From Session 805 in Seth's "The Individual and the Nature of Mass Events":
p45
"The animal knows he has the right to exist, and a place in the fabric of nature. This sense of biological integrity supports him.
"Man, on the other hand, has more to contend with. He must deal with beliefs and feelings often so ambiguous that no clear line of action seems possible. The body often does not know how to react. If you believe that the body is sinful, for example, you cannot expect to be happy, and health will most likely elude you, for your dark beliefs will blemish the psychological and biological integrity with which you were born.
"The species is in a state of transition, one of many. This one began, generally speaking, when the species tried to step apart from nature in order to develop the unique kind of consciousness that is presently your own. That consciousness is not a finished product, however, but one meant to change, [to] evolve and develop." Certain artificial divisions were made along the way that must now be dispensed with.
"You must return, wiser creatures, to the nature that spawned you — not only as loving caretakers but as partners with the other species of the earth. You must discover once again the spirituality of your biological heritage. The majority of accepted beliefs — religious, scientific, and cultural — have tended to stress a sense of powerlessness, impotence, and impending doom — a picture in which man and his world is an accidental production with little meaning, isolated yet seemingly ruled by a capricious God. Life is seen as "a valley of tears" — almost as a low-grade infection from which the soul can be cured only by death.
"Religious, scientific, medical, and cultural communications stress the existence of danger, minimize the purpose of the species or of any individual member of it, or see mankind as the one erratic, half-insane member of an otherwise orderly realm of nature. Any or all of the above beliefs are held by various systems of thought. All of these, however, strain the individual's biological sense of integrity, reinforce ideas of danger, and shrink the area of psychological safety that is necessary to maintain the quality possible in life. The body's defense systems become confused to varying degrees.
"I do not intend to give a treatise upon the biological structures of the body and their interworkings, but only to add such information in that line that is not currently known, and is otherwise important to the ideas I have in mind. I am far more concerned [with] more basic issues. The body's defenses will take care of themselves if they are allowed to, and if the psychological air is cleared of the true "carriers" of disease."
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Monday, April 16, 2012
Mass Events 3
From Session 804 in Seth's "The Individual and the Nature of Mass Events":
p36
"The body is a spiritual, psychic, and social statement, biologically spoken. It is obviously private, yet it cannot be concealed, in that "it is where you are," in usual terms.
"The individual body is what it is because it exists in the context of others like it. By this I mean that a given present body presupposes a biological past of like creatures. It presupposes contemporaries. If, for example, one adult human being were perceived by an alien from another world, certain facts would be apparent. Even though such an alien came upon a lone member of your species in otherwise uninhabited land, the alien could make certain assumptions from the individual's appearance and behavior."
p36
"While each individual springs privately into the world at birth, then, each birth also represents quite literally an effort — a triumphant one — on the part of each member of each species, for the delicate balance of life requires for each birth quite precise conditions that no one species can guarantee alone, even to its own kind. The grain must grow. The animals must produce. The plants must do their part. Photosynthesis,1 in those terms, reigns.
"The seasons must retain some stability. The rains must fall, but not too much. The storms must rage, but not too devastatingly. Behind all of this lies a biological and psychic cooperative venture."
p37
"Cells possess "social" characteristics. They have a tendency to unite with others. They naturally communicate. They naturally want to move. Period. In making such statements I am not personifying the cell, for the desire for communication and motion does not belong to man, or even animals, alone.
"Man's desire to journey into other worlds is in its way as natural as the plant's urge to turn its leaves toward the sun. Man's physical world, with all of its civilizations and cultural aspects, and even with its technologies and sciences, basically represents the species' innate drive to communicate, to move outward, to create, and to objectify sensed inner realities. The most private life imaginable is a very social affair. The most secluded recluse must still depend upon the biological sociability of not only his own body cells, but of the natural world with all of its creatures. The body, then, no matter how private, is also a public, social, biological statement. A spoken sentence has a certain structure in any language. It presupposes a mouth and a tongue, the kind of physical organization necessary; a mind; a certain kind of world in which sounds have meaning; and a very precise, quite practical knowledge of the nature of sounds, the combination of their patterns, the use of repetition, and a knowledge of the nervous system. Few of my readers possess such conscious knowledge, yet the majority speak quite well."
p38
"At cellular levels the world exists with a kind of social interchange, in which the birth and death of cells are known to all others, and in which the death of a frog and a star gain equal weight. But at your level of activity your thoughts, feelings, and intents, however private, form part of the inner environment of communication. This inner environment is as pertinent and vital to the species' well-being as is the physical one. It represents the psychic, mass bank of potential, even as the planet provides a physical bank of potential. When there is an earthquake in another area of the world, the land mass in your own country is in one way or another affected. When there are psychic earthquakes in other areas of the world, then you are also affected, and usually to the same degree.
"In the same way, if one portion of your own body is injured, then other portions feel the effects of the wound. An earthquake can be a disaster in the area where it occurs, even though its existence corrects imbalances, and therefore promotes the life of the planet. Emergency actions are quite rigorous in the immediate area of an earthquake, and aid is sent in from other countries. When an area of the body "erupts," there are also emergency measures taken locally, and aid sent from other portions of the body to afflicted parts.
