The Personality and Its Dreams

From Session 173 in Volume 4 of The Early Sessions of the Seth Material:


"I will ... begin a discussion concerning the personality and its relationship to those dreams which it creates.

"We have discussed this subject to some degree. However we have not begun a study in depth. It is now time for us to do so. The personality as you know is composed of energy gestalts. The dreams created by the personality can be considered therefore as a part of the changing personality. We are speaking here in one context only, for we know that the dream universe is also to some extent independent of personality.

"In this particular context however the dream world will be considered in its relationship to the personality. In many ways the dream universe does operate within this context, and is part of the personality framework. As the personality is changed by any experience or any action, so it is changed by its own dreams. Here again we see how energy or action operates within itself. We can even trace the actions and interactions.

"As a personality is molded by his exterior circumstances, so is he also molded by the dreams that he creates, and which help to form his interior or psychic environment. To the whole self there is little differentiation made between actions that are of an exterior nature, and actions that are of an interior nature. While the ego makes these distinctions, the basic core of the personality does not do so.

"A particularly vivid dream is every bit as real to the inner self as a vivid psychological experience that occurs within the waking state. It is important here that we realize that as far as the basic self is concerned no distinctions are made in this respect. The personality creates its dreams; the dreams are then experienced. The experience is indelibly recorded, and then changes the personality, again, in the same manner that any experience would.

"The individual therefore reacts to his interior environment or psychic environment in the same way that he reacts to his physical situation. And as he changes his physical situation through reacting to it, so he changes his interior or psychic situation as he reacts to it.

"It goes without saying that the dream universe is every bit as real to the inner self as the physical universe is to the conscious egotistical self. The physical universe is relatively as unimportant to the inner self as the dream universe appears to be to the egotistical self.

"The core of the self is obviously aware of all realities to some extent. If portions of the self did not coincide then it would be impossible for the whole personality to ever operate as a unit. Here we simply have spirals, so to speak, of ever-moving actions that compose the whole self. But portions of these spirals coincide, and in this analogy the spirals of action not only have those dimensions which you understand, but other dimensions with which you are not yet familiar.

"The designations put upon these units of action are highly artificial, and represent limitations that are quite arbitrary. We mentioned in an earlier session something to this effect, in that you simply perceive a small portion of such action, label it as a unit, can perceive no further, and so suppose that what you see or perceive is all there is to see or perceive.

"The self is limitless. Where your perceptions fail, boundaries seem to appear. This has much to do with your conception of the reality of dreams, for it appears to you that dreams cease when you are no longer aware of them. Another portion of the self however is aware of them.

"On one level the personality does attempt to solve problems through dream construction.

"In many cases these problems are not those belonging to the ego, but to other layers of the self. We spoke in a fairly recent session of illnesses as impeding actions.

"In dreams the personality first attempts to solve many problems, and to give freedom to actions that cannot be adequately expressed within the confines of the physical universe.

"If the personality handles his dream activities capably, then the problem action finds release. When the ego is too rigid, it will even attempt to censor dreams. When the personality in general is too rigid, freedom of action is not entirely permitted even in the dream state.

"When this solution fails the impeding action will then materialize as a physical illness, or as an undesirable psychological condition. The dream experience however is much more richly varied than you suppose. There are ways which we shall discuss that will enable a personality to deal more effectively with the dream situation, and to use it more effectively with the dream situation, and to use it more effectively.

"This is a rather simplified explanation. Consider however a situation in which the personality needs to express dependency, but feels that such an expression is not possible within his waking experience. If he is able to dream in such a manner that he can construct dream dramas in which he plays a dependent part, then the action is satisfied.

"In many instances this is exactly what happens. The individual would not of course as a rule remember such a dream on a conscious level. Psychologically however the experience would be completely valid, and the dependency therefore expressed.

"Dreams can be interpreted as you know from many viewpoints, since their reality exists within various aspects of actuality. The dream experience itself, and I cannot stress this too strongly, is as real as any experience to the basic self. It follows that instructions may be given to the self, so that various problems can be solved within the dream situation.

"The solution may or may not be given to the consciousness. In many instances this would not be necessary. The inner ego of which we have spoken is the director of such unifying activities, and while the inner ego is mainly concerned with inner reality, it is also aware of physical existence.

"The inner ego is indeed the "I" of your dreams, having somewhat the same sort of position within the inner self as the ego itself has to the physical self. Actions however merge within the inner ego. The scope of awareness is more complex. We will at a later time discuss this inner ego in connection with the dream situation and health.

"Dream dramas are not nebulous theater-like productions. Their own dimensions, in their way, are every bit as valid as those of waking life. They are as coherent. They affect the self sometimes to an even greater degree. The dream personalities are indeed fragments, projections of the self, all working out various roles, seeking various experiences, searching for solutions and gratifications.

"These dream personalities or fragments indeed have their own consciousness. They are as unaware, and as aware, of you as you are of them. They exist once you have created them. No action can be withdrawn. It must complete its nature according to the dimensions in which it exists, and so the dream personalities or fragments continue to exist whether or not you are aware of them.

"The inner ego however is to some degree still familiar with their activities. Solutions found by these dream personalities are automatically picked up by the inner ego, and transmitted to the various levels of the self. The dream world changes as the personality changes, so that it is always a part of the mobile personality framework.

"It is always within this framework, but not always does it maintain the same relative position within it. The stability of the personality depends in some degree upon the effectiveness with which it handles and manipulates these dream situations. It is realized that the personality manipulates within the physical universe, but the fact is not generally accepted that similar manipulations must be made within this dream universe.

"Much work has been done in the attempt to interpret dreams. None, or very little, has been done to control dreams, or to control the direction of activity within dreams.

"Upon proper suggestion the personality will work out specific problems in the dream state, as earlier mentioned. If the solution is not clear to the ego, this does not mean that the solution has not been found, necessarily. There may even be instances where it is not only unnecessary but undesirable that the ego be familiar with such a solution.

"This problem-solving aspect of dreams is rather important, and can be utilized with rather impressive practical results. We are merely beginning to scratch the surface here in this discussion, and we will devote a number of sessions to it. We have spoken about the importance of expectation. With practice dream activities can also be directed in this direction.

"(For some material on expectation see the following sessions, among others: 79, 135, 157, 158, 159, 160, 163, 164, 169, in Volumes 2,3, and 4.)

"Dreams do express a personality's basic reality. Negative dreams tend to reinforce the negative aspects of the personality, helping to form vicious circles of unfortunate complications. Upon suggestion dream actions can be turned toward fulfilling constructive expectations, which can themselves effect a definite change for the better in the personality involved.

"I am speaking now of general circumstances, since there are occasions when negative actions seek expression quite legitimately, and without any danger to the personality involved. We will have much more to say concerning these connections between dream actions and the balanced personality. Again, there are many ways in which dreams can be used beneficially, and with deliberation.

... "Do you have any questions?

"("Do you dream?")

"I do dream, but not necessarily while in a sleeping state. I am conscious of these actions that occur within the psychological framework of my personality. Theoretically the human personality can, or could, be conscious of dreams even while he was in a waking state. Practically however this does not appear to be of benefit, nor does it seem to occur.

"The human personality within the physical system cannot juggle realities with any ease."

The Personality As Motion In The Spacious Present

From Sessions 166 and 167 of Seth's Early Sessions:


Session 166

Personality Never Isolated

"... the personality cannot be considered alone, but it must be thought of in its relationship to action and to all those aspects of reality of which it is a part.

"When it accepts an illness as a part of its own self-image, then the illness becomes an actual part of the reality that is the self. The personality must therefore be considered as a biological reality. It must be considered as an electrical reality, as a psychological reality, for any experience is automatically translated into all these systems."

Session 167

Personality As Motion In The Spacious Present

"The personality must always be considered as motion, for no aspects of it are ever still.

"With the exception of the ego, the various parts of the personality do not react to time as a series of moments. All is experienced as present. The child therefore within the adult personality is not dead, nor are his reactions considered, basically, as reactions which are part of a past behaviour pattern; but these reactions exist side by side with adult reactions.

"This should be clearly understood, yet the personality is far from static. But what it was always changes, but that which was is always taken along.

"That which was is constantly taken into what you call the present. The ego may choose to use or not use various reactions It may reject various reactions as a part of the past, for it is the ego alone who is concerned with past, present and future. The ego's denial of a reaction however does not cause the reaction to disappear from within the personality, at least as part of possible pattern reaction.

"Many reactions, many patterns or reactions, are rejected by the ego upon some occasions and accepted upon other occasions, but as a rule such alternate behaviour is annoying to the ego itself. The ego deals with cause and effect, and often denies particular reactions because it decides that they are not effective. The ego is fairly rigid, comparatively speaking. Rationalization is one method by which the ego justifies its acceptance of a reaction which it once rejected as ineffective.

"Such alternative reactions frighten the ego because they seem to injure the ego's self-image. Yet all characteristic reactions, whether denied by the ego or not, are kept for use as alternative actions. In many cases actions unacceptable to the ego may be precisely those actions that are necessary for whole other areas of the personality. When too many actions are restricted by the ego, they may begin to form impulse patterns or groupings of various rejected impulses. These then adhere through attraction, and attempt to find expression regardless of the ego's attempts to restrict expression.

"The ego must act therefore as a director of activity in the personality's relationships with the physical environment. The ego is concerned with purposeful action. However when the ego is too restrictive its conception of purposeful action becomes so narrow that many legitimate and necessary impulses are dammed up, forming these rejected action patterns.

