Happy New Year

I think today’s Seth is pretty apropos!  Here we are about to start a new year and Seth reminds us that we’re brand new in each moment.  

Starting the New Year is not about resolving to fix our present or past.  The past and present are already gone like ripples radiating in a still pool after a stone is dropped into it.  In each moment (particularly at New Year’s) it’s about dreaming and manifesting the new!  Every moment is, in fact, brand new.

DREAM BIG for 2018!

HAPPY NEW YEAR … HAPPY NEW YOU!

“Your finest aspirations can give you some dim clue as to the great creative thrust that is behind your own smallest act, for your own smallest act is possible only because your body has already been provided for in the physical world.  Your life is given.  In each moment, it is renewed.  So smoothly and effortlessly do you ride that thrust of life’s energy that you are sometimes scarcely aware of it.  You are not equipped with a certain amount of energy that then wears out and dies.  Instead you are, again, newly created in each moment.”

(Dreams, “Evolution” and Value Fulfillment, Session 882)

The Purpose of the Universe

“Your closest approximation of the purpose of the universe can be found in those loving emotions that you have toward the development of your children, in your intent to have them develop their fullest capacities.”

(Dreams, “Evolution” and Value Fulfillment, Session 882)

The "Birth" of the Universe

The following Seth quote concerning the "birth" of the universe is a fine example of the problem we have understanding anything with our simplistic yes-know, true-false kind of logic and our linear time construct with 3D images of "physical reality' complete with boundaries all sorted from a presumed start to a presumed finish.

In fact, a more general system of logic would be 4-valued:  True, False, Both True and False, Neither True or False.  The latter (Neither True or False) represents things that are fundamentally unknowable to us - often because we are asking questions that seem to have meaning in our system of thought but have no relevance to the greater reality - i.e. we are asking the wrong questions.

“The birth of the world represented a divine psychological awakening.  Each consciousness that takes a part in the physical universe dreamed of such a physical existence, in your terms, before the earth was formed.  In greater terms than yours, it is quite true to say that the universe is not formed yet, or that the universe has vanished.  In still vaster terms, however, the fact is that in one state or another the universe has always existed.”

(Dreams, “Evolution” and Value Fulfillment, Session 882)

Spontaneous Divine Order

All That Is - is divinely creative but not schizophrenic! 

We try to “understand” the universe using a simplistic logic system (true-false), in a linear time context, thinking that what is real is the 3D snapshots that we call physical reality.  We attempt to use mathematics (based on the same logical assumptions) to describe what we perceive and end up with an empty, mechanistic understanding with no place for consciousness - divine or otherwise.  

Our own systems of mathematics and philosophy are incomplete and flawed, yet it’s all we have when we try to “understand” the unknowable.  Godel’s theorem showed that no mathematical theory can be complete or consistent with a finite number of axioms … yet we use those limited tools to make our technological toys and to create models of the unknowable.  Similarly, Wittgenstein, in his book Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (TLP) recognizes fundamentally that it is impossible to speak of the unknowable.  Thus even philosophy is preoccupied with the playground of physical perception and can’t speak of the unknowable.  

Seth’s comments here would be blindingly obvious if we weren’t blinded by our own systems of knowing!

“If you have thought that the universe followed a mechanistic model, then you would have to say that each portion of this “cosmic machine” created itself, knowing its position in the entire “future construction”.  You would have to say further that each portion came gladly out of its own source individually, neatly tailored to its position, while at the same time that individual source was also as intimately the source of each other individual portion.

“I am not saying that the universe is the result of some “psychological machine”, either, but that each portion of consciousness is a part of All That Is, and that the universe falls together in a spontaneous divine order – and that each portion of consciousness carries within it indelibly the knowledge of the whole.”

(Dreams, “Evolution” and Value Fulfillment, Session 882)

We're "Older" Than The Universe

A Course In Miracles uses the metaphor of physical reality as a dream appearing as real.  Seth draws the distinction between a manifested dream (aka physical reality) and an un-manifested dream, part of the creative process of All That Is.

All of us are still in that un-manifested, highly creative dream state between "Now" moments of physical perception. We get glimpses of the feeling of that primordial state when our soul speaks to us or when we have gestalts of awareness or spontaneous explosions of creative expression.

