT.
That’s also one of THE most important things Alexandra and I are trying to teach our kids. We want them to have the Wisdom to MAKE THE CONNECTION between eating sugar and getting sick, between not exercising or sleeping well and feeling tired and cranky. And, of course, we want them to FEEL the joy of doing the little things that they KNOW help them feel GREAT.
The Law of Cause and Effect can also be called The Law of Karma. Same thing.
All the great teachers have talked about it.
Jesus tells us you can’t pick grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles.
And, as we discuss in our Notes on his Selected Writings, Emerson wrote an essay about it called “Compensation.”
He tells us: “Cause and effect, means and ends, seed and fruit, cannot be severed; for the effect already blooms in the cause, the end preexists in the means, the fruit in the seed.”
Call it whatever you want: The Law of Karma. The Law of Cause and Effect. It’s real.
MAKE THE CONNECTION between the thoughts and behaviors that help you create the life you want and the thoughts and behaviors that do the opposite. Then cultivate your structural, reactive and expansive disciplines as you use your willpower wisely to install the habits that will run on autopilot via empowering algorithms. TODAY.
P.S. Michelle Segar talks about the scientific power of what I call “making the connection” in her great book No Sweat. She tells us that people who succeed in consistently engaging in healthy behaviors like eating well, moving their bodies and getting good sleep have CONCRETE goals rather than abstract goals. They’re not (predominantly) doing these things so they can “live longer” or “lose weight.” They’re doing them because they FEEL BETTER NOW.
She calls that “The Right Why.” Again: MAKE THE CONNECTION. And change your life. TODAY.
The scientist’s religious feeling takes the form of rapturous amazement at the harmony of natural law, which reveals an intelligence of such superiority that, compared with it, all the systematic thinking and acting of human beings is an utterly insignificant reflection.
It All Happens For the Highest Good. Every event contributes to the balance of the system as a whole. So remember the Law of Karma, for it has been written: ‘As you sow, so then shall you reap.’
The Law of Will
“Regardless of which of these modern views on the impulse behind human behavior is endorsed, however, there is one thing of which we can all be certain—each man [and woman] is endowed with a special inner force which potentially allows him total control over his speech, actions, emotions, and thoughts.
We all know that just prior to opening our mouths to speak or moving our bodies to act, there is a brief moment during which we could decide whether or not to allow the action to take place. Most of the time, however, we let this very important moment pass and allow speech and actions to flow automatically. In essence, we allow ourselves to react instinctively to the various stimuli of our outer and inner environments. Nevertheless, at least some of the time we do take advantage of that split second available for rational, reason-guided decision making. When we do this, and then consciously follow the results of this inner decision process, we say we are exercising our own ‘will.’ This act of will is obviously in drastic contrast to the stimulus-response mechanism allowed to operate whenever permitting that moment available for inner reflection to pass by.
So we see that will power is an inner force which allows us consciously to take the reins during any given situation, rather than permitting the situation to lead us. It is will power which separates man from all of the merely mechanical conditioned response mechanisms. Will is the force which can intercede during the lag between stimulus and response, and make it so that any response can manifest, depending upon the desires of the conscious entity exercising the will. So will is seen to be a very important concept. It is a force which stands in direct opposition to any of the modern theories which attempt to explain human behavior solely on the basis of causative stimuli.”
That passage is from the chapter-essay on The Law of Will.
First, we establish the Law of Cause and Effect. Again: IF we do this, THEN we experience that. With that Wisdom in mind, it’s time to put The Law of Will into action so we can more and more consistently DO THE THINGS that lead to the type of results we want to see more of!
As I mentioned, Yogananda was one of Michael Singer’s deepest influences. A quote from him is featured at the beginning of this chapter. Yogananda comes back to the “dynamo” power of will RELENTLESSLY in all of his books.
Here’s one example from The Law of Success: “A ‘wish’ is desire without energy. After a wish may come ‘intention’—the plan to do a thing, to fulfill a wish or desire. But ‘will’ means: ‘I act until I get my wish.’ When you exercise your will power you release the power of life energy—not when you merely wish passively to be able to attain your objective.”