"As the number of rejected impulses grows, more and more energy is of course concentrated in this area, the energy that is inherent within the impulses themselves. This sort of grouping together of rejected impulses will occur mainly when the ego's restrictions are too severe, so hampering that very deep and basic needs of the whole personality are being denied expression. It is therefore for the benefit of the whole personality that these impulses be given expression.

"In many instances the ego then feels a lessening of available energy and a definite shortage of energy may occur, so that the ego finds it more difficult to handle its relationships with the outside environment.

"It feels the concentration of energy that has collected to form the rejected action patterns, and indeed it may feel that this unified rejection pattern is then even an enemy to its own superiority. It may, with more force than ever, attempt to hold back the expression of these impulses, and its fear of them grows.

"The rejected action patterns, however, will find outlet. The nature of the outlet will be the result of the nature of the particular action patterns themselves. The quality of the outlet will depend upon the intensity of these patterns, and the necessity or the degree of necessity, for their expression. Unless some adjustments are made at this point, the ego will have nothing to say with the direction that these patterns may take, simply because it will not accept their legitimacy.

"The strength of the ego of course is also a factor here. If the ego is not a particularly strong one to begin with however, the conflict will seldom reach these proportions. Instead the ego will merely be slightly surprised at behaviour which it does not condone, but eventually will accept because it has been forced to recognize its reality.
"When the ego is a very rigid one however, it will not accept the reality of these rejected patterns so easily, and according to the nature of its rigidity it may restrict so many areas of activity that the inside action, or the inside impetus for expression, almost equally balances the ego force itself.

"As this point is reached the ego obviously becomes more disturbed. In very few cases however does the conflict reach this sort of proportion. A lack of communication between the ego and the inner self is obviously one of the main causes for such difficulties."

Human Personality - Action and Ego

From Seth Session 165:


"I would like to continue with our discussion concerning the nature of the human personality in its relationship to action, and in connection with the matter of illness and health in general.

... "It must be thoroughly understood that under no circumstances is the personality a static or motionless construction. It is, instead, a collection of spontaneous actions. Only when it is viewed in this perspective can you begin to understand how it forms its own health. All basic adjustments to the personality, in a basic manner, must come from within, through regroupings of characteristic actions about unifying principles.

"The personality itself exists in many dimensions, as you know, and it has its reality within many other fields than the physical field, and is indeed basically not nearly as allied with the physical field as you may imagine. These unifying principles of which I spoke are themselves main, dominating groups of actions, about which the main energies of the personality group themselves.

"These unifying principles themselves, however, constantly and imperceptibly change. Upon another occasion we will consider the ways in which these unifying principles may shift. In many cases it may appear as if exterior circumstances formed such inner shifts, changing the whole unifying structure of the personality, and shifting the personality into what would appear to be entirely uncharacteristic activities.

"In such a case, however, the shiftings still come from within. The active gestalt of the personality is indeed so complex, the actions that compose it are so intertwined, that only the deep, interior intuitions of the personality involved will ever come close to a complete understanding of the workings of the particular personality system.

"Such understanding simply cannot follow logical lines. The intellect may indeed grasp some of this understanding from the intuitions, but the intellect itself is aware of only minute portions of the whole personality. Again, this is not meant to minimize the value of the intellect. The fact remains that answers sought by a personality can only be found through a traveling within the actions that compose the self. Within our last session, I explained some of the basic psychological heritage that resides within the action makeup of the personality. There is no escaping this heritage, and it is so important that without it the personality system could not be built up.

"I spoke, for example, of the acquiescence of action at certain levels to any kind of stimuli, indiscriminately, whether painful or pleasurable. Without this basic acquiescence, actions would not have been given the freedom to break patterns down and evolve new ones of them. This is not necessarily a more primitive aspect. It is simply a basic characteristic of action at certain levels, and the human personality, with its complicated ego structure, is nevertheless composed of many actions that operate at this level.

"In a most basic manner, a denial of stimuli is a negative action, if any action could be called negative. I do not, of course, speak in human terms, where every stimuli for example should then be followed or sought out indiscriminately. This is not my meaning. I am talking of deeper biological levels, and indeed of levels that are buried within tissue itself.

"The very nature of the ego and of the personality is formed by the ability to choose between actions or stimuli; but life as it is not connected to a highly differentiated ego, rejoices in all stimuli, as sensation, whether it is pleasurable or painful, for these distinctions do not exist in your terms. In the beginning of our sessions I spoke in a general manner, for example, saying that trees and plant life had a consciousness, but not a developed ego system. The tree, therefore, is conscious of the pain connected with, say, the severing of a limb.

"(See the 18th session, in Volume 1.)

"It does not fear destruction however, as the ego does. It still fights for survival, of course; but the consciousness of plant life involves a consciousness of self as it operates within action. It sees or feels itself as a part of continuing action, and because of this inner atomic knowledge it does not fear destruction, basically, knowing that it will be changed into other kinds of action.

"Its identity is within action. To say that its identity and its continuity or sense of continuity is within action, is not too far off, although the word continuity in this instance would be misleading.

"It is only lately that your psychologists have even begun to understand the connection between biology and personality, and they understand it in only the most simple of terms.

"To begin with, not enough is understood about the biological structure, for the nature of the atoms and molecules that form the biological structure is still largely misunderstood, and very little has been done in this field.

"The personality exists in a diffused fashion within the physical system, and it therefore is most basically composed of those biological heritages, and those heritages that are a property of cellular structure, long preceding multicellular existence.

"We have to some extent explained the reality of the personality within the electrical system. We have to some extent explained its basic origin within inner reality. We have explained the fact that the potentialities of the personality and of the self are basically unlimited. But during its alliance within the physical system, it is diffused within the cellular structure, and interrelating actions between the biological system, the electrical system, and the personality structure actually form the reality of the human individual.

"(See the following sessions in Volume 3 for material on the electrical system: 122 to 128, 131, 135, among others, and 162, 164 in Volume 4).

"You cannot probe into the one system without affecting the others. It is basically meaningless to consider the personality as separate from the simultaneous actions of which it is composed. The personality, as you know, has also a reality within the dream universe. It should be obvious that in a most basic and practical manner the personality however is not involved with physical time to any degree. Only a part of the personality, the ego, is so involved. It is obvious of course that the personality system will react to stimuli that seem, to the ego, to be far divorced in time. That is, the personality may react to a stimuli in the present that occurred originally twenty years ago, to the ego's understanding of time.

"But past, present and future as such simply do not have meaning to the other aspects of the personality. The idea and reality of physical time parallels the development of the ego. Consciousness of self, alone, is unaware of your physical time. The physical time idea is a product of the ego's tendency to make finer distinctions in order that it can classify and categorize, and therefore identify and give permanence to its own sensations.

"In most circumstances the arrangement is an excellent working operation. However, when the ego carries its categorizing tendency too far, it may reject whole areas of significant action which has been experienced by the whole personality. It may choose to reject whole areas for various reasons, usually out of a mistaken fear that the actions involved threaten the permanence of itself.

"Such a rejection is definitely an impeding action. It is this rejection on the ego's part that is the basis for so-called neurosis in many cases. The fault is not that a particular action has been buried by the subconscious. The fault is that the ego has refused to accept the action from the subconscious, therefore impeding the natural flow of energy. Naturally, all actions are not recognized by the ego, nor is it necessary in any case.

"It is when significant actions, important to the whole personality, are so rejected that the difficulties arise. It is also true however that these refusals to assimilate action on the ego's part are also an integral part of the characteristics of the personality as a whole action. In each individual, certain categories of action may be habitually denied. As the characteristics of a personality may be somewhat deduced from those actions which the ego accepts, so also much may be learned about any given personality by a study of those actions which the ego habitually denies.

"As a rule, secondary personalities are given their energy as a direct result, so to speak, of a too-rigorous and rejecting ego. In many, though not all instances, such a secondary personality may represent simply the whole personality's quite healthy attempts at expression that have been too long denied. you get a regrouping of unifying principle actions, and a division of energies about two different ego systems.

"It should be obvious that in Ruburt's case no such habitual rejections by his ego have backed up in this manner. The secondary personality, however, is of course a reality in many circumstances. It can be considered as an impeding action in the same manner that an illness can be considered, but its overall value, or detrimental effects must be judged, again, as with an illness, on the overall service or disservice which it performs for the whole personality.

"Without such a secondary regrouping of actions for example, a much more serious open breakage, a deep personality cleavage, might in some cases result. In some cases the secondary personality is, again, an emergency measure that will eventually tide the whole personality over, allow for the expression of actions before their explosion completely disrupts the personality system; and then the secondary personality structure may be dispensed with for all practical purposes, to be recalled however upon another emergency.

"In such a case the secondary personality may represent the best of the available alternatives that can be practically taken by the personality to maintain itself. The impeding action, then, would have a survival value.

"In some cases of course the secondary personality would be a severely impeding one, stealing away the main energies. However, it must be understood that from the whole personality's viewpoint, a strong ego, that is a dependable one, and one that will also allow necessary expression, is a necessity. Therefore from the standpoint of the whole personality, the adoption of a new ego, so to speak, with a more practical grouping of unifying principles, could be the best solution of the previous ego, the previously dominant ego, (if it) had been an incapable one.

"In this case the so-called secondary personality would express the whole personality to better advantage, and actually reinforce its permanence and identity.

"The personality must be understood from all these viewpoints, and it must be understood as an action gestalt.

