From Session 152 in Volume 4 of Seth's Early Sessions:
"Joy and the spontaneous expression of it will always bring increased strength and resiliency to the personality. It also brings deep and abiding satisfaction to the subconscious, which is much more joyful than it is given credit for. The subconscious, for example, the personal subconscious, takes great pleasure in its manipulation of the physical fibres in locomotion. The expression of joy also makes the ego more resilient, less fearful, less resentful of diverse conditions when they occur. The emotion itself is an automatic signal that unites the conscious and conscious in shared experience.
"It is, as a rule, lack of knowledge on the part of the ego as to the nature of reality, and its part in it, and the resulting fear, that often prevents a personality from accepting spontaneous expression of emotions in general. The capacity to feel is important. When one fears to experience seemingly unpleasant emotions, the personality also tends to set up an emotional pattern of rejection that seriously cuts down, also, not only on the expression but the very perception of joy.
"This does not mean that the personality must be completely swept away by an emotion, though this is what such an ego fears. Emotion replenishes even the ego. Emotions demand resiliency, and resiliency is both the result of spontaneity, inner assurance, and discipline. All this is action, for the personality itself is composed of action, and is constantly changing. This is action, therefore, delighting in the expression and form of itself.
... "The desire to set yourself apart from emotion, and coolly appraise it, is merely an indication of the ego's characteristic nature. It tries to separate itself from action, to view it objectively, and to see itself as something apart from action.
"Since it is itself action, such an attempt is basically doomed to failure. Yet the very attempt causes the formation of the ego. Once this apparent separate ego is formed, and once a fair amount of stability is maintained, and a new identity arrived at, the initial desire and energy will maintain the ego in its position during its existence in any field. Since this existence of separate identity is assured, attempts should then be made so that the ego can better participate in its realization of action, and the emotional life is very important in this respect.
"In any fairly normal personality the intellect will indeed stand guard. There is no need to fear identity's complete immersion into emotional sensation. Such emotional experience actually strengthens not only the ego, but it opens communications between the ego and the subconscious, and allows for a much greater flow of energy from the primary source of action.
"This energy, incidentally, can be most effectively used for creative work. I could have given you much of this material earlier, but I wanted you to understand the basic reasoning behind the material, and for this a knowledge of the nature of action was necessary."
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Moment Points
Seth from Volume 4 of the Early Sessions:
Session 150
Moment Point
"A moment point basically consists not of any particular given time division, but is within your system a convenient term that expresses or represents the range of reality that can be conveniently embraced without undue strain.
"Within what you call one moment, many such perceptions flash through to affect any given individual. However there is within your system a lapse before the organism can effectively organize these perceptions. My idea of a moment point is only an approximation of your physical moment. I am trying to make it plain here that the range of action is what is important. A moment point is a range of action."
Session 151
Moment Point (continued)
"There is much to be explained along many lines which we have only begun to touch upon, for all things are correlated; and there is indeed a correlation between our moment points of which we have spoken, the spacious present, and that portion of the whole self which you call the subconscious.
"We are dealing here principally, and in the main, with the essence of action, and essentially all apparent divisions are arbitrary for the sake of explanation. The moment point is in itself arbitrary, an artificial division. As we have said, the moment point for you is actually composed of the amount of action which your are capable of assimilating within your present framework, for the moment point is indeed a portion of the spacious present.
"(For a more graphic interpretation of what a moment point might be, see Jane's description of the concept she received from Seth in the 149th session.)
"The subconscious, and in fact all portions of the self with the exception of the ego, are capable of assimilating a wider area, so to speak, of action. Therefore to these other portions of the self, time has a much different essence than it has for the ego. The ego is indeed many things. It can be defined in relationship to many other aspects of reality. In relationship to action, and moment points, the ego is indeed that portion of the self which stands at the apex of the moment point, and is limited by the moment point. The ego is in this context the portion of the self which is utterly focused upon, and imprisoned by, the moment point.
"The ego is that portion of the self which experiences time as continuity, and to whom experience is a series of stimuli and responses carried on one after another. And yet this is in itself a division, so to speak, or a kind of value fulfillment, for the simultaneous nature of a given action is here experienced in slow motion, as a child must learn to walk before the child can run.
"The subconscious however is not so limited. If you consider the ego at the apex of the moment point, and imprisoned therefore within the realm of its own before-and-after, cause-and-effect experience, then you can imagine the subconscious reaching further outward and seizing upon many other moment points. It should be easy to see then why the focus of the ego is so sharp and brilliant. Within its limited scope there is intensity of stimuli and response. Indeed, the ego is that portion of the personality which is plunged into a specific and intense preoccupation with a given field of action or dimension.
"The subconscious, reaching outward, reaches also inward. For while there is no real past or present or future within the spacious present, there is indeed an infinity of inward and outward; and again, of actions within actions, and there is no end to these actions for they are self-generating. The other portions of the inner self reach then even further in all directions, and they therefore envelop many moment points. To many portions of the inner self then, what you would call a moment would correspond to an almost limitless number of moments, for even physical time has no meaning without experience without action.
"Your whole concept of time is built about your own capacity for perceiving action; as this capacity for perceiving action grows, so indeed do the dimensions of time grow. Conceivably therefore one moment of your time would indeed be experienced by the whole self as centuries.
"This should lead you to understand why physical time is basically meaningless to the subconscious, and why the inner self has at its command a knowledge of past lives and past endeavours; for the inner self, dear friends, these lives are not in the past, nor is the life of the ego necessarily present to the whole self.
"For to the whole self all personalities that compose it exist simultaneously, and personalities that would appear to you as future personalities are experienced by the whole self in the same dimension as it experiences personalities that you would call past personalities. For all your ideas of time are illusion, not merely philosophical illusions, but delusions as far as any basic reality is concerned.
"It is only the ego that steps from moment to moment, as a man who walks from puddle to puddle. It is only the ego who drowns in time. Therefore, since only the ego is momentarily imprisoned within the focus of your plane, it is only the ego who probes so slowly into simultaneous action, perceiving it bit by bit and sip by sip. So now you will see what I meant when I spoke about the limitless self, for the whole self is not so bound. The whole self could and does perceive a limitless number of such moment points simultaneously. And now hear this:
"The whole self not only perceives these limitless moment points, but being a part of action, each whole self projects fragments and personalities from itself to all these points, creating therefore other egos, other intense focus points which are independent, which work out their own destinies and experiences, which in turn perceive any given moment point ins slow motion.
"It must be stressed that there are no sharp boundaries, however, between the various portions of the whole self.
"There are shadings and variations and that is all. The inner ego is that part of the inner self which is closely allied with the outer ego, in that it is to some degree a director of function and activity. But it is not sharply focused. It looks inward. Here we run into some language difficulty.
"The inner ego looks inward, yet in looking inward it looks outward toward those vast portions of the self. Because there is always action within action, and because of the three dilemmas of which we have spoken earlier, the new personalities projected outward into other fields of perception, or other moment points, these other personalities in turn create new ones, and the cycle is again repeated.
"Time, physical matter, these are but portions of action as perceived in one particular fashion. The basic stuff, or the basic action of the universe, is one. It is perceived differently, and therefore reality constantly wears a different face. It is speeded up or slowed down according to the scope of perception.
"(It might be interesting to note here that Seth began talking about action in the 13th session, January 6, 1964: "Love and hate, for example, are action," and "In your plane, action is the main word of importance," etc. See Volume 1, page 71.
"(See the 138th and 141st sessions for material on the three creative dilemmas.)
"It is almost impossible to explain clearly, through the use of words, this massive complexity, for all fields of activity are self-generating. Even the dream field is self-generating. No consciousness can bring itself to destruction. It can only cease experiencing a certain portion of action. This is a rather important point.
"The multiplicity of human experience would be impossible were it not for the inner self, and for the heritage that speaks through the cells of every human being. The perspectives and psychic relationships that make up the human personality simply could not have resulted through action within your field alone. It cannot be stressed too strongly that experience within the self can lead to at least some understanding of the nature of action in its pure form, for within your physical universe action is to some extent frozen, insofar as your perceptions of it are concerned.
"Yet within your own psychological experience you can perceive its fluid nature. The material that I have given you concerning the three dilemmas will be most helpful here.
"There is much that you simply cannot perceive at this point. There is much that mankind as such will never learn, simply because such knowledge is beyond the reach of the ego. But there is much that you do not know that you can learn.
"Now, Each moment point is a field or dimension. You perceive certain very limited aspects of a given number of such moment points. The same moment points may simultaneously be experienced in an entirely different fashion, and to a different set of perceptions. These moment points would appear quite different than they appear to you.
"There is a delicate connection here with the dream universe that is somewhat difficult to explain. The dream universe, however, pervades many other fields. It does not exist outside or apart from your own universe, but simultaneously with it. It appears, and is a reality, to all aspects or portions of the self, and often it is only within the dream universe that the personality can change focus easily or efficiently enough so that he can perceive the variety of roles that he himself has played.
