Joy

From Session 152 in Volume 4 of Seth's Early Sessions:


"Joy and the spontaneous expression of it will always bring increased strength and resiliency to the personality. It also brings deep and abiding satisfaction to the subconscious, which is much more joyful than it is given credit for. The subconscious, for example, the personal subconscious, takes great pleasure in its manipulation of the physical fibres in locomotion. The expression of joy also makes the ego more resilient, less fearful, less resentful of diverse conditions when they occur. The emotion itself is an automatic signal that unites the conscious and conscious in shared experience.

"It is, as a rule, lack of knowledge on the part of the ego as to the nature of reality, and its part in it, and the resulting fear, that often prevents a personality from accepting spontaneous expression of emotions in general. The capacity to feel is important. When one fears to experience seemingly unpleasant emotions, the personality also tends to set up an emotional pattern of rejection that seriously cuts down, also, not only on the expression but the very perception of joy.

"This does not mean that the personality must be completely swept away by an emotion, though this is what such an ego fears. Emotion replenishes even the ego. Emotions demand resiliency, and resiliency is both the result of spontaneity, inner assurance, and discipline. All this is action, for the personality itself is composed of action, and is constantly changing. This is action, therefore, delighting in the expression and form of itself.

... "The desire to set yourself apart from emotion, and coolly appraise it, is merely an indication of the ego's characteristic nature. It tries to separate itself from action, to view it objectively, and to see itself as something apart from action.

"Since it is itself action, such an attempt is basically doomed to failure. Yet the very attempt causes the formation of the ego. Once this apparent separate ego is formed, and once a fair amount of stability is maintained, and a new identity arrived at, the initial desire and energy will maintain the ego in its position during its existence in any field. Since this existence of separate identity is assured, attempts should then be made so that the ego can better participate in its realization of action, and the emotional life is very important in this respect.

"In any fairly normal personality the intellect will indeed stand guard. There is no need to fear identity's complete immersion into emotional sensation. Such emotional experience actually strengthens not only the ego, but it opens communications between the ego and the subconscious, and allows for a much greater flow of energy from the primary source of action.

"This energy, incidentally, can be most effectively used for creative work. I could have given you much of this material earlier, but I wanted you to understand the basic reasoning behind the material, and for this a knowledge of the nature of action was necessary."

Moment Points

Seth from Volume 4 of the Early Sessions:


Session 150

Moment Point

"A moment point basically consists not of any particular given time division, but is within your system a convenient term that expresses or represents the range of reality that can be conveniently embraced without undue strain.

"Within what you call one moment, many such perceptions flash through to affect any given individual. However there is within your system a lapse before the organism can effectively organize these perceptions. My idea of a moment point is only an approximation of your physical moment. I am trying to make it plain here that the range of action is what is important. A moment point is a range of action."

Session 151

Moment Point (continued)

"There is much to be explained along many lines which we have only begun to touch upon, for all things are correlated; and there is indeed a correlation between our moment points of which we have spoken, the spacious present, and that portion of the whole self which you call the subconscious.

"We are dealing here principally, and in the main, with the essence of action, and essentially all apparent divisions are arbitrary for the sake of explanation. The moment point is in itself arbitrary, an artificial division. As we have said, the moment point for you is actually composed of the amount of action which your are capable of assimilating within your present framework, for the moment point is indeed a portion of the spacious present.

"(For a more graphic interpretation of what a moment point might be, see Jane's description of the concept she received from Seth in the 149th session.)

"The subconscious, and in fact all portions of the self with the exception of the ego, are capable of assimilating a wider area, so to speak, of action. Therefore to these other portions of the self, time has a much different essence than it has for the ego. The ego is indeed many things. It can be defined in relationship to many other aspects of reality. In relationship to action, and moment points, the ego is indeed that portion of the self which stands at the apex of the moment point, and is limited by the moment point. The ego is in this context the portion of the self which is utterly focused upon, and imprisoned by, the moment point.

"The ego is that portion of the self which experiences time as continuity, and to whom experience is a series of stimuli and responses carried on one after another. And yet this is in itself a division, so to speak, or a kind of value fulfillment, for the simultaneous nature of a given action is here experienced in slow motion, as a child must learn to walk before the child can run.

"The subconscious however is not so limited. If you consider the ego at the apex of the moment point, and imprisoned therefore within the realm of its own before-and-after, cause-and-effect experience, then you can imagine the subconscious reaching further outward and seizing upon many other moment points. It should be easy to see then why the focus of the ego is so sharp and brilliant. Within its limited scope there is intensity of stimuli and response. Indeed, the ego is that portion of the personality which is plunged into a specific and intense preoccupation with a given field of action or dimension.

"The subconscious, reaching outward, reaches also inward. For while there is no real past or present or future within the spacious present, there is indeed an infinity of inward and outward; and again, of actions within actions, and there is no end to these actions for they are self-generating. The other portions of the inner self reach then even further in all directions, and they therefore envelop many moment points. To many portions of the inner self then, what you would call a moment would correspond to an almost limitless number of moments, for even physical time has no meaning without experience without action.

"Your whole concept of time is built about your own capacity for perceiving action; as this capacity for perceiving action grows, so indeed do the dimensions of time grow. Conceivably therefore one moment of your time would indeed be experienced by the whole self as centuries.

"This should lead you to understand why physical time is basically meaningless to the subconscious, and why the inner self has at its command a knowledge of past lives and past endeavours; for the inner self, dear friends, these lives are not in the past, nor is the life of the ego necessarily present to the whole self.

"For to the whole self all personalities that compose it exist simultaneously, and personalities that would appear to you as future personalities are experienced by the whole self in the same dimension as it experiences personalities that you would call past personalities. For all your ideas of time are illusion, not merely philosophical illusions, but delusions as far as any basic reality is concerned.

"It is only the ego that steps from moment to moment, as a man who walks from puddle to puddle. It is only the ego who drowns in time. Therefore, since only the ego is momentarily imprisoned within the focus of your plane, it is only the ego who probes so slowly into simultaneous action, perceiving it bit by bit and sip by sip. So now you will see what I meant when I spoke about the limitless self, for the whole self is not so bound. The whole self could and does perceive a limitless number of such moment points simultaneously. And now hear this:

"The whole self not only perceives these limitless moment points, but being a part of action, each whole self projects fragments and personalities from itself to all these points, creating therefore other egos, other intense focus points which are independent, which work out their own destinies and experiences, which in turn perceive any given moment point ins slow motion.

"It must be stressed that there are no sharp boundaries, however, between the various portions of the whole self.

"There are shadings and variations and that is all. The inner ego is that part of the inner self which is closely allied with the outer ego, in that it is to some degree a director of function and activity. But it is not sharply focused. It looks inward. Here we run into some language difficulty.

"The inner ego looks inward, yet in looking inward it looks outward toward those vast portions of the self. Because there is always action within action, and because of the three dilemmas of which we have spoken earlier, the new personalities projected outward into other fields of perception, or other moment points, these other personalities in turn create new ones, and the cycle is again repeated.

"Time, physical matter, these are but portions of action as perceived in one particular fashion. The basic stuff, or the basic action of the universe, is one. It is perceived differently, and therefore reality constantly wears a different face. It is speeded up or slowed down according to the scope of perception.

"(It might be interesting to note here that Seth began talking about action in the 13th session, January 6, 1964: "Love and hate, for example, are action," and "In your plane, action is the main word of importance," etc. See Volume 1, page 71.

"(See the 138th and 141st sessions for material on the three creative dilemmas.)

"It is almost impossible to explain clearly, through the use of words, this massive complexity, for all fields of activity are self-generating. Even the dream field is self-generating. No consciousness can bring itself to destruction. It can only cease experiencing a certain portion of action. This is a rather important point.

"The multiplicity of human experience would be impossible were it not for the inner self, and for the heritage that speaks through the cells of every human being. The perspectives and psychic relationships that make up the human personality simply could not have resulted through action within your field alone. It cannot be stressed too strongly that experience within the self can lead to at least some understanding of the nature of action in its pure form, for within your physical universe action is to some extent frozen, insofar as your perceptions of it are concerned.

"Yet within your own psychological experience you can perceive its fluid nature. The material that I have given you concerning the three dilemmas will be most helpful here.

"There is much that you simply cannot perceive at this point. There is much that mankind as such will never learn, simply because such knowledge is beyond the reach of the ego. But there is much that you do not know that you can learn.

"Now, Each moment point is a field or dimension. You perceive certain very limited aspects of a given number of such moment points. The same moment points may simultaneously be experienced in an entirely different fashion, and to a different set of perceptions. These moment points would appear quite different than they appear to you.

"There is a delicate connection here with the dream universe that is somewhat difficult to explain. The dream universe, however, pervades many other fields. It does not exist outside or apart from your own universe, but simultaneously with it. It appears, and is a reality, to all aspects or portions of the self, and often it is only within the dream universe that the personality can change focus easily or efficiently enough so that he can perceive the variety of roles that he himself has played.