"The physical eruption, while it may appear to be a disaster in the area of the disease, is also, however, a part of the body's defense system, taken to insure the whole balance of the body. Biologically, illness therefore represents the overall body defense system at work."
p39
"The biological basis of all life is a loving, divine and cooperative one, and presupposes a safe physical stance from which any member of any species feels actively free to seek out its needs and to communicate with others of its kind."
p41
"The overall sense of health, vitality, and resiliency is a generalized condition of contentment — brought about, however, by multitudinous specific responses. Left alone, the body can defend itself against any disease, but it cannot defend itself appropriately against an exaggerated general fear of disease on the individual's part. It must mirror your own feelings and assessments. Usually, now, your entire medical systems literally generate as much disease as is cured — for you are everywhere hounded by the symptoms of various dis eases, and filled with the fear of disease, overwhelmed by what seems to be the body's propensity toward illness — and nowhere is the body's vitality or natural defense system stressed.
"Private disease, then, happens also in a social context. This context is the result of personal and mass beliefs that are intertwined at all cultural levels, and so to that extent serve private and public purposes.
"The illnesses generally attributed to all different ages are involved. Those of the elderly, again, fit in with your social and cultural beliefs, the structure of your family life. Old animals have their own dignity, and so should old men and women. Senility is a mental and physical epidemic — a needless one. You "catch" it because when you are young you believe that old people cannot perform. There are no inoculations against beliefs, so when young people with such beliefs grow old they become "victims."
"The kinds of diseases change through historical periods. Some become fashionable, others go out of style. All epidemics, however, are mass statements both biologically and psychically. They point to mass beliefs that have brought about certain physical conditions that are abhorrent at all levels. They often go hand-in-hand with war, and represent biological protests. (Long pause.) Whenever the conditions of life are such that its quality is threatened, there will be such a mass statement. The quality of life must be at a certain level so that the individuals of a species — of any and all species — can develop. In your species the spiritual, mental and psychic abilities add a dimension that is biologically pertinent.
"There simply must be, for example, a freedom to express ideas, an individual tendency, a worldwide social and political context in which each individual can develop his or her abilities and contribute to the species as a whole. Such a climate depends, however, upon many ideas not universally accepted — and yet the species is so formed that the biological importance of ideas cannot be stressed too strongly.
"More and more, the quality of your lives is formed through the subjective realities of your feelings and mental constructions. Again, beliefs that foster despair are biologically destructive. They cause the physical system to shut down. If mass action against appalling social or political conditions is not effective, then other means are taken, and these are often in the guise of epidemics or natural disasters. The blight is wiped out in one way or another.
"Such conditions, however, are the results of beliefs, which are mental, and so the most vital work must always be done in that area."
p36
"The body is a spiritual, psychic, and social statement, biologically spoken. It is obviously private, yet it cannot be concealed, in that "it is where you are," in usual terms.
"The individual body is what it is because it exists in the context of others like it. By this I mean that a given present body presupposes a biological past of like creatures. It presupposes contemporaries. If, for example, one adult human being were perceived by an alien from another world, certain facts would be apparent. Even though such an alien came upon a lone member of your species in otherwise uninhabited land, the alien could make certain assumptions from the individual's appearance and behavior."
p36
"While each individual springs privately into the world at birth, then, each birth also represents quite literally an effort — a triumphant one — on the part of each member of each species, for the delicate balance of life requires for each birth quite precise conditions that no one species can guarantee alone, even to its own kind. The grain must grow. The animals must produce. The plants must do their part. Photosynthesis,1 in those terms, reigns.
"The seasons must retain some stability. The rains must fall, but not too much. The storms must rage, but not too devastatingly. Behind all of this lies a biological and psychic cooperative venture."
p37
"Cells possess "social" characteristics. They have a tendency to unite with others. They naturally communicate. They naturally want to move. Period. In making such statements I am not personifying the cell, for the desire for communication and motion does not belong to man, or even animals, alone.
"Man's desire to journey into other worlds is in its way as natural as the plant's urge to turn its leaves toward the sun. Man's physical world, with all of its civilizations and cultural aspects, and even with its technologies and sciences, basically represents the species' innate drive to communicate, to move outward, to create, and to objectify sensed inner realities. The most private life imaginable is a very social affair. The most secluded recluse must still depend upon the biological sociability of not only his own body cells, but of the natural world with all of its creatures. The body, then, no matter how private, is also a public, social, biological statement. A spoken sentence has a certain structure in any language. It presupposes a mouth and a tongue, the kind of physical organization necessary; a mind; a certain kind of world in which sounds have meaning; and a very precise, quite practical knowledge of the nature of sounds, the combination of their patterns, the use of repetition, and a knowledge of the nervous system. Few of my readers possess such conscious knowledge, yet the majority speak quite well."
p38
"At cellular levels the world exists with a kind of social interchange, in which the birth and death of cells are known to all others, and in which the death of a frog and a star gain equal weight. But at your level of activity your thoughts, feelings, and intents, however private, form part of the inner environment of communication. This inner environment is as pertinent and vital to the species' well-being as is the physical one. It represents the psychic, mass bank of potential, even as the planet provides a physical bank of potential. When there is an earthquake in another area of the world, the land mass in your own country is in one way or another affected. When there are psychic earthquakes in other areas of the world, then you are also affected, and usually to the same degree.
