“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(During lunch I’d asked Jane if she thought Seth might want to comment on the sinful self, and its material. [...] I thought the sinful self had to be cooperating in our endeavors, and I wondered whether there might be some scrap of new information it possessed that could help us. [...]

The sinful-self data does not apply now, and I am seeking to present the necessary material that is most pertinent and vital. [...]

[...] On the side of consciousness, it is a tale symbolically representing the birth of the conscious mind in the species as a whole, and the emergence of self-responsibility. It also stands for the separation of the self who perceives — and therefore judges and values — from the object which is perceived and evaluated. It represents the emergence of the conscious mind and of the strongly oriented individual self from that ground of being from which all consciousness comes.

[...] It was necessary because he believed that the spontaneous self, left alone, would not so concentrate—or that his spontaneous self would not, but would also be tempted by whatever other private pursuits. [...]

[...] Even if we could manage this, I fear we’d end up so regimented that half of the tasks would be self-defeating. [...]

[...] My name for him is Ruburt, which happens to be a male name simply because the name is the closest translation, in your terms, for the name of the whole self or entity, of which he is now a self-conscious part.

[...] It originates instead in the energy of the entity and inner self, and is directed by means of the inner senses, outward so to speak, through the deeper layers of the individual subconscious mind, then through the outer or personal layers.

I will never on the other hand insist upon a groveling humility, a feeling of uselessness, for upon such a false and inadequate conception of self is based the most unfortunate sort of exterior posturing. [...]

Here you will discover man’s true origins, and the mechanisms and ways in which the unseen self operates, forms his universe of matter through psychic energy, and communicates on levels unperceived by his outer physical organism.

[...] Now it is possible, you see, and you are trying to bring what you think of as your conscious self into some awareness of what these other portions of the inner self are up to so, supposing we call your presently conscious self your immediate self. [...] Now the immediate self can indeed become aware of other portions of your own reality, and it is up to you to bring it into line. [...] You may not be able to translate the experience clearly, but you may be able to translate it capably enough so that you realize, so that the immediate self realizes, that it is indeed a part of other experiences. [...]

Dream images are in a most vital manner extensions of the self. They are projected from the self, extending outward indeed like branches from a tree. [...]

[...] While they contain within them compositions that are also seen in the physical self, these properties appear in different percentages. [...]

There is on occasion an extension of self, whereby the Jane ego can also participate, though in a temporarily subordinate manner. [...]

[...] There is a similarity here between the extension of my self outward through Ruburt, and the extension necessary for example in an individual’s projection of a pseudoimage.

[...] In most instances, or at least in many instances, I do not see the particular physical image of a witness to a session; but indeed as you described it, I see what you may call a composite image, an energy reality that is composed of past personalities, and in many cases also of future personalities that will be adopted by the inner self.

[...] The simplest part of the experiment will involve the use of self-suggestion in dream recall.

[...] This should prove highly interesting, and if such experiments are carried on consistently over a period of years, then the results could lead to excellent evidence for the various layers of the subconscious and the inner self, of which I have spoken for so long.

[...] The very self-suggestions that will enable you to recall your dreams may also change their nature, to some extent, for any action changes any other action.

[...] You are still trying to be yourself and the self you think she wants you to be, as far as you are able. [...]

[...] Several portions of the personality have already helped in the release of repressed feelings; the conscientious self particularly, which was the greatest repressor. [...]

[...] In what has happened in the last few days, the conscientious self gave its consent to the release of various groups of thought and feeling it previously kept hidden.

[...] The sexual implications last evening, generally under several various areas of personality, could not have come into consciousness, for example, without the consent of the conscientious self, which says often “No work, no sex.” [...]

(10:20.) The creative self, however, is not nearly as specific in nature as Ruburt once thought, when he considered himself a writer only. The attributes of the creative self are those of the personality, so that these attributes cannot be accepted under certain conditions and repressed otherwise, without difficulties resulting.

[...] Main points should be the trust of the body—that is paramount—and the expression of the creative spontaneous self in all areas of daily life. [...]

[...] The creative self, however, left alone, and being in a Framework 2 reference, will take all aspects of life into consideration. [...]

(Pause.) In all of these areas the problem, whatever its nature or cause, is in one way or another “magically” transferred to another facet of activity, projected away from the self. [...] He then feels rid of the problem itself but is quite ready to attack it in others, and with great self-righteousness and justification.

Yet here the medical profession often takes care to see that every technological advance is brought to bear to force the self to remain within its flesh, when naturally soul and flesh would part. There are normal interlocking mechanisms that prepare the self for death, even chemical interactions that make this easier physically — bursts of acceleration, in your terms, to propel the individual easily out of the body. [...]

In such cases the dilemma is projected outside of the self and seen as an exterior condition which can be manipulated. [...]

[...] Mystic enlightenment does not see an enemy, however, and there is no need for arrogance, attack, or self-justification.

[...] The doctor represents newer beliefs, and the spontaneous nature of the self, which can act so much more effectively with those new beliefs.