"I mentioned the chemical relationship between your universe and the dream universe. There are like relationships of one kind or another that tie together all fields and systems, from the largest to the most minute. The freedom of the inner self, then, is never determined by time as you know it. It is determined by time as you do not know it.
"There are such manipulations within various systems that change other systems. Your own behaviour and action within the dream universe definitely affects the physical universe. From one field of activity then you have changed another, and without ever knowing, in many cases, that you have done so. In the same manner do the activities of the physical universe alter the dream system. It is virtually impossible for me to explain all these inner workings. We will have to wait until you can experience concepts for much of that.
"These moment points may, for simplicity's sake, also be thought of as reference points from one system to another. Do you see now a connection here with camouflage, as explained in earlier sessions?
"The moment point will be seen as camouflage, which simply means that it will be perceived differently according to the perceptors. Definitions have little meaning unless they are related to other issues. For that reason I will try whenever possible to relate terms with which you are familiar in ways so that their relationships will be clearly seen.
"There will be much more here also concerning moment points and value fulfillment. For this, value fulfillment, is the reason behind the existence of all systems, and of all experience within your field. I mentioned that value fulfillment seems, and is to some small degree, dependent upon time as you know it, but this merely reflects upon the manner in which you perceive time, and in no way alters the simultaneous nature of value fulfillment, which grows in dimension but is not dependent upon time as you know it."
Session 150
Moment Point
"A moment point basically consists not of any particular given time division, but is within your system a convenient term that expresses or represents the range of reality that can be conveniently embraced without undue strain.
"Within what you call one moment, many such perceptions flash through to affect any given individual. However there is within your system a lapse before the organism can effectively organize these perceptions. My idea of a moment point is only an approximation of your physical moment. I am trying to make it plain here that the range of action is what is important. A moment point is a range of action."
Session 151
Moment Point (continued)
"There is much to be explained along many lines which we have only begun to touch upon, for all things are correlated; and there is indeed a correlation between our moment points of which we have spoken, the spacious present, and that portion of the whole self which you call the subconscious.
"We are dealing here principally, and in the main, with the essence of action, and essentially all apparent divisions are arbitrary for the sake of explanation. The moment point is in itself arbitrary, an artificial division. As we have said, the moment point for you is actually composed of the amount of action which your are capable of assimilating within your present framework, for the moment point is indeed a portion of the spacious present.
"(For a more graphic interpretation of what a moment point might be, see Jane's description of the concept she received from Seth in the 149th session.)
"The subconscious, and in fact all portions of the self with the exception of the ego, are capable of assimilating a wider area, so to speak, of action. Therefore to these other portions of the self, time has a much different essence than it has for the ego. The ego is indeed many things. It can be defined in relationship to many other aspects of reality. In relationship to action, and moment points, the ego is indeed that portion of the self which stands at the apex of the moment point, and is limited by the moment point. The ego is in this context the portion of the self which is utterly focused upon, and imprisoned by, the moment point.
"The ego is that portion of the self which experiences time as continuity, and to whom experience is a series of stimuli and responses carried on one after another. And yet this is in itself a division, so to speak, or a kind of value fulfillment, for the simultaneous nature of a given action is here experienced in slow motion, as a child must learn to walk before the child can run.
"The subconscious however is not so limited. If you consider the ego at the apex of the moment point, and imprisoned therefore within the realm of its own before-and-after, cause-and-effect experience, then you can imagine the subconscious reaching further outward and seizing upon many other moment points. It should be easy to see then why the focus of the ego is so sharp and brilliant. Within its limited scope there is intensity of stimuli and response. Indeed, the ego is that portion of the personality which is plunged into a specific and intense preoccupation with a given field of action or dimension.
"The subconscious, reaching outward, reaches also inward. For while there is no real past or present or future within the spacious present, there is indeed an infinity of inward and outward; and again, of actions within actions, and there is no end to these actions for they are self-generating. The other portions of the inner self reach then even further in all directions, and they therefore envelop many moment points. To many portions of the inner self then, what you would call a moment would correspond to an almost limitless number of moments, for even physical time has no meaning without experience without action.
"Your whole concept of time is built about your own capacity for perceiving action; as this capacity for perceiving action grows, so indeed do the dimensions of time grow. Conceivably therefore one moment of your time would indeed be experienced by the whole self as centuries.
"This should lead you to understand why physical time is basically meaningless to the subconscious, and why the inner self has at its command a knowledge of past lives and past endeavours; for the inner self, dear friends, these lives are not in the past, nor is the life of the ego necessarily present to the whole self.
"For to the whole self all personalities that compose it exist simultaneously, and personalities that would appear to you as future personalities are experienced by the whole self in the same dimension as it experiences personalities that you would call past personalities. For all your ideas of time are illusion, not merely philosophical illusions, but delusions as far as any basic reality is concerned.
"It is only the ego that steps from moment to moment, as a man who walks from puddle to puddle. It is only the ego who drowns in time. Therefore, since only the ego is momentarily imprisoned within the focus of your plane, it is only the ego who probes so slowly into simultaneous action, perceiving it bit by bit and sip by sip. So now you will see what I meant when I spoke about the limitless self, for the whole self is not so bound. The whole self could and does perceive a limitless number of such moment points simultaneously. And now hear this:
"The whole self not only perceives these limitless moment points, but being a part of action, each whole self projects fragments and personalities from itself to all these points, creating therefore other egos, other intense focus points which are independent, which work out their own destinies and experiences, which in turn perceive any given moment point ins slow motion.
"It must be stressed that there are no sharp boundaries, however, between the various portions of the whole self.
"There are shadings and variations and that is all. The inner ego is that part of the inner self which is closely allied with the outer ego, in that it is to some degree a director of function and activity. But it is not sharply focused. It looks inward. Here we run into some language difficulty.
"The inner ego looks inward, yet in looking inward it looks outward toward those vast portions of the self. Because there is always action within action, and because of the three dilemmas of which we have spoken earlier, the new personalities projected outward into other fields of perception, or other moment points, these other personalities in turn create new ones, and the cycle is again repeated.
"Time, physical matter, these are but portions of action as perceived in one particular fashion. The basic stuff, or the basic action of the universe, is one. It is perceived differently, and therefore reality constantly wears a different face. It is speeded up or slowed down according to the scope of perception.
"(It might be interesting to note here that Seth began talking about action in the 13th session, January 6, 1964: "Love and hate, for example, are action," and "In your plane, action is the main word of importance," etc. See Volume 1, page 71.
"(See the 138th and 141st sessions for material on the three creative dilemmas.)
"It is almost impossible to explain clearly, through the use of words, this massive complexity, for all fields of activity are self-generating. Even the dream field is self-generating. No consciousness can bring itself to destruction. It can only cease experiencing a certain portion of action. This is a rather important point.
"The multiplicity of human experience would be impossible were it not for the inner self, and for the heritage that speaks through the cells of every human being. The perspectives and psychic relationships that make up the human personality simply could not have resulted through action within your field alone. It cannot be stressed too strongly that experience within the self can lead to at least some understanding of the nature of action in its pure form, for within your physical universe action is to some extent frozen, insofar as your perceptions of it are concerned.
"Yet within your own psychological experience you can perceive its fluid nature. The material that I have given you concerning the three dilemmas will be most helpful here.
"There is much that you simply cannot perceive at this point. There is much that mankind as such will never learn, simply because such knowledge is beyond the reach of the ego. But there is much that you do not know that you can learn.
"Now, Each moment point is a field or dimension. You perceive certain very limited aspects of a given number of such moment points. The same moment points may simultaneously be experienced in an entirely different fashion, and to a different set of perceptions. These moment points would appear quite different than they appear to you.
"There is a delicate connection here with the dream universe that is somewhat difficult to explain. The dream universe, however, pervades many other fields. It does not exist outside or apart from your own universe, but simultaneously with it. It appears, and is a reality, to all aspects or portions of the self, and often it is only within the dream universe that the personality can change focus easily or efficiently enough so that he can perceive the variety of roles that he himself has played.
"I mentioned the chemical relationship between your universe and the dream universe. There are like relationships of one kind or another that tie together all fields and systems, from the largest to the most minute. The freedom of the inner self, then, is never determined by time as you know it. It is determined by time as you do not know it.
"There are such manipulations within various systems that change other systems. Your own behaviour and action within the dream universe definitely affects the physical universe. From one field of activity then you have changed another, and without ever knowing, in many cases, that you have done so. In the same manner do the activities of the physical universe alter the dream system. It is virtually impossible for me to explain all these inner workings. We will have to wait until you can experience concepts for much of that.
"These moment points may, for simplicity's sake, also be thought of as reference points from one system to another. Do you see now a connection here with camouflage, as explained in earlier sessions?
"The moment point will be seen as camouflage, which simply means that it will be perceived differently according to the perceptors. Definitions have little meaning unless they are related to other issues. For that reason I will try whenever possible to relate terms with which you are familiar in ways so that their relationships will be clearly seen.