"In the same way, if one portion of your own body is injured, then other portions feel the effects of the wound. An earthquake can be a disaster in the area where it occurs, even though its existence corrects imbalances, and therefore promotes the life of the planet. Emergency actions are quite rigorous in the immediate area of an earthquake, and aid is sent in from other countries. When an area of the body "erupts," there are also emergency measures taken locally, and aid sent from other portions of the body to afflicted parts.
"The physical eruption, while it may appear to be a disaster in the area of the disease, is also, however, a part of the body's defense system, taken to insure the whole balance of the body. Biologically, illness therefore represents the overall body defense system at work."
p39
"The biological basis of all life is a loving, divine and cooperative one, and presupposes a safe physical stance from which any member of any species feels actively free to seek out its needs and to communicate with others of its kind."
p41
"The overall sense of health, vitality, and resiliency is a generalized condition of contentment — brought about, however, by multitudinous specific responses. Left alone, the body can defend itself against any disease, but it cannot defend itself appropriately against an exaggerated general fear of disease on the individual's part. It must mirror your own feelings and assessments. Usually, now, your entire medical systems literally generate as much disease as is cured — for you are everywhere hounded by the symptoms of various dis eases, and filled with the fear of disease, overwhelmed by what seems to be the body's propensity toward illness — and nowhere is the body's vitality or natural defense system stressed.
"Private disease, then, happens also in a social context. This context is the result of personal and mass beliefs that are intertwined at all cultural levels, and so to that extent serve private and public purposes.
"The illnesses generally attributed to all different ages are involved. Those of the elderly, again, fit in with your social and cultural beliefs, the structure of your family life. Old animals have their own dignity, and so should old men and women. Senility is a mental and physical epidemic — a needless one. You "catch" it because when you are young you believe that old people cannot perform. There are no inoculations against beliefs, so when young people with such beliefs grow old they become "victims."
"The kinds of diseases change through historical periods. Some become fashionable, others go out of style. All epidemics, however, are mass statements both biologically and psychically. They point to mass beliefs that have brought about certain physical conditions that are abhorrent at all levels. They often go hand-in-hand with war, and represent biological protests. (Long pause.) Whenever the conditions of life are such that its quality is threatened, there will be such a mass statement. The quality of life must be at a certain level so that the individuals of a species — of any and all species — can develop. In your species the spiritual, mental and psychic abilities add a dimension that is biologically pertinent.
"There simply must be, for example, a freedom to express ideas, an individual tendency, a worldwide social and political context in which each individual can develop his or her abilities and contribute to the species as a whole. Such a climate depends, however, upon many ideas not universally accepted — and yet the species is so formed that the biological importance of ideas cannot be stressed too strongly.
"More and more, the quality of your lives is formed through the subjective realities of your feelings and mental constructions. Again, beliefs that foster despair are biologically destructive. They cause the physical system to shut down. If mass action against appalling social or political conditions is not effective, then other means are taken, and these are often in the guise of epidemics or natural disasters. The blight is wiped out in one way or another.
"Such conditions, however, are the results of beliefs, which are mental, and so the most vital work must always be done in that area."
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Seth Mass Events 2
p31
"The scientist probing the brain of an idiot or a genius will find only the physical matter of the brain itself.
"Not one idea will be discovered residing in the brain cells. You can try to convey an idea, you can feel its effects, but you cannot see it as you can the chair. Only a fool would say that ideas were nonexistent, however, or deny their importance.
"You cannot find any given dream location, either, within the brain itself. The solid matter of your world is the result of the play of your senses upon an inner dimension of activity that exists as legitimately, and yet as tantalizingly hidden, as an idea or a dream location.
"It is easy for you to see that seeds bring forth the fruit of the earth, each [of] their own kind. No seed is identical to any other, yet generally speaking there are species that serve to unite them. You do not mistake an orange for a grape. In the same way ideas or thoughts form general patterns, bringing forth in your world certain kinds of events. In this respect your thoughts and feelings "seed" physical reality, bringing forth materializations.
"You operate quite nicely politically, living in villages, townships, countries, states, and so forth, each with certain customs and local ordinances. These in no way affect the land itself. They are designations for practical purposes, and they imply organization of intent or affiliation at one level. They are political patterns, invisible but highly effective. There are, however, far more vigorous invisible mental patterns, into which the thoughts and feelings of mankind are organized — or, naturally, organize themselves.
"Each person's thoughts flow into that formation, forming part of the earth's psychic atmosphere. From that atmosphere flows the natural earthly patterns from which your seasons emerge with all of their variety and effects. You are never victims of natural disasters, though it may seem that you are, for you have your hand in forming them. You are creatively involved in the earth's cycles. No one can be born for you, or die for you, and yet no birth or death is really an isolated event, but one in which the entire planet participates. In personal terms, again, each species is concerned not only with survival but with the quality of its life and experience.
