“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

He is to realize that if he has any duty or purpose in life, it is indeed to express those very abilities (all very emphatically), since those abilities are so natural in his makeup, they also possess their own protective mechanisms. He must realize that he is free to express his poetic, psychic nature, and to follow wherever it leads — since it is indeed his natural pathway into existence, and his most intimate connection with the universe, and with All That Is.

[...] He should indeed give himself suggestions that the necessary insights will come to him, and that the proper connections be made whether consciously or unconsciously. But the idea is that it is safe to express himself, and that the true purpose of his life is indeed to express those characteristics that compose his personal reality.

Above all, Ruburt must not concentrate upon what is wrong. In the deepest of terms, if you understand my meaning, nothing is wrong. You have instead a conglomeration of severely conflicting beliefs, so that there is no clear single road to action.

(Jane said she thought that if I’d had to choose between painting and her, I’d have chosen painting. Not so, I said — after all, I worked at commercial art four years full time at one stretch, and part time a number of other times. She agreed that she needed much approval — something I hadn’t fully understood at the time we married. I added that I’d always been proud of her as my wife, and considered myself very lucky to have her. I’d never once questioned her loyalty or love, and I’d taken it that she felt the same way. I discovered today that I could have been wrong at times — strange.

[...] All structure is formed by consciousness. Defined in your terms, a fragment is a consciousness not as developed as your own. The living portions of nature are the result of your own creativity, projections and fragments of your own energy; energy that comes to you from All That Is and goes outward from you, forming its own image manifestations as you form yours.

There is a connection with two young women. [...] That is all I have for now.

[...] All consciousness does, indeed, exist at once, and therefore it did not evolve in those terms. It is according to when you come into the picture, and what you choose to observe, and what part of the play you decide to observe. It is more the other way around, in that evolved consciousness forms itself into many different patterns and rains down on reality. [...]

[...] The person-event is not cut off, however. [...] It is instead composed of atoms and molecules that you do not perceive, both above and below the physical range of intensities — and all of these in their own way possess consciousness.

In terms of earthly life as you understand it, it is overly optimistic to imagine that eventually all illnesses will be conquered, all relationships be inevitably fulfilling, or to foresee a future in which all people on earth are treated with equality and respect. For one thing, in that larger framework mentioned earlier in this book, illness itself is a part of life’s overall activity. Disease states, so-called, are as necessary to physical life as normal health is, so we are not speaking of a nirvana on earth — but we are saying that it is possible for each reader of this book to quicken his or her private perceptions, and to extend and expand the quality of ordinary consciousness enough so that by contrast to current experience, life could almost be thought of as “heaven on earth.”

[...] All of the conflicting beliefs that have been mentioned thus far are the end result of what I have called before the “official line of consciousness.” Certainly people experienced disease long before those conflicting beliefs began — but again, that is because of the part that disease states play in the overall health of individuals and of the world.

[...] They were her way of contributing to understanding ourselves, and to peer into the great mystery of All That Is.

(Long pause.) Large numbers of the population do indeed live unsatisfactory lives, with many individuals seeking goals that are nearly unattainable because of the conglomeration of conflicting beliefs that all vie for their attention. [...]

(All with much emphasis and irony:) The idea of a meaningless universe, however, is in itself a highly creative imaginative act. Animals, for example, could not imagine such an idiocy, so that the theory shows the incredible accomplishment of an obviously ordered mind and intellect that can imagine itself to be the result of nonorder, or chaos — [you have] a creature who is capable of “mapping” its own brain, imagining that the brain’s fantastic regulated order could emerge from a reality that itself has no meaning. Indeed, then, the theory actually says that the ordered universe magically emerged — and evolutionists must certainly believe in a God of Chance somewhere, or in Coincidence with a capital C, for their theories would make no sense at all otherwise.