"There will be much more here also concerning moment points and value fulfillment. For this, value fulfillment, is the reason behind the existence of all systems, and of all experience within your field. I mentioned that value fulfillment seems, and is to some small degree, dependent upon time as you know it, but this merely reflects upon the manner in which you perceive time, and in no way alters the simultaneous nature of value fulfillment, which grows in dimension but is not dependent upon time as you know it."
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Action In Relation To Dream Reality
From Session 149 found in Volume 4 of Seth's Early Sessions:
"Now, regarding again the nature of action, I would like to discuss action in relation to the dream reality, for you are intimately familiar with action in dreams, and your practical experience will enable you to understand the true nature of action more clearly.
"We mentioned that there are always actions within actions, and make it clear that all action does not necessarily involve motion that is apparent as motion to you. Actions may be thresholds or openings for other actions. To one extent or another all actions involve unfoldings. The action of dreaming itself is partially a physical phenomena. There is then, comparatively speaking, the outside action that makes dreaming possible, the action that is dreaming.
"There are then truly endless varieties of actions within the dream, which is itself a continuing act. There is, most simply, within a dream the creation of images. These images then also act. They move, speak, walk, run. There is at times a dream within a dream, where the dreamer dreams that he dreams. Here of course the dimensions are even more diverse.
"Man of these actions performed by dream images are muscular ones, physical manipulations. But many of these actions are also mental manipulations, or aesthetic realizations and even aesthetic performances. These dream images are not one-dimensional, cardboard figures by any means. Their mobility in terms of perspectives and within space is far greater than your own.
"You perceive, however, but a very small portion of these images which you have yourselves created. You simply cannot bring them back into the limited perspectives of your own present field, and are left with but glimpses and flimsy glimmerings of images which are actually as actual, vivid, and more mobile than those in the physical field.
"I have mentioned that what I call the dream universe is indeed composed of molecular structure, and that it is a continuing reality, even though your own awareness of it is most usually limited, for quite necessary reasons, to the hours of your own sleep. There is a give and take here, for if you give the dream universe much of its continuing energy, much of your own energy is derived from it. There is, between the physical field and the dream universe, an interdependence that is not at all unusual, for all fields are indeed dependent one upon the other.
"(Seth began talking about dreams as far back as the 15th session, about dream locations in the 44th session, about the subconscious and dreams in the 92nd and 93rd sessions, etc., among others.)
"Nor is the dream universe a shadow image of your own. It carries on according to the possibilities inherent within it, as you carry on according to the possibilities that exist within the physical field. The possibilities for action vary, however, within these two fields as they vary within all other fields. You may say that in sleeping you focus your energies to form a different reality than the reality of waking physical matter.
"You focus your awareness in altered form into another universe, that is in every way as valid and permanent as your own. It is also as changing as the physical universe. A small amount of energy only is focused upon the physical field during sleep, enough simply to maintain the physical body within its physical environment.
"The dream universe and the events within it are, therefore, as meaningful as those events that occur within the physical universe.
"In many respects actions within the dream universe are indeed more direct than in your own. It is because you remember but vague glimmerings and disconnected episodes that dreams appear, sometimes, chaotic or meaningless, particularly to the ego, which censors rigidly much of the information that the subconscious does retain.
"For most people this censoring process is valuable, since it prevents the personality from being snowed under by data it is not equipped to handle. The ability to retain experience gained within other fields is the trend of further development. You are at least however to some extent familiar with this field of dream action, and every man intuitively knows his involvement here.
"The feeling of unreality is not felt when the dream experience is being participated in by the dreamer. At that time the experience is felt to be real, and some dreams indeed are more vivid than waking experience. It is only when the personality passes out of the dream experience, or the dream universe, that the dream experience in retrospect may appear unreal. For now, again, the focus of attention and energy is in the physical universe. Reality then is a result of the focus of energy and attention.
"I used the term "pass out of" the dream universe purposely, for here we see a mobility of action easily and often accomplished, a passing in and out that involves an action easily and often accomplished, a passing in and out that involves an action without movement in space. The dreamer is acquainted intimately, and has at his fingertips so to speak, a memory of his previous dream experiences, and carries within him the inner individualistic purposes which are behind his dream actions.
"On leaving the dream state, he becomes more and more aware of the ego, and creates then activities which have meaning to it. In the deep dream state the inner purposes are more involved. As I have mentioned however, all dream symbols have meanings to all portions of the personality.
"(See the 92nd session in particular, in Volume 3.)
"The dream universe has molecular construction, but this molecular construction takes up no space as you know it. The dream universe, while composed of molecules, is not composed of matter as you know it. The dream universe consists of depths and dimensions, expansions and contractions, that are more clearly allied, perhaps, to ideals that have no need for the particular kind of structure with which you are familiar.
"Obviously, time in terms of continuity, is not an element of importance in the dream universe, and this is one of the reasons for the lack of physical structure. The intuitions and certain inner abilities here have so much more freedom that it is unnecessary for molecules to be used in any imprisoning form or structure. Action is more spontaneous within the dream universe, more fluid. The images appear and disappear much more quickly because value fulfillment is allowed greater reign.
"The slower physical manifestation of growth that occurs within the physical field involves long-term patterns filled by atoms and molecules which are, to some extent, then imprisoned within structure.
"(See the 71st session [in Volume 2] among others.)
"In the dream universe however the slower physical growth process is replaced by psychic and mental value fulfillment, which does not necessitate any long-range imprisonment of molecules within a pattern.
"This involves, simply, a quickening of experience and action relatively unhampered by the sort of time necessities inherent within the physical universe. Action itself therefore is allowed greater freedom. This is not to say that structure does not exist within the dream universe, for structures of mental or psychic nature do exist. But structure is not dependent upon matter as in the physical universe, and the motion of molecules is more spontaneous, and an almost unbelievable depth of experience is possible within what would seem to you a fraction of a moment.
"I will have more to say concerning the connection between the two fields and their manifestation in action, for one of the closest glimpses you can get of pure action is action as it is involved within the dream universe, and in this mobility as the personality passes into and out of the dream field. within your own universe you deal with the transformation of action into physical manipulations, but this involves but a small portion of the nature of action, and it is my purpose to familiarize you with action as it exists more or less in its pure form.
"In this way you may be able to perceive the manners in which it is transformed into other fields that do not involve matter as you know it.
"Your own universe expands as an idea expands, in ways that have nothing to do with space.
"The whole reality of the dream world, or of the dream universe, lies along these lines. Within it fulfillment and development are not dependent upon permanence of physical matter, however, and are not at all dependent upon any concept like that of your physical time. There [are] therefore possible bursts of developments, that have matured within perspectives that are not bound up in time, and that would appear spontaneous to the waking self.
"But these developments, nevertheless, are the results of actions that occur in many perspectives at once, and not developments that occur as within the physical system, through actions that happen in a series seemingly strung out moment after moment.
"Now basically even the physical universe itself is so constructed, but for all practical purposes, as far as general perception and experience is concerned, time and the physical growth development apply, so that we find the ego portion, particularly of the human personality, is to a large extent dependent for its maturity and development upon the amount of time that the physical image has spent within the system.
"A certain portion of physical growth, in terms of a series of physical moments, is therefore necessary for value fulfillment to show itself within a physical organism. Within the dream field and within many other systems, this series of moments is unknown. Development comes not from a series of actions strung out along a single line, one before the other in lengthwise fashion. Instead development is largely a matter of value fulfillment, which is achieved through the perspectives of action, through traveling within any given action, and following it and changing with it. To make this clearer, I have said that action exists within limitless perspectives, and that you are mainly familiar with it as it is materialized along a single line of continuity within the physical system. You experience action then as if you were moving along a single line, each dot on the line representing a moment of your time. But at the imaginary point on your line that represents any given moment, action moves out in all directions. From the standpoint of that moment point, you could imagine action forming an imaginary circle with that point as an apex. But this happens at the point every moment.
"There is no particular boundary to the circle. It widens outward indefinitely. Now, in the dream universe, in all systems of such nature, development is achieved not by traveling your single line, but by delving into that point that you call a moment. The physical laws simply do not apply here, within such a value fulfillment system. Basically your own physical universe is at the apex of such a system itself, and it is only because of the purpose and nature of the particular apex that experience appears, from my viewpoint, to be so slowed down. The particular point, in one manner, is being pursued by you in such slow fashion that it appears to be a series of happenings strung out in a thread of continuity. You experience action as one happening after another, not because of the nature of action itself but because of the nature of your own structure and perception.
"This is in itself, you see, a form of value fulfillment, since you are perceiving one simultaneous action as if it were a series of separate actions You are delving into one action, and within it continually creating action within action. This is however or this can be, while fulfilling, also limiting."
"Now, regarding again the nature of action, I would like to discuss action in relation to the dream reality, for you are intimately familiar with action in dreams, and your practical experience will enable you to understand the true nature of action more clearly.