"I mentioned the chemical relationship between your universe and the dream universe. There are like relationships of one kind or another that tie together all fields and systems, from the largest to the most minute. The freedom of the inner self, then, is never determined by time as you know it. It is determined by time as you do not know it.

"There are such manipulations within various systems that change other systems. Your own behaviour and action within the dream universe definitely affects the physical universe. From one field of activity then you have changed another, and without ever knowing, in many cases, that you have done so. In the same manner do the activities of the physical universe alter the dream system. It is virtually impossible for me to explain all these inner workings. We will have to wait until you can experience concepts for much of that.

"These moment points may, for simplicity's sake, also be thought of as reference points from one system to another. Do you see now a connection here with camouflage, as explained in earlier sessions?

"The moment point will be seen as camouflage, which simply means that it will be perceived differently according to the perceptors. Definitions have little meaning unless they are related to other issues. For that reason I will try whenever possible to relate terms with which you are familiar in ways so that their relationships will be clearly seen.

"There will be much more here also concerning moment points and value fulfillment. For this, value fulfillment, is the reason behind the existence of all systems, and of all experience within your field. I mentioned that value fulfillment seems, and is to some small degree, dependent upon time as you know it, but this merely reflects upon the manner in which you perceive time, and in no way alters the simultaneous nature of value fulfillment, which grows in dimension but is not dependent upon time as you know it."

Action In Relation To Dream Reality

From Session 149 found in Volume 4 of Seth's Early Sessions:


"Now, regarding again the nature of action, I would like to discuss action in relation to the dream reality, for you are intimately familiar with action in dreams, and your practical experience will enable you to understand the true nature of action more clearly.

"We mentioned that there are always actions within actions, and make it clear that all action does not necessarily involve motion that is apparent as motion to you. Actions may be thresholds or openings for other actions. To one extent or another all actions involve unfoldings. The action of dreaming itself is partially a physical phenomena. There is then, comparatively speaking, the outside action that makes dreaming possible, the action that is dreaming.

"There are then truly endless varieties of actions within the dream, which is itself a continuing act. There is, most simply, within a dream the creation of images. These images then also act. They move, speak, walk, run. There is at times a dream within a dream, where the dreamer dreams that he dreams. Here of course the dimensions are even more diverse.

"Man of these actions performed by dream images are muscular ones, physical manipulations. But many of these actions are also mental manipulations, or aesthetic realizations and even aesthetic performances. These dream images are not one-dimensional, cardboard figures by any means. Their mobility in terms of perspectives and within space is far greater than your own.

"You perceive, however, but a very small portion of these images which you have yourselves created. You simply cannot bring them back into the limited perspectives of your own present field, and are left with but glimpses and flimsy glimmerings of images which are actually as actual, vivid, and more mobile than those in the physical field.

"I have mentioned that what I call the dream universe is indeed composed of molecular structure, and that it is a continuing reality, even though your own awareness of it is most usually limited, for quite necessary reasons, to the hours of your own sleep. There is a give and take here, for if you give the dream universe much of its continuing energy, much of your own energy is derived from it. There is, between the physical field and the dream universe, an interdependence that is not at all unusual, for all fields are indeed dependent one upon the other.

"(Seth began talking about dreams as far back as the 15th session, about dream locations in the 44th session, about the subconscious and dreams in the 92nd and 93rd sessions, etc., among others.)

"Nor is the dream universe a shadow image of your own. It carries on according to the possibilities inherent within it, as you carry on according to the possibilities that exist within the physical field. The possibilities for action vary, however, within these two fields as they vary within all other fields. You may say that in sleeping you focus your energies to form a different reality than the reality of waking physical matter.

"You focus your awareness in altered form into another universe, that is in every way as valid and permanent as your own. It is also as changing as the physical universe. A small amount of energy only is focused upon the physical field during sleep, enough simply to maintain the physical body within its physical environment.

"The dream universe and the events within it are, therefore, as meaningful as those events that occur within the physical universe.

"In many respects actions within the dream universe are indeed more direct than in your own. It is because you remember but vague glimmerings and disconnected episodes that dreams appear, sometimes, chaotic or meaningless, particularly to the ego, which censors rigidly much of the information that the subconscious does retain.

"For most people this censoring process is valuable, since it prevents the personality from being snowed under by data it is not equipped to handle. The ability to retain experience gained within other fields is the trend of further development. You are at least however to some extent familiar with this field of dream action, and every man intuitively knows his involvement here.

"The feeling of unreality is not felt when the dream experience is being participated in by the dreamer. At that time the experience is felt to be real, and some dreams indeed are more vivid than waking experience. It is only when the personality passes out of the dream experience, or the dream universe, that the dream experience in retrospect may appear unreal. For now, again, the focus of attention and energy is in the physical universe. Reality then is a result of the focus of energy and attention.

"I used the term "pass out of" the dream universe purposely, for here we see a mobility of action easily and often accomplished, a passing in and out that involves an action easily and often accomplished, a passing in and out that involves an action without movement in space. The dreamer is acquainted intimately, and has at his fingertips so to speak, a memory of his previous dream experiences, and carries within him the inner individualistic purposes which are behind his dream actions.

"On leaving the dream state, he becomes more and more aware of the ego, and creates then activities which have meaning to it. In the deep dream state the inner purposes are more involved. As I have mentioned however, all dream symbols have meanings to all portions of the personality.

"(See the 92nd session in particular, in Volume 3.)

"The dream universe has molecular construction, but this molecular construction takes up no space as you know it. The dream universe, while composed of molecules, is not composed of matter as you know it. The dream universe consists of depths and dimensions, expansions and contractions, that are more clearly allied, perhaps, to ideals that have no need for the particular kind of structure with which you are familiar.

"Obviously, time in terms of continuity, is not an element of importance in the dream universe, and this is one of the reasons for the lack of physical structure. The intuitions and certain inner abilities here have so much more freedom that it is unnecessary for molecules to be used in any imprisoning form or structure. Action is more spontaneous within the dream universe, more fluid. The images appear and disappear much more quickly because value fulfillment is allowed greater reign.

"The slower physical manifestation of growth that occurs within the physical field involves long-term patterns filled by atoms and molecules which are, to some extent, then imprisoned within structure.

"(See the 71st session [in Volume 2] among others.)

"In the dream universe however the slower physical growth process is replaced by psychic and mental value fulfillment, which does not necessitate any long-range imprisonment of molecules within a pattern.

"This involves, simply, a quickening of experience and action relatively unhampered by the sort of time necessities inherent within the physical universe. Action itself therefore is allowed greater freedom. This is not to say that structure does not exist within the dream universe, for structures of mental or psychic nature do exist. But structure is not dependent upon matter as in the physical universe, and the motion of molecules is more spontaneous, and an almost unbelievable depth of experience is possible within what would seem to you a fraction of a moment.

"I will have more to say concerning the connection between the two fields and their manifestation in action, for one of the closest glimpses you can get of pure action is action as it is involved within the dream universe, and in this mobility as the personality passes into and out of the dream field. within your own universe you deal with the transformation of action into physical manipulations, but this involves but a small portion of the nature of action, and it is my purpose to familiarize you with action as it exists more or less in its pure form.

"In this way you may be able to perceive the manners in which it is transformed into other fields that do not involve matter as you know it.

"Your own universe expands as an idea expands, in ways that have nothing to do with space.

"The whole reality of the dream world, or of the dream universe, lies along these lines. Within it fulfillment and development are not dependent upon permanence of physical matter, however, and are not at all dependent upon any concept like that of your physical time. There [are] therefore possible bursts of developments, that have matured within perspectives that are not bound up in time, and that would appear spontaneous to the waking self.

"But these developments, nevertheless, are the results of actions that occur in many perspectives at once, and not developments that occur as within the physical system, through actions that happen in a series seemingly strung out moment after moment.

"Now basically even the physical universe itself is so constructed, but for all practical purposes, as far as general perception and experience is concerned, time and the physical growth development apply, so that we find the ego portion, particularly of the human personality, is to a large extent dependent for its maturity and development upon the amount of time that the physical image has spent within the system.

"A certain portion of physical growth, in terms of a series of physical moments, is therefore necessary for value fulfillment to show itself within a physical organism. Within the dream field and within many other systems, this series of moments is unknown. Development comes not from a series of actions strung out along a single line, one before the other in lengthwise fashion. Instead development is largely a matter of value fulfillment, which is achieved through the perspectives of action, through traveling within any given action, and following it and changing with it. To make this clearer, I have said that action exists within limitless perspectives, and that you are mainly familiar with it as it is materialized along a single line of continuity within the physical system. You experience action then as if you were moving along a single line, each dot on the line representing a moment of your time. But at the imaginary point on your line that represents any given moment, action moves out in all directions. From the standpoint of that moment point, you could imagine action forming an imaginary circle with that point as an apex. But this happens at the point every moment.