"In those terms, natural disasters ultimately end up righting a condition that earlier blighted the desired quality of life, so that adjustments were made.
"The "victims" choose to participate in those conditions at spiritual, psychological, and biological levels. Many of those who are counted among the fatalities might otherwise die of extended illnesses, for example. At cellular levels such knowledge is available, and in one way or another imparted, often in dreams, to the individual. Conscious comprehension need not follow, for many people know such things, and pretend not to know them at the same time.
"Others have finished with their challenges; they want to die and are looking for an excuse — a face-saving device. However, those who choose such deaths want to die in terms of drama, in the middle of their activities, and are in a strange way filled with the exultant inner knowledge of life's strength even at the point of death. At the last they identify with the power of nature that seemingly destroyed them.
"That identification often brings about in death — but not always — an added acceleration of consciousness, and involves such individuals in a kind of "group death experience," where all of the victims more or less embark into another level of reality "at the same time."
"Those people were aware just beneath consciousness of the possibilities of such an event long before the disaster occurred, and could until the last moment choose to avoid the encounter. Animals know of weather conditions ahead of time, as old tales say. This perception is a biological part of your heritage also. The body is prepared, though consciously it seems you are ignorant.
"There are innumerable relationships that exist between the interior environment of the body and the weather patterns. The ancient feelings of identification with storms are quite valid, and in that respect the "realism" of feelings is far superior to the realism of logic. When a person feels a part of a storm, those feelings speak a literal truth. Logic deals with exterior conditions, with cause-and-effect relationships. Intuitions deal with immediate experience of the most intimate nature, with subjective motions and activities that in your terms move far quicker than the speed of light, and with simultaneous events that your cause-and-effect level is far too slow to perceive.
"In that regard also, the activities of the inner environment are too fast for you to follow intellectually. Your intuitions, however, can give you clues to such behavior. A country is responsible for its own droughts, earthquakes, floods, hurricanes — and for its own harvests and rich display of products, its industry and cultural achievements, and each of these elements is related to each other one.
"If the quality of life that is considered spiritually and biologically necessary fails, then adjustments occur. A political problem might be altered by a natural disaster if political means fail. On the other hand, the rousing creative energies of the people will emerge.
"Excellence will show itself through the arts, cultural creativity, technological or sociological accomplishments. The species tries to fulfill its great capacities. Each physical body in its own way is like the world. It has its own defenses and abilities, and each portion of it strives for a quality of existence that will bring to the smallest parts of it the spiritual and biological fulfillment of its own nature."
"The scientist probing the brain of an idiot or a genius will find only the physical matter of the brain itself.
"Not one idea will be discovered residing in the brain cells. You can try to convey an idea, you can feel its effects, but you cannot see it as you can the chair. Only a fool would say that ideas were nonexistent, however, or deny their importance.
"You cannot find any given dream location, either, within the brain itself. The solid matter of your world is the result of the play of your senses upon an inner dimension of activity that exists as legitimately, and yet as tantalizingly hidden, as an idea or a dream location.
"It is easy for you to see that seeds bring forth the fruit of the earth, each [of] their own kind. No seed is identical to any other, yet generally speaking there are species that serve to unite them. You do not mistake an orange for a grape. In the same way ideas or thoughts form general patterns, bringing forth in your world certain kinds of events. In this respect your thoughts and feelings "seed" physical reality, bringing forth materializations.
"You operate quite nicely politically, living in villages, townships, countries, states, and so forth, each with certain customs and local ordinances. These in no way affect the land itself. They are designations for practical purposes, and they imply organization of intent or affiliation at one level. They are political patterns, invisible but highly effective. There are, however, far more vigorous invisible mental patterns, into which the thoughts and feelings of mankind are organized — or, naturally, organize themselves.
"Each person's thoughts flow into that formation, forming part of the earth's psychic atmosphere. From that atmosphere flows the natural earthly patterns from which your seasons emerge with all of their variety and effects. You are never victims of natural disasters, though it may seem that you are, for you have your hand in forming them. You are creatively involved in the earth's cycles. No one can be born for you, or die for you, and yet no birth or death is really an isolated event, but one in which the entire planet participates. In personal terms, again, each species is concerned not only with survival but with the quality of its life and experience.
"In those terms, natural disasters ultimately end up righting a condition that earlier blighted the desired quality of life, so that adjustments were made.
"The "victims" choose to participate in those conditions at spiritual, psychological, and biological levels. Many of those who are counted among the fatalities might otherwise die of extended illnesses, for example. At cellular levels such knowledge is available, and in one way or another imparted, often in dreams, to the individual. Conscious comprehension need not follow, for many people know such things, and pretend not to know them at the same time.
"Others have finished with their challenges; they want to die and are looking for an excuse — a face-saving device. However, those who choose such deaths want to die in terms of drama, in the middle of their activities, and are in a strange way filled with the exultant inner knowledge of life's strength even at the point of death. At the last they identify with the power of nature that seemingly destroyed them.
"That identification often brings about in death — but not always — an added acceleration of consciousness, and involves such individuals in a kind of "group death experience," where all of the victims more or less embark into another level of reality "at the same time."