"We mentioned that there are always actions within actions, and make it clear that all action does not necessarily involve motion that is apparent as motion to you. Actions may be thresholds or openings for other actions. To one extent or another all actions involve unfoldings. The action of dreaming itself is partially a physical phenomena. There is then, comparatively speaking, the outside action that makes dreaming possible, the action that is dreaming.
"There are then truly endless varieties of actions within the dream, which is itself a continuing act. There is, most simply, within a dream the creation of images. These images then also act. They move, speak, walk, run. There is at times a dream within a dream, where the dreamer dreams that he dreams. Here of course the dimensions are even more diverse.
"Man of these actions performed by dream images are muscular ones, physical manipulations. But many of these actions are also mental manipulations, or aesthetic realizations and even aesthetic performances. These dream images are not one-dimensional, cardboard figures by any means. Their mobility in terms of perspectives and within space is far greater than your own.
"You perceive, however, but a very small portion of these images which you have yourselves created. You simply cannot bring them back into the limited perspectives of your own present field, and are left with but glimpses and flimsy glimmerings of images which are actually as actual, vivid, and more mobile than those in the physical field.
"I have mentioned that what I call the dream universe is indeed composed of molecular structure, and that it is a continuing reality, even though your own awareness of it is most usually limited, for quite necessary reasons, to the hours of your own sleep. There is a give and take here, for if you give the dream universe much of its continuing energy, much of your own energy is derived from it. There is, between the physical field and the dream universe, an interdependence that is not at all unusual, for all fields are indeed dependent one upon the other.
"(Seth began talking about dreams as far back as the 15th session, about dream locations in the 44th session, about the subconscious and dreams in the 92nd and 93rd sessions, etc., among others.)
"Nor is the dream universe a shadow image of your own. It carries on according to the possibilities inherent within it, as you carry on according to the possibilities that exist within the physical field. The possibilities for action vary, however, within these two fields as they vary within all other fields. You may say that in sleeping you focus your energies to form a different reality than the reality of waking physical matter.
"You focus your awareness in altered form into another universe, that is in every way as valid and permanent as your own. It is also as changing as the physical universe. A small amount of energy only is focused upon the physical field during sleep, enough simply to maintain the physical body within its physical environment.
"The dream universe and the events within it are, therefore, as meaningful as those events that occur within the physical universe.
"In many respects actions within the dream universe are indeed more direct than in your own. It is because you remember but vague glimmerings and disconnected episodes that dreams appear, sometimes, chaotic or meaningless, particularly to the ego, which censors rigidly much of the information that the subconscious does retain.
"For most people this censoring process is valuable, since it prevents the personality from being snowed under by data it is not equipped to handle. The ability to retain experience gained within other fields is the trend of further development. You are at least however to some extent familiar with this field of dream action, and every man intuitively knows his involvement here.
"The feeling of unreality is not felt when the dream experience is being participated in by the dreamer. At that time the experience is felt to be real, and some dreams indeed are more vivid than waking experience. It is only when the personality passes out of the dream experience, or the dream universe, that the dream experience in retrospect may appear unreal. For now, again, the focus of attention and energy is in the physical universe. Reality then is a result of the focus of energy and attention.
"I used the term "pass out of" the dream universe purposely, for here we see a mobility of action easily and often accomplished, a passing in and out that involves an action easily and often accomplished, a passing in and out that involves an action without movement in space. The dreamer is acquainted intimately, and has at his fingertips so to speak, a memory of his previous dream experiences, and carries within him the inner individualistic purposes which are behind his dream actions.
"On leaving the dream state, he becomes more and more aware of the ego, and creates then activities which have meaning to it. In the deep dream state the inner purposes are more involved. As I have mentioned however, all dream symbols have meanings to all portions of the personality.
"(See the 92nd session in particular, in Volume 3.)
"The dream universe has molecular construction, but this molecular construction takes up no space as you know it. The dream universe, while composed of molecules, is not composed of matter as you know it. The dream universe consists of depths and dimensions, expansions and contractions, that are more clearly allied, perhaps, to ideals that have no need for the particular kind of structure with which you are familiar.
"Obviously, time in terms of continuity, is not an element of importance in the dream universe, and this is one of the reasons for the lack of physical structure. The intuitions and certain inner abilities here have so much more freedom that it is unnecessary for molecules to be used in any imprisoning form or structure. Action is more spontaneous within the dream universe, more fluid. The images appear and disappear much more quickly because value fulfillment is allowed greater reign.
"The slower physical manifestation of growth that occurs within the physical field involves long-term patterns filled by atoms and molecules which are, to some extent, then imprisoned within structure.
"(See the 71st session [in Volume 2] among others.)
"In the dream universe however the slower physical growth process is replaced by psychic and mental value fulfillment, which does not necessitate any long-range imprisonment of molecules within a pattern.
"This involves, simply, a quickening of experience and action relatively unhampered by the sort of time necessities inherent within the physical universe. Action itself therefore is allowed greater freedom. This is not to say that structure does not exist within the dream universe, for structures of mental or psychic nature do exist. But structure is not dependent upon matter as in the physical universe, and the motion of molecules is more spontaneous, and an almost unbelievable depth of experience is possible within what would seem to you a fraction of a moment.
"I will have more to say concerning the connection between the two fields and their manifestation in action, for one of the closest glimpses you can get of pure action is action as it is involved within the dream universe, and in this mobility as the personality passes into and out of the dream field. within your own universe you deal with the transformation of action into physical manipulations, but this involves but a small portion of the nature of action, and it is my purpose to familiarize you with action as it exists more or less in its pure form.
"In this way you may be able to perceive the manners in which it is transformed into other fields that do not involve matter as you know it.
"Your own universe expands as an idea expands, in ways that have nothing to do with space.
"The whole reality of the dream world, or of the dream universe, lies along these lines. Within it fulfillment and development are not dependent upon permanence of physical matter, however, and are not at all dependent upon any concept like that of your physical time. There [are] therefore possible bursts of developments, that have matured within perspectives that are not bound up in time, and that would appear spontaneous to the waking self.
"But these developments, nevertheless, are the results of actions that occur in many perspectives at once, and not developments that occur as within the physical system, through actions that happen in a series seemingly strung out moment after moment.
"Now basically even the physical universe itself is so constructed, but for all practical purposes, as far as general perception and experience is concerned, time and the physical growth development apply, so that we find the ego portion, particularly of the human personality, is to a large extent dependent for its maturity and development upon the amount of time that the physical image has spent within the system.
"A certain portion of physical growth, in terms of a series of physical moments, is therefore necessary for value fulfillment to show itself within a physical organism. Within the dream field and within many other systems, this series of moments is unknown. Development comes not from a series of actions strung out along a single line, one before the other in lengthwise fashion. Instead development is largely a matter of value fulfillment, which is achieved through the perspectives of action, through traveling within any given action, and following it and changing with it. To make this clearer, I have said that action exists within limitless perspectives, and that you are mainly familiar with it as it is materialized along a single line of continuity within the physical system. You experience action then as if you were moving along a single line, each dot on the line representing a moment of your time. But at the imaginary point on your line that represents any given moment, action moves out in all directions. From the standpoint of that moment point, you could imagine action forming an imaginary circle with that point as an apex. But this happens at the point every moment.
"There is no particular boundary to the circle. It widens outward indefinitely. Now, in the dream universe, in all systems of such nature, development is achieved not by traveling your single line, but by delving into that point that you call a moment. The physical laws simply do not apply here, within such a value fulfillment system. Basically your own physical universe is at the apex of such a system itself, and it is only because of the purpose and nature of the particular apex that experience appears, from my viewpoint, to be so slowed down. The particular point, in one manner, is being pursued by you in such slow fashion that it appears to be a series of happenings strung out in a thread of continuity. You experience action as one happening after another, not because of the nature of action itself but because of the nature of your own structure and perception.
"This is in itself, you see, a form of value fulfillment, since you are perceiving one simultaneous action as if it were a series of separate actions You are delving into one action, and within it continually creating action within action. This is however or this can be, while fulfilling, also limiting."
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Action Within The Spacious Present
From Session 147 of Seth's Early Sessions (Volume 3):
"Action does not always move in what you would consider a straight line. Because you view action in narrow terms, usually seeing it in physical terms only, you are inclined to think of it, or any effort, as a straight line from one point to another. This is hardly the case.
"Any action that affects the physical individual also has its reality within many other fields, and its effects and its nature are felt within them. A manuscript, or indeed any art form, contains action and sets up its own climate, either of psychological acceptance or rejection. This climate is more than the result of the materials or subject matter or nature of which the work is composed. It goes without saying that such a work actually contains a portion of focused psychic energy, which is action, and which has its effects."
... "It is most important, again, to realize that action does not move in a straight line. Action may have mass. It may not have mass in other instances. Action will never have one effect only. This is a rather important point. Whenever an action seems to have but one effect, then there is a lack in perceptive abilities.
"Action within your field may appear to be affected by your time, but only that part of action which is physically materialized will be so affected. Action may appear to be at rest, but is never at rest, or stationary, or permanent. Action may appear to have a beginning and an ending but this is, again, an error of perception.