"There is no particular boundary to the circle. It widens outward indefinitely. Now, in the dream universe, in all systems of such nature, development is achieved not by traveling your single line, but by delving into that point that you call a moment. The physical laws simply do not apply here, within such a value fulfillment system. Basically your own physical universe is at the apex of such a system itself, and it is only because of the purpose and nature of the particular apex that experience appears, from my viewpoint, to be so slowed down. The particular point, in one manner, is being pursued by you in such slow fashion that it appears to be a series of happenings strung out in a thread of continuity. You experience action as one happening after another, not because of the nature of action itself but because of the nature of your own structure and perception.

"This is in itself, you see, a form of value fulfillment, since you are perceiving one simultaneous action as if it were a series of separate actions You are delving into one action, and within it continually creating action within action. This is however or this can be, while fulfilling, also limiting."

Action Within The Spacious Present

From Session 147 of Seth's Early Sessions (Volume 3):


"Action does not always move in what you would consider a straight line. Because you view action in narrow terms, usually seeing it in physical terms only, you are inclined to think of it, or any effort, as a straight line from one point to another. This is hardly the case.

"Any action that affects the physical individual also has its reality within many other fields, and its effects and its nature are felt within them. A manuscript, or indeed any art form, contains action and sets up its own climate, either of psychological acceptance or rejection. This climate is more than the result of the materials or subject matter or nature of which the work is composed. It goes without saying that such a work actually contains a portion of focused psychic energy, which is action, and which has its effects."

... "It is most important, again, to realize that action does not move in a straight line. Action may have mass. It may not have mass in other instances. Action will never have one effect only. This is a rather important point. Whenever an action seems to have but one effect, then there is a lack in perceptive abilities.

"Action within your field may appear to be affected by your time, but only that part of action which is physically materialized will be so affected. Action may appear to be at rest, but is never at rest, or stationary, or permanent. Action may appear to have a beginning and an ending but this is, again, an error of perception.

"(Seth had quite a bit to say about the "source of the source" in the 95th session.)

"Action which is materialized within your plane appears within your field, and disappears from your field. This in no way affects the basic nature of action itself. That is, it does not change the basic laws of action. Action will change both within your physical field and outside your physical field. you are only aware of a small part of action, that portion which is materialized within your system.

"You say that an action has begun when it enters your system. You say that an action is completed when it passes beyond your system. But the action, in those terms, began long before; and the action, in those terms, is never completed. Yet even the action as it occurs within your system is constantly changing in the ways which we have described, and this changing in itself implies infinities of beginnings and endings within action itself, with no ending, a real or permanent ending, and no beginning, a real beginning out of nothing. For each beginning carries within it action which has come before.

"Again here, when I speak in terms of before and after, I speak only for your convenience, for there is no before or after, only all action within the spacious present, occurring out of itself, spontaneously, into all directions, and forming of itself all the infinite fields and systems of actuality."

Action and the Personality

From Session 146 of Seth's Early Sessions (in Volume 3):


"You realize that in order to speak of action it is necessary that it be discussed as though some aspects were isolated from others. But this is not the case.

"In order that you understand it is necessary, as I have told you, for me to break down concepts. In this way much of the unity of certain phenomena may escape you. We have spoken at various times about specific portions of action's manifestations. We have discussed to some degree, for example, the nature of matter, the electrical universe, the dream universe, and such other topics as the layers of the subconscious and the nature of the whole self.

"There is always the danger in such discussions that effects which are studied separately will appear to be separate in essence. But what we have been discussing in all these topics is, indeed, the nature of action. The personality as you know it is action. As such the personality however is not physically materialized. You cannot hold it in your hand. You can only observe it in motion, for it is never still, and to probe into it yourself is to change it.

"In very important aspects it always escapes you, though you are partially what it is. Men speak of having their own personalities, as if the personality were a thing that they had in their possession, a thing fairly permanent, a concrete, always-to-be-counted-on possession.

"But the personality is always in a state of becoming, and forever changes. The personality is an excellent example of action in one aspect. It is important here also to realize that while the personality is always in motion, the motion involved here is not one of mobility in space as you know it. It is most definitely motion in terms of value fulfillment.

"There are here also thrusts in all directions, with certain identifying pulsations that underlie all, and that have their origins within the inner self. As the vitality of the universe forms, of itself, the boundaries of the various fields of activity, and as vitality itself takes on the coloration of the various fields and forms the camouflage patterns within them, so also vitality, in the form of emotions that the camouflage patterns of the personality, even while this vitality forms both emotions and personality for every individual, every consciousness, may be thought of as a separate field of activity; and all the data relating to fields of activity may be seen to apply to any consciousness as well.

"We find once again a basic reality, that of the personality, which is accepted and recognized within the physical field, even while it does not appear there as a definite physical unit. It can indeed be examined but the examination itself, being action, changes it. For the personality, true to the roles of action, will seize upon the new action and form of it new realities and unities with itself.

"The personality and the ego are not the same.

"The personality has strong connections with the inner self.

"The personality is that consciousness of self of which I have spoken, which is aware of itself within, and a part of, action. The ego attempts to stand apart from action, and to stand apart from the personality, and to mould the personality into a more or less permanent and stable, dependent portion of the ego itself.

"(Again, see the following sessions among others: 139, 141, 142.)

"The ego would if it could, stop personality's motion and development for the security of stability. The ego would drive the personality into preconceived channels. This consciousness-of-self is seen in man as personality, as the human personality. It appears, however, in all types of consciousness to one degree or another.

"Therefore, consciousness-of-self can appear with or without the existence of an ego. Consciousness-of-self is an attribute then of all physical species, regardless of their classification. Personality, human personality, is simply the name given to this class of self, as applied and seen within human beings. Personality changes and acts upon all other action. Personality, then, can be seen to operate as a field of action in identity; but identity that is conscious of its relation to action as a whole.

"The peculiar and individualistic aspects of personality are the result of those camouflaging abilities of which we have spoken earlier. Those portions of the personality which escape ego's attempts to dominate are held suspect in ego's eyes. Ego considers them as invalid and dangerous to its own supremacy. When ego is forced to admit that personality changes, it will do its best to avoid this knowledge. The more rigid an ego is, the more danger there is that the individual will have difficulties in all kinds of adjustments.

"Because of its nature ego does not want to adjust. It wants adjustments to be made to it. Because ego is another manifestation of action, it is of course impossible for its aims to be realized. For all its attempts at stability and control, ego itself constantly changes. Ego most of all resents and fights against time as you know it, ego fears both the past and the future. It fears the past because it has already lost control of the past. It fears the future because it is not yet in control of it. It seeks continuity of identity, yet it is forced to realize that the "I" of today is hardly the "I" of thirty years ago.

"It is the ego which fears death so strongly. And yet the stability which ego so urgently seeks would, indeed, result in death, since no further action would be allowed.

"Ego also fears spontaneity, for it cannot control action; being a part of action, most of its efforts of necessity are thwarted. Yet it is precisely this struggle between ego's struggles for stability, and the personality's attempt to expand spontaneously, that is at the basis of much of mankind's achievements, and that is certainly the basis for much of his art.

"In his art we have the nostalgia of the ego for past time, and for lost control of a self that has already vanished, and changed into something new. It is ego who plans for the future, trying to anticipate the environment in which it must operate. Its anticipations, of course then form that environment.

"The ego therefore is a very necessary force within your field. It is also, regardless of current psychological beliefs, the basis for aggression, in general. All aggression is not detrimental, for example.

"Because the personality is that part of the individual which is conscious of itself as a part of action, and therefore aware of its relation with action, the personality is that part of the individual which survives physical death.

"The personality is not the whole self. It is a portion of the whole self, which is activated during a particular existence. The ego, as I have explained, does not vanish. However, it must always be remembered here that the ego is not the self-conscious self in its entirety by any means. It is simply a portion, a field of focus whereby the self attempts to objectify itself within the world of matter.

"It simply ceases to so objectify itself, but it retains, or the self retains, memory of that objectification.

"The personality necessarily continues to change after physical death. After physical death the personality simply ceases to project itself, as a rule, within the physical field, and no longer focuses within it.

"The personality is much more extensive and expansive than you realize. Remember here our discussions upon the subject of the limitations of the self.

"Theoretically, the self is unlimited, if you will recall. The ego within your field is limited because of the nature of its rigidity. The ego operates as a partitioning agent. It directs and uses the abilities of the personality for manipulation in the physical universe. It can mobilize a smaller or larger amount of these energies according to its own strength. It has a small focus but a powerful one.

"I mentioned earlier that the personality is an excellent example of action as it is sometimes projected into the physical field, while not appearing within it in tangible form. For here we see many of action's characteristics: the mobility that does not necessarily involve space, the thrusts outward, and the corresponding thrusts inward. We see action acting upon itself and constant change.