Enjoy those moments!

“The consciousness of each reader of this book existed before the universe was formed (in your terms) but that consciousness was unmanifest.  Your closest approximation – and it is an approximation only – of the state of being that existed before the universe was formed is the dream state.  In that state before the beginning, your consciousness existed free of space and time, aware of immense probabilities.  This is extremely difficult to verbalize, yet it is very important that such an attempt be made.  Your consciousness is a part of an infinitely original creative process.

“I will purposely avoid using the word “God” because of the connotations placed upon it by conventional religion.  I will make an attempt to explain the characteristics of this divine process throughout this book.  I call the process “All That Is”.  All That Is is so much a part of its creations that it is almost impossible to separate the “creator from the creations”, for each creation also carries indelibly within it the characteristics of its source.”

(Dreams, “Evolution” and Value Fulfillment, Session 882)

Consciousness and matter and energy are one

“Your now, or present moment, is a psychological platform.  It seems that the universe began with an initial burst of energy of some kind.  Evolutionists cannot account for its cause.  Many religious people believe that a god exists in a larger dimension of reality, and that he created the universe while being himself outside of it.  He set it into motion.  Many individuals, following either persuasion, believe that regardless of its source, the [universe] must run out of energy.  Established science is quite certain that no energy can now be created or destroyed, but only transformed.  Science sees energy and matter as being basically the same thing, appearing differently under varying circumstances.

“In certain terms, science and religion are both dealing with the idea of an objectively created universe.  Either God “made it”, or physical matter, in some unexplained manner, was formed after an initial explosion of energy, and consciousness emerged from that initially dead matter in a way yet to be explained.

“Instead, consciousness formed matter.  As I have said before, each atom and molecule has its own consciousness.  Consciousness and matter and energy are one, but consciousness initiates the transformation of energy into matter.  In those terms, the “beginning” of your universe was a triumph in the expansion of consciousness, as it learned to translate itself into physical form.  The universe emerged into actuality in the same way, but to a different degree, that any idea emerges from what you think of as subjectivity into physical expression.”

(Dreams, “Evolution” and Value Fulfillment, Session 882)

Time is created "Now"

This is really important!

We manifest 3D snapshots ("Now" moments) and index them with a linear time tag in order to physically experience our most probable (i.e. our favourite or most interesting) events.

“The very experience of passing moments belongs to your psychological rooms in the same way that clocks are attached to your walls.  Whenever science or religion seeks the origin of the universe, they search for it in the past.  The universe is being created now.  Creation occurs in each moment, in your terms.  The illusion of time itself is being created now.  It is therefore somewhat futile to look for the origins of the universe by using a time scheme that is in itself, at the very least, highly relative.”

(Dreams, “Evolution” and Value Fulfillment, Session 882)

The Universe Is Still Being Created

This Seth statement has meaning on several levels.  

To understand it, look at your computer screen and imagine that it is your world … the world as perceived by your in-screen avatar called “Ego”.  That screen is refreshed about 55 times a second.  What does that mean:  that means that the entire screen (aka your perceived universe) is created fresh from nothing 55 times a second … just like the way we create our perceived universe in each “Now” moment.  At another level, we’re writing the program … making choices, decisions, etc. … which creates new possible screen shots (aka new potential moments of personal experience).  That programming activity is the ongoing creation that Seth is describing below … but don’t lose sight of the fact that, out of all the possible “Now” screen shots, we pick our favourite in each moment (that’s the “screen refresh” that the subconscious does so well).

So, look at each “Now” moment as your current favourite and have fun dreaming (programming) even more exuberant favourite potential moments!

“The universe is still being created, even as each person is in each moment.”

(Dreams, “Evolution” and Value Fulfillment, Session 881)

The Universe Dreams Itself Into Being

It’s amazing how we get blinded by our projections.  The first few exercises in A Course In Miracles provide an excellent start for releasing projections.  Buddhist practices are also focused on that.  I think it’s generally true that those who practice and master awareness and release of projections become some of the most loving and compassionate people on the planet.  Pets do this spontaneously!

“I hope to show that all species are motivated by what I call value fulfillment, in which each seeks to enhance the quality of life for itself and for all other species at the same time.