In the 591st session for Seth Speaks, I noted claims for an earlier date for the origin of the first Gospel, that according to Mark; nevertheless, most authorities still believe that the Gospels were written between A.D. 65 and 110. Since Christ was presumably crucified around A.D. 30, this means that some 35–40 years passed before the advent of Mark’s account. There are many consistencies in the Gospels, but also inconsistencies that cannot be resolved. [...] Matthew doesn’t mention it at all in his Gospel, for example; and Paul alludes to it only once (1 Timothy 3:16) in his writings. Is the Gospel according to Luke merely schematic, rather than chronological? If time (as much as 40 days) did elapse between Christ’s resurrection and ascension, where was he physically during all of that period, other than on the few occasions cited in the Gospels and in Acts, when on various occasions he revealed himself to the women who discovered his empty tomb, to the apostles, and to some others? [...]

Unfortunately, the fundamentalists accept literal interpretations of intuitive realities in such a way that they further narrow the channels through which their psychic abilities can flow. The fundamental framework, in this period of time, for all of its fervor, is not rich — as for example Christianity was in the past, with its numerous saints. It is instead a fanatical Puritan vein, peculiarly American in character, and restrictive rather than expansive, for the bursts of emotion are highly structured — that is, the emotions are limited in most areas of life, permitted only an explosive religious expression under certain conditions, when they are not so much spontaneously expressed as suddenly released from the dam of usual repression.

In evolution man’s nature is amoral, and anything goes for survival’s sake. There is no possibility of any spiritual survival as far as most evolutionists are concerned. [...] Christ’s message was that each man is good inherently, and is an individualized portion of the divine — and yet a civilization based upon that precept has never been attempted. The vast social structures of Christianity were instead based upon man’s “sinful” nature — not the organizations and structures that might allow him to become good, or to obtain the goodness that Christ quite clearly perceived man already possessed.

Yet most of what I wrote in Appendix 12 is still valid, to my mind, even though I’ve always wanted to expand (and expound?) upon all of it. [...] We’d rather let it stand as is, representing our best knowledge and feeling of that time, including the way we put to use Seth’s own information on the subject. If that “best knowledge” was groping and imperfect, then so be it. I think it most interesting that the theory of evolution is now challenged by those who, like Jane and I, simply want to know whether it has a basis in scientific fact; and that it’s also come under virulent attack by those who generally believe in fundamentalist religions. The controversy over whether evolution ever really happened—and/or is happening—is far from resolved, whether in scientific, religious, or lay terms.

[...] I call the process “All That Is.” All That Is is so much a part of its creations that it is almost impossible to separate the “creator from the creations,” for each creation also carries indelibly within it the characteristics of its source.

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

“I’d say that both the creation and evolution models suffer from logical and emotional sloppiness, and that neither one presents a reasonable view of man’s origins. [...] I get a spooky feeling that I’ve had before, thinking that here we are, alive and conscious, technologically accomplished, and we really haven’t the slightest idea of where the universe came from or why we’re alive, though as a species we’re gifted with both intellect and intuition. [...] So Seth’s version of All That Is being both within and without the universe makes more sense to me, and I’m very curious about where he’ll go with this in his book. This morning, looking over the few pages we have so far, I got the idea that the title for the first chapter is going to be: ‘Before the Beginning’—so we’ll see….

[...] It is too handy to let go and you will not change your concepts. You can blame him for all your misfortunes. [...] I tell you to look inside for the one road to All That Is within you. As long as you dwell on your own imperfections you accept that god, and it has no meaning in reality. You have created a concept of a god that has no reality. [...]

When you are joyful, and I know in spite of the serious faces that you are indeed joyful, then you have some idea of All That Is. [...] When you perform some task without effort and take joy in the task, you will have some slight idea of All That Is. [...]

You are each part of All That Is. [...] Your beliefs will affect your future life until you realize it is not true. This does not mean that in another realm your thoughts will not affect you. [...]

[...] You have made God responsible for all of your (words lost). [...] It is a wonder he did not boot you out of the universe. [...]