"A thorough study of the personality will be an excellent exercise, and will lead you close to the nature of action itself. The experiences about which you asked, for example, involved actions of the personality and not, of course, of the ego. Expansion and contraction occur constantly as characteristics of action, as I have explained.

"The ego is scarcely conscious of these. Your experiences occurred when the ego, because of your illness, was momentarily exhausted, its control lessened. The personality was then momentarily aware of realities that the ego would ordinarily attempt to block. These were pulsations, in actuality of corresponding strength, but interpreted differently by you.

"(See page 323, of the 145th session, for a description of my experiences. Also see the 86th session.)

"I will have more to say concerning this after I have developed certain subject matter that is important. If I did not make it clear, let me repeat that the personality is a portion of the inner self. There are interchanges here, so that certain parts of the personality will seem to vanish. In such cases, for various reasons, the inner self simply sees no reason for their continued focus in the physical field.

"There is a very delicate balance always maintained, and later on we will have a whole section of our material that will deal with the personality in relation to other phenomena. We are speaking of it this evening mainly in terms of its reality as a part of action. As we speak of such subjects in their relation to various phenomena, again it must be kept in mind that such realities are being considered often from one aspect only, but that their reality extends into many other dimensions.

"Many of these dimensions cannot be discussed at this time. But you will see, indeed, that the nature of action, or the nature of any reality, is greatly coloured by the viewpoint or dimension from which it is examined. It is my purpose here to examine for you reality from as many different aspects as possible, lifting you from the limitations of your own dimensions, and allowing you the advantage of others.

"It must, once again, be realized that there is no particular point where ego begins or ends.

"There is no particular and definite line between the ego and the personality and the inner self. They must merely be discussed in such terms. There is, believe it or not, no particular and specific definite boundary between what is self and not self. If we isolate such portions of reality for the sake of discussion, such isolation is artificial, and in no way affects the nature of reality itself.

"Such a remark may appear so simple that it is not worth saying, but it is extremely important that it be understood. In like manner, there is indeed no particular boundary or line of demarcation between the dream universe and the physical universe. Any seeming barrier is artificial, for all these realities merge one into the other, and an action in one affects the other.

"The self is extended, so to speak, existing within many dimensions. It extends as vitally and actually in the dream universe as it does in your own physical universe. It is as much a part of the electrical universe as it is a part of the world of psychological motivation. The intertwinings are infinite in all directions.

"The ego fears death, yet in the space of your own physical lifetime portions of the self have undergone like transformations endless times, of which the ego is unaware."

The Nature of Action and Apparent Evil

From Session 145 in Volume 3 of Seth's Early Sessions:


"Part of what I am about to say may sound callous, but you should see that such is not the case. From the viewpoint of the concerned and conscientious ego-self, truly there appears to be great and disastrous evils that overflow like poison the cup of human existence.

"When he sips of it, as you sipped of it, and as all conscientious human beings sip of it, then indeed the taste is bitter. It is not too farfetched however to add that all, or many, medicines have unfortunately a foul taste, and that the child who sips such a medicine finds it difficult to believe that such a distasteful brew can do him good.

"Basically, all action is. Basically there is no evil action. All is unfolding. With the limited perceptions that the ego has itself adopted, the whole is not visible, and it sees what it will see. Within your field, within your moral field, you must indeed strike out against that which appears evil to you.

"This is a responsibility laid upon you by the code of limitations which the ego itself has adopted as part of its own nature. You may find it most difficult to follow me here without any strong affirmation. However, as you do not blame, as you do not morally blame the wind for the tumultuous hurricane, and as you do not punish the wind, so you must somehow manage to understand that a wrongdoer, in your eyes, is no more or less to blame than this. It would be foolhardy to ignore the results of such activity. Nevertheless, I tell you now that there is much you do not see or know.

"You see perhaps havoc within the physical field, and this is indeed to be faced and dealt with, and set straight, as aid is given to the victims of a hurricane. But you are familiar only with the results of action as they appear within the physical field, as long as you insist upon viewing your physical universe with the eyes of the ego-self; for the ego-self attempts to cut itself off from that action of which it is a part, and in so attempting it loses contact with this larger reality.

"This loss of contact applies only to the ego. It does not apply to those other portions of the self, and it is through the inner self, through inner consciousness, that to some degree the nature of action can make itself known. And when it is made known it will be seen then that which you call evil represents a falling short of value fulfillment in a particular, or in any particular, case. There are always, as I believe you realize, those who court injustice and persecution. There are always those who persecute. There are those who murder, and there are those who seek to be slain.

"They seek each other out for many complicated reasons. This whole subject is difficult but I will not simplify matters, as I could. I would prefer to discuss it most thoroughly. Nothing here must ever be taken as a justification for evil, in humanity's terms. For many practical reasons at this point, it is necessary that man fight against what he considers evil, for he strengthens himself immeasurably by so doing.

"It is also true however, in a completely different framework, that evil is of his own creation, at least evil as he thinks of it. And if a crime is to be assigned in humanity's terms, often the victim is as guilty as the murderer, in basic terms, in terms of guilt that no court can weigh.

"We all have our roles. As we exist within various fields we focus upon these roles to the exclusion of much else.

"That part of us as you know which deals with these roles is the ego, which lives intimately the role which was assigned to it by the whole self, of which it is a part.

"The health and psychic condition of an individual is not primarily determined by the ego, however. It is only when the ego is allowed too much power that the individual is deprived of much of the inner vitality of the whole self. For the ego is acquainted with only its role. It can find refreshment only within the limitations of the reality which it was formed to meet; and when it looks about with the best of intentions and sees disasters and terrors, it does not now that these others also play their roles, and that the roles are temporary.

"It becomes bitter and mortally frightened, with no place to turn, and it sickens the body, and shrivels, and concentrates more and more upon the morbid aspects of its environment, until it cannot even appreciate the splendid accomplishment of itself, and the joys that are peculiarly part of the ego."

... "The inner self is aware of other realities. It is aware of the ego. Remember here the difference between consciousness of self and the ego, for the difference is important. The ego is but part of the self, part of the conscious self, but focused in one direction.

"The inner self, feeling itself part of action, is aware of facets of reality of which the ego is ignorant. It knows that roles can be reversed. There is so much here to be explained, and so many questions that must be answered. For I tell you, at the risk of being misunderstood grossly, that there is only one reality, and value fulfillment, which you may, if you like, equate with goodness.

"There is no such thing as evil, except for the phantoms which man has made. He sees hate in his own heart, what he call hate, which is but fear, so he projects it into another man's face and says the man hates him; and he may slay the man. But the hate never existed, that is, what mankind thinks of as hate never existed.

"Hate is unreasoning fear. Fear is caused by lack of understanding, by lack of value fulfillment. Hate is that which is not love. Love is fulfilled, or fulfilling, value fulfillment. It is action that knows itself, and that glorifies in its parts, that is separated to know itself, and in knowing itself is no longer separated.

"Hate is that which fears to join, and hence is separated, and that is all.

"If all men could learn to love, in terms of which I have spoken, then there would be no need for any kind of punishment within your field, and the word would vanish from your vocabulary. The subconscious is not the cause or the carrier of hatreds.

"The difficulty here is of an ego's refusal to assimilate subconscious experience.

"The ego may assimilate only a part of a given experience. Sometimes it will not assimilate or accept an experience at all. Remember here again that there is a difference between the ego and the consciousness of self. It is not necessary that the ego assimilate all experiences that are open to consciousness of self. Ego must have at hand, however, those experiences that are significant for manipulation within the physical environment.

"Any gap of assimilation here can be most unfortunate, and sometimes disastrous. Consciousness of self, if you recall, is self-consciousness that still retains self as a part of action, self that perceives its existence within action. Ego, originally a part of this consciousness of self, splits off as previously explained, and attempts to dissociate itself from action, indeed to view action as a result of itself; that is, to view action as a result and not a cause."

Dimensions of Action and Dreams

From Session 144 found in Volume 3 of Seth's Early Sessions:


"I have told you that action cannot deny itself. An action cannot be recalled, that is, called back out of existence. Once an action has begun, it will attempt completion. An action may be recalled in terms of memory, but it cannot be taken back, or denied or undone.

"Your idea of consequences is derived from this fact. Nevertheless your idea of consequences takes into consideration only one small element of any given action. You perceive, in other words, only that part of an action which is projected into your own physical field, and this element you call the natural consequence of the original act.

"You perceive however but one flicker, one small dimension of any given action as a rule."

... "Now, action is something like a mirror which reflects itself. In one action, basically, we can see all actions, and through one action we can reach the reality of all actions.

"The apparent dimensions within action is caused by the separation of which we spoke, when action attempts to step aside from itself. Dreams are as much action as the movement of a muscle, and the movement of a muscle is indeed as sleeplike as any dream.