"The ego must be understood as having certain general necessary characteristics. Again, it must attempt to see itself as apart from action, even though basically the attempt to do so must fail. The attempt however allows the ego to act as a front man, so to speak, an organized and disciplined agent to deal with physical environment for the whole personality.

"A very delicate network of imbalances is here maintained. The ego must not be too rigid, or too much a disciplinarian, or it ceases to speak for the whole personality, and becomes a warden, imprisoning the main expressive urges of the deeper self. It must not on the other hand be composed of too disorganized a system of actions, for in this case it is not capable of maintaining a consistent sense of identify or purpose, and is not strong enough to act in a magnetic manner, that will attract or hold the basic energies of the personality.

"As far as Ruburt's personality structure is concerned, we are extremely fortunate. The ego is secure enough, and strong enough, as an organizing agent, for the basic personality energies, so that it can allow me to communicate without fear that the personality structure will be in any way disrupted.

"Indeed as you may have observed, the personality continues in a rather unruffled fashion, considering the circumstances. This is why valid communications can occur between us, and it is also the reason why such communications rarely occur, generally speaking. In the case of an insecure ego you have two immediate problems, and are involved instantly with difficulties:

"The basic personality would be fearful of such communications, knowing instinctively the weakness of the ego. The ego would be extremely insecure. On the other hand, the personality would almost welcome a strong organizing force, regardless of its source, and could tend to latch onto it as much as possible. A study of secondary personalities is most fascinating, since such a study would give you an excellent idea of the manner in which the ego in general is formed, for it is but a unity of energy under auspices of the strongest actions characteristic within the given personality system.

"These energies are naturally drawn from within the whole personality. What is not generally recognized is the fact that the ego itself constantly changes. It is only when the change is unusually vivid, and definitely perceivable, that you speak of secondary personalities. But the main characteristic drives of any given personality shift continually; for all its attempts in the opposite direction, the ego must change just to exist, and its very permanence is dependent upon its flexibility.

"The ego, then, is as much characterized by those types of action which it habitually denies, as by those types of actions which it habitually accepts. It is not the only organizing aspect of the personality, however. It is simply the organizing aspect of the personality in its dealings with the physical environment. The inner ego is another organizing feature of the personality in its dealings with inner environment."

Illness as Impeding Action

From Session 164 of Seth's Early Sessions:


Impeding Actions

"Impeding actions represent actual blockages of energy or of action, dead-end accumulations. In one manner of speaking this does not mean that the action is terminated, however.

"It does mean that action is turned into channels that are not to the best interests of the whole personality. The energies appear concentrated and turn inward, affecting the whole system. They represent offshoots, again not necessarily detrimental in themselves, but only when viewed from the standpoint of the other actions that form the personality framework.

"Such actions naturally possess all the characteristics of action in general, and therefore will seek other methods of materialization and expression. An attempt at discipline will be made. The structure will seem, that is the impeding structure will seem, to maintain itself. The whole personality at any given time, because of its own nature and characteristics, has only a given amount of energy available to it in practical terms, though ideally speaking its energy is not limited.

"However, a certain portion of the energy practically available to it is therefore spent in the maintenance of this impeding action. It is obvious therefore that less energy is available to the personality for actions more beneficial to the personality system as a whole.

"This situation can be serious in varying degrees, according to the impetus and intensity of the original propelling cause behind the impeding action. If the impetus is a powerful one, then the impeding action will be of more serious nature, blocking up large reserves of energy for its own purposes. It obviously becomes part of the personality-psychological structure, the physical structure, the electrical and chemical structure, invading to some extent even the dream universe.

"It is, momentarily, literally accepted by the personality as a part of the self, and here lies its danger. It is not just symbolically accepted, and I am not speaking in symbolic terms. The impeding action, as seen in an illness for example, is quite literally accepted by the personality structure, and by all corresponding systems, as a portion of the self. Once this occurs, a conflict instantly develops. The self does not want to give up a portion of itself, even while that portion may be painful or disadvantageous. There are many psychological reasons behind such a psychological truth.

"For one thing, while pain is unpleasant it is also a method of familiarizing the self against the edges of quickened consciousness. Any heightened sensation, pleasant or unpleasant, has a stimulating effect upon a consciousness to some degree. It is a strong awareness of activity and life. Where the stimulus may be extremely annoying, and humiliatingly unpleasant, certain portions of the psychological framework accept it indiscriminatingly because it is a sensation, and a vivid one. The acquiescence to even painful stimuli is a basic part of the nature of consciousness, and a necessary one.

"Even a quick and automatic rejection or withdrawal from such stimulus is in itself a way by which consciousness knows itself. The ego may attempt to ignore or escape from such experiences, but the basic nature of action itself is the knowing of itself in all aspects; and in a basic manner, in a very basic and deep manner, action does not differentiate between pleasant, painful or enjoyable actions.

"These differentiations come much later and on another level, and in a later evolutionary development. But because the personality is composed of action, the personality also contains within it this characteristic of action, in that it accepts all sensations as expressions of itself, and does not discriminate between stimuli.

"Action accepts all stimuli in an affirmative manner. It is only when action becomes compartmented, so to speak, in the development of highly differentiated consciousness, that such refinement occurs. I am not here saying that unpleasant stimuli will not be felt as unpleasant, and reacted against, by less self-conscious organisms. I am saying that less self-conscious organisms will rejoice even in their automatic reaction against such stimuli, because any stimuli and reaction represents sensation, and sensation is another method by which such action knows and expresses itself.

"On a very basic level, as consciousness with a self (but no conscious "I" exists in the most minute division of consciousness), all action and all sensations and all stimuli are instantly and automatically and joyfully accepted, regardless of their nature. At this level no knowledge of threat exists.

"Action at this level is conscious of itself, but the "I" differentiation is not definite enough to fear destruction or painful stimuli. Here we merely have action knowing itself. And knowing itself, it knows its basic indestructibility, knows its own oneness, and has no fear of destruction, for it is also part of destruction itself, from which further action will evolve.

"The complicated organism which is the human personality with its physical structure, has evolved, along with many other structures, a highly differentiated "I" consciousness, whose very nature is such that it attempts to preserve the apparent boundaries of identity. To do so it chooses between actions, for the very choice, or act of choosing, and ability to do so, represents the nature of identity. But beneath this sophisticated gestalt are the simpler foundations of its being, and indeed the very acceptance of all stimuli without which identity would be impossible.

"Without any acceptance of painful stimuli the structure could never maintain itself, for the atoms and molecules within the structure constantly accept painful stimuli, and suffer even joyfully, their own destruction; being aware of their own separateness within action, and aware of their reality within all action, and not having complicated "I" structures to maintain, there is no reason for them to fear destruction.

"They are aware of themselves as a part of action, and therefore through capsule comprehension, which we have discussed, the simple atoms and molecules are aware of their own basic immortality. All this is basic knowledge, if you would understand why the personality accepts even an impeding action, or pain or illness, as a part of itself, despite the ego's resistance to pain.

"We have yet to discuss pain and pleasure. However the subject will be covered thoroughly, in sessions dealing with the nature of the human personality.

"Now, however, you understand the reason why even an impeding action is literally accepted by the personality as a portion of the self, and why therefore efforts must be made that will coax the personality to give up any portion of itself, if progress is to be made. Once the personality can understand that an illness has been accepted as a portion of the self, then even the ego will be an aid.

"We are also helped here by several characteristics of the personality, in that it is forever changing, and its flexibility will be of benefit. We merely want to change the direction in which it moves, or rather the direction in which some of its energy moves. It must be seen by the personality that the impeding action is a hardship on the part of the whole structure, and that this particular portion of the self is not basic to the original personality structure, but only adopted.

"The longer the impeding action is accepted as a part of the self, the more serious the problem. The impeding action or illness however is not a part of the basic personality structure, or action gestalt, which is composed of action patterns formed since birth. Compared to this truly astounding structure, that is the result of the memory of every atom and molecule, this impeding action is relatively unimportant, and when correct methods are used, it can be dislodged without too much difficulty.

"The peculiar nature of the impeding action or illness has much to do with its persistence. The whole focus of the personality can shift from constructive areas to a concentration of main energies in the area of the impeding action or illness. In such a case the illness actually represents a new unifying system. Now, if the old unifying system of the personality has broken down, the illness, serving as a makeshift, temporary emergency measure, may hold the integrity of the personality intact until a new constructive unifying principle replaces the original.

"In this case the illness could not be called an impeding action, unless it persisted long after its purpose was served. Even then, without knowing all the facts surrounding the personality, you could make no judgment, for the illness could still serve by giving the personality a sense of security, being kept on hand, so to speak, as an ever-present emergency device in case the new unifying principle should fail.

"This discussion will necessarily involve us with the structure of personality, and the nature of what you call suggestibility.

"It is therefore impossible to consider an impeding action, such as an illness, without taking into consideration the particular structure-unifying devices, subconscious and conscious personality tendencies.

"In other words, an action cannot be judged as an impeding one without a thorough knowledge of the other actions that result in the makeup of any given personality. This is extremely important. To overlook this point is to risk the adoption on the part of the personality of a more serious illness.

"Unifying principles are groups of actions about which the whole personality forms itself at any given time. These unifying principles may change, and do change, usually in a relatively smooth fashion, when action is allowed to flow unimpeded.