"Those people were aware just beneath consciousness of the possibilities of such an event long before the disaster occurred, and could until the last moment choose to avoid the encounter. Animals know of weather conditions ahead of time, as old tales say. This perception is a biological part of your heritage also. The body is prepared, though consciously it seems you are ignorant.
"There are innumerable relationships that exist between the interior environment of the body and the weather patterns. The ancient feelings of identification with storms are quite valid, and in that respect the "realism" of feelings is far superior to the realism of logic. When a person feels a part of a storm, those feelings speak a literal truth. Logic deals with exterior conditions, with cause-and-effect relationships. Intuitions deal with immediate experience of the most intimate nature, with subjective motions and activities that in your terms move far quicker than the speed of light, and with simultaneous events that your cause-and-effect level is far too slow to perceive.
"In that regard also, the activities of the inner environment are too fast for you to follow intellectually. Your intuitions, however, can give you clues to such behavior. A country is responsible for its own droughts, earthquakes, floods, hurricanes — and for its own harvests and rich display of products, its industry and cultural achievements, and each of these elements is related to each other one.
"If the quality of life that is considered spiritually and biologically necessary fails, then adjustments occur. A political problem might be altered by a natural disaster if political means fail. On the other hand, the rousing creative energies of the people will emerge.
"Excellence will show itself through the arts, cultural creativity, technological or sociological accomplishments. The species tries to fulfill its great capacities. Each physical body in its own way is like the world. It has its own defenses and abilities, and each portion of it strives for a quality of existence that will bring to the smallest parts of it the spiritual and biological fulfillment of its own nature."
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Seth Mass Events 1
I've just started reading (again) Seth's "The Individual and the Nature of Mass Events". Here are some excerpts:
"You cannot begin to understand the nature of mass events of any kind unless-you consider the even greater framework in which they have their existence. A person's private experience happens in the context of his psychological and biological status, and basically cannot be separated from his religious and philosophical beliefs and sentiments, and his cultural environment and political framework —
"All of the issues form together to make a trellis of behavior. Thorns or roses may grow therein. That is, the individual will grow outward toward the world, encountering and forming a practical experience, traveling outward from his center in almost vine-like fashion, forming from the fabric of physical reality a conglomeration of pleasant or aesthetic, and unpleasant or prickly events. The vine of experience in this analogy is formed in quite a natural fashion from "psychic" elements that are as necessary to psychological experience as sun, air, and water are to plants. (Loudly and humorously:) I do not want to get too entwined (underlined) in this analogy, however; but as the individual's personal experience must be seen in the light of all of these issues, so mass events cannot be understood unless they are considered in a far greater context than usual."
"I have thus far stayed clear of many important and vital subjects, involving mass realities, because first of all the importance of the individual was to be stressed, and his power to form his private events. Only when the private nature of reality was emphasized sufficiently would I be ready to show how the magnification of individual reality combines and enlarges to form vast mass reactions — such as, say, the initiation of an obviously new historical and cultural period; the rise or overthrow of governments; the birth of a new religion that sweeps all others before it; mass conversions; mass murders in the form of wars; the sudden sweep of deadly epidemics; the scourge of earthquakes, floods, or other disasters; the inexplicable appearance of periods of great art or architecture or technology.
(Pause at 9:57, one of many.) "I said there are no closed systems. This also means that in world terms, events spin like electrons, affecting all psychological and psychic systems as well as biological ones. It is true to say that each individual dies alone, for no one else can die that death. It is also true that part of the species dies with each death, and is reborn with each birth, and that each private death takes place within the greater context of the existence of the entire species. The death serves a purpose species-wise while it also serves the purposes of the individual, for no death comes unbidden.
"An epidemic, for example, serves the purposes of each individual who is involved, while it also serves its own functions in the greater species framework."
"There has been great discussion in past years about the survival of the fittest, in Darwinian terms, but little emphasis is placed upon the quality of life, or of survival itself; or in human terms, [there has been] little probing into the question of what makes life worthwhile. Quite simply, if life is not worthwhile (louder), no species will have a reason to continue.
"Civilizations are literally social species. They die when they see no reason to live, yet they seed other civilizations. Your private mental states en masse bring about the mass cultural stance of your civilization. To some extent, then, the survival of your civilization is quite literally dependent upon the condition of each individual; and that condition is initially a spiritual, psychic state that gives birth to the physical organism. That organism is intimately connected to the natural biological state of each other person, and to each other living thing, or entity, however minute.
"New paragraph: Despite all "realistic" pragmatic tales to the contrary, the natural state of life itself is one of joy, acquiescence with itself— a state in which action is effective, and the power to act is a natural right. You would see this quite clearly with plants, animals, and all other life if you were not so blinded by beliefs to the contrary. You would feel it in the activity of your bodies, in which the vital individual affirmation of your cells brings about the mass, immensely complicated achievement of your physical being. That activity naturally promotes health and vitality.
"I am not speaking of some romanticized, "passive," floppy, spiritual world, but of a clear reality without impediments, in which the opposite of despair and apathy reigns."