"We are all within action. We are of it. To be outside of it is impossible. Choice however is limitless within it. In whichever direction we focus our abilities and energies, we seem to see new action, but it is merely our focus which has changed; and in changing, has formed new action.

"... action is the vitality of the universe from which all realities spring. ... Again, no action may be withdrawn. Nothing is motionless. ...

"Action cannot be dammed up, for it becomes explosive. There are many balances to be maintained. The dream world of which we have spoken so often is also action, and as such it affects all other action. It is not apart from your so-called physical universe, for the dream universe, through its connection with the inner self, also helps to construct physical matter ..."

... "Now, as you know, among other things dreams reflect inner expectation. ... dreams are created by each individual, and given actual molecular structure and reality, within a different field than the one with which you are usually familiar.

"Dreams cannot be taken, however, as accurate descriptions of inner expectation, since too many other elements are involved.

"Nevertheless, the actual individual dream world created by each individual will bear a close resemblance to the physical environment which is also created by the individual. And here we come to a subject that I mentioned briefly the other evening, and even now we but touch upon it.

"There is much involved. The individual, any individual, may construct many possibilities in the dream world. Having problems in the physical world he may attempt to solve them through working them out on a dream basis, trying various solutions.

"These possibilities then become actualities within the dream field. They exist as surely as they would if he acted in the same manner within the physical field. They are not myths, they are not imaginary, they do not vanish. They exist as reality within another field of actuality.

"Consciously our individual may not know what he has done. Consciously he may not even know the problems which beset him, but which he has worked out on a subconscious level. But he will have chosen his solution, and in the physical world an event will shortly occur which will be close to a duplicate to one of those dreams which he has created.

"When he dreamed the dream, and chose this possibility as the solution to his problems, he had already subconsciously chosen which event he would construct within the physical field.

"This is a rather tricky point, but an important one. The other possible solutions, however, still exist as reality within the dream field, and as such they continue unfolding. Your past material on dreams will help you on this."

Joy

Some timely advice from Session 143 of Seth's Early Sessions (Volume 3):


"You ... should realize that when valid concern for world problems turns into an obsession with world injustices that wipes out all, or threatens to wipe out all personal enjoyment, then trouble is on the way. For enjoyment is a weapon. Joy is not a weak spineless idiot either. Its backbone is stronger than bitterness.

"Joy is the muscle of action, and without it there would be no action.

"... concern for human welfare is indeed virtuous, but overindulged in it becomes loaded with possibilities that could be most unfortunate. ... What I want, here, is balance. Neither plunge yourself into the ignorance, doubts and injustices, so that you can see nothing else, nor close your eyes to them. But there must be a place within you where these do not exist, or the freedom of the inner self will be hampered, as far as its connection with the ego is concerned."

The Self

From Session 142 in Volume 3 of Seth's Early Sessions:


"There are some points that should be mentioned concerning the definition of the self, or a self, as I gave it to you during our last session.

"The definition of course stands. I merely would like to be sure that the correct interpretation is given to the definition. The self, or a self, is not any particular thing, as I told you. It is true that there are no boundaries to enclose it within safe confines, where it can be said, "Here is the self."

"It is also true however that this lack of boundary allows for possibilities of development and expansion that would be impossible with a limited self. The self is not nebulous. Action changes itself, as we have described. Any self, therefore, is never the same self, but action contains within itself its own comprehension.

"Because there is no time, as you think of time, we will not say that action retains a memory of all its previous actions or selves, for this would be misleading. Action is aware of itself in all of its spontaneous and simultaneous workings. The self that you are, in a basic sense, is the self that you were in past instances within this existence, the self or series of selves that you were in previous existences within the physical field, and also the myriad selves that you are now, in various perception experiences unknown to the ego.

"Your self is all this, as well as the selves that you would call future selves. I wanted to make it clear that the self at any moment, while being no one thing, being indeed a series of simultaneous happenings, so to speak, is however far from meaningless, containing within it full inner comprehension of its various portions.

"Once again I make the point, a seeming paradox: The self constantly changes. The self at any given moment is not the self that it was, yet it is that which it was, since it is that which changed.

"It acts upon itself, being action. The inner self also changes, but it is also that which changes itself. We come now close to a definition finally for the entity, which cannot really be defined, because in your terms it escapes definition. However, the entity can be partially defined as the sum of all the selves within a given range of action, the simultaneous totality which on the one hand then cannot yet exist, since action can never complete itself, yet representing that impetus forever frustrated on the part of action for complete materialization.

"The blueprint is action's intent. The selves are action in progress toward this blueprint.

"There are selves within selves. Each self is interwound with all others, and yet each self, being composed of action, has within it the powers of action toward change, development, expansion, and the drive toward fulfillment.

"Herein also lies the freedom of each self: not being limited. We have spoken in the past of capsule comprehension. It is indeed a characteristic of action, indivisible from action, equally interwoven within it.

"Therefore each portion of action is aware of its simultaneous experience within all levels. Again, action carries itself along. Each self is therefore aware of its previous gestalt affiliations. Now, identities may or may not have egos. An atom is an identity.

"(Many sessions have dealt with capsule comprehension, some of them being the 24th, 27th, 62nd-64th; the 87th and 131st particularly, as well as later ones.)

"It is a self materialized in physical form. It is conscious of itself as belonging to action. The fact that it may be part of a larger gestalt self in no way belittles its own identity. It is conscious of the gestalts of which it is part.

"It is materialized action, a self, part of other selves, as you are part of other selves. The intensity here is different. You, any human being, represent a capability, an attraction, an electrical field of great intensity that is capable of efficiently acting as a unit within the physical field.

"You may also be part of a self operating within other fields, and operating also within another system of units. The inner self operates as a relay station, as a reference point for the various seemingly disconnected selves. It is only through contact with the inner self that knowledge of the whole self can be found.

"The inner self could be called, then, the nucleus, the original point of action from which all the other emanations that form the whole self began. There is here you see no limitation upon the direction in which action may move, nor any limit to the dimensions which action may create.

"The inner self would be then any given outthrust of original action outward, as explained earlier. This outthrust would, because of its nature, instantly send further outthrusts in as many directions as possible for it. And because it is action, and because no action can complete itself, and no action can completely materialize, then each outthrust or materialization would result in an in-thrust; not into the original action from which it came, but into itself.

"This gives us the creation of new inner selves, and all this is of electrical composition, and you should recall the information given you concerning the manner in which electrical fields are formed.

"(See the 122nd-127th sessions.)

"Again, this is no reason to feel that the individual is nothing, simply because he is one of so many. Action develops according to value fulfillment, and value fulfillment has little to do with size or numbers; and action turns into consciousness. Action working on itself becomes consciousness, and in speaking of consciousness I do not necessarily mean what you mean by the word.

"Your concept of consciousness is fearful and limiting, and depends for its existence upon ignorance and barriers, barriers that divide parts of the self from others, from other parts of the self, and from other selves, and from experiences of the selves.

"Value fulfillment opens the many eyes of the self to its various portions. It enables the self to expand, to join in a gestalt with other selves. It is only your ego which leads you to believe that such an expansion would result in a lessening of consciousness on the one hand, or an invasion of other selves on the other.

"My dear friends, there is so much here to be said. There are freedoms available that mankind never uses, or very seldom uses.

"And yet in another sense all selves are one self, in that all selves are action.

"But action must attempt to materialize itself and fulfill itself completely. It cannot do so, and the result is the formation of many selves, that are a part of action, and formed from action; and therefore each self must continue in the creation of other selves.

"Selves are not destroyed. They change into other selves, and yet are still themselves, for each new self is also the previous self which changed through acting upon itself. There will be no huge contraction of action back into itself, in those terms. There may very well be a conscious realization of each self, that it is a part of the original actionself.

"Lest we forget, action is another word for inner vitality. Selves are formed also by effective ranges of comprehension, which may be expanded. They cannot be contracted, for action cannot wipe out comprehension of itself. The electrically coded data of which we have spoken cannot be removed, for an action cannot withdraw a previous action.

"You understand that when I speak I am not saying that continuity, in terms of past and present, exists. I am using these terms merely for your convenience. An action can never negate itself. There may be counteraction, but no action can be wiped out.

"The ego is indeed a necessity within the physical field at this point of man's development. The ego is in a state of becoming, however. The ego is not what it was centuries ago, and it will not be the same centuries from now. It, the ego, will not admit the change, but its refusal to admit change in no way stops change.

"Efficient manipulation within the physical field will soon require that other portions of the self be utilized and recognized. In a manner of speaking, the ego can be compared to the nationalistic state of nations, necessary indeed for man's development, but already growing passé, and perhaps even mitigating against the survival of the species, where once it aided that survival.