"When it is not allowed to flow unimpeded, following the patterns or channels for its expression that have been evolved by the personality, then various blockages of energy occur; with such blockups of inhibited action, small blockages occur frequently, and the blockages or impediments themselves must be understood, not as something apart from the personality, but a part of the changing personality,

"Indeed, oftentimes they serve to preserve the integrity of the whole psychological system, and to point out the existence of inner problems. Often they serve temporary functions, leading the personality from other more severe areas of difficulty. I am not here saying that all illness is good. I am saying that illness is a portion of the action of which any personality is composed, and therefore it is purposeful, and cannot be considered as an alien force that attacks the personality from without.

"This is an extremely fascinating area of study, and one that we shall pursue rather vigorously. The whole personality must be led to choose those actions which are of the most benefit to itself as a whole, and its integrity as a unit is determined by its choices in this matter.

"I will at various times use as an example your friend's ulcer, simply because the ulcer represents an excellent example of an impeding action or illness. It must therefore be clearly understood that an impeding illness is a creation of the personality itself. The very effectiveness and nature of the personality, and health of the personality, is dependent upon the manner in which it handles its ability to choose between various kinds of action.

"Without the choice there would be no personality. The exaltations and triumphs of the personality are as much a result of this ability to choose between actions, as are its illnesses and disasters. In almost all cases, impeding actions are the result of a refusal to allow action to flow unhampered in certain directions. It seeks other outlets, and these outlets are caused by fear.

"Now, while it is basically true that the personality is composed of action, and that its very awareness and identity is a result of action, this is not meant to imply any negation of psychological or psychic values, although these are also actions.

Personality As Simultaneous Action

"The personality structure can be studied from many viewpoints. We are now studying it in relation to its basic reality as action. While it may seem that the personality would be a result of a series of actions, this is not basically the case. The personality in actuality is simultaneous action, that is composed of actions within actions. Portions of it are conscious of its awareness as a part of action, and portions of it attempt to stand aside from action.

"This attempt forms the ego, and is itself action. If illness was thrust upon action, or upon the personality from the outside, then the personality would be at the mercy of outside agencies.

"Now, in so far as everything is basically action, the personality is affected by outside agencies, but in a most basic manner it chooses those actions which it will accept or reject.

"An illness can be rejected by the personality. The habit of illness can be rejected. Illness is sometimes in the overall, however, beneficial. A given illness, that is, may be beneficial. When action is allowed to flow freely, then neurotic rejections of action will not occur; and it is neurotic rejections of action that often cause unnecessary illnesses.

Future Discussions On Illness

"For we will be involved here with a definite classification as to when an illness is beneficial and when it is detrimental. This will be most important. An illness is almost always the result of another action that cannot be carried through.

"When the lines to the original action are released and the channels opened to it, the illness will vanish. In some cases however, you see, the thwarted action may be one with disastrous consequences, which the illness may prevent. The personality has a logic of its own. We will be involved for many sessions to come with these problems, for they are of basic value, and practical value.

"We will, then, later discuss the manner in which the difference can be seen between a beneficial illness, and a severely detrimental one. We will see how a temporarily necessary illness can be greatly lessened, and the symptoms minimized, while the illness is still retained as a temporary emergency measure, and then gradually allowed to disappear when its presence becomes unnecessary.

"We will also see how an unnecessary and detrimental illness, that does not serve much purpose, can be dismissed."

Constructive and Impeding Suggestion

From Session 164 of Seth's Early Sessions (Vol 4):


More on Suggestion

"What you call suggestion ... is but a projection into the physical universe of data that operates constantly, as a basis for, and within, action. It is basically a psychic manifestation that gives direction to action, and to the various manifestations which action may take.

"Suggestion is therefore one of the characteristics of action. The term suggestion is a poor one. As it operates within your system, and within the human personality, the word expectation is a much better term. Nevertheless, expectation is only one phrase, for the same kind of inner directive activity is pertinent within all forms of action.

"What you call suggestion then is but a small aspect of a larger directive characteristic that is ever part of action itself. It is indeed in the nature of an impetus, an inner impetus that belongs to action and is not some force separated from action, and acting upon it. This impetus is a natural and spontaneous movement that springs from within action itself. It can even be termed the direction, or the various spontaneous directions, in which action itself moves.

"These directions are not forced upon action by any laws. They are merely the resultant patterns with which energy expresses itself. You are only familiar as a rule with this impetus, or these directions, in rather shallow manners, for the ego prefers not to perceive them. These motions are merely the flow which action takes. What you term negative suggestions are usually impeding actions, or directions of action which impede the main directive inner flow. They operate then in much the same manner as crosscurrents, setting up blockages, and impeding main energies by dividing them in several diverse directions.

"It is important that it be understood that suggestion, as you know it, is but the manifestation of inner flows and inner directions. Without the inward flows and directions, it goes without saying that action would indeed involve itself in chaotic disorders, without constructive patterns or materializations. It would instead entangle itself within the power of its own energy, and be unable to form any long-lasting patterns or frameworks within which fulfillments and fairly permanent constructions could be formed.

"When you speak of negative suggestions, you are actually referring to a situation where such crosscurrents entangle action within itself, and therefore impede the main constructive impetus that unrestricted action allows. Until the energy, once again, becomes disentangled, action will therefore flow also in the crosscurrents, and the main trunk of energy that gives overall integrity and identity to any given unit could therefore be severely threatened.
"On the part of any human personality, therefore, it is extremely important that methods be learned to let action follow its normal directive bent within the personality, therefore avoiding these abortive offshoots that impede main directives and purposes of the unit as a whole.

"The integration of the whole personality as a psychological unit, and as an effective psychic gestalt, is obviously dependent upon the free and unimpeded flow of action. Any impediments here can be most threatening to the integrity of the personality itself, for one aspect of the personality would benefit at the expense of other aspects.

"The personality itself, as you know, is a gestalt of action, and as such it is necessary that the flow of action within it follow the overall directives of the entity and the inner self. When for example the ego is allowed to apply too tightly and too rigorously its inhibitory functions, then this freedom of action within the personality is seriously divided and impeded."

Illness As An Impeding Action

"Now, as far as our discussion is concerned, we have in the past mentioned that there are no exact duplicates in any circumstances. There are however, obviously, patterns which are set up by action, that may be thought of as pathways composed of action, through which action then flows.

"Once such a pathway has been constructed, we have what you may call an action pattern or habit. Therefore, when cross currents of action are constructed, action will continue in those directions unless it is diverted back to other channels. Then the secondary or impeding channel will automatically be closed off. But all action must be withdrawn from it, for as long as the channel remains, then the possibility remains that the impeding action will reoccur.

"There is indeed no hard and fast rule to tell you which actions are basically impeding actions, and which are not. For what may appear an impeding action may indeed turn out to be the burst of a new and constructive direction, which may eventually represent a new and stronger pattern of identity and integrity, that will completely refresh the original unit and add to its vitality and strength.

"The inner self here, through intuitive insight, can usually recognize whether an action is an impeding or a constructive one for the purposes of the personality involved. Even an action which appears blatantly as an impeding action, may temporarily serve as a constructive one. It may then turn into an impeding action.

"An illness, as an impeding action for example, may nevertheless be a constructive action at any given time, in that it may prevent action within the personality from following more destructive actions. When this destructive possibility has passed however, an illness that is still maintained would therefore become a definite impeding action; for any seemingly impeding action cannot be judged alone, but in the context of other action elements of which any given personality is involved.

"It is extremely difficult, but it is possible for the human system to close off, for all practical purposes, a channel that has been used for the flow of such an impeding action. The channel may automatically disappear, but the action itself can never be withdrawn.

"We will discuss what you call suggestion in more practical terms, for your particular uses. Nevertheless it is necessary that its basic nature be understood. The ego simply cannot judge, as a rule, whether an action is a constructive or an impeding one, for the personality as a whole.

"It can judge whether an action is a constructive or an impeding one for itself. Upon many occasions the purposes of the ego coincide with the purposes of the whole personality, but upon many occasions the purposes of the ego do not coincide with the best purposes of the whole personality. And in such cases the ego is not equipped to judge, except for itself.

"It can however be taught a very valuable function here. The first prerequisite is that the ego understand both the nature of its dependence upon the whole personality, and the nature of its peculiar directive abilities in relation with the physical universe. When there is good communication between all areas of the self, and this is a big when, then the judgment of the ego can be trusted to some greater extent.

Choosing Action Through Constructive Suggestion

"Suggestions given by an individual on any kind of conscious basis have to be given with the cooperation of the ego. Many suggestions bypass the ego entirely. Suggestion however, as you think of it, operates both ways. This is not usually understood. Suggestions may come therefore from the physical world, to act upon the personality. Suggestions may also come from within the personality to act upon the physical environment.

"You can indeed to a large measure train yourself to react to constructive rather than impeding suggestions. This merely means that you will, or may to some extent, choose the direction in which action within you will move. This also implies that some part of the personality does the choosing, and is capable of distinguishing a construction suggestion from an impeding one. And here it is necessary that we discuss more thoroughly the nature or characteristics of constructive suggestions versus impeding ones, for one may turn into the other.

"No one portion of the personality should be allowed to block the free flow of energy or action. Impeding actions are easily recognized by their effects, psychological or physical, upon the human system. An illness is the result of an impeding action, generally speaking, but there are exceptions to this case, as others.

"There are indeed methods by which the flow of action can be turned back, away from the impeding channels, and we will discuss that matter in some detail.

"Again, we will have many sessions indeed, dealing with the gestalt that is the human personality, and at that time much of this material will fall into place.