"(Seth had quite a bit to say about the "source of the source" in the 95th session.)
"Action which is materialized within your plane appears within your field, and disappears from your field. This in no way affects the basic nature of action itself. That is, it does not change the basic laws of action. Action will change both within your physical field and outside your physical field. you are only aware of a small part of action, that portion which is materialized within your system.
"You say that an action has begun when it enters your system. You say that an action is completed when it passes beyond your system. But the action, in those terms, began long before; and the action, in those terms, is never completed. Yet even the action as it occurs within your system is constantly changing in the ways which we have described, and this changing in itself implies infinities of beginnings and endings within action itself, with no ending, a real or permanent ending, and no beginning, a real beginning out of nothing. For each beginning carries within it action which has come before.
"Again here, when I speak in terms of before and after, I speak only for your convenience, for there is no before or after, only all action within the spacious present, occurring out of itself, spontaneously, into all directions, and forming of itself all the infinite fields and systems of actuality."
"Action does not always move in what you would consider a straight line. Because you view action in narrow terms, usually seeing it in physical terms only, you are inclined to think of it, or any effort, as a straight line from one point to another. This is hardly the case.
"Any action that affects the physical individual also has its reality within many other fields, and its effects and its nature are felt within them. A manuscript, or indeed any art form, contains action and sets up its own climate, either of psychological acceptance or rejection. This climate is more than the result of the materials or subject matter or nature of which the work is composed. It goes without saying that such a work actually contains a portion of focused psychic energy, which is action, and which has its effects."
... "It is most important, again, to realize that action does not move in a straight line. Action may have mass. It may not have mass in other instances. Action will never have one effect only. This is a rather important point. Whenever an action seems to have but one effect, then there is a lack in perceptive abilities.
"Action within your field may appear to be affected by your time, but only that part of action which is physically materialized will be so affected. Action may appear to be at rest, but is never at rest, or stationary, or permanent. Action may appear to have a beginning and an ending but this is, again, an error of perception.
"(Seth had quite a bit to say about the "source of the source" in the 95th session.)
"Action which is materialized within your plane appears within your field, and disappears from your field. This in no way affects the basic nature of action itself. That is, it does not change the basic laws of action. Action will change both within your physical field and outside your physical field. you are only aware of a small part of action, that portion which is materialized within your system.
"You say that an action has begun when it enters your system. You say that an action is completed when it passes beyond your system. But the action, in those terms, began long before; and the action, in those terms, is never completed. Yet even the action as it occurs within your system is constantly changing in the ways which we have described, and this changing in itself implies infinities of beginnings and endings within action itself, with no ending, a real or permanent ending, and no beginning, a real beginning out of nothing. For each beginning carries within it action which has come before.
"Again here, when I speak in terms of before and after, I speak only for your convenience, for there is no before or after, only all action within the spacious present, occurring out of itself, spontaneously, into all directions, and forming of itself all the infinite fields and systems of actuality."
Action and the Personality
From Session 146 of Seth's Early Sessions (in Volume 3):
"You realize that in order to speak of action it is necessary that it be discussed as though some aspects were isolated from others. But this is not the case.
"In order that you understand it is necessary, as I have told you, for me to break down concepts. In this way much of the unity of certain phenomena may escape you. We have spoken at various times about specific portions of action's manifestations. We have discussed to some degree, for example, the nature of matter, the electrical universe, the dream universe, and such other topics as the layers of the subconscious and the nature of the whole self.
"There is always the danger in such discussions that effects which are studied separately will appear to be separate in essence. But what we have been discussing in all these topics is, indeed, the nature of action. The personality as you know it is action. As such the personality however is not physically materialized. You cannot hold it in your hand. You can only observe it in motion, for it is never still, and to probe into it yourself is to change it.
"In very important aspects it always escapes you, though you are partially what it is. Men speak of having their own personalities, as if the personality were a thing that they had in their possession, a thing fairly permanent, a concrete, always-to-be-counted-on possession.
"But the personality is always in a state of becoming, and forever changes. The personality is an excellent example of action in one aspect. It is important here also to realize that while the personality is always in motion, the motion involved here is not one of mobility in space as you know it. It is most definitely motion in terms of value fulfillment.
"There are here also thrusts in all directions, with certain identifying pulsations that underlie all, and that have their origins within the inner self. As the vitality of the universe forms, of itself, the boundaries of the various fields of activity, and as vitality itself takes on the coloration of the various fields and forms the camouflage patterns within them, so also vitality, in the form of emotions that the camouflage patterns of the personality, even while this vitality forms both emotions and personality for every individual, every consciousness, may be thought of as a separate field of activity; and all the data relating to fields of activity may be seen to apply to any consciousness as well.
"We find once again a basic reality, that of the personality, which is accepted and recognized within the physical field, even while it does not appear there as a definite physical unit. It can indeed be examined but the examination itself, being action, changes it. For the personality, true to the roles of action, will seize upon the new action and form of it new realities and unities with itself.
"The personality and the ego are not the same.
"The personality has strong connections with the inner self.
"The personality is that consciousness of self of which I have spoken, which is aware of itself within, and a part of, action. The ego attempts to stand apart from action, and to stand apart from the personality, and to mould the personality into a more or less permanent and stable, dependent portion of the ego itself.
"(Again, see the following sessions among others: 139, 141, 142.)
"The ego would if it could, stop personality's motion and development for the security of stability. The ego would drive the personality into preconceived channels. This consciousness-of-self is seen in man as personality, as the human personality. It appears, however, in all types of consciousness to one degree or another.
"Therefore, consciousness-of-self can appear with or without the existence of an ego. Consciousness-of-self is an attribute then of all physical species, regardless of their classification. Personality, human personality, is simply the name given to this class of self, as applied and seen within human beings. Personality changes and acts upon all other action. Personality, then, can be seen to operate as a field of action in identity; but identity that is conscious of its relation to action as a whole.
"The peculiar and individualistic aspects of personality are the result of those camouflaging abilities of which we have spoken earlier. Those portions of the personality which escape ego's attempts to dominate are held suspect in ego's eyes. Ego considers them as invalid and dangerous to its own supremacy. When ego is forced to admit that personality changes, it will do its best to avoid this knowledge. The more rigid an ego is, the more danger there is that the individual will have difficulties in all kinds of adjustments.
"Because of its nature ego does not want to adjust. It wants adjustments to be made to it. Because ego is another manifestation of action, it is of course impossible for its aims to be realized. For all its attempts at stability and control, ego itself constantly changes. Ego most of all resents and fights against time as you know it, ego fears both the past and the future. It fears the past because it has already lost control of the past. It fears the future because it is not yet in control of it. It seeks continuity of identity, yet it is forced to realize that the "I" of today is hardly the "I" of thirty years ago.
"It is the ego which fears death so strongly. And yet the stability which ego so urgently seeks would, indeed, result in death, since no further action would be allowed.
"Ego also fears spontaneity, for it cannot control action; being a part of action, most of its efforts of necessity are thwarted. Yet it is precisely this struggle between ego's struggles for stability, and the personality's attempt to expand spontaneously, that is at the basis of much of mankind's achievements, and that is certainly the basis for much of his art.
"In his art we have the nostalgia of the ego for past time, and for lost control of a self that has already vanished, and changed into something new. It is ego who plans for the future, trying to anticipate the environment in which it must operate. Its anticipations, of course then form that environment.
"The ego therefore is a very necessary force within your field. It is also, regardless of current psychological beliefs, the basis for aggression, in general. All aggression is not detrimental, for example.
"Because the personality is that part of the individual which is conscious of itself as a part of action, and therefore aware of its relation with action, the personality is that part of the individual which survives physical death.
"The personality is not the whole self. It is a portion of the whole self, which is activated during a particular existence. The ego, as I have explained, does not vanish. However, it must always be remembered here that the ego is not the self-conscious self in its entirety by any means. It is simply a portion, a field of focus whereby the self attempts to objectify itself within the world of matter.
"It simply ceases to so objectify itself, but it retains, or the self retains, memory of that objectification.
"The personality necessarily continues to change after physical death. After physical death the personality simply ceases to project itself, as a rule, within the physical field, and no longer focuses within it.
"The personality is much more extensive and expansive than you realize. Remember here our discussions upon the subject of the limitations of the self.
"Theoretically, the self is unlimited, if you will recall. The ego within your field is limited because of the nature of its rigidity. The ego operates as a partitioning agent. It directs and uses the abilities of the personality for manipulation in the physical universe. It can mobilize a smaller or larger amount of these energies according to its own strength. It has a small focus but a powerful one.
"I mentioned earlier that the personality is an excellent example of action as it is sometimes projected into the physical field, while not appearing within it in tangible form. For here we see many of action's characteristics: the mobility that does not necessarily involve space, the thrusts outward, and the corresponding thrusts inward. We see action acting upon itself and constant change.
"A thorough study of the personality will be an excellent exercise, and will lead you close to the nature of action itself. The experiences about which you asked, for example, involved actions of the personality and not, of course, of the ego. Expansion and contraction occur constantly as characteristics of action, as I have explained.