"You cannot begin to understand the nature of mass events of any kind unless-you consider the even greater framework in which they have their existence. A person's private experience happens in the context of his psychological and biological status, and basically cannot be separated from his religious and philosophical beliefs and sentiments, and his cultural environment and political framework —
"All of the issues form together to make a trellis of behavior. Thorns or roses may grow therein. That is, the individual will grow outward toward the world, encountering and forming a practical experience, traveling outward from his center in almost vine-like fashion, forming from the fabric of physical reality a conglomeration of pleasant or aesthetic, and unpleasant or prickly events. The vine of experience in this analogy is formed in quite a natural fashion from "psychic" elements that are as necessary to psychological experience as sun, air, and water are to plants. (Loudly and humorously:) I do not want to get too entwined (underlined) in this analogy, however; but as the individual's personal experience must be seen in the light of all of these issues, so mass events cannot be understood unless they are considered in a far greater context than usual."
"I have thus far stayed clear of many important and vital subjects, involving mass realities, because first of all the importance of the individual was to be stressed, and his power to form his private events. Only when the private nature of reality was emphasized sufficiently would I be ready to show how the magnification of individual reality combines and enlarges to form vast mass reactions — such as, say, the initiation of an obviously new historical and cultural period; the rise or overthrow of governments; the birth of a new religion that sweeps all others before it; mass conversions; mass murders in the form of wars; the sudden sweep of deadly epidemics; the scourge of earthquakes, floods, or other disasters; the inexplicable appearance of periods of great art or architecture or technology.
(Pause at 9:57, one of many.) "I said there are no closed systems. This also means that in world terms, events spin like electrons, affecting all psychological and psychic systems as well as biological ones. It is true to say that each individual dies alone, for no one else can die that death. It is also true that part of the species dies with each death, and is reborn with each birth, and that each private death takes place within the greater context of the existence of the entire species. The death serves a purpose species-wise while it also serves the purposes of the individual, for no death comes unbidden.
"An epidemic, for example, serves the purposes of each individual who is involved, while it also serves its own functions in the greater species framework."
"There has been great discussion in past years about the survival of the fittest, in Darwinian terms, but little emphasis is placed upon the quality of life, or of survival itself; or in human terms, [there has been] little probing into the question of what makes life worthwhile. Quite simply, if life is not worthwhile (louder), no species will have a reason to continue.
"Civilizations are literally social species. They die when they see no reason to live, yet they seed other civilizations. Your private mental states en masse bring about the mass cultural stance of your civilization. To some extent, then, the survival of your civilization is quite literally dependent upon the condition of each individual; and that condition is initially a spiritual, psychic state that gives birth to the physical organism. That organism is intimately connected to the natural biological state of each other person, and to each other living thing, or entity, however minute.
"New paragraph: Despite all "realistic" pragmatic tales to the contrary, the natural state of life itself is one of joy, acquiescence with itself— a state in which action is effective, and the power to act is a natural right. You would see this quite clearly with plants, animals, and all other life if you were not so blinded by beliefs to the contrary. You would feel it in the activity of your bodies, in which the vital individual affirmation of your cells brings about the mass, immensely complicated achievement of your physical being. That activity naturally promotes health and vitality.
"I am not speaking of some romanticized, "passive," floppy, spiritual world, but of a clear reality without impediments, in which the opposite of despair and apathy reigns."
Sunday, March 11, 2012
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."
"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."
No Limitations
From Session 180 of Volume 4 of the Seth's Early Sessions:
"The human personality has no limitations except those which it accepts. There are no limits to its development or growth, if it will accept no limits. There are no boundaries to the self except those boundaries which the self arbitrarily creates and perpetuates. There is no veil through which human perception cannot see, except the veil of ignorance which is pulled down by the materialistic ego.
"That which appears empty; such as your space, is empty only for those who will not perceive, who are blind because they fear to perceive that which the ego cannot understand. The ego however is also capable of greater knowledge and potentiality and scope.
"It dwells in the physical universe, but it can indeed also perceive and appreciate other realities. The ego is part of the personality, and as such it can partake of sturdier, heartier, more vivid realities. The personality can dwell, and does dwell, in many worlds at once.
"The inquiring intuitions and the searching self, like summer winds, can travel in small and large spaces, can know of actualities that are more minute than pinheads and more massive than galaxies.
"The power and ability of the human personality, in a most practical manner, can be seen as limited."
"The human personality has no limitations except those which it accepts. There are no limits to its development or growth, if it will accept no limits. There are no boundaries to the self except those boundaries which the self arbitrarily creates and perpetuates. There is no veil through which human perception cannot see, except the veil of ignorance which is pulled down by the materialistic ego.
"That which appears empty; such as your space, is empty only for those who will not perceive, who are blind because they fear to perceive that which the ego cannot understand. The ego however is also capable of greater knowledge and potentiality and scope.
"It dwells in the physical universe, but it can indeed also perceive and appreciate other realities. The ego is part of the personality, and as such it can partake of sturdier, heartier, more vivid realities. The personality can dwell, and does dwell, in many worlds at once.
