The Outer Ego

From Session 181 in Volume 4 of Seth's Early Sessions:


"The ego skims the topmost surface of reality and experience.

"This is not the result of any inherent egotistical quality. It is true that the ego's responsibility is with the relationship between the self and the physical environment. It must of necessity be focused within the confines of physical reality.

"Nevertheless it is fully capable of perceiving far more than Western man allows it to perceive. Fear and ignorance and superstition quite obviously limit the potentialities of the ego, and therefore to some degree limit even its effectiveness within the physical universe.

"The ego itself in many instances cannot experience directly certain intuitions and psychological experiences, but it can experience them insofar as it can be aware of them on an intellectual basis. When training forces the ego to become too rigid, and to limit its perception of other realities, then the intuitions will not be accepted by the ego because intuitional experience will not fit into the framework of reality as the ego sees it.

"The ego, because of its responsibility, will therefore fight against what it then considers an unknown threat to survival. Struggles are therefore initiated which are entirely unnecessary. We want to bring intuitional comprehension to a point where the ego will accept it."

"It is amazing how man regrets the hours spent in sleep, for he does not realize how hard he works when his ego is unaware."