The Surrender Experiment – By Michael A. Singer

Rating: 4/5

The Hits:

A student of economics,

A boy in search of himself, or rather – getting rid of himself

A builder

A yogi living in the woods

A programmer

A CEO

An author 

The above descriptions summarize the various characters portrayed in this book. The roles these contrasting characters play and how their lives intermingle, make it an exciting read. Oh, but wait - all these are one person! As astounding as it may sound, this is the first-hand account of the life of a simple grad student, of economics, going about his everyday life. But one fine day, one little conversation, and a seed for ‘surrender to life’ is pitched. As the author describes numerous phases of his life, where he fights the thoughts in his mind, and submits to the events of life, taking them as they come, he attributes most of his spiritual and material growth to the surrender, or the flow of life.

That’s the journey the author embarked upon through ‘The Surrender Experiment’, and his perception of looking at life, and receiving from it. The events, as they occur in a perfect chronological order, in the author’s life, are indeed beyond belief and inspiring! In fact, if you are on a spiritual or ‘know thyself’ path, the narratives are no less than miracles.

The initial few chapters offer some deep thoughts, which are worth the read. Towards the culmination of the book, you get to take with you the learning from the experiment – to ‘Let Go’ and surrender to life.

So, the hits for me would be – The beginning, the end, and the gist.

The Misses: [The middle]

No doubt it’s a New York Times bestseller, but there are a few things which could have been better. The misses, as I see them, are not about the author’s life and in no way are a judgment as to how he faced the various ups and downs in his life. All that is way beyond decree, a very personal choice, and an individual’s outlook towards life.

Initially, I could connect with the book very quickly and found it to be very thought-provoking. I was sure it would turn out to be an enlightening reading experience, but slowly as the events unraveled, chapter after chapter, something seemed amiss. Not because as easily/simply put by the author, everything somehow automatically joined in his life with humble straight lines, whereas I expected his journey to be more towards a struggle for a thoughtful self-realization (A context created in the first few chapters,), but because, slowly, it merely turned into the accounts of material success hyperbolically linked to the manifestation of an auto-pilot life the author chose to lead.

I do not disregard his intentions to achieve great spiritual and self-realization summits, and attributing every material accomplishment to it in the most unpretentious way, but if it had some more element of his thoughts, thought process, the fears, a little grasp of the concepts of his experiment, rather than a deep detail of the actual account of events in chronological order, it would have kept the readers’ grip. Not that these are completely devoid in the book, but the author’s ‘internal struggle’, as described in the initial few chapters, slowly mapped to his later phases in greater part, could be very insightful for this whole experience.

As the author slowly moved to the material growth (of course, which he puts was an enlightening spiritual experience for him, where, as he sees it, he was getting rid of himself), success after success, it sounded more like a “Yes Man’s” achievements story, rather than a submission to life. It may not actually be like that, nor do I wish to disrespect or deny his endeavors and the wonderful experiment he enjoyed, but the lack of a deeper ‘thought conversation’ after a few chapters, it did sound more like a “Yes Man’s” account of victories, and somewhere in between, that actual journey lost a little sheen.

Nevertheless, based on one’s perceptions and outlook towards life, there is a lot one can learn and take away through the inspiring ledger of the author’s real-life events.

Having the right priorities set, one can truly focus well and work hard to attain the heights – be it spiritual growth, material growth or both. It’s great to know that the author, through his experiment and experience touched heights, which many just crave for, and achieved immense inner peace. And reading this book, I am sure to pick up another bestseller from him – The Unearthed Soul – which might fill in for “The Misses” mentioned above.

Noteworthy quotes from the book:

·       Do you or do you not want to know what is beyond you

·       At some point there's no more struggle

·       It was like writing on water - the impressions only lasted while the events were actually taking place

·       Let go and not resist the process

·       If you let people hold you hostage, they will force you to take terrible decisions, and you will lose.

·       I let myself dazzled by the beauty of the roses but paid no attention to the thorns.