"The ego is scarcely conscious of these. Your experiences occurred when the ego, because of your illness, was momentarily exhausted, its control lessened. The personality was then momentarily aware of realities that the ego would ordinarily attempt to block. These were pulsations, in actuality of corresponding strength, but interpreted differently by you.
"(See page 323, of the 145th session, for a description of my experiences. Also see the 86th session.)
"I will have more to say concerning this after I have developed certain subject matter that is important. If I did not make it clear, let me repeat that the personality is a portion of the inner self. There are interchanges here, so that certain parts of the personality will seem to vanish. In such cases, for various reasons, the inner self simply sees no reason for their continued focus in the physical field.
"There is a very delicate balance always maintained, and later on we will have a whole section of our material that will deal with the personality in relation to other phenomena. We are speaking of it this evening mainly in terms of its reality as a part of action. As we speak of such subjects in their relation to various phenomena, again it must be kept in mind that such realities are being considered often from one aspect only, but that their reality extends into many other dimensions.
"Many of these dimensions cannot be discussed at this time. But you will see, indeed, that the nature of action, or the nature of any reality, is greatly coloured by the viewpoint or dimension from which it is examined. It is my purpose here to examine for you reality from as many different aspects as possible, lifting you from the limitations of your own dimensions, and allowing you the advantage of others.
"It must, once again, be realized that there is no particular point where ego begins or ends.
"There is no particular and definite line between the ego and the personality and the inner self. They must merely be discussed in such terms. There is, believe it or not, no particular and specific definite boundary between what is self and not self. If we isolate such portions of reality for the sake of discussion, such isolation is artificial, and in no way affects the nature of reality itself.
"Such a remark may appear so simple that it is not worth saying, but it is extremely important that it be understood. In like manner, there is indeed no particular boundary or line of demarcation between the dream universe and the physical universe. Any seeming barrier is artificial, for all these realities merge one into the other, and an action in one affects the other.
"The self is extended, so to speak, existing within many dimensions. It extends as vitally and actually in the dream universe as it does in your own physical universe. It is as much a part of the electrical universe as it is a part of the world of psychological motivation. The intertwinings are infinite in all directions.
"The ego fears death, yet in the space of your own physical lifetime portions of the self have undergone like transformations endless times, of which the ego is unaware."
"You realize that in order to speak of action it is necessary that it be discussed as though some aspects were isolated from others. But this is not the case.
"In order that you understand it is necessary, as I have told you, for me to break down concepts. In this way much of the unity of certain phenomena may escape you. We have spoken at various times about specific portions of action's manifestations. We have discussed to some degree, for example, the nature of matter, the electrical universe, the dream universe, and such other topics as the layers of the subconscious and the nature of the whole self.
"There is always the danger in such discussions that effects which are studied separately will appear to be separate in essence. But what we have been discussing in all these topics is, indeed, the nature of action. The personality as you know it is action. As such the personality however is not physically materialized. You cannot hold it in your hand. You can only observe it in motion, for it is never still, and to probe into it yourself is to change it.
"In very important aspects it always escapes you, though you are partially what it is. Men speak of having their own personalities, as if the personality were a thing that they had in their possession, a thing fairly permanent, a concrete, always-to-be-counted-on possession.
"But the personality is always in a state of becoming, and forever changes. The personality is an excellent example of action in one aspect. It is important here also to realize that while the personality is always in motion, the motion involved here is not one of mobility in space as you know it. It is most definitely motion in terms of value fulfillment.
"There are here also thrusts in all directions, with certain identifying pulsations that underlie all, and that have their origins within the inner self. As the vitality of the universe forms, of itself, the boundaries of the various fields of activity, and as vitality itself takes on the coloration of the various fields and forms the camouflage patterns within them, so also vitality, in the form of emotions that the camouflage patterns of the personality, even while this vitality forms both emotions and personality for every individual, every consciousness, may be thought of as a separate field of activity; and all the data relating to fields of activity may be seen to apply to any consciousness as well.
"We find once again a basic reality, that of the personality, which is accepted and recognized within the physical field, even while it does not appear there as a definite physical unit. It can indeed be examined but the examination itself, being action, changes it. For the personality, true to the roles of action, will seize upon the new action and form of it new realities and unities with itself.
"The personality and the ego are not the same.
"The personality has strong connections with the inner self.
"The personality is that consciousness of self of which I have spoken, which is aware of itself within, and a part of, action. The ego attempts to stand apart from action, and to stand apart from the personality, and to mould the personality into a more or less permanent and stable, dependent portion of the ego itself.
"(Again, see the following sessions among others: 139, 141, 142.)
"The ego would if it could, stop personality's motion and development for the security of stability. The ego would drive the personality into preconceived channels. This consciousness-of-self is seen in man as personality, as the human personality. It appears, however, in all types of consciousness to one degree or another.
"Therefore, consciousness-of-self can appear with or without the existence of an ego. Consciousness-of-self is an attribute then of all physical species, regardless of their classification. Personality, human personality, is simply the name given to this class of self, as applied and seen within human beings. Personality changes and acts upon all other action. Personality, then, can be seen to operate as a field of action in identity; but identity that is conscious of its relation to action as a whole.
"The peculiar and individualistic aspects of personality are the result of those camouflaging abilities of which we have spoken earlier. Those portions of the personality which escape ego's attempts to dominate are held suspect in ego's eyes. Ego considers them as invalid and dangerous to its own supremacy. When ego is forced to admit that personality changes, it will do its best to avoid this knowledge. The more rigid an ego is, the more danger there is that the individual will have difficulties in all kinds of adjustments.
"Because of its nature ego does not want to adjust. It wants adjustments to be made to it. Because ego is another manifestation of action, it is of course impossible for its aims to be realized. For all its attempts at stability and control, ego itself constantly changes. Ego most of all resents and fights against time as you know it, ego fears both the past and the future. It fears the past because it has already lost control of the past. It fears the future because it is not yet in control of it. It seeks continuity of identity, yet it is forced to realize that the "I" of today is hardly the "I" of thirty years ago.
"It is the ego which fears death so strongly. And yet the stability which ego so urgently seeks would, indeed, result in death, since no further action would be allowed.
"Ego also fears spontaneity, for it cannot control action; being a part of action, most of its efforts of necessity are thwarted. Yet it is precisely this struggle between ego's struggles for stability, and the personality's attempt to expand spontaneously, that is at the basis of much of mankind's achievements, and that is certainly the basis for much of his art.
"In his art we have the nostalgia of the ego for past time, and for lost control of a self that has already vanished, and changed into something new. It is ego who plans for the future, trying to anticipate the environment in which it must operate. Its anticipations, of course then form that environment.
"The ego therefore is a very necessary force within your field. It is also, regardless of current psychological beliefs, the basis for aggression, in general. All aggression is not detrimental, for example.
"Because the personality is that part of the individual which is conscious of itself as a part of action, and therefore aware of its relation with action, the personality is that part of the individual which survives physical death.
"The personality is not the whole self. It is a portion of the whole self, which is activated during a particular existence. The ego, as I have explained, does not vanish. However, it must always be remembered here that the ego is not the self-conscious self in its entirety by any means. It is simply a portion, a field of focus whereby the self attempts to objectify itself within the world of matter.
"It simply ceases to so objectify itself, but it retains, or the self retains, memory of that objectification.
"The personality necessarily continues to change after physical death. After physical death the personality simply ceases to project itself, as a rule, within the physical field, and no longer focuses within it.
"The personality is much more extensive and expansive than you realize. Remember here our discussions upon the subject of the limitations of the self.
"Theoretically, the self is unlimited, if you will recall. The ego within your field is limited because of the nature of its rigidity. The ego operates as a partitioning agent. It directs and uses the abilities of the personality for manipulation in the physical universe. It can mobilize a smaller or larger amount of these energies according to its own strength. It has a small focus but a powerful one.
"I mentioned earlier that the personality is an excellent example of action as it is sometimes projected into the physical field, while not appearing within it in tangible form. For here we see many of action's characteristics: the mobility that does not necessarily involve space, the thrusts outward, and the corresponding thrusts inward. We see action acting upon itself and constant change.
"A thorough study of the personality will be an excellent exercise, and will lead you close to the nature of action itself. The experiences about which you asked, for example, involved actions of the personality and not, of course, of the ego. Expansion and contraction occur constantly as characteristics of action, as I have explained.
"The ego is scarcely conscious of these. Your experiences occurred when the ego, because of your illness, was momentarily exhausted, its control lessened. The personality was then momentarily aware of realities that the ego would ordinarily attempt to block. These were pulsations, in actuality of corresponding strength, but interpreted differently by you.
"(See page 323, of the 145th session, for a description of my experiences. Also see the 86th session.)
"I will have more to say concerning this after I have developed certain subject matter that is important. If I did not make it clear, let me repeat that the personality is a portion of the inner self. There are interchanges here, so that certain parts of the personality will seem to vanish. In such cases, for various reasons, the inner self simply sees no reason for their continued focus in the physical field.