"The worldwide view of man as a species, worldwide brotherhood, in no way hampers or endangers the individual man, and in no way endangers nations, but will represent one of the main hopes of mankind, without which no nations will endure.

"In like manner, when the ego concept is discarded as a concept, as the concept of nationalism will be discarded, so the individual self will not lose but gain. The individual self will expand, as the individual man will be capable of expanding when the old idea of nationalism is finally overthrown, and he can be benefited through learning of, and cooperation with, other men as brothers upon your planet.

"But as it is not wise to dispense with the idea of nationalism without gradual growths of understanding and preparation, and while the idea of nationalism cannot suddenly be dispensed with, so also the ego cannot be, and will not be, overthrown overnight; and even when it is finally left behind, it will still be used as a handy reference point; and through all this the self will not lose but gain, for all expansion outward, and expansion inward is gain, and all boundaries, whether inward or outward, are hampering and limiting. Basically, the self is not limited. The self does not need imaginary fences to protect its privacy, or its safety or its solitude. Only the ego is afraid of challenge, and therefore speaks of such limiting safety.

"If the self were the ego then indeed such precepts would be necessary, but the ego is a small part of the self. Necessary indeed, still, but less necessary than it once was."

Action, Identities, Consciousness, Self and Ego

From Session 141 in Volume 3 of Seth's Early Sessions:


"We will continue our discussion concerning action and identities. I have said that identity is a part of action, and basically inseparable from action. Identity attempts to form meaningful patterns and relationships from action. Consciousness is action that perceives itself. The ego is action's attempt to stand off from itself.

"Action may show itself as motion, but it is much more than motion in the terms which you usually use, and motion is but one small dimension within action's realm. All types of consciousness represent a different focus of energy's perception within itself. There is no past or future to action. All action is simultaneous. Identities, some identities and some forms of consciousness, particularly the ego, perceive a past or a present, but this is merely the result of the manner in which such identities and consciousnesses view available data.

"A consciousness is characterized by the particular ways in which it views or perceives available action. It is characterized by the type of action which it is more likely to perceive. It is characterized by the pattern of perception itself.

"Since action is not apart from structure, but is indeed the formulator of structure, then it is obvious that generally the type, nature, extent and scope of characteristic perception patterns of a consciousness will determine its physical structure, and not the other way around.

"There is no one particular pattern followed by consciousness in its perception of itself as action. Mankind is more familiar with certain patterns and relatively unfamiliar with others. Any action changes itself. Nothing is constant. This rule is not forced upon action from some outside agency, but is simply a part of its own nature.

"Action, you may say, is carried away by itself. Reality possibilities are endless. You are familiar with very small portions of reality. Your perception characteristics at this time dictate and limit the aspects of action that you can perceive. You can, however, focus very clearly on other aspects. And particular types of consciousnesses and identities are merely the result of action's formation into perception patterns with which it can focus upon certain aspects of itself.

"It may be thought that such perception patterns or identities may be limited, but this is hardly the case. For without them, whole portions of reality would never be perceived. There is much here that will take us a long while to explain, for the line can theoretically be drawn anywhere in the formation of identities and consciousness. And herein lies your freedom.

"The dimensions of consciousness are not arbitrary. They are not clearly drawn. They are open, they are action.

"They are a dimensions, as I mentioned. Consciousness is not one thing, therefore consciousness is not of itself limiting. Boundaries may be set up in terms of a self. A self is a gestalt of action perception patterns, which are formed together through attraction.

"This, when it occurs, and this particular formation into a self may or may not occur, but when it occurs it is a result of our second previously mentioned dilemma. The self as you know it is in actuality a self plus an ego.

"(For material on the three creative dilemmas of inner reality, see the 138th session.)

"The ego, if you recall, is self's attempt to set itself apart from action, and to see or perceive action as an object. The ego attempts to attain stability and dominance, and resents change. It seeks to limit certain perceptions, to block out many perceptions of which the self is knowledgeable. In this way limitations become fairly rigid.

"An ego could be compared to a small dam in this respect. However, action constantly forms perceptual patterns in which it can view itself. Again, these patterns are formed one within the other, and they could be said to form that imaginary structure, which we called the fifth dimension, so many sessions ago.

"(See the 12th session, of January 2, 1964 [in Volume 1].)

"A particular consciousness is a gestalt of these conceptual patterns; but there is nothing to prevent a consciousness from increasing itself by experiencing other conceptual patterns or patterns of perception. This assimilation would increase, not decrease, any given consciousness. We use, or you use, words merely as a convenience. We therefore say that a consciousness is a gestalt of patterns of perception, by which action knows itself. But the patterns of perceptions may grow, and the consciousness reach out. The consciousness has changed. It is no longer the same consciousness, since it has extended itself. Yet it is the same consciousness, on the other hand, because it is that which has extended itself. So words can confuse us.

"A consciousness can be said to be a gestalt of patterns of perception then; and while the definition stands, it can only apply to any given consciousness for the breath of an instant, since the patterns of perception, being action, have already changed; and the particular consciousness of which we spoke, and which we tried to limit and pin down, is gone.

"Yet as you can see, what it was when we spoke of it is still present in what it will by now have become. The ego, through its own nature and characteristics, attempts to limit such change, but it succeeds only in limiting itself by limiting its perceptions. It still must change, as is obvious. But it changes along certain lines, moving within certain patterns of perception which are a characteristic of it.

"It cannot maintain stability, for all its efforts, and it cannot in any way limit the self. It, the ego, merely does not perceive because it will not perceive those other perception patterns, and that larger scope with which the whole self is constantly involved.

"This material on action, and identities, and consciousness, will add much to your understanding of dreams, of the whole self, and of other facets of reality of which I will speak shortly.

"The self, then, is not static by any means. It has no arbitrary boundaries. The term itself is used only for convenience; and indeed the concept of the self is a concept of the ego, which considers itself the self.

"The self then, being action which has formed itself into gestalts of pattern perceptions, by which it knows itself, this self changes constantly. And within the range of effective perception, starting at any particular point, there are patterns within patterns. For convenience's sake we will have to limit our discussion to some degree, taking the self as a particular gestalt within, or composed of, a particular range of perception patterns; though in actuality the range may be smaller or larger at any given time.

"The self then, unknown to the ego, perceives itself in a vast variety of experiences, and in, indeed, a vast number of realities. Each of these so-called realities, for one blends into the other, could be termed, or viewed as, a separate field. Each is therefore composed of the characteristic perception patterns that happen to lie within it, and these so-called minor fields could then be termed other selves, or minor selves, from the standpoint of the self that we are considering.

"From the standpoint of these seemingly minor selves, however, the viewpoint would be entirely different. If we take for example a particular range of various perception patterns, for convenience's sake, and label them one self, then the various patterns within would appear to be minor selves forming the whole.

"If however we changed our arbitrary boundary points, then the minor selves at either end would now seem to be portions of other selves. For practical purposes it may be said that a self is composed of a gestalt of perception patterns, within which a fairly constant efficiency is maintained. This is the best definition I can give you at this time.

"As this effective field of perception patterns changes, so do the apparent boundaries of the practical self. It is imperative that we move away from the concept of a self as an indivisible, rigid and limited reality. Indeed, I hesitate almost to continue, since I do not want to confuse you.

"The fact is, that any given self, as we have described the self, may have more than one ego, though these egos will not be aware of each other, even though operating simultaneously. You have information on the inner ego. There is also a dream ego, in that there is within that reality field a directive part of the self that is concerned with the construction of purpose and meaning.

"(For material on the inner ego, the self-conscious self behind the self-conscious self, see the 28th session.)

"You can here indeed see where I am leading you.

"The deeply and strongly dimensioned sphere I used as an analogy for an action, if you recall, for any portion of action; you can now indeed further imagine one entity being composed of such an action, with egos like many faces looking outward in all directions, and each perceiving vastly different fields of reality; looking inward and outward, backward and forward as it were, through and beyond. And yet each action, or entity, is a part of another, and is both within and without another. And none of it is meaningless, and yet in a basic manner all of it has the meaning that you give it.

"And what meaning you give it is there, and part of it, since you who project the meaning are yourselves part of it. The inner self is, therefore, that inner portion of action which forms the egos, and the selves, through the dilemmas of which I have spoken.

"Part of the self knows, and knows that it knows. Part of the self knows, and does not know it knows. The creative dilemmas of which I have spoken are the basis for all realities, and the heart of all meaning."

The Nature of Action

From Session 139 found in Volume 3 of Seth's Early Sessions:


"Action itself cannot be directly perceived. It cannot be seen nor touched. Its nature can never be examined from an objective viewpoint. The objective viewpoint will, at best, give but hints and signs. Action, to be examined in such a manner, would have to be stopped. You cannot tamper with action, not with the basic nature of action, because any such tampering causes it to change.