The experience came within a framework that he could accept — that of highly accelerated inspiration. [...] Had his habits instead led him, say, to regular prayer, then that framework could also have been used. In all such cases several qualities are apparent: an ability to look inward, to concentrate deeply, to lose the sharp edges of the physically oriented self in contemplation, and an intense desire to learn. These must be coupled with the inner confidence that pertinent knowledge can be directly received. To those who believe that all answers are known, there is little need to search.

I said a few paragraphs back that individuals such as Ruburt are themselves a portion of the knowledge they receive. [...] (Long pause.) There is a great fallacy operating. People believe that there is one great truth, that it will appear and they will know it. Now a flower is a truth. So is a lamp bulb. So is an idiot and a genius, a glass and an ant. There is little exterior similarity, however.

[...] The book itself is written in such a way that all those ready to learn will benefit. There is meaning not only in the written words themselves, but connections existing between them that do not appear, and that will have meanings to various levels of the personality.

[...] You cannot hold encounters with All That Is apart from yourself, and you cannot separate yourself from your experience. [...] Whoever thinks he is manipulating truth is manipulating himself. [...]

My opinion is that that I have given. Had you come here, however, when the sessions had shortly begun, and Ruburt was himself looking for that kind of proof, the answer may have been different. It is what I have given you now, however, and I fear that like our friend, Instream, unless you change you will be looking for proofs that mean nothing and ignoring the inner reality that is all important and closing your mind to inner validity that alone will give you the kind of proofs that you require. [...] For example, had your attitude been different and your whole emotional atmosphere been different, and had you in a mood of fun and free giving thrown cards upon the table when I was speaking and said, “Seth, what is on the other side of the cards?” you may have gotten an answer. [...]

Now All That Is is as much in middle class America as it is in India. All That Is resides as much in the poor suburbanite who mows his lawn and has his endless mortgage as it does in a guru who sits upon his mat. The anguish and the triumph is in each of you. And do not yourself fall into the stereotype of setting the establishment apart for it is also composed of exalted and anguished individuals. [...]

[...] 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. Will you accept that phrase? All right. So we will say you all have immediate selves which deal with the here and now, in those terms. 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. [...]

[...] Creation is playful and full of joy but do not in your own heart set up any kind of social barrier. For when you do unknowingly, you do what has already been done to you and therefore perpetuate, to some extent, those stereotypes that so upset and annoy you. I understand your feeling and your sense of accomplishment but also remember in your heart that the most stereotyped unoriginal suburbanite, in your terms, has within him all the capabilities of which we speak so that you do not, in your own mind, set him down as a caste system for that is what has been done to you. Recognize in yourself the egos that you see in others. [...]

It can be seen from even this tiny quotation that Jane’s poetry reflects that same mystical, intuitive innocence before nature (and thus, ultimately, All That Is) that I tried to describe in the first essay. It could well be that her psyche has derived from her whole self, or entity, the “facts” of reality a lot better than either of us consciously knows them. [...] Our independence relative to reincarnation may represent just conscious cussedness on our parts, but we believe that each of us (meaning anyone, that is) always has the freedom to accept or reject any such choice or causality —whatever we choose to do. No, instead we think of our current challenges as contributing to the knowledge of our whole selves in most specific ways, rather than our being swayed that much by our reincarnational and/or counterpart associations. However, I’m not at all sure how many others feel that way. I do know that regardless of local variations an acceptance of reincarnation has encircled the earth for millennia, and that in our country recent polls show a quarter of the population believing in it.

Further, Jane and I believe that what really happens during a “past-life regression” under hypnosis is that the subject (aside from any responses given to the hypnotist’s own witting or unwitting suggestions) very cosily views his or her previous lives from the comfort and safety of a present existence. This would be the case even when the subject is very unhappy with present challenges, and is trying to assign their origin to events in one or more former existences. All well and good to announce that one was a serf some 900 years ago—but one is much more likely to be either tuning into minute signals surrounding the actual physical and mental reality of the serf (poor fellow), or to be picking up on elements of that individual’s personality as they’re associated with the serf’s whole self or entity. [...]