Of course, EVERY GREAT teacher says the same basic thing in their own way.
That’s why it’s a LAW. In fact, the Law of Will is Habit #1 of Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Want to be highly effective? Perfect. Exercise your will by being PROACTIVE.
Covey tells us: “Look at the word responsibility—’response-ability’—the ability to choose your response. Highly proactive people recognize that responsibility. They do not blame circumstances, conditions, or conditioning for their behavior. Their behavior is a product of their own conscious choice, based on values, rather than a product of their conditions, based on feeling.”
And, I think of Viktor Frankl any time I see the phrase “the lag between stimulus and response.” In Man’s Search for Meaning, he tells us: “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”
The Law of Will. Let’s follow it Today, Hero.
Every outward manifestation is the result of will... The dynamo of all your powers is volition, or will power. Without volition you cannot walk, talk, work, or feel. Therefore, will power is the spring of all your actions.
How to Develop Will power
“The development of will power is a gradual, natural process. The important point to be remembered is that will is developed by exercising it. Each and every time we take advantage of that split second between stimulus and response, we are laying the pattern for successive applications of will to come more easily. Soon we get into the good habit of never acting without first tuning in to the rational guidance from within. And practices which quiet the mind, such as daily meditation, make it so that instead of a split second lull between stimulus and habit-formed response, we have a much longer period. We eventually get to the point where we are always acting from this ‘Conscious Center’—while observing external conditions, while taking the time to apply our reason, as well as while actually responding to the situation itself. Once we reach this state we finally become ‘conscious beings.’ No longer are we merely automatons whose every physical, emotional, and mental activity is run by habit.”
How do we develop will power?
If Emerson and Eleanor were here, they’d reply: “You develop will power the same way you get good at anything. You PRACTICE it.”
To which I would have a proud-Dad moment and say, “EXACTLY.”
If we want to get good at ANYTHING (!!!), we simply need to practice it. Over and over and over again and again and again.
As Singer tells us: There are no wasted reps.
EVERY (!) SINGLE (!!) TIME (!!!) we choose to exercise our will by stepping in between our old, habit-formed response and CHOOSE a new, more empowered response, we’re rewiring our brains and making it more likely our new and optimized behavior becomes the default habit-formed response.
Again: We need to use our WILLpower wisely to install habits that run on autopilot so doing the best thing becomes our default.
As Seneca says in one of my favorite old-school quips: “You have to persevere and fortify your pertinacity until the will to good becomes a disposition to good.”
(btw: One of our big Heroic investors referenced that quote from Seneca in his note on why he was investing in Heroic—so he could help create a world in which more and more of us do that!)
Seneca also tells us: “How much better to pursue a straight course and eventually reach that destination where the things that are pleasant and the things that are honorable finally become, for you, the same.”
When I think of staying centered, I think of Marcus Aurelius and Morihei Ueshiba.
In Meditations, Aurelius tells us: “When force of circumstance upsets your equanimity, lose no time in recovering your self-control, and do not remain out of tune longer than you can help. Habitual recurrence to the harmony will increase your mastery of it.”
I call that The Equanimity Game. Great way to get our reps in!
Morihei Ueshiba was one of the greatest (literal and spiritual) warriors in history. He created the martial art Aikido. In The Art of Connection, Michael Gelb tells a story about how remarkably “centered” he was as he practiced his martial art. One of his students proclaimed: “‘Your techniques are perfect! You never make any mistakes. You never lose your center!’ O-Sensei replied, ‘I lose my center frequently. I just find it again so quickly that you can’t see it.’”
← THAT, my friends, is the equanimity game.
We should never let a moment of our lives pass where we are not in complete awareness of, and have potential control over, all of the lower aspects of our being.
Building Solid Foundations
“It should be emphasized that this state can be reached only by building our will force on a day-to-day basis. ‘Spiritual aids’ such as hypnosis and drugs cannot permanently raise us to a higher center of consciousness. It is true that sometimes they can jolt us into a higher center on a temporary basis, but the moment external conditions get heavy, we fall right back down. This is because we did not build our growth on a solid foundation. Once the will force is developed, however, it is then available under all conditions throughout life.
