The Indivisible Nature of Reality

From Seth's Early Sessions, session number 133 (from Volume 3):


Beyond Electric Reality

"Though we speak in definite terms of the inner self, the entity and the ego, neither the inner self, the entity or the ego are stationary and complete. We freeze them, so to speak, in order that we might hold them within our grasp, but we cannot, nor is there time, as such, when they will be completed or finished.

"They are forever in motion. They change constantly. As you cannot hold even the ego in the palm of your hand, so you cannot hold the inner self within the mind. They always escape in essence.

"The entity should therefore not be thought of as completed. The electric universe, of which you know so little, is a reality, and yet it is also a symbol of another reality. For behind even this electrical universe there is a reality which cannot be explored in terms of speech; for all consciousness, while having an electric reality, has a reality beyond even this.

Underlying Vitality of the Universe and all Universes

"It is the vitality of the universe, and all universes, which causes the electrical reality, and the vitality of the universe, composing everything that is, cannot be touched. It is touch, but touch not as it is conceived of in your terms. This vitality is the most immediate and intimate aspect that composes the camouflage appearance within all fields. And yet it is by far more than the camouflage.

"It has many realities, forming all universes and all fields. It is indeed within you, as you are within it. It is not formless, but takes many forms. It is above all never static and never competed.

"It is indeed closer to you than your breath.

"Many sessions ago I used the analogy of air within your physical field, comparing it with the vitality of the universe, in that you are not as a rule conscious of air. Yet it is part of everything within your field. And also, that most inaccessible, most inward and seemingly most mysterious portion of the inner universe, which you seek, is so a part of you that you are unaware of it even though in it you have your very existence.

"When I speak of the electrical universe, indeed this represents but one more facet of reality. But all of these universes are indeed one. You remember our discussion concerning density of intensities. Here is the secret, if you could but see it: Even though the electrical universe might seem to you far divorced from what you know, nevertheless you dwell within it. Your own emotions have an independent existence within it. And your own possibilities within it are unlimited. But even this is also a camouflage.

"The difficult point here that we must always return to, is that beneath all camouflage exists that which has no need of camouflage, but simply is.

"Yet this initial experience is not competed and it is not finished. And while it does not need expression through camouflage, it exists in a fuller and more vivid nature than you can at present imagine.

"So when I told you to look where there was nothing, then I spoke because this camouflaged experience can be most directly perceived where nothing is perceived with the outer senses. In one sense anything that you can see or feel or touch is not real, and yet in another sense it is the nature of all reality.

"Neither, then, is the ego ever finished, nor the inner self, nor the entity. Each field of existence merges into every other, and yet each retains its own identity. The subconscious layers of the self dwell also in many realities, and here I speak of actual fields and not fantasies.

"Personalities within, that are not dominant within the ego, are dominant within other fields of actuality, though they appear as mere shadowy influences within your own.

"The gestalt patterns of which I have spoken is the basis here, and yet all members within such gestalts are themselves independent, possessing identity and separation even while they cooperate in a complicated pattern. It is arbitrary; that is, from your viewpoint you arbitrarily choose certain portions of reality and call them units, marking them off. But your divisions do not affect the nature of these gestalts, as my discussion speaks of separate universes without affecting the nature of any universe one whit.

"The idea that I want to portray is a difficult one, for as you know everything that is, is conscious. And everything that is, is also self-conscious, in degree according to its abilities; and everything that is therefore contains identity and separation, even while it is part of a large and complicated gestalt.

"No identities are blurred, but it makes no difference to the identities where you or mankind happens to draw a line, saying "Here we have A, and here we have B."

"A small frog for example may be more likely seen not as a frog isolated, but as one part of the pond in which he lives; and the pond part of the forest in which it lies; and the forest part of the earth; and the earth itself part of the universe, which is part of another universe.

"It makes no difference to the frog, to the nature of the frog, and it changes no smallest cell within him, if you choose to enclose what you call him, as an idea unit called frog, or whether you consider instead the complete picture. The identities still remain the same.

Direct and Indirect Experience

"Such explanations are needed only because we are speaking in terms of indirect experience.

"All true knowledge is direct experience. It cannot be classified, it cannot be named, it cannot be set down in black and white. True knowledge is only experience, direct experience, and a matter of the inner senses.

"Even my explanations to you involve a verbal dissection, which in itself distorts the very nature of the matter under examination. All our discussions concerning the electrical universe do not bring you closer to experience of it. You are in direct contact with it. But again, as you cannot hold your own breath, so you cannot hold that which is even more intimate, and which forms the very personality which attempts the examination.

"Direct experience alone will bring you such knowledge, and yet it will not be held by the conscious mind or by the ego, although flashes of the experience may be momentarily projected within these realms. Such knowledge indeed is communicated to the various levels of the self through dreams, as you should know.

"And again, dreams are themselves never completed, but continue on whether or not your perception of them continues. For dreams also are gestalts. When you look into the mirror you see the camouflage image. You do not see the ego, though you know that it exists. But the idea, ego, is in itself an arbitrary unit chosen for particular reasons. It is not a thing. You have drawn lines, imaginary lines, and made an arbitrary boundary. This does not mean that the ego does not exist.

"It means that the word is nothing, and that it is merely a symbol for that which you can neither see nor feel nor touch. It is merely a symbol for that small particle of yourselves which you permit your consciousness to perceive. It is a symbol to express that portion of an unseeable self, that is brought most obviously into operation for purposes of manipulation of the physical image within a camouflage field.

"The ego then, is only part of a much larger self, but because consciously you do not perceive the whole self you arbitrarily make a unit from a truly indivisible identity, and call this the "I". This designation, this classification, in no way affects the nature of that indivisible self. It merely affects you own conscious attitudes. You succeed in cutting off, in theory, one portion of the self from the whole self.

"This duality then affects your own perception in a most diverse fashion. It sets man against himself. we will go into this matter more clearly at our next session, as it will lead us further into some new areas.