It would be impossible at this time, I’m certain, for a researcher to find any evidence that reincarnational heritages are coded for among the approximately 100,000 genes lined up on the 46 chromosomes we carry in the nucleus of each of our cells. We say that a certain gene contains the instructions for the manufacture of a certain protein the body uses in the construction or function of an eye, for instance, and that in expressing that code the gene passes on characteristics inherited from physical ancestors—but is that endowment influenced or directed in any fashion by reincarnational attributes as well? [...] The genes in each cell have their individual jobs to do in furnishing the quivering templates for the manufacture (via the nucleic acids DNA and messenger RNA) of all of our bodily proteins. But if we think of our genetic endowment as first being a system of consciousness as our reincarnational history is, we can see how the two nonphysical systems could be intermixed, as Seth put it, with one influencing the other. [...] What we choose to do with those possibilities that we present ourselves with at each temporal birth may be another matter entirely.

My main point is that I also feel, without having asked Seth, that the farther one travels ahead in time the greater the play of probable realities and probable lives he or she encounters. To venture into such a skein requires that one constantly picks and chooses among them—for each move, each thought, even, can launch the traveler into a different probability. In some cases there will be a great fear of becoming lost among all of those realities. [...] But that must happen all of the time!) The uncertainty perceived here by the conscious self, however, can act as a great restraint toward knowing a future life or lives—just as much as might the fear of tuning into one’s physical death ahead of time in this life. Hook up those two factors with the quite natural concern that at least some events in any life to come will inevitably be unpleasant, or worse, and we have at least three powerful restraints, or psychic blocks, inhibiting awareness of future lives. [...]

There, your decisions flourish, being a part of All That Is withheld in all of its wondrous stages. [...]

[...] For if Jane is finally learning the message involving freedom and protection in the world and All That Is, she may yet be saved, and recover....)

The child is a part of the loving universe, its name forever written there, where all personalities have their sweet freedom. [...] So is this one (Jane) learning, and so is the message finally coming into its own light. [...]

[...] “That’s all, I think.” [...] Once again she’d spoken with what seemed to be considerable effort as she lay on her back, her head propped up on several pillows, her right arm swaddled closely in the blue and white canvas sling that held it close to her side and across her lower chest. Once again, I was amazed that she could function in such a capacity under present conditions. [...]

Now I ask you, briefly, to imagine that you are outside this room and looking down into this room and seeing yourselves without any great emotional feeling. [...] I ask you to try to pick up a slight recognition, a feeling that there is more in the room than you can see; a slight recognition of your own inner selves; a slight recognition. Even that the pussycat is more than it seems to be. I ask you to realize that although you cannot see them, your own thoughts blossom as flowers in an invisible garden. I would like you to realize that within you always is a strong kinship and understanding. A kinship with All That Is that can never he denied, and that even when you doubt most, this kinship is there for it provides the basis of your being. It is always there, and if you look for it, but gently, you will always find it. [...]

There is a difference. [...] Vera’s attitude is different and, therefore she will not take one organ or position of the body and so strongly use it as a symbol. [...] She will not incapacitate herself in that manner. This is a tangent to your own position also. The immediacy, the feeling of urgency, is not here in the same way that it is over here (Rachel). The same freedom, however, is involved. You need to realize that you are (Vera) completely free to so change your position. Whether or not you change it is not important. That you feel completely free to change it is important. [...] The freedom and the feeling of freedom to move is the most important aspect in both cases. [...]

That is a correct interpretation. I also expect to give you all some instruction that you can use, but more than that, I expect to give you some instruction that you will use. And there is a difference as even I have learned. [...]