Thus, the development of a strong, reason-guided will is an essential requisite for permanently attaining higher states of consciousness. We should never let a moment of our lives pass where we are not in complete awareness of, and have potential control over, all of the lower aspects of our being.”
That’s a REALLY Big Idea.
We talk about this A LOT with my incessant refrain to “Dominate the Fundamentals!” in our Mastery Series as I encourage us to create a strong foundation on which to architect our lives.
As I read that passage, I wrote down “Ken Wilber: States/Stages.” Check out our Notes on Ken Wilber and this +1 on States vs. Traits: How to Quit Being a Cannonball for more.
For now, know this: It’s one thing to “get shot out of a cannon” and feel the ecstatic highs of a weekend workshop (or a drug trip!) and it’s an ENTIRELY DIFFERENT thing to systematically cultivate our will such that we can PERMANENTLY raise up to a higher center of consciousness.
Morihei Ueshiba has some wisdom on this subject as well. He tells us: “Progress comes | To those who | Train and train; | Reliance on secret techniques | Will get you nowhere.”
There’s only ONE WAY to fundamentally and permanently change our lives. We need to do the HARD WORK to move from Theory to Practice to Mastery TODAY.
Singer’s comment about never letting a MOMENT (!) of our lives pass without practicing reminds me of parallel wisdom from another Aikido master, George Leonard.
Here’s how he puts it in Mastery: “Could all of us reclaim lost hours of our lives by making everything—the commonplace along with the extraordinary—a part of our practice?”
Back to Ueshiba: “Iron is full of impurities that weaken it; through forging, it becomes steel and is transformed into a razor-sharp sword. Human beings develop in the same fashion.”
And: “One does not need buildings, money, power, or status to practice the Art of Peace. Heaven is right where you are standing, and this is the place to train.”
Once devotion (Bhakti) is developed, the aspirant then can surrender himself fully to the Infinite and be assured he will be evolving on the most rapid Path to Enlightenment.
The Law of Love
“Love is Unconditional. A second important quality of the love force is that pure love is unconditional. If our feelings toward another person in any way are dependent upon certain behavior on their part, then this is ego-love. It is a love based upon expectations, and expectations are generated by our own concept of what would be most pleasing to us. Thus, it is an ‘I love you for what you can do for me,’ and not a pure ‘I love you.’ It should be obvious at this point that a relationship based upon expectational love cannot generate the levels of soul gratification that can be attained in pure love relationships.”
Unconditional love.
← What a wonderful ideal—and what a distant star at times!
As Ram Dass puts it: “If you think you are so enlightened, go and spend a week with your parents.”Of course, Ram Dass didn’t have a wife or raise kids but if he did, he would have known you can add them to the list. (Can I get an Amen, folks?! Hah! :)
Leo Buscaglia echoes this wisdom on attached/expectational love vis-a-vis what he calls “real love” in his great little book appropriately called Love. He tells us: “As soon as the love relationship does not lead me to me, as soon as I in a love relationship do not lead another person to himself, this love, even if it seems to be the most secure and ecstatic attachment I have ever experienced, is not true love. For real love is dedicated to continual becoming.”
Now... All that’s nice and warm and aspirationally fuzzy, right? It begs the question: HOW do we cultivate this beautiful love? Well, Buscaglia and Singer have wisdom on that, too.
Buscaglia tells us: “When you love yourself, you will love others. And to the depth and extent to which you can love yourself, only to that depth and extent will you be able to love others.”
Ultimately, Singer has the best pathway to cultivate the deepest love we can for those in our lives. He tells us: “So it becomes evident that the surest way to improve our relations with other people is to first improve our relations with our self.”
Amen. Here’s to embracing The Law of Karma and The Law of Will so we can fully activate our Soul Force and give the world all the Love we’ve got! Not someday.... TODAY.
True love is unconquerable and irresistible, and it goes on gathering power and spreading itself until eventually it transforms everyone whom it touches.
About the author