[...] The cats did not represent your physical cats (Mitzi and Billy Two), but old comfortable beliefs about the nature of the spontaneous self connected with ideas he picked up from his mother, in which cats represented the worst aspects of human behavior and impulses: they fawned upon you, yet were evil, and could turn against you in a moment.

[...] This means that in your inner self you have a clear idea of the goals which Ruburt, for many reasons, some quite legitimate, hides from his practical self.

On one hand, basically, the self is limitless, both electromagnetically and because of the nature of action, which affects all other action. The self does not however proceed along straight lines, from a birth to a death. This is only the self that the ego perceives. [...]

[...] And time, therefore, physical clock time, is much more alien to the intuitive self than it is to the intellectual self.

[...] This is not to deny the human aspects of the ego, for the ego is also somewhat like a light carried in front of the inner self, a light that gives meaning to the physical universe and to its objects. It enables the inner self to manipulate within physical reality. [...]

[...] The self may of course be considered as a gestalt of action, perceived in a different manner by various levels of itself.

(Eyes open.) In any case this future self of yours heeds what you say. Now, in the actual future you are the self who one way or another, you see, hears the voice of his past self. [...]

[...] (Smile, lighting cigarette.) Was there something your future self had forgotten? Did the future self request information, and did this request cause the present self, you see, to make an actual and legitimate projection into the future?

[...] But in the future (smile)you would be the one whose course is altered by this traveling self from the past.

[...] For a moment you are aware of a sense of duality as you look at this older self. [...]

Beneath this, pure and simple, undistorted, there for the searching, absolutely free for the asking, is the knowledge inherent in the inner self pertaining to the inner universe as a whole, its laws and principles, its composition. Here you will find, undistorted, uncamouflaged, the innate knowledge of the creation of the camouflage universe, the mechanics involved, much of the material that I have given you, the method and ways by which the inner self as a basic inhabitant of the inner universe, existing in the climate of psychological reality, helps create the various planes of existence, constructs outer senses to project and perceive the various apparent realities or camouflages, how the inner self reincarnates on the various planes. Here you will find your answers as to how the inner self transforms energy for his own purposes, changes his form, adopts other apparent realities, and all this free for the investigation.

[...] I am attempting to build up your outer personalities in their dealings with the outside world, while at the same time teaching the inner self spontaneity and freedom. [...]

The outer personality must be a strong yet resilient framework, able to dispense with its boundaries and allow the inner self its freedom, and yet strong enough to spring back and maintain its control over outward experience. [...]

[...] In ordinary circumstances the conscious self deals mainly with camouflage existence. [...]

(From the 242nd session for March 16, 1966:) The ego is not the most powerful or the most knowledgeable portion of the self. It is simply a well-specialized part of the personality, fully equipped to operate under certain circumstances²¹ … When those conditions no longer exist [after “death”], then other layers of the self take over the dominant position, and the personality realigns its psychological components. [...] The ego is under the control of what may loosely be called “the inner self.” [...]

[...] I say that I am an energy personality essence, since that is what I am … My name for him is Ruburt,¹⁵ which happens to be a male name simply because it is the closest translation, in your terms, for the name of the whole self or entity of which he is now a self-conscious part.

[...] The — I hope — delightfully human egotistical characteristics that I show help calm your fears and show you that the self as you think of it continues to exist [after physical death]. [...] It is a portion of myself that is the most closely connected with earthly existence, and it is a self that I liked very well, indeed.

[...] She calls the conscious self the “focus personality,” for instance, since it’s focused in this physical [camouflage] reality. The focus personality is composed of aspects of the “source self” [or entity]. [...]

[...] (Pause.) The spontaneous self he was afraid of. The conscientious self becomes much more pleased as time goes on and others are helped.

The spontaneous self is learning to manipulate and maneuver within the somewhat rigid ego limitations. [...]

[...] They end up neatly summarized in the concept of the Sinful Self—a self so sinful that its own body had to be hidden from itself while it washed (all intently). [...]

[...] Another portion of the self seemed to be initiating an entirely different system of reality, in complete opposition to that early background, and the Sinful Self was bound to react with some alarm. [...]

[...] The Sinful Self then became very alert: how could it trust its own works, if it were so indelibly tainted? [...]

[...] The mind and the inner self can become aware of such concepts. [...]

(See page 24, 426th session for August 5. My question: What frameworks, left behind by the traveling self A can be used by others?)

[...] It is not enough that the inner self knows. [...]

(Humorously.) I am overjoyed to be the self that you know (smile), and I do indeed take pleasure in that existence, and in meeting its responsibilities. [...]

[...] You do not discard a self as you might throw off a coat, but you do have a wardrobe of selves. This happens even in the life you know and recognize, even though you do everything possible to exaggerate the similarities and minimize the differences, so that you always seem to be the self that you have always known.

When the race began physical focus it learned to behave in a more or less permanent-appearing environment, and so it developed a suitable self that also appeared to be permanent enough for a time within that world.

[...] Individual life, religion, culture, politics, were each vastly different in each period, the concept of the self profoundly different in one era and another. [...]