—you must have the feeling that you are free to quit the job and the faith that other positions will be available to you. Your feeling is based upon the fear that you will not find another position. When you realize that other positions are open to you, if you believe that they are, then you are free to choose. It is the fear that is behind your lack of movement. [...]

[...] It is ridiculous to develop camouflage vehicles to deal with camouflage space, when all that is necessary is that you realize that camouflage is camouflage. [...] When you realize that time as you know it does not exist, then vehicles become unnecessary.

[...] This is a living, vital and valid experiment. I suggest that all you take a brief break, and if you are in accord then I will continue for a short time. However, I want to make it plain that we are certainly not setting up a new dogma. By all means take your break.

This session is outside of our regular sessions because I have known that Roarck would finally be drawn here, and it is for his benefit that I have called the session. [...] Do not, however, consider that you yourselves have truth in the palm of your hands.

Some night I will address many people, all of whom knew me, and many of whom knew each other. When Ruburt’s abilities mature, and when if ever he is able to forget that awesome ego, we will really show some signs. [...]

The greatest Old Masters felt the inner self’s great integrity, and its connection with All That Is, and each in his own way through painting tried to represent that energy and show it to others. The energy is behind all. When you look at the great world picture before you in space and time, look at it as you would a multidimensional worldscape, painted by some artist who was all of the great masters in one; and behind the scenes of destruction and conflict, feel the great energy that in itself denies the destruction that is in that case so cleverly depicted.

It is easy for you to say that your parents did not appreciate what they had, that they looked at the “bad” side of things all the time, but not quite so easy to see those same attitudes in yourselves.

When you consistently concentrate upon negative aspects you seek them out from your experience and all the available stimuli, until reality certainly does seem to justify your attitudes. [...] If this is the kind of painting you want then at least be aware of it. If it is not, realize that you can at any point in the present begin to alter it and your experience.

If you believe that you are pulled in all directions you will be. [...] If you believe there is no peace in your world, in your private world, there will be none. [...]

To kill for convenience … or for the sake of killing involves rather dire consequences, and the emotional value behind such killing is often as important as what is killed. That is, the lust [for] killing is also a matter that brings dire consequences, regardless of the particular living thing that is killed. [...]

I’m not worried that I’m going to disturb the balance. [...] The fact is that the realization can, and often does, come after the play is well under way, and at this point, the camouflage action is so involved that the realization itself appears in the framework of the camouflage and is often indistinguishable from it. [...]

I’d identified all life with the birds, of course. Miss Cunningham, Rob, me and all the people that we knew were surely getting shot down; falling through time, we were dying in a descent that we couldn’t understand or control. Either that, or Seth and the material — still so strange to me — were giving answers that I refused, so far, to accept in practical terms.

[...] All entities are self-aware portions of the energy of All That Is. [...]

His intellect is a fine one, and should have no quarrel at all with our sessions. It is only when he uses it falsely as a shield to hide behind that he is bothered, and an objective reading of the Seth material would show him that there is nothing in it of which he need be emotionally or intellectually ashamed. [...] But the picture of a white-robed spirit, with those connotations, is not one I have given him.

He was outraged by A A, because he persisted in considering him as a “spirit”, in quotes, with all the connotations the word arouses in him. A A is no longer a physical personality, and that is all. He is not a personality fully developed in those larger terms of which I speak. He is a personality however, and he is not Ruburt’s.

[...] It was when Ruburt began reading other people’s material that the word began to appear. This does not mean that a God did not exist. It means that use of the term automatically limits the reality of All That Is by its very connotations.

[...] Great work is a result of great learning. It is not the result of seeing easy answers scribbled magically upon a blackboard. The flowers thrust themselves up through soil, but they hardly consider the soil or thrusting a tragedy, nor resent the time spent in the frozen earth, for they realize the frozen earth is a condition of their blossoming—a challenge that is an aid, not a hindrance. [...] Your inner self is aware of this.

[...] The answer is no. [...] You do not take it for granted that in the next life you will solve your problems. You take it for granted that this form and this personality, like all your other personalities, is unique, with purpose that it alone can best (underlined) achieve.

