TRAPPED IN THE THREE-RING CIRCUS OF YOUR MIND
Your consciousness is being hijacked right now—and you don't even realize it.
While you're reading these words, an invisible tug-of-war is happening inside you. The outside world demands attention. Your thoughts race alongside. Emotions surge from nowhere. This constant pull in three directions isn't chaos—it's your default state.
Michael Singer calls it the "three-ring circus," and it's the greatest magic trick ever performed: making you believe that these distractions ARE you, when in reality, they're just the show you're watching.
What if everything keeping you from peace isn't something you need to fix, but something you need to stop entertaining?
The truth is both simpler and more radical than most spiritual teachings dare admit: your consciousness—your true essence—is being dragged around like a dog on three leashes, and freedom isn't about gaining something new, but letting go of what never belonged to you in the first place.
Ready to step outside the circus tent?
Let's pull back the curtain on what's really happening in the arena of your awareness...
First ring: the outside world.
Everything you see, hear, feel.
Open your eyes—it’s there.
Close them—it’s gone.
Your senses grab light, sound, whatever, and your mind builds the picture inside, not out there like you think.
Second ring: thoughts.
They’re running through your head, and you’re aware of them.
Same consciousness that’s taking in the world view - it is tracking these too.
No split.
You can look at something and think about it—same awareness, doing both.
Third ring: emotions.
Now, these aren’t thoughts or thought forms.
You can picture a boat in your mind, see words, hear that voice inside your head talking to you—that’s thoughts.
Emotions? They’re different.
They’re vibrations, feelings, shifts in energy patterns you pick up.
Not words, just raw force.
But they’re strong, and they latch onto your consciousness, pull it right in.
So, that’s the circus: the outside world you’re aware of, the thoughts in your head—your mind—and the emotions coming up from your heart.
Three rings, and your consciousness is stuck dealing with all of them.
Here’s the thing—it gets distracted by every single one.
Funny how 'distraction' turns into a spiritual word, right?
Deep spirituality? It’s all about handling distractions.
If you weren’t distracted by emotions, or thoughts, or the outside world—if you could just sit still—your consciousness could drop back to its source.
THE CALM LAKE REFLECTING BACK PEACE. WHEN STIRRED UP? YOU CANNOT SEE CLEARLY.
The source isn’t human or a “male God” manipulating the world.
It’s bigger, divine, universal, and always “as is” with no empotion or preference.
We could dig into that later.
But here’s the problem: we cannot stay there.
An emotion hits—boom, consciousness gets yanked to it.
Thoughts kick in—'What am I supposed to do?
Do I have time for this?
Why’d she say that?'—and you’re distracted again.
Totally pulled by thoughts, emotions, objects out there shifting and moving.
Your consciousness gets drawn out, away from its center, onto distracting it.
Something happens outside—it sparks a thought inside, stirs up emotions.
They all line up, and next thing you know, your consciousness isn’t centered anymore.
It’s projected out onto these objects of consciousness.
So this is what the three-ring circus means.
In reading Living Untethered, it then balances —the witness, the three rings: senses, thoughts, emotions.
The Futility of Mental Effort
* The mind cannot escape itself through its own mechanisms—it’s a "built-in feature."
* True freedom comes from losing interest in the mind’s games, not from mastering them, akin to leaving a heavy bag at the airport rather than struggling to carry it.
* The body and the self are viewed as illusory, akin to a flute that doesn’t play notes but allows them to pass through.
* Consciousness is the underlying reality, and the self is a mental narrative claiming ownership of experiences.
* This recognition negates the idea of a separate "doer" or "seer," leading to liberation from the need to seek liberation.
Your absolute absence is your absolute presence...
Once you start seeing this absence, it just becomes more and more obvious when you are distracted, triggered and allowing the three-ring circus.
Shatter the Illusion:
Question the Norms,
Trust Your Inner Wisdom, and
Forge Your Soul’s True Path.
So freeing, right?
So much love to you my friend.
Kassandra
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