"Action can be experienced directly, however, but only when no effort is made to tamper with it. It must be plunged into. Once more, action is not a function of structure. Action is inseparable from structure. Structure is action. Identities are action, as I have explained. Your idea of action as it occurs within dreams comes closer to the real nature of action than does your idea of muscular force. For in dreams the ego makes little attempt to impede action. Though in dreams you see or feel your arm move, your legs run, still the arm and the legs of the physical body may not move.

You cannot touch the action. You cannot touch the action, now, of your own arm as you write. You see the results of the action. You can feel effects of the action, but you cannot directly perceive the action itself. Since identity is dependent upon action, then it should be seen that it is impossible for an identity to attain stability, since total stability would destroy it.

"We come here also to one of the other causes of the dreaming state, beside those of which we have spoken in the past. The mind, of itself and separated from the ego, must still be action, and therefore never still. Since action of any kind, being composed of inner vitality, must seek materialization, the dreams become the constructions of that dream universe of which, again, we have spoken. But action can never complete itself. The dream once begun continues, and the dream universe itself forms anew other constructions.

"Here is an analogy. Imagine then the inner vitality being some cosmic sphere, but a sphere of more dimensions than you can imagine. Its motion could be called action, but this is deceptive because action is the basic nature of the sphere itself. Action is its composition. Action is that from which it is, therefore it moves, it acts outward. But all outwardness turns ultimately inward, and then again outward in all directions. And each inward action forms a new dimension that must, again, be thrust outward toward utilization.

"Yet each outward thrust turns again inward; and of itself, because of the nature of action, is the creation of new action.

"Now, to continue with our analogy, this cosmic sphere which we have imagined would be a model for every action.

"Because of its own nature it must act, yet no action can ever complete itself. The sphere would act in as many ways as were open to it, and every action changes that which is acted upon. Therefore each action would create a new reality. In such a manner are all fields activated.

"If you will remember the three creative dilemmas discussed in our past session, you will see that we have here the reason for our self-perpetuating universe, the reason for termination within it, and the inherent necessity for change. If one thought were held forever, no other thoughts would follow, no action would follow, and no identity. In your own intimate psychological experience, in the intimate psychological experience of every individual within your race, you will find recognition of the thought.

"Thought cannot be seen or touched. Thought is action. A thought within your field must vanish, be terminated, disappear, before it can be replaced by another. The identical thought will not return. A very similar thought may return, but the two thoughts will not be identical, although you may perceive them as identical. This is an error of perception.

"No two actions are ever identical. We must mention here also a little regarding pulsations and the appearance or semblance of continuity. Every action involves a pulsation; you will recall we spoke of the pulsation of atoms and molecules.

"(For some material on pulsation see the 60-65th sessions, among others.)

"Now, I have just told you that one thought must terminate before another thought can appear. Although this might sound as if I am speaking in terms of continuity, I am not. The action of our imaginary sphere upon and within itself is simultaneous, and in all directions. All actions occur basically within the spacious present, but all action cannot be aware of itself except as it attempts further action, i.e., materializations.

"While so materialized, action is aware of itself in two basic ways; through its innate comprehension of itself, and through a secondary, more limited but more focused perception of self belonging to such materializations. The innate comprehension of course involves us with the inner self. The secondary self belonging to the materialization gives us, within your field, the ego.

"Action does not involve time as you know it. Action does not involve space as you know it. The semblance of continuity is merely the result of a choosing of some actions from an infinite number of simultaneous actions.

"I have several things I want to say.

"First, I want to make certain that action is understood, insofar as we have discussed it. Action is the inner vitality of all reality. It seeks to utilize itself in as many ways as possible. Its action, its attempts at outward materialization, however, must result in the creation of new inner vitality, for this is the stuff of which it is composed. And this new inner vitality will then seek materialization, and so the cycle is never completed.

"The word materialization is used because it is applicable within your field. Nevertheless, as you know such materializations hardly all result in the construction of matter."

... "A note now concerning thought, as it is a form of action with which all men are familiar. Here you can see that your ego accepts thoughts as a part of its identity. Thought's actions are accepted by the ego, yet the ego seems to stand apart from them; and because of ego's nature it fears to plunge into the action of a thought. For it, the ego, has but recently pried itself from action, and so perceives action now as if action were a province of ego, and not the other way around.

"But the ego's seeming independence from action is basically meaningless, since ego is also action, and can never be otherwise. Any such separation of action from itself only adds to the totality of action, in that it increases action's ability to perceive itself from as many viewpoints as possible. Perspectives represent action's action upon itself. Any one dimension must result in another dimension, for the action within any given dimension can never complete itself, but will continue."

Identities and Action Continued and Three Apparent Dilemmas

From Session 138 in Volume 3 of Seth's Early Sessions:


Identities and Action (continued)

"We will continue this evening in our discussion of identities and action.

"Unfoldings continually occur, and all identities, with a few exceptions, contain within them also other identities, not duplicates. Our discussion in the past concerning gestalts should make this point clear. The frameworks and boundaries, the extents and limitations of identities, are not physical.

"(For the material on psychic gestalts, see the 59th, 62nd, 81st, 96th and 128th sessions, among many others.)

"Identities may be termed action which is conscious of itself. For the purposes of our discussion, the terms action and identity must be separated. However basically no such separation exists, for an identity is also a dimension of existence, action within action, an unfolding of action upon itself; and through this interweaving of action with itself, through this reaction, an identity is formed.

"The reality of such an identity exists within the action. The energy of the action, the workings of action within and upon itself, forms identity. There are other causes here that we will consider later. Yet although identity is formed from action, action and identity cannot be separated. you will remember our previous definition of action, for this will make this evening's discussion easier to understand.

"(See the 137th session.)

"Identity then, is action's effect upon itself. Without identities action would be meaningless, for there would be nothing upon which action could act. Action must, therefore, of its very nature, of itself and from its own workings, create identities. Again, action and identity cannot be separated. This applies from the most simple to the most complex.

"Once more, action is not a force outside that acts upon matter. Action is instead, the inside vitality of the inner universe. It is the dilemma between inner vitality's desire and impetus to completely materialize itself, and its inability to completely do so. This was also discussed briefly in sessions dealing with the first appearance of matter within the physical field.

"(See the 60th session, among others, along with the aforementioned material on psychic gestalts, etc. See also the 137th session.)"

Apparent Dilemmas

"Action is therefore a part of all structure. Here again is an apparent dilemma, an exquisite imbalance whose result is consciousness and existence. For consciousness and existence do not exist because of delicate balances, so much as they are made possible by lacks of balances, so richly creative there would be no reality as it is understood to be, if balance were ever maintained.

"I spoke of this second dilemma. The first dilemma is that which exists when inner vitality struggles to completely materialize, though it cannot completely materialize. The reasons for its inability to completely materialize have been given in a previous session, and I will discuss the matter again at a later date.

"(See the 133rd session among others.)

"This first dilemma results in action, and from action's own working upon itself we have seen that identity was formed, and that these two were separable.

"Action, having of itself, and because of its nature, formed identity, now also because of its nature would seem to destroy identity, since action must involve change. And any change would seem to threaten identity.

"It is however a mistaken notion that identity is dependent upon stability. Identity, because of its characteristics, will continually seek stability, while stability is impossible. And this is our second dilemma.

"It is this dilemma, precisely between identity's constant attempts to maintain stability, and action's inherent drive for change, that results in the imbalance, the exquisite creative by-product that is consciousness of self. We have a series of creative strains. Identity must seek stability while action must seek change, yet identity could not exist without change, without action, for it is the result of action, and not apart from it but a part of it.

"Identities are never constant, as you yourselves are not the same consciously or unconsciously from one moment to another. Every action is a termination, as we discussed earlier. And yet without the termination, identity would cease to exist, for consciousness without action would cease to be conscious.

"Consciousness therefore is not a thing in itself. It is a dimension of action. It is an almost miraculous state, made possible by what I choose to call a series of creative dilemmas.

"I will add a word here, only to remind you once more to read those sessions regarding inner vitality and the initial appearance of physical matter, for that discussion will help you with this one.

"It would be fairly easy to understand now how the second dilemma evolved from the first. I have said that the second dilemma resulted in, and constantly results in, consciousness of self. Now, consciousness of self is not the same thing as consciousness of ego self. Consciousness of self is still consciousness directly connected with action.

"Ego consciousness is the result of our third dilemma.

"The ego is a state resulting from the third creative dilemma, which happens when consciousness of self attempts to separate itself from action.

"Since this is obviously impossible, since no consciousness or identity can exist without action, because they are inseparable, we have our third dilemma.

"A note of further explanation here. The difference between consciousness of self as a result of our second dilemma, and ego consciousness as a result of our third dilemma, should be made very clear.