"The inquiring intuitions and the searching self, like summer winds, can travel in small and large spaces, can know of actualities that are more minute than pinheads and more massive than galaxies.
"The power and ability of the human personality, in a most practical manner, can be seen as limited."
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Psychic Expansion and the Dream/Physical Connection
The following extract from Seth's Session 178 (Volume 4 of the Early Sessions) is advice given to Jane (Ruburt) and Rob (Joseph) which has great relevance to us all:
Psychic Expansion
"He (Ruburt) must remember however in his psychological time experiments that to focus outward, within and through the universe, is to expand and focus inward simultaneously. He must seek the expansion before he seeks the results or effects of the expansion.
"It would help if he let himself go in the same way that he does when he works on his poetry. It will indeed be beneficial for you both to suggest to your subconscious that it enable you to develop your psychic abilities, and then consciously forget the matter.
"Ruburt does allow himself this freedom, until he begins to brood about it. We will begin slowly to further develop his abilities in our sessions. We may even ourselves initiate such a program.
"I am not primarily concerned with effects, as you know. They can be beneficial however from several viewpoints, and they can also give Ruburt confidence. Any such effects however will happen within the framework of our sessions, and we must always work in an atmosphere of mutual integrity."
Dream and Physical Connections
"The connections between the dreaming self and the waking self, and between the dream universe and the physical universe, exist on chemical, electromagnetic and psychic levels.
"They are completely interwoven. Effects in one are reflected in the other[s]. As you have already supposed Joseph, suggestions received during the sleeping state are often carried out by the waking personality."
... "Suggestions made by the waking personality are also carried out by the sleeping self. The characteristics of the sleeping personality therefore partially determine the physical existence of the waking self. Solutions to problems are sought and received and worked for in the dream state. The physical environment is directly affected then by the activities of the dreaming self.
"Abilities unused by the waking personality are utilized in the dream state. A study of dream activities will often allow the waking personality to recognize abilities of which it is not aware, to discover talents that are not being used. Such a study can be most beneficial in allowing the personality to utilize all of its capabilities. There is no doubt that the whole self is a composite formed by the various aspects of the personality as it is seen in the waking and dream states, and at other levels of operation.
"There are levels of which we have not yet spoken. The repository of potentiality however is contained within those layers that are not conscious. As a rule the ego chooses those elements from this repository which it feels will be most beneficial in dealing with physical reality.
"In many instances however, because of environment and other influences, the ego accepts few of the abilities available, and therefore hampers the full development of personality. Of necessity the ego discards more than it accepts, and this is why Ruburt runs into difficulties when he becomes too egotistically concerned.
"In actuality the ego itself definitely benefits by allowing greater flexibility. It does become more active, and to some degree more permissive under such conditions, but the flexibility involved adds to its strength in the beneficial ways.
"Ego concern is a very jealous concern, and it is directly connected to the personality's concept of survival necessities within the physical universe. The ego that is overly fearful for survival will allow little potential to show itself unless that potential is directly connected with physical survival. Actually what happens here is that the ego sells the personality short, out of fear, and denies those very abilities that are needed, and in practical terms.
"The ego that ignores too many of the possibilities of the inner self is soon in dire difficulty, and is forced to realize that it has been considering survival in a very limited light.
"For the personality in such circumstances will shrivel up, and ultimately the physical self will die ahead of its time, and despite all emergency efforts made by the ego, unless it makes the necessary effort. Survival within the physical universe, as within all others, is determined by the full development of potential.
"The greatest possible development allows the greatest possible security, for such development shows itself physically and in all other manners. The entire gestalt simply works better and more efficiently and more joyfully, from the smallest cell to the most organized aspects of personality.
"You may find it helpful, and certainly fascinating, to study your own dreams, looking at them for the purpose of searching in their framework for abilities of which the ego is not aware.
"Your own talents have worked for the survival of your personality, Joseph. They have given you a strength that you would not possess if your ego had not allowed them to emerge. You may not think of your artistic abilities as serving any practical purpose, insofar as survival is concerned, and yet they have been your main security, and in very practical ways.
"Without a sense of joy and inner accomplishment and development of potential, the personality will not only fail to flourish, but the inner self will refuse to maintain the physical structure adequately. This is extremely important. Superficial measures will not fool the inner self.
"We will discuss for some sessions the nature of dreams, practically speaking, from many viewpoints. Other suggestions will be given for general benefit. I hope in the future to make these points clear enough so that you will be able to discover definite connections where you have not before, that will tie in waking and dreaming situations with rather surprising results.
"By far the most immediately helpful suggestions have to do with dream therapy, with problem solving, and the search for abilities as shown within the dream state.
"The energy used in constructing dreams is every bit as intense as the energy used in the waking state, but there is no depletion because the sleeping self uses energy more naturally, realizing that it is available, and being more free in its operation.
"The energy is used in a more diffused manner however, than in the waking state. It does not have to be focused in one main direction only. It is as intense, but it has a wider radius. There is no strain involved.
