Hands down my favorite living teacher of all things spiritual is Mickey Singer. His combination of wisdom, pragmatism and accessibility is unmatched by anybody on planet Earth.

This comes as no surprise to any of you who’ve read my stuff these past few years as I’ve written countless articles about Mickey’s teachings. I’ve also visited his Temple of the Universe in Alachua, Florida, twice and written three articles (links here, here and here) about my experiences there.

His thrice weekly talks, posted on his tou.org website, are part of my daily spiritual routine. Most mornings I listen to fifteen minutes of one of his talks and then meditate for fifteen minutes.

Mickey’s tethering talks

More so than even Eckhart Tolle and Ram Dass, Mickey’s talks have the effect of tethering me to my center, and nothing is more important than that in my book. I can’t recommend these talks highly enough.

With that, let’s get into today’s Mickey nugget. Like most brilliant and profound expressions of truth, it is short, but packs a powerful spiritual punch.

Toward the end of his December 17 talk, Mickey said:

“Become empty inside so you can become full.”

That’s it. It’s the whole ballgame.

Mickey and the spiritual endgame

Mickey said this in the context of relating what the endgame of our work is. As he stated, that endgame is “…that every moment that passes before you is better off because it did.”

What a beautiful way to describe the end product of spiritual work. But we can only reach that state when we become ‘done with ourselves.’

That’s the first half of Mickey’s quote: ‘Become empty inside…’ Most people raise their eyebrows when they read that. They think,

“Become empty!? What the hell is that? If I get rid of myself, won’t I just walk around like a zombie?”

No. That’s not what becoming empty is.

Taking the trash out

What is it? Look at emptying yourself of yourself as taking the trash out. We spend our lives accumulating egoic garbage inside. The slings and arrows of life — the slights, the insecurities, your parents divorcing, you name it — accumulate starting in childhood and continue into adulthood.

This trash builds and builds inside us unless and until we…

…Take the trash out; otherwise known as, letting go of our stuff. That trash sits inside our proverbial house, stinking up our lives, until we let it go when it comes up.

And what happens when we do take out the trash, AKA, ‘become empty inside’?

We ‘…become full.’

Full of what? Shakti, consciousness, chi, presence…All the good stuff. In fact, becoming full of this upward flowing energy is the highest state life has to offer we mortal humans.

In that state the ego no longer torments us. No more worrying, fearing, fretting, raging, gossiping, judging, comparing or doubting.

Why? Because we’ve become empty inside and are now full.

The takeaway

This is one of those quotes to print out and tape to the fridge. It’s a gentle reminder that life’s riches come to us through letting go of ourselves.

Letting go so that we can become full of the beautiful, conscious, divine energy that lies within us all.