"We are dealing here, again, merely with the various aspects of action. As a personality itself is an action gestalt, within the inner self there is a capsule comprehension of the purposes and intents of the whole personality. These are indeed within the very structure, both psychic and physical, of the personality itself. The ego, on its own as a separate unit, does not have such data, although since it is after all a portion of the whole self, it does have such information available. But when it acts as a unit it does not use such information.

"The information is not closed to it. It simply does not use it, and there are several quite sufficient reasons for this, reasons that have to do with the necessary apart manner in which the ego, when it operates as a separate unit, views the physical universe.

"When the personality is well integrated, then even when it operates as a separate unit the ego still fulfills the basic purposes of the personality as a whole. It is the communication between the very areas of the self which is so important here, as in many other matters. It is possible for the ego to realize its position as but one part of the whole personality, while it still behaves in a directive manner toward physical manipulation.

"This is the ideal circumstance, for when this is the case then the ego listens to the inner self, and then directs its energy outward in a way that is beneficial for the whole gestalt framework. What you call negative suggestions are often judgments of the ego, for suggestion works from the ego to the subconscious, as well as it works the other way around. Such suggestions made by the ego can indeed be caught, and positive or constructive suggestions given to replace them.

"However, automatic responses can also be set up, so that only constructive suggestions are reacted to. In such instances however, the inner self should be allowed to make the judgment ultimately, as to which suggestions are constructive and which are not.

"There are certain manners that are more advantageous than others in the giving of such suggestions, and we will go into these at another session. We may also, indeed, begin at least a partial study of the framework of the personality as it is related to action, for such discussion will follow along well with our material on suggestion.

"It must be understood that the personality is indeed an action within action, and that it is therefore never stationary. Indeed suggestions, being the directions in which action moves, represent the very impetus that constantly changes the action of any given personality. It goes without saying, once more, that all of these designations imply a separation which does not exist in fact, and imply definite boundaries which are not present.

"For all actions merge one into the other, and none are truly independent; and all units merge one into the other, and all boundaries shift, and are arbitrarily chosen. Boundaries are the results of the limitations of perception, for a unit seems to end where perception of it ceases."

Introductory Overview

The following introductory overivew was given in Session 162 (from Volume 4 of Seth's Early Sessions). In that session, there were three others in attendance in addition to Jane and Rob so Seth was dealing with issues pertaining to them and then moving on to give an overview of the material given up to then.


Change Comes From Within

"The physical organism reflects vividly and with perfection the innermost state of the human personality. Now, as the condition of your planet in its entire political and social structure reflects the innermost neuroses in every individual, so indeed does the physical individual organism reflect the inner condition of each personality.

"You create, as you know, physical matter on a subconscious basis, without knowing egotistically that you do so. You create physical matter as effortlessly and as smoothly and as automatically, and as unknowingly as you create your own dreams.

"The ego is not aware of the manner in which dreams are created. Neither is it aware of the manner in which the inner self creates physical matter. Neither, therefore, is it aware of those distortions that cause it to construct faults within physical matter, for in all cases the physical matter of the human body will be subconsciously created in line with inner conditions.

"This can work, and should work, to your advantage. However when there is a distortion, as when an ulcer is created, then we begin what can indeed be a vicious circle, for the idea and the reality of the ulcer is then accepted as part of the self-image. And as such it is then more or less automatically recreated.

... "It may indeed sound like an oversimplification. However, you are exactly what you think you are, and every thought is mirrored in the physical matter of the human organism. This does not happen by some sort of occult magic. It is not the result of some mumbo jumbo. Since each individual creates subconsciously the physical matter of his own image, then it follows that the conditions of this image is his own responsibility.

... "I have discussed in some detail the electrical makeup of the physical body, and of the atoms and molecules, and cells and organs, that compose it.

"I have also discussed the electrical components that make up each thought. These thoughts, then, are automatically translated into physical matter by certain areas of the subconscious. If certain long-standing distorted concepts are held, therefore, then they must be faced and struck out. For otherwise there is an automatic flow of this energy into a false disruptive pattern.

"The inner self does indeed have an overall conception of the goals and strengths of the personality. It is then this inner self that must be searched for the answers. I mentioned earlier in another session that the very attempt to seek for an answer to the basic problem will indeed automatically release some of the energy for a constructive purpose.

"You will begin to starve the ulcer of its energy. The manner in which the subconscious translates energy into construction of physical matter, again, has been covered in our sessions previously. However it is imperative that the idea be understood thoroughly, for here we have no vague and nebulous theory indeed, but a most practical and definite explanation of the manner in which you yourselves construct not only your own physical image, but indeed your own physical environment.

"(Among others, see the 60th-73rd sessions in Volume 2.)

"And that which you have constructed, you then respond to through the outer senses, and you react to what you have subconsciously created. It is important that these matters be understood when you are concerned with how to change or alter a physical condition, for the change will come from within or it will not come."

The Dream Universe

"You construct the dream universe in the same manner that you construct the physical universe. For various reasons that have been discussed there is no need, in the dream universe, for the permanence of image, or the apparent permanence of image that occurs in the physical universe.

"You construct the dream universe, again, on a subconscious basis. The dream universe is as permanent in its way as the physical universe. You construct dreams whether you wake or you sleep. You are only familiar with your dreams when you sleep, for then your perception and your energy is focused in that direction.

"I will here repeat an old definition of many sessions back: Consciousness is the direction in which the self looks.

"In sleep, when the ego is quieted, then the self looks in other directions. In sleep the self becomes conscious of its dreams, but this does not mean that the dreams have not existed while you were not conscious of them. Nor does it mean that they cease to exist when you are no longer conscious of them, for they have their own sort of molecular and electrical construction. But the ego cannot tune into that perceptive range.

"(For some material on the electrical field, including ranges, dreams, mass, intensities, weight, etc., see the following sessions: 122, 123, 125, 126, 128, 131, 135, among others. All in Volume 3.)

"As you create physical matter constantly without knowing that you do so, so also you create constantly a dream universe, and this dream universe is as individual as your environment in the physical world. There is also a chemical reaction here, for without dreaming the physical organism could not exist.

"With your outer senses, you perceive but the camouflage physical reality which the physical senses are equipped to perceive. In the dream universe you are however free, and familiar, with both space and time in a manner which is denied you in the waking state. Where indeed are your dream locations? Where in space is the street upon which you walk in a dream?

"(Among others, see the 44th session for material on dream locations. Volume 2. Among others, Seth talked about the direction of focus of consciousness in the 94th session. Volume 3.)

"The location does not exist within your physical system, but the dream location is a reality. It is a superimposed value which you have created, and which is valid and vivid. A dream unfolds. Miles may appear before your inner vision. Are then these miles contained within your head? Are these miles contained within the small skull? Obviously not. But here we are closer to that reality which is beyond space as you know it.

"You may in a dream experience two or three hours in a flash of physical time. You have not aged two or three hours. The experience of space and time within the dream universe comes very close to the pure expression of the inner self. For here, free from the ego, the self is relieved of the necessity of constructing ideas into physical reality.

"It constructs ideas instead within another electrical system. Yet because of the nature of the personality, no dream exists in a vacuum, and every dream is recorded by the inner self. ...

"Think if you will then of the manner in which an idea expands. It expands and grows and you feel its vitality gather, yet when you say it grows and expands, it does not grow and expand, again, somewhere in the space between your ears, to burst apart the bones of the skull. It expands in a way that has nothing to do with space.

"This we have called the value climate of psychological reality. It is what you may consider your counterpart of physical space. After a short break, we will discuss then your misconceptions concerning space, for you will see that your idea of space is the result of your own physical perceptions. Where you can perceive nothing, you presume to call empty space, but where you perceive nothing there is much."

Physical Matter Construction

"... A basic requirement here is a thorough understanding of the precise manner in which physical matter is constructed.

"For you look now at Ruburt (Seth's name for Jane Roberts). There are indeed, now, in this room there are five physical Ruburts. Each of you, including Ruburt, create and project your own image of him, and each of you perceive with your physical senses only that image of him which you have individually created.

"(... In particular, see the 66th session of the series on the creation of matter. In that session also, Seth stated the above statement can be verified mathematically. Volume 2.)

"There are perspectives of reality which you yet do not understand. You should understand clearly the ways in which you create these physical images, for they need not imprison you as they often do.

"There is a necessity to discover and understand the inner self. There is much material concerning the construction of atoms and molecules that will enable you to understand not only the physical world, but also the dream universe.

"Speaking earlier concerning the dream universe, there are many things I left out of necessity unsaid. I was saying that any dream location exists in actuality, when you experience it in a perspective which has nothing to do with your idea of space, but which has a depth and a reality at least as valid.

"Nor is the dream itself a chaotic action, but a complicated and unique action by which symbols are chosen with such precise and careful attention that they have meaning to all levels of the inner self, and various levels of the subconscious. Here you will find clues as to many of your own conscious problems. Here with study and attention you will find information concerning your own previous lives, which the ego is not familiar with.

"Through dreams the self communicates with the self, and with all layers of the self. For the self is not one concrete thing. The self has no boundaries, the self is not limited. Consciousness is the direction in which the self looks, again, but the ego is not aware of the whole self. The ego is not even familiar with the context or the meaning of your own dreams.

"(There is much dream material scattered throughout the sessions. See the 87th, 88th, 92nd, 93rd, 94th, etc. in just Volume 3, for example.)