“This further unites all species in a cooperative venture that has remained largely invisible because of beliefs projected outward upon the world by both your sciences and religions, generally speaking.  All of your grandest civilizations have existed first in the world of dreams.  You might say that the universe dreamed itself into being.”

(Dreams, “Evolution” and Value Fulfillment, Session 881)

Consciousness Forms Our Environment

“The universe did not originate from what you like to think of as an external, objectified source.  Your own physical body provides you with sturdy corporal images, exterior presentations.  Your dreams do not suddenly appear exteriorized upon your images in place of your features, for example.  They remain hidden.  Your dreams appear on the interior screen of your mind.

“I never want any of my remarks to be construed in such a fashion that it seems I am in any way negating the fullness, validity, and magnificence of physical existence.  I do want to point out, however, that a state you usually call dreaming is but a dim indication of an inner reality of events, an inner order of events from which the physical world emerges.  I hope to show how the nature of dreams has helped shape man’s consciousness.  I hope to show that consciousness forms the environment, and not the other way around.”

(Dreams, “Evolution” and Value Fulfillment, Session 881)

Creativity

I think we tend to consider creativity as the domain of the arts and sometimes of technology and the sciences.  

Here Seth points out that human creativity gave birth to our very civilizations and religions and, in fact, to every social structure and “knowledge” structure that we “know”.  

More importantly, finding your personal creative moments and creative expression opens the door to your soul.

Enjoy those moments!

“Scientists like to say that if you look outward at the universe, you look backward in time.  That statement is only partially true.  When you move inward through the psyche, however, you do begin to thrust, in your terms, “backward” toward the origins of existence.  Your creative abilities do not simply allow you to paint pictures, to tell or write stories, to create sculpture or architecture.  They do not simply provide you with a basis for your religions, sciences, and civilizations.  They are your contact with the source of existence itself.

“They provide the power that allows you to form a belief system to begin with.”

(Dreams, “Evolution” and Value Fulfillment, Session 881)

Trust the thrust of your own life

One of the recurring themes in Seth’s material is the innate wisdom that we all possess and the importance of trust in that wisdom and spontaneity.  

Speaking from personal experience, it is really easy to over-think things and to gradually distance oneself from the heart.  In many ancient cultures the heart was thought to be where real thinking happened.  In our current civilizations, with the fixation on logic, duality, etc., we tend to remove ourselves from the heart, from our subjective soul connection, and consequently we get lost in the objective world of rational thought and worry.  Life is supposed to operate with a balance between the two.

Life doesn’t have to be a struggle unless you want to feel the suffering of struggle or you want to feel the joy of conquering struggle. With unlimited lifetimes to live throughout eternity the choice is always ours.

“You do not have to fight to trust the thrust of your own life.  That thrust is always meant to lead you toward your own best fulfillment, in a way that will benefit the species as well.

“When you trust the thrust of your own life, you are always supported.”

(Dreams, “Evolution” and Value Fulfillment, Private Session 10 September 1979)

The Arts

There is clearly a difference between form and function … recall that the creation sequence is essence-energy-function-form.  The fine arts, as described here by Seth, are really very functional and have a much higher purpose than we suppose.  

We tend to get swept up in form but true art (of any kind) speaks to the soul.  That type of art can’t be automated, though there are artificial intelligence initiatives attempting to create music, etc.  From a higher perspective, perhaps the art in the case of artificial intelligence is actually the understanding of intelligence rather than the artifacts that are machine generated.

“Early artists hoped to understand the very nature of creativity itself as they tried to mimic earth’s forms.  Poetry and painting were both functional in ways that I will describe in our next book and “esthetic”, but poetry and painting have always involved primarily man’s attempt to understand himself and his world.  The original functions of art – meaning poetry and painting here specifically – have been largely forgotten.  The true artist in those terms was always primarily – in your terms again – a psychic or a mystic.

“His specific art was both his method of understanding his own creativity and a way of exploring the vast creativity of the universe – and also served as a container or showcase that displayed his knowledge as best he could.”

(Dreams, “Evolution” and Value Fulfillment, Private Session 10 September 1979)

Our Relationship With Animals

This is a very illuminating perspective on man’s relation to animals.  It also brings to light how our “factory forms” are such an abuse of this relationship.

“Many animals enjoy work and purpose.  They enjoy working with man. 