"Consciousness of self involves a consciousness of self within, amid and as a part of action. Ego consciousness, on the other hand, involves a state in which consciousness of self attempts to divorce itself from action, an attempt on the part of consciousness to perceive action as an object. Here we see that ego consciousness, in this attempt, strives to perceive action not only as separate, but to perceive it in such a fashion that it appears to ego that action is not only separate from itself, that is separate from the ego, but that action is initiated by the ego, and a result rather than a cause of ego's own existence.

"These three dilemmas represent three areas of reality within which inner reality, or inner vitality, can experience itself. And here we have also the reason, or one of the reasons why, inner vitality can never achieve complete materialization. The very action involved in vitality's attempt to materialize itself adds to the inner dimension of inner vitality.

"Action basically can never complete itself. Inner vitality, materializing in any form whatsoever, at once multiplies the possibilities of further materialization. At the same time, because inner vitality is self-generating, only a minute fraction of inner vitality is needed to seed a whole universe.

"Inner vitality attempts therefore to materialize itself completely, and yet because of its very nature, with each materialization it increases itself, making the attempt impossible. This is the basic dilemma, from which all types of reality spring. This of course leads us to the necessity for further discussion concerning the nature if inner vitality itself."

(My Note: This is reminiscent of Godel's incompleteness theorem!)

"In line with the statement that action necessarily changes that which it acts upon (which is basically itself), then it follows that the action involved in these sessions changes the nature of the sessions.

"I have spoken often of consciousness also as being merely the direction of focus. Action implies infinite possibilities of focus. Action never happens along a straight line, although at times you may perceive it in such a fashion.

"(Seth-Jane had some material on consciousness and the direction of focus in the 94th session, among others).

"Action exists within action. There are dimensions of action from which all diversity arises. All individuality that seems to be swept away because one action seems to terminate another, such individuality is indeed the result of the dimensions of action."

The Nature of Identities and Action

From Volume 3 of Seth's Early Sessions (session 137):


Nature of Identities

"We will further consider this evening the nature of identities. In our earlier discussions concerning the nature of matter, we made it plain that each individual created any given material object, through use of the inner senses, and following certain rules which were mentioned.

"Since any materialization is in effect a mediation between what we may call an ideal which is, by nature, of itself not materialized, and a practical working perceivable symbol of the idea, each materialization must be composed of some camouflage elements. Within the physical field these perceivable symbols are composed of matter, which is a conglomeration of atoms and molecules. Each individual, creating, say, his version of any given chair, uses entirely different atoms and molecules in his subconscious construction of it.

"He sees or perceives only his own construction. A rereading of sessions dealing with the nature of matter will help here. The chair created then by any given individual, and perceived by him, is an identity in that it exists at any given time, without any exact duplication. Basically, for any duplication to appear, the exact atoms and molecules would have to be used, and this is obviously impossible.

"The chair is an identity, and yet at no given moment is it the same chair, for already the atoms and molecules that compose it have changed, and been replaced by others. This process is explained thoroughly also in the mentioned previous sessions.

"(Among others, see the 60th-65th sessions.)

"There are obviously many kinds of identities. Now in our last session I told you that our imaginary sender "A" does not transmit a given thought. He does not even send a exact duplicate. Action, the very action of transmission, alters the nature, the electrical reality of the thought itself. This is an extremely important point.

"Nor does the receiver receive the thought in the same condition. The thought, the original thought, is retained by A. A, however, forms a thought as nearly identical as his possibilities allow it to be. This he transmits to B. But B can't receive the thought in its present condition, for the act of receiving a thought also changes it. He forms a thought as nearly identical as possible, and interprets it."

Action

"Action can never be considered apart from that which is seemingly acted upon, for action becomes a part of structure. Action begins from within, and is a result of inner vitality inherent within all realities. Some action is always present. Action itself is not a thing alone. It is not an identity. Action is a dimension of existence.

"Action is a dimension arising out of existence.

"It cannot be considered separately. It may appear in many guises, due to the nature of the particular reality of which it is part, and it involves much more than motion. Action may be considered also simply as the spontaneous nature of the inner vitality toward various expressive materializations.

"There is no separate outside identity or force, such as "force"; the two words here are being used with different meanings. There is no separate force that causes action All of these points are extremely important, and if I speak slowly it is to insure words as nearly correct as possible. Action is perceivable in some cases, and not in others.

"Action is more like growth than force. It is a by-product of any reality, and a part of all reality. you should be able to see many implications here when you read this material over. Again, action involves more than movement, as you think of movement, for value fulfillment is action. A dream involves action. Not only the action within the dream, but the action of dreaming itself.

"You may here get a glimmering of the connection between certain types of action and distance, as I have mentioned it briefly. There is always action within action, and any reality or any experience is instantaneous action. Motion is the type of action with which your are most familiar, but motion attains its importance within the physical field only because of your particular outer senses. For much action is entirely unperceived by you, particularly on a conscious level.

"The continued existence of your physical body is determined by action, although consciously you are not aware of this most of the time. Action may not seem to be going any place. Action, by its nature, while part of every reality, necessarily changes that reality and forms from it a new reality. This should be obvious.

"There will be much more in this material when you read it, than you may at first realize. Action approximates as nearly as possible that portion of inner vitality or energy which cannot be completely materialized within any camouflage, within any plane. Action itself cannot be directly perceived for this reason. But its effects upon camouflage can often be perceived.

"This material is leading up to some future discussions, and the nature of action will be most important. Action is as valid whether the act is conscious and voluntary, or whether it occurs within a dream or within a thought. It is as much a reality either way. Again, it is not an outside force. It arises from within the inner vitality of which all camouflage is composed. To some degree it is a result of inner vitality's attempt to completely express itself in materializations, and its inability to do so.

"As yet your scientists and physicists have a very limited concept of action. Their laws concerning action and force will only apply within the physical field.

"Action is basically electrical, but within your field only the most obvious forms of electrical action have been perceived. In this one respect your technology has let you down, but the electrical manifestation of which I speak could not even be searched for or anticipated within your physical field, until the reality of man's psychic nature began to make itself known. And it is only now beginning to become apparent.

"Discovery of these other electrical realities will explain much that previously could not be explained. All realities with which you will be concerned, and with which mankind is intimately concerned, are built up electrically. A dream is as valid an electrical reality as a lightning bolt, the difference being that the lightning bolt projects itself into your awareness through the outer senses.

"We shall have to consider, later, colour as it appears in dreams, but this is not the time for such a discussion. Identities exist within dreams also, and here the same nature of identities applies as those given earlier. The laws of action also apply here in the dream reality.

"Action is not affected by time as you know it. Action also takes place within the spacious present. You may, however, only perceive parts of action in your time breakdown. Ideally, psychological time experiences will allow you to perceive action more clearly and directly. The ego attempts to control action by standing apart from it. Any such division is arbitrary, and in no way affects the nature of action itself. All that changes is your perception of it.

"By slowing down his perception of action, man imagines that he lengthens time. This of course is not the case. He merely succeeds in perceiving action as bits and pieces, and fights its flow On the one hand action is indeed simultaneous, yet in it all action is contained, for it occurs within the unlimited spacious present. In dreams action is given more freedom, and allowed to flow in a less hampered fashion.

"The result is an effect of more rather than less time, and in many cases the deepening of perspectives. Action does not occur along any given line or direction exclusively, though you may perceive its motion in only one direction. It is a portion of other dimensions. Here again consideration of dreams in terms of action should make this point fairly clear.

"In dreams also, where no space as you know it exists, you have complete freedom of space. When the ego gives up its hold upon what it considers control of action, then as in dreams almost any action is possible. And when the ego gives up its claim of space in a dream, all space is available.

"Action always involves change.

"Again, it may not involve motion in terms with which you usually refer. There are many kinds of motion, for example, that you do not perceive as motion within the physical field.

"Action tampers with identity, yet were it not for action identity would be impossible. It may, here, sound like a contradiction; but to remain an identity, an identity must completely renew itself, and each renewal is indeed a termination. Yet without the termination no new action on the part of the identity would be possible. And without action no identity can be aware of its own existence.

"Remember here, however, that by action we do not necessarily mean motion as you perceive it. Action is the breath of inner vitality, of which all materializations of any kind are composed. It represents, again, the relationship between unexpressed inner vitality and materialized vitality

"There is always an imbalance here that may of itself be termed action. It cannot be perceived as any one thing, for it is a relationship and a dimension. It can be perceived most directly, and with less distortion, in the dream state. For here it is allowed the freedom of itself. Here you have also the inner vitality that has not been materialized within the realm of material camouflage. You have the tendency of this inner vitality to materialize, and its inability to completely do so. In the dream state the tendency for this vitality to materialize meets with little resistance. Action within actions result, without physical space. Distances appear and are experienced as such. Action is much less limited. Rather, action itself is not less limited, but you can experience action with less limitations, for the ego which erects such limitations lets down its guard.

"I would suggest that this session and the last session be read over most carefully. For again, they will be used as a basis for further material."