"The ego cannot make your heart beat. Why then do you find it difficult to believe that you are more than the ego, for in dreams you meet portions of yourself. You construct realities, and you are indeed familiar with the dream universe that consciously you ignore. And your experience within the dream universe is as vivid and as valid and as real, in every respect, as your waking experience.

"Nor are you indeed fully conscious, in your terms, even in your waking state.

"You shut off stimuli to concentrate on other stimuli. This is a simplified example of how in the dream state you shut out stimuli usually accepted by the ego, and become conscious of other realities that you usually ignore in the waking state.

"You create the dream world continuously. You are familiar with it and intimate with it, and you know it well. In this discussion there should be some remarks made concerning the existence of the inner ego, of which I believe you are not familiar."

Inner Ego

"... The inner ego, however, you may think of as another face that looks inward. We are using an analogy, and an analogy that is for simplicity's sake only. We may say therefore, starting from the outer environment, that you would have first of all what you consider the ego, which I call the outer ego.

"Then, according to our analogy, you will find the subconscious areas; and these areas may be, briefly, differentiated in the following manner.

"The foremost or exterior layers or areas deal with the personal selves. Beyond these you will find areas dealing with previous experiences having to do with your own past lives. Within the next area you will find material dealing with the [species] as a whole.

"Each of these areas are separated, and between the memories of each past life, experiments will show a layer that we call undifferentiated.

"At the furthest or innermost area then, we come to the inner ego, which would then be separated from the outer ego by the buffer of the subconscious. Now it goes without saying that we speak here merely for convenience's sake, for all these areas are not indeed so neatly divided; but to explain their various purposes we must therefore speak of them in this manner.

"The following basic subjects are necessary for an understanding of what we are trying to say, particularly for any practical application:

the construction of physical matter;
the psychological and electrical gestalt that results in the formation of the self;
the nature of the dream universe;
the electrical system as it is related to both the physical universe and the inner psychic gestalt;
the nature of action;
mental enclosures;
mental genes; and again,
all of these subjects in relationship to their reality as action.

Action

"It is imperative, first of all, that the following be understood. We are dealing with words. Words involve us necessarily with symbols, and symbols are merely terms for what you do not understand. Everything, whether you perceive it or not, is action.

"A thought is an action. A dream is as much an action as a breath is an action. Although we speak in terms of separation, all reality is a part of action. When we divide action in order to discuss it, we in no way change the reality of action, nor alter its nature.

"Actions have an electrical reality. Your outer senses do not perceive electrical realities of this nature. Nevertheless, you are a gestalt of electrical actions. Within the physical matter of your chromosomes there are electrically coded systems. These are not the chromosomes themselves. The chromosomes are the physical materialization of the inner electrical data.

"Action (you may if you prefer use the term vitality; I prefer the term action) action continually attempts to express itself in endless formations. It therefore materializes itself in various forms. I term these forms camouflage. Within your system the camouflage is physical matter. It is impossible for action to completely express itself in any medium.

"There is, in no circumstance, any closed system. Action therefore flows within all systems and realities. Your physical senses are therefore adapted to deal with a particular camouflage system. They are therefore only equipped to perceive the realities within the physical camouflage field.

"This does not, however, mean that this is the only reality. It is simply the only reality that you perceive with the physical senses. In order to perceive other realities, you must therefore switch from your outer senses to the inner senses, for the inner senses are clearer, and are equipped to perceive action and reality as it exists independently of the distortions given to it by the physical senses.

"For, because you perceive reality in a limited fashion only, this in no way affects the basic nature of reality itself. The ego attempts to stand apart from action, to view action as the result of the ego. However, again, the ego's attempt to stand apart from action in no way changes the basic nature of action itself, and the ego merely limits its own perception.

"There are no limitations to the self, for the self as a part of action has no boundaries except those imaginary boundaries given to it by the ego.

... "We find therefore no, no limitations to the self, neither top or bottom. The self is not enclosed within the bony skull. You call your thoughts your own, and yet how do you hold them?

"You do not hold them. They are indeed transmitted without your conscious knowledge, and the self expands. Nor is the self limited physically. Again, this idea is the result of your own habit of perception, for chemicals and air and nutrients that you consider not your self, enter the self continuously from the physical environment; and that which you consider yourself, leaves through the pores of the body.

"Nor is the self limited by either space nor time, for in dreams you have an actuality that has nothing to do with space nor time, and these dream experiences change and alter your personality, for action must of itself always change. You are only familiar with a small portion of the self. You are more than you know you are, and your journeys range further.

"The self is indeed a more complicated and a more delicate construction than any of you know."

The Source Field Investigations

I have been reading "The Source Field Investigations" by David Wilcock. It is an incredible book, extremely well researched. I am not finished it yet, but it is clear that he (like all of us) has a perception of the underlying field(s) that gives rise to our manifested personal experiences. The experiments described in the book and their implications are astounding. In juxtaposing David Wilcock's work with Seth's we see how much we belive in the realness of our traditional ideas of time and space and how hard it is to see the dreamlike freedom of creation described by Seth. Wilcock's Source Field sounds a lot like Seth's electrical reality....the cosmic flow of Electromagnetic Energy Units that are shaped by the gestalts of consciousness through the matrix of Consciousness Units. I found his discussion of space-time and time-space interesting ... the notion that time is three dimensional like space (3-D time is referred to as reciprocal space). I was thinking that perhaps reciprocal space corresponds to Seth's negative matter (recall that we oscillate back and forth between positive and negative matter); i.e. we bounce into time (reciprocal space) to move to the next moment then bounce back into space to see what it looks like. Also it is very interesting that at the quantum level, physical action occurs in quantized bursts at the most fundamental level, and these bursts have a signature which varies with planetary cycles. Seth has indicated in many of his books that we tune in to this reality by a frequency of observation characterized by our nervous system. Similarly, it should not be surprising that Earth consciousness (Gaia) does the same thing and has its own frequency ... that which has been recently discovered.

Food for thought!

Enjoy!
Al

Expectation (Suggestion)

From Session 160 of The Early Sessions Book 4 of the Seth Maerial:


"Now to return to an earlier discussion. What you call suggestion is indeed expectation. You should understand by now how the physical image is constructed. This construction is from the inside out. The inner self attempts to construct a physical image in line with its own self-image. Any errors of construction have their origin not in the inner self, but in either the personal subconscious or in the ego.

"As errors and mistakes creep into the physical organic system, bringing forth mutant genes and distortions, so also these mutant genes and distortions are, on a smaller scale, the result of inner distortions within the consciousness of the individual genes.

"The same sort of distortion occurs on another scale, in the duplication of any given illness or destructive organic or gross misfunctions. What you suggestion should ideally come from within the self, and not from outside the self.

"When we have gone into the nature of action still much more thoroughly, then you will be able to use such knowledge for quite practical purposes, and to your advantage. For as you know, you do not perceive all aspects of action by any means, and it can indeed to some extent be up to you to choose those aspects of action with which you will be concerned, and those which you would ignore.

"This in no manner affects the nature of those actions which you ignore. However, to all intents and purposes it changes action is so far as you are concerned with it. This would therefore imply a choice on your part, in a manner that you do not now enjoy. For you can then choose to perceive advantageous action, as well as you can choose not to perceive action which for any reason or another you choose to ignore.

"This obviously implies powers of discipline and discretion. The ability therefore will not come until you can handle it.

"Suggestion would of course play a part in the development of these abilities. It is difficult, even though we are so far into our sessions, to give you any full understanding yet of what is involved in the basic nature of suggestion, but as we go deeper into the subject there will be experiments that you both can try.

"I have often mentioned that the divisions in our subject matter are often arbitrary, and for practical purposes of discussion only. The word suggestion is in itself so bound in your minds with other matters that even I find it difficult not to let the subject matter become suggestive of matters that do not really belong under discussion.

"You think for example in terms of good and bad suggestions, and I have on occasion used the terms myself, in order to make a point clear. However what you call suggestion, left alone, is a part of the inner impetus of action, which is translated in all areas of consciousness outward.

"What interrupts this inner impetus could be compared to what you call poor suggestion. It is indeed distortive. It represents a blocking of impetus. It interrupts what should be a simultaneous and easy flow of inner impetus outward, in your case outward to physical construction. The particular negative words spoken or thought are but indications of this break of impetus. The break occurs first, and it is for this reason that what you call negative suggestions therefore are acted upon.

"The negative suggestions therefore are symptoms of an inner block of energy and impetus. They represent a rift that has already occurred. It is rather important that I make this point clear. It goes without saying that these which you call negative suggestions are in themselves actions. They represent however dead eddies, the motion that means nothing in dead waters. They are impeding actions.

"Many, many occasions arise when action could be so impeded, and is not.

"What you call a negative suggestion is never acted upon unless the inner block of energies has already occurred. Suggestions, as I understand it, is the culmination of the inner voice that urges action into ever more diverse and creative patterns.

"We will have much to say concerning impediments; and impediments incidentally, are what you call negative suggestions. And yet remember that these impediments are themselves action.

"What you choose to call suggestion operates unceasingly within all aspects of action.

"It is this that allows the body in physical manifestation. It is this that allows for all change. It can be called on one level instinct, on other levels it is much more. When it operates at its most efficient level suggestion is indeed the inner affirmation. Without the ego we do not have what you call negative suggestions, for when action is left to itself it flows unimpeded, seeking its fulfillment along its numberless unimpeded ways.