"There is a very delicate balance always maintained, and later on we will have a whole section of our material that will deal with the personality in relation to other phenomena. We are speaking of it this evening mainly in terms of its reality as a part of action. As we speak of such subjects in their relation to various phenomena, again it must be kept in mind that such realities are being considered often from one aspect only, but that their reality extends into many other dimensions.
"Many of these dimensions cannot be discussed at this time. But you will see, indeed, that the nature of action, or the nature of any reality, is greatly coloured by the viewpoint or dimension from which it is examined. It is my purpose here to examine for you reality from as many different aspects as possible, lifting you from the limitations of your own dimensions, and allowing you the advantage of others.
"It must, once again, be realized that there is no particular point where ego begins or ends.
"There is no particular and definite line between the ego and the personality and the inner self. They must merely be discussed in such terms. There is, believe it or not, no particular and specific definite boundary between what is self and not self. If we isolate such portions of reality for the sake of discussion, such isolation is artificial, and in no way affects the nature of reality itself.
"Such a remark may appear so simple that it is not worth saying, but it is extremely important that it be understood. In like manner, there is indeed no particular boundary or line of demarcation between the dream universe and the physical universe. Any seeming barrier is artificial, for all these realities merge one into the other, and an action in one affects the other.
"The self is extended, so to speak, existing within many dimensions. It extends as vitally and actually in the dream universe as it does in your own physical universe. It is as much a part of the electrical universe as it is a part of the world of psychological motivation. The intertwinings are infinite in all directions.
"The ego fears death, yet in the space of your own physical lifetime portions of the self have undergone like transformations endless times, of which the ego is unaware."
Saturday, August 13, 2011
The Nature of Action and Apparent Evil
From Session 145 in Volume 3 of Seth's Early Sessions:
"Part of what I am about to say may sound callous, but you should see that such is not the case. From the viewpoint of the concerned and conscientious ego-self, truly there appears to be great and disastrous evils that overflow like poison the cup of human existence.
"When he sips of it, as you sipped of it, and as all conscientious human beings sip of it, then indeed the taste is bitter. It is not too farfetched however to add that all, or many, medicines have unfortunately a foul taste, and that the child who sips such a medicine finds it difficult to believe that such a distasteful brew can do him good.
"Basically, all action is. Basically there is no evil action. All is unfolding. With the limited perceptions that the ego has itself adopted, the whole is not visible, and it sees what it will see. Within your field, within your moral field, you must indeed strike out against that which appears evil to you.
"This is a responsibility laid upon you by the code of limitations which the ego itself has adopted as part of its own nature. You may find it most difficult to follow me here without any strong affirmation. However, as you do not blame, as you do not morally blame the wind for the tumultuous hurricane, and as you do not punish the wind, so you must somehow manage to understand that a wrongdoer, in your eyes, is no more or less to blame than this. It would be foolhardy to ignore the results of such activity. Nevertheless, I tell you now that there is much you do not see or know.
"You see perhaps havoc within the physical field, and this is indeed to be faced and dealt with, and set straight, as aid is given to the victims of a hurricane. But you are familiar only with the results of action as they appear within the physical field, as long as you insist upon viewing your physical universe with the eyes of the ego-self; for the ego-self attempts to cut itself off from that action of which it is a part, and in so attempting it loses contact with this larger reality.
"This loss of contact applies only to the ego. It does not apply to those other portions of the self, and it is through the inner self, through inner consciousness, that to some degree the nature of action can make itself known. And when it is made known it will be seen then that which you call evil represents a falling short of value fulfillment in a particular, or in any particular, case. There are always, as I believe you realize, those who court injustice and persecution. There are always those who persecute. There are those who murder, and there are those who seek to be slain.
"They seek each other out for many complicated reasons. This whole subject is difficult but I will not simplify matters, as I could. I would prefer to discuss it most thoroughly. Nothing here must ever be taken as a justification for evil, in humanity's terms. For many practical reasons at this point, it is necessary that man fight against what he considers evil, for he strengthens himself immeasurably by so doing.
"It is also true however, in a completely different framework, that evil is of his own creation, at least evil as he thinks of it. And if a crime is to be assigned in humanity's terms, often the victim is as guilty as the murderer, in basic terms, in terms of guilt that no court can weigh.
"We all have our roles. As we exist within various fields we focus upon these roles to the exclusion of much else.
"That part of us as you know which deals with these roles is the ego, which lives intimately the role which was assigned to it by the whole self, of which it is a part.
"The health and psychic condition of an individual is not primarily determined by the ego, however. It is only when the ego is allowed too much power that the individual is deprived of much of the inner vitality of the whole self. For the ego is acquainted with only its role. It can find refreshment only within the limitations of the reality which it was formed to meet; and when it looks about with the best of intentions and sees disasters and terrors, it does not now that these others also play their roles, and that the roles are temporary.
"It becomes bitter and mortally frightened, with no place to turn, and it sickens the body, and shrivels, and concentrates more and more upon the morbid aspects of its environment, until it cannot even appreciate the splendid accomplishment of itself, and the joys that are peculiarly part of the ego."
... "The inner self is aware of other realities. It is aware of the ego. Remember here the difference between consciousness of self and the ego, for the difference is important. The ego is but part of the self, part of the conscious self, but focused in one direction.
"The inner self, feeling itself part of action, is aware of facets of reality of which the ego is ignorant. It knows that roles can be reversed. There is so much here to be explained, and so many questions that must be answered. For I tell you, at the risk of being misunderstood grossly, that there is only one reality, and value fulfillment, which you may, if you like, equate with goodness.
"There is no such thing as evil, except for the phantoms which man has made. He sees hate in his own heart, what he call hate, which is but fear, so he projects it into another man's face and says the man hates him; and he may slay the man. But the hate never existed, that is, what mankind thinks of as hate never existed.
"Hate is unreasoning fear. Fear is caused by lack of understanding, by lack of value fulfillment. Hate is that which is not love. Love is fulfilled, or fulfilling, value fulfillment. It is action that knows itself, and that glorifies in its parts, that is separated to know itself, and in knowing itself is no longer separated.
"Hate is that which fears to join, and hence is separated, and that is all.
"If all men could learn to love, in terms of which I have spoken, then there would be no need for any kind of punishment within your field, and the word would vanish from your vocabulary. The subconscious is not the cause or the carrier of hatreds.
"The difficulty here is of an ego's refusal to assimilate subconscious experience.
"The ego may assimilate only a part of a given experience. Sometimes it will not assimilate or accept an experience at all. Remember here again that there is a difference between the ego and the consciousness of self. It is not necessary that the ego assimilate all experiences that are open to consciousness of self. Ego must have at hand, however, those experiences that are significant for manipulation within the physical environment.
"Any gap of assimilation here can be most unfortunate, and sometimes disastrous. Consciousness of self, if you recall, is self-consciousness that still retains self as a part of action, self that perceives its existence within action. Ego, originally a part of this consciousness of self, splits off as previously explained, and attempts to dissociate itself from action, indeed to view action as a result of itself; that is, to view action as a result and not a cause."
"Part of what I am about to say may sound callous, but you should see that such is not the case. From the viewpoint of the concerned and conscientious ego-self, truly there appears to be great and disastrous evils that overflow like poison the cup of human existence.
"When he sips of it, as you sipped of it, and as all conscientious human beings sip of it, then indeed the taste is bitter. It is not too farfetched however to add that all, or many, medicines have unfortunately a foul taste, and that the child who sips such a medicine finds it difficult to believe that such a distasteful brew can do him good.
"Basically, all action is. Basically there is no evil action. All is unfolding. With the limited perceptions that the ego has itself adopted, the whole is not visible, and it sees what it will see. Within your field, within your moral field, you must indeed strike out against that which appears evil to you.
"This is a responsibility laid upon you by the code of limitations which the ego itself has adopted as part of its own nature. You may find it most difficult to follow me here without any strong affirmation. However, as you do not blame, as you do not morally blame the wind for the tumultuous hurricane, and as you do not punish the wind, so you must somehow manage to understand that a wrongdoer, in your eyes, is no more or less to blame than this. It would be foolhardy to ignore the results of such activity. Nevertheless, I tell you now that there is much you do not see or know.
"You see perhaps havoc within the physical field, and this is indeed to be faced and dealt with, and set straight, as aid is given to the victims of a hurricane. But you are familiar only with the results of action as they appear within the physical field, as long as you insist upon viewing your physical universe with the eyes of the ego-self; for the ego-self attempts to cut itself off from that action of which it is a part, and in so attempting it loses contact with this larger reality.
"This loss of contact applies only to the ego. It does not apply to those other portions of the self, and it is through the inner self, through inner consciousness, that to some degree the nature of action can make itself known. And when it is made known it will be seen then that which you call evil represents a falling short of value fulfillment in a particular, or in any particular, case. There are always, as I believe you realize, those who court injustice and persecution. There are always those who persecute. There are those who murder, and there are those who seek to be slain.