"This is one of the reasons why health suggestions given immediately before sleep are so effective. Incidentally, they are excellent practice. Expectation can also aid you. In this case suggestions should be given leading to dreams in which a desired situation is accomplished. The dream will then increase and activate your own expectations. And as you know, the expectations themselves have much to do with whether or not any given situation will occur. Further detailed discussions will be held on all of these points, before these matters are covered."
Psychic Expansion
"He (Ruburt) must remember however in his psychological time experiments that to focus outward, within and through the universe, is to expand and focus inward simultaneously. He must seek the expansion before he seeks the results or effects of the expansion.
"It would help if he let himself go in the same way that he does when he works on his poetry. It will indeed be beneficial for you both to suggest to your subconscious that it enable you to develop your psychic abilities, and then consciously forget the matter.
"Ruburt does allow himself this freedom, until he begins to brood about it. We will begin slowly to further develop his abilities in our sessions. We may even ourselves initiate such a program.
"I am not primarily concerned with effects, as you know. They can be beneficial however from several viewpoints, and they can also give Ruburt confidence. Any such effects however will happen within the framework of our sessions, and we must always work in an atmosphere of mutual integrity."
Dream and Physical Connections
"The connections between the dreaming self and the waking self, and between the dream universe and the physical universe, exist on chemical, electromagnetic and psychic levels.
"They are completely interwoven. Effects in one are reflected in the other[s]. As you have already supposed Joseph, suggestions received during the sleeping state are often carried out by the waking personality."
... "Suggestions made by the waking personality are also carried out by the sleeping self. The characteristics of the sleeping personality therefore partially determine the physical existence of the waking self. Solutions to problems are sought and received and worked for in the dream state. The physical environment is directly affected then by the activities of the dreaming self.
"Abilities unused by the waking personality are utilized in the dream state. A study of dream activities will often allow the waking personality to recognize abilities of which it is not aware, to discover talents that are not being used. Such a study can be most beneficial in allowing the personality to utilize all of its capabilities. There is no doubt that the whole self is a composite formed by the various aspects of the personality as it is seen in the waking and dream states, and at other levels of operation.
"There are levels of which we have not yet spoken. The repository of potentiality however is contained within those layers that are not conscious. As a rule the ego chooses those elements from this repository which it feels will be most beneficial in dealing with physical reality.
"In many instances however, because of environment and other influences, the ego accepts few of the abilities available, and therefore hampers the full development of personality. Of necessity the ego discards more than it accepts, and this is why Ruburt runs into difficulties when he becomes too egotistically concerned.
"In actuality the ego itself definitely benefits by allowing greater flexibility. It does become more active, and to some degree more permissive under such conditions, but the flexibility involved adds to its strength in the beneficial ways.
"Ego concern is a very jealous concern, and it is directly connected to the personality's concept of survival necessities within the physical universe. The ego that is overly fearful for survival will allow little potential to show itself unless that potential is directly connected with physical survival. Actually what happens here is that the ego sells the personality short, out of fear, and denies those very abilities that are needed, and in practical terms.
"The ego that ignores too many of the possibilities of the inner self is soon in dire difficulty, and is forced to realize that it has been considering survival in a very limited light.
"For the personality in such circumstances will shrivel up, and ultimately the physical self will die ahead of its time, and despite all emergency efforts made by the ego, unless it makes the necessary effort. Survival within the physical universe, as within all others, is determined by the full development of potential.
"The greatest possible development allows the greatest possible security, for such development shows itself physically and in all other manners. The entire gestalt simply works better and more efficiently and more joyfully, from the smallest cell to the most organized aspects of personality.
"You may find it helpful, and certainly fascinating, to study your own dreams, looking at them for the purpose of searching in their framework for abilities of which the ego is not aware.
"Your own talents have worked for the survival of your personality, Joseph. They have given you a strength that you would not possess if your ego had not allowed them to emerge. You may not think of your artistic abilities as serving any practical purpose, insofar as survival is concerned, and yet they have been your main security, and in very practical ways.
"Without a sense of joy and inner accomplishment and development of potential, the personality will not only fail to flourish, but the inner self will refuse to maintain the physical structure adequately. This is extremely important. Superficial measures will not fool the inner self.
"We will discuss for some sessions the nature of dreams, practically speaking, from many viewpoints. Other suggestions will be given for general benefit. I hope in the future to make these points clear enough so that you will be able to discover definite connections where you have not before, that will tie in waking and dreaming situations with rather surprising results.
"By far the most immediately helpful suggestions have to do with dream therapy, with problem solving, and the search for abilities as shown within the dream state.
"The energy used in constructing dreams is every bit as intense as the energy used in the waking state, but there is no depletion because the sleeping self uses energy more naturally, realizing that it is available, and being more free in its operation.
"The energy is used in a more diffused manner however, than in the waking state. It does not have to be focused in one main direction only. It is as intense, but it has a wider radius. There is no strain involved.
"This is one of the reasons why health suggestions given immediately before sleep are so effective. Incidentally, they are excellent practice. Expectation can also aid you. In this case suggestions should be given leading to dreams in which a desired situation is accomplished. The dream will then increase and activate your own expectations. And as you know, the expectations themselves have much to do with whether or not any given situation will occur. Further detailed discussions will be held on all of these points, before these matters are covered."
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