"Your own experiments in psychological time have allowed you, to some extent, to experience within yourselves such unimpeded action. You know now that the ego, because of its nature, attempts to set itself aside from action. It obviously cannot do so. The ego, being part of action, nevertheless affects the nature of action as seen in the various manifestations of the whole self.

"The personal subconscious can be thought of as a threshold between the ego and the inner self; not only can glimmerings of the inner self be glimpsed through the subconscious, but also the diverse characteristics of the ego touch this personal subconscious. When the ego, therefore, becomes too overbearing it attempts to impede the flow of action. It cannot so impede action directly, for the very act of forming such impediments involves action. Nevertheless such impediments often set up actions that block the overall movements or direction of the action that composes the whole personality.

"The delicate inner mechanisms by which inner reality should be constructed into physical reality therefore become seriously affected. Distortions occur almost like mutant mental genes, which are then faithfully and duly reproduced.

"What you call negative suggestions represents discordant actions. Unless the main reasons are discovered, the distortive actions will keep reoccurring. In many cases quite a simple exercise will almost immediately begin to make an improvement. With these exercises you are familiar, for in your psychological time the self is momentarily in connection with its more extensive portions.

"A clear and undiverted and unbroken electrical circuit and connection is hereby made. Growth within the physical system is the result of suggestion. Without it there would be no growth. You will see here that we are beginning our discussion in the simplest of terms, and we will lead further so that eventually suggestion can be understood for what it is.

"It goes without saying that each newborn consciousness within your system carries within it the capsule comprehension of which I have previously spoken; and if you recall, each atom and molecule, each and every smallest particle that can by any stretch of the imagination be called physical matter, contains within it its own independent capsule comprehension - inherent suggestions in coded form, in not one but several codes, that give complete instructions for development and growth.
"There are translations of intent constantly made.

"The innate comprehension of which we have spoken is a basic portion of all atoms and molecules, about which the physical matter is formed, and without which the formation of physical matter would be impossible.

"You recall, I am sure, the material concerning the gestalt of the physical body. Here suggestion constantly plays its part in the formation of the tissues, and in all other such areas of development and growth. There are various manners in which these inner suggestions are translated from inner pure energy form into the electrical and chemical systems which compose the physical organisms, and it is possible for errors of translation to occur along these lines.

"Recall here also the cooperation that exists between the smallest particles and the cells and organs. Each molecule has its own self-image, without which it could not exists as a physical construction. The subconscious has its own self-image, the ego has its own self-image. When action is allowed to flow unimpeded, the cooperation that is necessary to maintain the efficiency of the gestalt is maintained. It is most frequently the error of the ego, who upon many occasions attempts to deny its dependency upon this cooperation, that sets up impediments, and sets up counter-suggestions that can be somewhat considered cancerous, in that if it had its way the ego would envelop all other aspects of the whole organism, and run riot.

"It will refuse to assimilate certain experiences. This very refusal is in itself an action. It will attempt to construct itself on a physical level, since it is within the physical system of reality. The cooperation is broken down to some greater or lesser degree. This conflicts with the inner data in the case of illnesses, and the illnesses are actually the result of conflicts of data. It is obvious that the body is equipped to handle many such distorted actions, but a conflict is hereby brought into play, where constructive energies or actions are not given full reign, and patterns of distortions are set up within the system.

"If they cannot be overwhelmed they are assimilated, and faithfully reproduced. There are methods whereby you can indeed help your own system, and to a large measure determine the constructive nature of action as it operates within the system, and protect the organism from such distortions before they occur.

"I will give you instructions along these lines. Ruburt's habit of requesting before he sleeps that his system effortlessly continue its healthful and natural cooperation is a good one. But this is, while helpful, only a very basic and beginning aid.

"This whole subject is much more complicated than you may at first suppose.

"Until we had discussed action to some degree, a discussion on suggestion would have meant little to you. We will continue along these lines for some time, even while the subject leads us into others.

"Since suggestion is used constantly, and by every cell in your body, then it is not a question of whether or not you can use suggestion, but of how to use it more effectively. And this will involve a balanced personality, for in such a personality action will be allowed freedom of expression. The ego will gain and not lose in the process, but we will not have an autocratic and willful ego, but a reasonable and even disciplined ego that is aware of its position, aware of its own dependency, as well as of its own peculiar and unique perceptive apartness. For the apartness is dependent upon its being a part of the whole gestalt.

"We find it most frequently that the ego impedes action by refusals. It attempts to maintain a stability that is indeed illusion. The emotions, as you know, are action. When they are allowed their mobility, then they free the personality from resistances. They actually allow for great stability, since their free expression makes it possible for action to be fulfilled in the manner most constructive for the system as a whole.

"When the ego impedes such expression, then the emotions are translated into other actions, and can turn into impediments. It is only because the ego blocks freedom of the emotional expression, out of fear, that it appears to the ego that emotions are indeed fearful characteristics. Dammed up, they are indeed.

"It is, again, the ego's misguided attempt to stand apart to gain stability, that makes the ego react in such a manner. It fears loss of control and of discipline. But all appearances to the contrary, the emotions are natural controlling devices that in themselves aid discipline, since they allow for the spontaneous flow of energies outward. It is only when they are denied that they become explosive or dangerous to the personality. Then indeed they result in explosive barrages, ranting and shouting, organic and psychological illnesses, and of unfortunate manifestations.

Illness

The following is from Seth Session 159 (Volume 4 of the Early Sessions):


"I am going to take this instance of your friend's illness however to make a few points of my own, some that may not be too well received. A cure of any kind will never depend upon any given treatment. It will in all cases depend upon the belief on the part of the sufferer that he can be cured. It will depend upon his desire to be cured. It will depend upon the strength of the purpose that an illness serves. It will depend upon, in the last analysis, the individual's own ability to mobilize his own energies, for only these will effect a cure.

"Any physician of any kind can only help a sufferer mobilize these energies and direct them. A sufferer has adopted an illness into his own self-image, through suggestion, which to a large degree he himself has given. He has caused the illness, whether it be organic or otherwise, and only suggestion will rid him of it.

"It is indeed quite time for us to discuss the true nature and reality of what is so loosely called suggestion. We have indeed spoken much concerning the focus of energy, and a sufferer is truly entranced with the idea of his illness, and it is only this which basically allows the illness to continue. He focuses upon it both consciously and unconsciously.

"An illness is a failure to solve a mental or psychological problem in the correct manner. As long as the illness continues the problem remains unsolved, and a vicious circle is maintained because of this unwholesome balance. The sufferer focuses upon the illness, therefore avoiding his task of functioning upon the problem.

"The energy that would be used to solve the problem instead is spent maintaining the illness. It is therefore necessary that an attempt be made as soon as possible to solve the problem, which of course must first be discovered by the ego, which has avoided it.

"This first attempt to discover the problem, automatically and because of its nature, immediately aids the sufferer in changing the focus of his attention away from the symptom, which he has himself formed, and already the symptom is weaker.

"The trouble with many health programs for recovery is that they cause the sufferer to focus upon his illness more than ever. The unsolved problem is therefore pushed further away."

... "So-called suggestion causes not only sickness but health.

"The term itself is a very poor one. We will go much more deeply into this as the whole discussion continues. Needless to say, suggestion operates as strongly and as realistically and as practically within an atom, or a toad, or a leaf, as it does in man.

"Our material concerning the construction of the physical universe and of physical matter in general may now, perhaps, give you an idea of how important suggestion is. Also consider our material on expectation, for indeed expectation comes closer, as a term, than does suggestion.

"Our focus of energy is vital, both yours and mine. Expectation to a large extent determines the manner in which we will use this energy, and the types of constructions that will be formed. Your friend's ulcer for example is his problem in its entirety, constructed into the physical matter of his own organism.

"This is to be taken literally.

"The problem, as a mental manipulation, has not been settled. The resulting construction, therefore, is a faithful replica of his distortion.

"In some types of illnesses such distortions are mirrored or reflected, so to speak, many times within one organism. We will have much more to say along these lines."

The Nature of Action and Idea Construction

From Session 157 of the Early Session of the Seth Material (Book 4):


"The nature of action cannot be altered.

"I am speaking now of the basic nature of reality, and not of any particular action, for particular actions can indeed be altered by other actions, and no given action occurs in a solitary manner.

"This last is extremely important. Actions are perceived as realities according to the nature, not of a given action, but according to the nature of the perceiver. His viewpoint and his field of reference will at all times colour to some extent or another the nature of the reality which he perceives.

"This may sound contradictory. We have stated that a reality remains as it is, unchanged even though the perceiver, because of his sense apparatus, may perceive it in a limited or distorted fashion. While this is to some extent true, we can now delve into the matter somewhat more fully. In our later sessions for example, we have mentioned that the desire for duplication must always result in a distortion, but this distortion is also the basis therefore for a new reality.

"Now, putting these two statements together, you see that an individual will perceive basic reality, in the main, only from his own reference point, and through his outer sense apparatus. His perception of basic reality in one way does not change the nature of that reality or of that action, as it exists independently of his field of reference. However, the very distortions that occur in his attempt to perceive this reality results in a new reality. What he perceives then is legitimate, for his very perception of it is the basis for its existence.

"Any individual reacts to a reality as he perceives it to be, and he perceives it to be since he has himself created it from basic reality. The very distortions therefore form many of the characteristic differences which for him gives his reality its peculiar nature. Those whose actions set them apart drastically from others within your system, and who seem in one way or another mentally unbalanced, are often told they must relate themselves more clearly with reality as it exists.

