Emotion, Space and Distance

From Session 183 of Seth's Early Sessions

"Now, before we plunge into the nature and characteristics of dream reality, let us briefly consider the relationship between emotions, space and distance as they occur within the waking conditions.

"An emotion obviously does not take up physical space, yet it takes up varying amounts of psychic space according to its intensity.  It seems to recede in time and to shrink in psychic space as the intensity of it begins too diminish.  An intensive emotion will represent the present in time, a particular instant of now.

"Whenever circumstances tend to revitalize such a charged emotion, that particular now will be re-created.  The emotion will once again rush into the psychic space which is formed by elements in the personality's psychological environment.  The immediate emotion of any moment, therefore, forms the framework of your present time within the waking state.  As the emotion diminishes it takes up less of your psychic space, fills up less of your inner environment, and you seem to yourself to recede from it.

"As far as distance, physical distance, is concerned, this whole idea is subconsciously taken into consideration.  That which appears ahead of you in distance, and has not yet been experienced, under usual circumstances has not yet entered the psychic space of the inner environment.  When you reach this imaginary physical experience, and if you are emotionally involved in it, then it becomes the PRESENT...

"The moment is remembered because the emotions experienced at the time almost completely fill the psychic space, forcing all other experiences out.  The stronger the emotion the more vivid the moment becomes, the more totally it is recalled.  And even in future years such past instances can be experienced as vividly as any present experience.  In other words, to some large extent such a strong emotion unites experience and knocks down the artificial barrier of past, present and future."

... "As we have often stated, inner experience is the only true dimension of existence.

"Because of the physical structure, experiences within your system have a slow-motion distortion which creates the experience of time.  Time as you know it, waking time, is intimately connected with the emotions and with emotional intensities.  Now, there is also a connection here that can be explored most clearly by using color designations.

"Red is the most present or immediate of colors.  The cool colors are more contemplative, or more indicative of contemplation.  They do not however have the same type of intensity.  They leave room within psychic space for other emotional experiences also.

"There are electrical connotations here also that are important, electrical components that compose the emotional experience, and that tend to show themselves in certain auras of color.  Within the dreaming state however inner experience is not limited as it is in the waking condition, so that the time barrier can largely be dispensed with.  There is an additional psychic space to be filled.

"Experiences are more directly felt, although the same sort of differences occur here as far as intensities are involved.  In the dream state as in the waking state, experiences vary in intensity.  There is however a more mobile element and an easier movement through the experiences.  Transitions are more rare in the dream state, since physical time lapses are not necessary.

"Spontaneity is more the rule.  Images appear and disappear, for there is no necessity to construct them as continuous physical constructions.  There is therefore greater opportunity for new creations.  These dream experiences take up psychic space, as do waking experiences.  Their intensity is immediately felt however without any reliance upon physical time.

"They are felt according to their intensity only.  You might say, returning to our analogy, that there is more color-mixing within the dream state, and the materials are immediately at hand.  Distance is then seen in its true light, not in relation to physical space but in its basic relationship to emotional intensity.  As you seem in the waking condition to travel out of an experience, or as you seem to separate yourself from it, then physical time enters into your awareness.

"When you directly experience an emotional event, when you are at its heart, so to speak, then you do not seem to experience physical time.  Only as you move to the outskirts of the experience does such time realization enter in.  The dream experience however is always free of the realization of physical time, practically, for you experience dream events directly from the center of awareness.

"You move from the outskirts of one dream into the core of another without a change of intensity, and therefore without the sense of physical time passing.  It goes without saying that a sense of time may or may not be interwoven in any given dream sequence, but you as the dreamer are not conscious of the physical hours that pass as you sleep."

... "In the dream reality you have the opportunity to work out solutions to problems within a larger framework in a psychic environment, where there is no immediate necessity for physical construction.

"This function is extremely important, and represents one of the main ways in which problem-solving is dealt with by the personality.  This is also the reason why the plays of Shakespeare have endured the centuries.  The dramas are not true to life in physical terms, but are true to life in psychic terms.

"The creative abilities have full reign within the dream state, and it is here that the personality first tests its creative intensities and methods.  The personality's physical environment therefore is greatly colored and formed by his dream existence.  There is some leakage from waking-life experience to dream experience, but this leakage usually represents the material needed, or the problem to be solved.  Mental events and dream events are primary.  The individual first manipulates situations within the dream reality, and then transposes his characteristic method of handling them upon the physical reality.

"It is true, as Ruburt has discovered, that these dream elements are interwound.  Events are indeed clairvoyantly perceived in the dream state.  On the other hand in many instances the sleeping personality solves a problem, and therefore causes the physical event because it is the result of the dream involved.

"In many cases he perceives in a dream a future physical event, and then within the dream situation acts out various possible solutions, until he hits upon the most agreeable one.  In the dream state the personality actually has at its command a stupendous amount of subconscious information of which the ego is not aware.  It is actually more practical therefore to seek the solution in the dreaming state, or in periods of dissociation if you prefer.  The amount of data available to the subconscious is simply superior in quality and larger in quantity to that available to the ego, and this information can be used effectively through suggestion.

"The subconscious in sleep has great freedom, and has at its command information gained through past experience in this life and in other lives.  In the intense focus of awareness that occurs within the dream state, the inner self is able to direct all of its energies for the purpose of solving a given problem.

"It is able to use all of its vast information, gained through previous experience, and all of its knowledge, to solve the problem at hand.  Literally, the whole inner personality is able to focus upon any given problem, completely free of distractions, using the subconscious language of symbols.  This language is crisper in its fashion, and more concise and more inclusive than any written language.  For as we have explained, each symbol has various meanings to all layers of the self.

"(Among many others, see the 92nd, 93rd and 94th sessions in Volume 3.)

"Computerlike, the data is instantly made available exactly when and where it is needed.  The ego is indeed equipped to handle physical reality.  Its purpose is the manipulation of the personality within the physical universe.  Its most effective method of procedure however is to form the problem concisely, and then to feed it to the subconscious before the personality enters the dreaming state.

"This requires on the ego's part an excellent ability to perceive correctly the elements of the physical situation, to express it in terms that the subconscious can understand, and to deliver the message properly.  The subconscious will then break the physical data given to it down into its psychic components, translate it into symbols; and the inner self, at the request of the subconscious, will then focus all of the energies at its command to deliver the most acceptable solution, taking the entire needs of the whole self into consideration.

"The solution therefore may not necessarily be accepted completely as the best solution by the ego.  The ego is aware of the physical situation only in its relationship to itself.  It is not aware of the internal situation.  The solution however must be made in relation to the total conditions.   It is extremely important then that the ego correctly interprets the physical situation, for this is the information that it will give to the computer, so to speak."

... "...let us emphasize the importance here of a clear, honest, perceptive intellect, for it is largely upon the intellect that the ego depends.  The intellect collects from the physical environment those situations and conditions which affect, or will affect, the ego.

"The intellect chooses from the total physical situation those elements with which the personality will ultimately have to deal.  The intellect is discriminating and selective.  An ego that is overly rigid will inhibit the intellect from perceiving various portions of physical reality, and therefore distort the appearance of reality, limiting the intellect's abilities.

"Necessary and vital information is therefore not collected.  The problem is not seen in any total light, but in a distorted manner.  This distorted picture is then delivered to the subconscious, which is able to make some corrections.  It still cannot view the physical situation as clearly as can the ego under best conditions.

"When the ego is of such a rigid nature that it distorts physical reality out of all context, then however the personality had better rely upon the subconscious even in this respect, for the subconscious will at least perceive those elements of physical reality that immediately threaten the whole self."