"They seek each other out for many complicated reasons. This whole subject is difficult but I will not simplify matters, as I could. I would prefer to discuss it most thoroughly. Nothing here must ever be taken as a justification for evil, in humanity's terms. For many practical reasons at this point, it is necessary that man fight against what he considers evil, for he strengthens himself immeasurably by so doing.
"It is also true however, in a completely different framework, that evil is of his own creation, at least evil as he thinks of it. And if a crime is to be assigned in humanity's terms, often the victim is as guilty as the murderer, in basic terms, in terms of guilt that no court can weigh.
"We all have our roles. As we exist within various fields we focus upon these roles to the exclusion of much else.
"That part of us as you know which deals with these roles is the ego, which lives intimately the role which was assigned to it by the whole self, of which it is a part.
"The health and psychic condition of an individual is not primarily determined by the ego, however. It is only when the ego is allowed too much power that the individual is deprived of much of the inner vitality of the whole self. For the ego is acquainted with only its role. It can find refreshment only within the limitations of the reality which it was formed to meet; and when it looks about with the best of intentions and sees disasters and terrors, it does not now that these others also play their roles, and that the roles are temporary.
"It becomes bitter and mortally frightened, with no place to turn, and it sickens the body, and shrivels, and concentrates more and more upon the morbid aspects of its environment, until it cannot even appreciate the splendid accomplishment of itself, and the joys that are peculiarly part of the ego."
... "The inner self is aware of other realities. It is aware of the ego. Remember here the difference between consciousness of self and the ego, for the difference is important. The ego is but part of the self, part of the conscious self, but focused in one direction.
"The inner self, feeling itself part of action, is aware of facets of reality of which the ego is ignorant. It knows that roles can be reversed. There is so much here to be explained, and so many questions that must be answered. For I tell you, at the risk of being misunderstood grossly, that there is only one reality, and value fulfillment, which you may, if you like, equate with goodness.
"There is no such thing as evil, except for the phantoms which man has made. He sees hate in his own heart, what he call hate, which is but fear, so he projects it into another man's face and says the man hates him; and he may slay the man. But the hate never existed, that is, what mankind thinks of as hate never existed.
"Hate is unreasoning fear. Fear is caused by lack of understanding, by lack of value fulfillment. Hate is that which is not love. Love is fulfilled, or fulfilling, value fulfillment. It is action that knows itself, and that glorifies in its parts, that is separated to know itself, and in knowing itself is no longer separated.
"Hate is that which fears to join, and hence is separated, and that is all.
"If all men could learn to love, in terms of which I have spoken, then there would be no need for any kind of punishment within your field, and the word would vanish from your vocabulary. The subconscious is not the cause or the carrier of hatreds.
"The difficulty here is of an ego's refusal to assimilate subconscious experience.
"The ego may assimilate only a part of a given experience. Sometimes it will not assimilate or accept an experience at all. Remember here again that there is a difference between the ego and the consciousness of self. It is not necessary that the ego assimilate all experiences that are open to consciousness of self. Ego must have at hand, however, those experiences that are significant for manipulation within the physical environment.
"Any gap of assimilation here can be most unfortunate, and sometimes disastrous. Consciousness of self, if you recall, is self-consciousness that still retains self as a part of action, self that perceives its existence within action. Ego, originally a part of this consciousness of self, splits off as previously explained, and attempts to dissociate itself from action, indeed to view action as a result of itself; that is, to view action as a result and not a cause."
Dimensions of Action and Dreams
From Session 144 found in Volume 3 of Seth's Early Sessions:
"I have told you that action cannot deny itself. An action cannot be recalled, that is, called back out of existence. Once an action has begun, it will attempt completion. An action may be recalled in terms of memory, but it cannot be taken back, or denied or undone.
"Your idea of consequences is derived from this fact. Nevertheless your idea of consequences takes into consideration only one small element of any given action. You perceive, in other words, only that part of an action which is projected into your own physical field, and this element you call the natural consequence of the original act.
"You perceive however but one flicker, one small dimension of any given action as a rule."
... "Now, action is something like a mirror which reflects itself. In one action, basically, we can see all actions, and through one action we can reach the reality of all actions.
"The apparent dimensions within action is caused by the separation of which we spoke, when action attempts to step aside from itself. Dreams are as much action as the movement of a muscle, and the movement of a muscle is indeed as sleeplike as any dream.
"We are all within action. We are of it. To be outside of it is impossible. Choice however is limitless within it. In whichever direction we focus our abilities and energies, we seem to see new action, but it is merely our focus which has changed; and in changing, has formed new action.
"... action is the vitality of the universe from which all realities spring. ... Again, no action may be withdrawn. Nothing is motionless. ...
"Action cannot be dammed up, for it becomes explosive. There are many balances to be maintained. The dream world of which we have spoken so often is also action, and as such it affects all other action. It is not apart from your so-called physical universe, for the dream universe, through its connection with the inner self, also helps to construct physical matter ..."
... "Now, as you know, among other things dreams reflect inner expectation. ... dreams are created by each individual, and given actual molecular structure and reality, within a different field than the one with which you are usually familiar.
"Dreams cannot be taken, however, as accurate descriptions of inner expectation, since too many other elements are involved.
"Nevertheless, the actual individual dream world created by each individual will bear a close resemblance to the physical environment which is also created by the individual. And here we come to a subject that I mentioned briefly the other evening, and even now we but touch upon it.
"There is much involved. The individual, any individual, may construct many possibilities in the dream world. Having problems in the physical world he may attempt to solve them through working them out on a dream basis, trying various solutions.
"These possibilities then become actualities within the dream field. They exist as surely as they would if he acted in the same manner within the physical field. They are not myths, they are not imaginary, they do not vanish. They exist as reality within another field of actuality.
"Consciously our individual may not know what he has done. Consciously he may not even know the problems which beset him, but which he has worked out on a subconscious level. But he will have chosen his solution, and in the physical world an event will shortly occur which will be close to a duplicate to one of those dreams which he has created.
"When he dreamed the dream, and chose this possibility as the solution to his problems, he had already subconsciously chosen which event he would construct within the physical field.
"This is a rather tricky point, but an important one. The other possible solutions, however, still exist as reality within the dream field, and as such they continue unfolding. Your past material on dreams will help you on this."
"I have told you that action cannot deny itself. An action cannot be recalled, that is, called back out of existence. Once an action has begun, it will attempt completion. An action may be recalled in terms of memory, but it cannot be taken back, or denied or undone.
"Your idea of consequences is derived from this fact. Nevertheless your idea of consequences takes into consideration only one small element of any given action. You perceive, in other words, only that part of an action which is projected into your own physical field, and this element you call the natural consequence of the original act.
"You perceive however but one flicker, one small dimension of any given action as a rule."
... "Now, action is something like a mirror which reflects itself. In one action, basically, we can see all actions, and through one action we can reach the reality of all actions.
"The apparent dimensions within action is caused by the separation of which we spoke, when action attempts to step aside from itself. Dreams are as much action as the movement of a muscle, and the movement of a muscle is indeed as sleeplike as any dream.
"We are all within action. We are of it. To be outside of it is impossible. Choice however is limitless within it. In whichever direction we focus our abilities and energies, we seem to see new action, but it is merely our focus which has changed; and in changing, has formed new action.
"... action is the vitality of the universe from which all realities spring. ... Again, no action may be withdrawn. Nothing is motionless. ...
"Action cannot be dammed up, for it becomes explosive. There are many balances to be maintained. The dream world of which we have spoken so often is also action, and as such it affects all other action. It is not apart from your so-called physical universe, for the dream universe, through its connection with the inner self, also helps to construct physical matter ..."
... "Now, as you know, among other things dreams reflect inner expectation. ... dreams are created by each individual, and given actual molecular structure and reality, within a different field than the one with which you are usually familiar.
"Dreams cannot be taken, however, as accurate descriptions of inner expectation, since too many other elements are involved.
"Nevertheless, the actual individual dream world created by each individual will bear a close resemblance to the physical environment which is also created by the individual. And here we come to a subject that I mentioned briefly the other evening, and even now we but touch upon it.
"There is much involved. The individual, any individual, may construct many possibilities in the dream world. Having problems in the physical world he may attempt to solve them through working them out on a dream basis, trying various solutions.
"These possibilities then become actualities within the dream field. They exist as surely as they would if he acted in the same manner within the physical field. They are not myths, they are not imaginary, they do not vanish. They exist as reality within another field of actuality.
"Consciously our individual may not know what he has done. Consciously he may not even know the problems which beset him, but which he has worked out on a subconscious level. But he will have chosen his solution, and in the physical world an event will shortly occur which will be close to a duplicate to one of those dreams which he has created.
"When he dreamed the dream, and chose this possibility as the solution to his problems, he had already subconsciously chosen which event he would construct within the physical field.
"This is a rather tricky point, but an important one. The other possible solutions, however, still exist as reality within the dream field, and as such they continue unfolding. Your past material on dreams will help you on this."
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