“Consciousness is filled with content – any kind of consciousness.  [The farmer’s] animals understand that in a certain fashion he is a midwife, responsible for some of their births.  Food comes from his hands.  The animals understand, on their own, that life on any terms that are physical ends with death – that the physical properties must be returned to the earth from which they came …

“[Animals] do not blame [human beings] for anything.  If as a species you really found yourselves communicating with the animals, you would have an entirely different culture, a culture that would indeed bring about an alteration of consciousness of the most profound nature.”

(Dreams, “Evolution” and Value Fulfillment, Session 878)

The Communion of Nature

Moving on now to Seth’s next book: Dreams, “Evolution” and Value Fulfillment.

As I read this quote, I’m struck by the immense sacrifice of the planet Gaia and all of it’s life forms that have done their part to ensure the ascension of the planet and the awakening of the Human Species.  

Take a moment to look around you and feel the gratitude.  We really do live in a state of grace.

“Man is more a part of nature than he realizes, and in the greater realm of activity he cannot take any actions with which the rest of nature does not agree for its own reasons.

“There is, beneath it all, an important unity, a sense of communion, as one portion of earth’s living consciousness dies to insure the continued life of all nature.  That natural sacrament, however, turns into something else entirely when the gift is so misunderstood, and when the donor is treated so poorly …”

(Dreams, “Evolution” and Value Fulfillment, Session 878)

How to change the world

This is my last quote from “The Individual and The Nature of Mass Events”.  It’s a simple recipe to change the world!

It works on many levels.  Obviously, when you change your perception of events and live the life of a practicing Idealist, every moment is seen as a step towards a better world … both personally and collectively.

At much deeper levels, since the Omni Earth is already living all possibilities in all time and all space, changing your attitude draws new probabilities into your reality that are more aligned with your attitudes and beliefs, etc.and also creates new possibilities in the Omni Earth explosion of creation.

I was at a conference last week and one of the speakers (an insightful and very capable bureaucrat) pointed out that execution of government policy works only if there is clarity, coherence and alignment.  This works at the personal level as well:

• Have clarity on what your Ideals are in different contexts and why (i.e. consciously choose your ideals … you’re always moving toward an ideal, make them conscious and make conscious choices).
• Your attitudes, beliefs, thoughts, feelings, choices and decisions (i.e. the building blocks of your reality) need to be in harmony with the ideals that you consciously hold (and vice versa)
• Finally, your tools of manifestation (desire, imagination and expectation) need to be aligned with your ideals.

“Your thoughts and beliefs and desires form the events that you view on television.  If you want to change your world, you must first change your thoughts, expectations, and beliefs.  If every reader of this book changed his or her attitudes, even though not one law was rewritten, tomorrow the world would have changed for the better.  The new laws would follow.

“Any new law always follows the change in belief.  It is not the other way around.”

(The Individual and the Nature of Mass Events, Session 873)

Life is propelled to seek ideals

Life is a timeless pursuit of ideals at all levels.  When we abandon that quest, life becomes stagnant.

“Life at all levels of activity is propelled to seek ideals, whether of a biological or mental nature.  That pursuit automatically gives life its zest and natural sense excitement and drama.  Developing your own abilities, whatever they may be, exploring and expanding your experience of selfhood, gives life a sense of purpose, meaning, and creative excitement – and also adds to the understanding and development of the society and the species.

“It is not enough to meditate, or to imagine in your mind some desired goal being accomplished, if you are afraid to act upon the very impulse to which your meditations and imaginings give rise.  When you do not take any steps toward an ideal position, then your life does lack excitement.  You become depressed.”

(The Individual and the Nature of Mass Events, Session 873)

Practicing Idealist

Life is lived moment by moment, the journey is taken step by step … always aligned with an ideal.  Clearly the key is to consciously select life-worthy ideals and to follow Seth’s advice below!

“In a manner of speaking, you must be a practicing idealist if you are to remain a true idealist for long.  You must take small practical steps, often when you would prefer to take giant ones – but you must move in the direction of your ideals through action.  Otherwise you will feel disillusioned, or powerless, or sure, again, that only drastic, highly unideal methods will ever bring about the achievement of a given ideal state or situation.”

(The Individual and the Nature of Mass Events, Session 873)