"This however is not their problem, for like all other individuals they perceive a reality that they have created. Their problem therefore is a distortive one. It is not related to their attitude toward reality as a whole, but it is intimately connected with the reality which they have created. They are indeed relating to that reality very well. The reality, however, is much more distorted than usual, and this is one of the main problems.

"It is only because their realities are so distorted that the difficulty is discovered. I mentioned many sessions back that your physical universe, so taken for granted, is actually at least as diverse and multitudinous as the dream system. Within the physical universe you merely focus upon similarities and ignore the vast differences that exist. Each reality is completely unique for every individual, and through his own actions he attempts therefore to communicate the nature of this reality of his to his fellows.

"We have discussed the ways in which telepathy operates in this respect, and we have to some extent discussed the ways in which the appearance of cohesiveness is maintained. In many cases the individual who is called mentally unbalanced is simply one whose individual reality is so composed that it is impossible for others to find in his expression of it any similarity with their own. The error is one of inadequate idea construction."

Dimensions of action

From Session 156 of the Early Sessions of the Seth Material (Volume 4):


"Now, we will speak again concerning action.

"Our material on the fifth dimension seemed almost infinite to you at the time. That is, the fifth dimension appeared infinite in its complexity, but you see that it is but one dimension within an infinite number of dimensions. For there are infinite possibilities in the patterns which action can of itself form.

"(See the 12th session for Seth's first discussion of the fifth dimension.)

"I do not intend to number indefinitely, or list, an endless number of dimensions of actuality, though we will go into this later to some small degree. I am much more concerned for now that you understand the dimensions of action as they exist within the dream world, within psychological realities, and within other scopes with which you are yourselves somewhat familiar.

"Your experiments with the pendulum are quite helpful to you, in that the subconscious is allowed, through its own action, to make itself more readily available. Your own conscious awareness is increased because you are then aware of inner actions with which the conscious mind had not been familiar. Here we have a coming together of actions, a joining and an immersion of one action within another: the action of the subconscious in answering questions put to it by the conscious mind, (use brain rather than mind), and the acceptance, which is itself action on the part of the consciousness, of the answers received.

"Here the self, by becoming part of greater action, increases its own ability to deal with action. The principle that action acts upon itself is extremely important when we are dealing with psychological action. The principle that action is self-generating, and that it cannot be withdrawn, is also vital in connection with psychological action.

"Energy cannot be retained. It must be discharged. The very attempt to deny an action automatically changes the nature of the action, and also changes the nature of the individual who attempts to deny it. All energy seeks to materialize itself, which is another way of saying that action must act.

"In the psychological realm it goes without saying that a repressed emotion is never really repressed, since action cannot be retained. It must change. The cause of such difficulties lies not in the repression of an emotion, for this is impossible. The emotion in one way or another, will out, but the difficulty lies in the attempt to repress the emotion. This attempt is itself an action.

"There is a term used occasionally to the effect that an emotional block is like a wall. The analogy is an excellent one. I have told you earlier that there are other kinds of structures beside physical structures. Emotions and thoughts have their own structures, that may be manipulated in the same manner that physical objects are manipulated, generally speaking.

"An action has reality, as you know, within every possible field of activity. An emotion has an electrical and chemical structure. This is extremely important. It is not a structure that takes up space as you know it, obviously, but it is a structure nevertheless, and could be compared to the appearance of dream locations.

"(In Volume 2, see the 44th session for material on dream locations.)

"Emotions are a quite natural portion of action, and left to themselves are fluid. They have electrical validity, and shape. When an attempt is made to reject an emotion, this does not affect the emotion half as much as it affects the individual involved. The act of rejection in itself is detrimental and doomed to failure.

"You may perhaps come closer to understanding how these psychological structures are manipulated if you consider the same sort of structures as they exist as dream objects in sleep.

"If you toss a ball in a dream, neither the self that tosses the ball, nor the ball, exist in any space structure as you know it. In somewhat the same manner are emotion structures handled. A refusal or a denial, an attempt not to handle a particular emotional structure involves action. The refusal itself is an action.

"What you have here is an attempt to objectify, or stand apart from action in such a refusal. This is not the fault of the subconscious, but a fault of the ego, which refuses to assimilate or accept a given action. As you know, it is the ego who exists as a result of such objectivity. All the qualities that make up the ego are objectified to that degree, but they are collected about the ego with the ego as centre. When the ego however refuses to accept an emotion as part of itself, it tries one of two actions.

"Either it attempts to return the emotion to a subjective state, or it attempts to objectify it further away from itself. In either case the ego is at fault for not assimilating or accepting the emotion. It is easy to see then that the ego is itself a series of actions, that it is a collection of more or less similar actions, selected from a larger mainstream of other actions.

"You will recall that the ego, while disliking change, is nevertheless dependent for its identity upon change. The ego to a large degree, therefore, chooses during its development those characteristic actions which will form its nature. Because the ego necessarily changes however, actions or emotions which at one time it chose as acceptable, at a later date so to speak it may attempt to deny.

"The habitual pattern or characteristic nature of the ego may then be led to refuse to accept an emotion, at the same time that a pattern has already been set to receive the particular type of emotion. Here the ego fights against itself. Such an emotion may of course be given release through dreams, but this is of limited value to the ego involved, since the ego does not accept the reality of dream existence.

"The strength of the ego actually depends on the flexibility with which it can accept and assimilate ever more complex actions, and give them a unity of its own. An action or emotion not accepted by the ego, but nevertheless a part of it, will always drain energy from the main core of the ego, despite the ego's denial, and energy cannot therefore be used by the ego for the purposes of its own purposeful action.

"The rejected emotion, in other words, will express itself in any case, but it will do so then as a rebel, outside of the organizational directives of the ego itself. Hence for example, actions that appear senseless to the ego are often the results of such unassimilated or denied emotions. At one time or another such emotions were acceptable to the ego. There was an attraction, or the emotion would not have been permitted to enter into a realm close to ego control.

"Inclinations with which the ego has very little liking, for example, are very seldom a problem for the ego, since they remain generally outside of the ego pattern, never having been chosen by it to form a characteristic part of the ego pattern. Obviously, to some degree every conceivable sort of inclination is latent to the ego, but it is apparent that each ego has its peculiar set of adopted characteristics, its set of characteristics that it sometimes accepts and sometimes rejects; and it is obvious that some characteristics simply seem alien to any given ego.

"It is therefore with the second alternating group of characteristics that most such problems arise. An ego who can, and has at one time or another accepted as part of itself a violent and unruly desire to kill, for example, will not automatically reject the emotion of hatred. He may dislike it, but he will recognize it as a part of himself during whatever period it is assimilated. An ego which once accepted such an idea of violence, and knew it as a possibility of action, such an ego, if he then rejects the conception, can no longer afford, ever, to recognize this once acceptable emotion, for he is only too aware of the action that could have at one time developed.

"It is in this area that such conflicts arise. The man, or ego, who has never really accepted such violence as a part of his action pattern, will usually have no conflicts in this particular line, simply because the inclination was never a strong part of the ego's inner image, and is more or less discarded automatically, along with all those other characteristics or inclinations which are not in his ego pattern.

"This is obviously somewhat simplified, in that the ego constantly changes, and the above examples must be read carefully or their meaning could be misinterpreted. Actions may appear to be separate, but they are all part of other actions, this being of course the basis for all organization, including that of the ego and the inner self.

"Again, it must be remembered that no real boundaries exist, only diversity of function.

"All boundaries, therefore, are apparent boundaries, boundaries in appearance only.

"Groupings of actions of any kind merge into other groupings, both within the physical field and outside of it. All apparent units are merely formed by functions, the functions of action. In this context the ego is also a function of action. There are of course also functions within functions, which should be obvious.

"The ego itself attempts as its function to be the director and centre of other functions. The ego, while considering itself apart from action, is obviously not apart from it. As dreams allow the inner self great freedom, and as in dreams great perspectives of time are available, and great freedom in space, though no space as you know it is involved, so it is possible for the ego itself to achieve the experience of freedom from time and space, if it would only allow itself for a short while to relax the intensity of its objective focus.

"It could still do this and retain its own nature, merely by allowing into its awareness the reality of other actions as a part of its self-image. There is for example no basic reason why the subconscious and the ego cannot communicate to a much larger extent than is now usual. Such communication would result in the acceptance of additional energy and action by the ego, and an expansion of the ego's self-image.

"It was necessary for the ego, in its origins, to objectify itself as much as possible. Now however the stability of the ego, generally speaking, as a part of the human personality is established. It can now afford to be much more elastic, to include, in other words, more and more of reality within its awareness. Such an inclusion would be most beneficial. It would of course however to some extent change the ego, and any change is resisted by the ego.

"Nevertheless the course of future events will move in this direction. It must. The ego must change in this rather basic manner, including other realities within its scope of awareness. There is no basic reason why it cannot add its directive energies to other aspects of the personality, and if it could so expand it would, theoretically, be possible for the ego to become aware of many experiences which have been impossible for it in the past.

"The hope and the possibilities here, as well as some of the dangers, lie in the fact that the ego does indeed change, and is not one specific reality but a series or group of actions, with direction, that have the potentiality for unlimited value fulfilment. The ego will never be less that it is now. It may very well be more. possibilities for development here are very great, but most such possibilities lie still in the future, and only, so far, as possibilities. There is nothing that will force the ego to enlarge the scope of its awareness."