(Voice strong and powerful:) Who is any one of us to make such demands? (Louder.) The whole development of your individuality and of your whole self is a gift of All That Is; a state of grace is the acceptance of life and vitality and joy. [...]

The uniqueness that is your own personality is to be cherished. [...] The particular purpose of your present (underlined) personality can only be met in the present circumstances, in the way that is best overall. The challenges can be met at another time and in another life, this is true, but the particular people that you can help and the particular good that you can do, can never be done in precisely (underlined) the same way.

He learned, and he is still learning, and so your friend must learn. [...] This is the greatest lesson that anyone can learn. Basically, basically, there is no other, for this one includes all others.

I will comment here for all of this fits into our discussion. Existence is not a game in the terms spoken of by our Mr. Watts, though he is often on the right track. We do not have a static god, recreating himself as he is in various guises. [...] (Pause.) Legitimately, each personality is a co-creator, and part of All That Is, but this All That Is constantly develops, and develops in terms of growth fulfillment.

There is no final judgment, for nothing is final. (Long pause.) There is no judgment because all is in transition toward greater knowledge and understanding. Between those two statements again lies worlds that must be deciphered.

Evil, so termed, is a lack of knowledge, a lack of fulfillment, a lack of growth, measured against that which has felt inward enough to understand more of its nature. Evil is therefore less desirable. The whole process however is toward understanding in which the evil is doubled and erased, but the growth must come from something that is not yet grown, and you cannot call a seed evil because it is not yet the flower.

[...] However it is impossible for them to create a consistent solid image in your terms, for while they are still focused within your system the inner self knows well that the individual is finished with a given life situation, is out of alignment so to speak, and is therefore denied full use of its own energy.

Now, I try to show you all, whenever we have a session, that what you are seeing and hearing is a demonstration of the nature of human personality. And you all have human personalities, so therefore the abilities that are shown in this room are examples of the abilities that you have within yourselves waiting to be developed. [...] The ability to open yourselves up enough so that you can bear to understand the reality of another individual. [...] It will not be an intellectual matter of thinking that you are a part of All That Is. It will, instead, be an emotional awareness of that relationship. [...]

[...] This is your reality. [...] And, to some extent, our friend over here is correct in that you can use sensitivity sessions themselves as simply another mask, in which case you never show yourself. Instead you display whatever mask you feel is required, which is after all another part of the social game that you always play. [...] You need a feeling of release, you need to be friends with yourself so that you can let your abilities flow freely. [...]

See (to Theodore) how that makes you spontaneous. [...] There is an old, unfortunate idea, and I am sure by now you are above it and it is, that in order to be pious you must work very hard and be extremely dignified. And the harder you work and the harder it becomes, the more sure you are that to be pious must be a great thing. [...]

[...] You do it by realizing emotionally two things: your relationship with everything else that exists and your miraculous uniqueness; and the meeting place between the two is where the self is and you think of the self. [...] Now, I will lead a sensitivity session here some night that will be some session. [...]

1. In Appendix 3 of Adventures Jane listed and described the altered states of consciousness that she’s attained so far in her psychic development. She also considered Seth Two in various other parts of Adventures. In Chapter 2, for instance, the Seth Two quotations are cast in the editorial “we,” the guise in which that energy gestalt often comes through: “We are trying to appreciate the nature of your present existence … For you there may seem to be an unbearable loneliness, because you are so used to relating to the warm victory of the flesh, and [here] there is no physical being … Yet beyond and within that isolation is a point of light that is consciousness. It pulses with the power behind all the emotions that you know … This is the warmth that … is born from the very devotion of our isolation … that creates the reality that you know, without itself experiencing it.”

(I’ve already cited Jane’s experience, as given in Chapter 17 of The Seth Material, showing that on rare occasions Seth Two and her feelings of massiveness can go together; but she can also be in an altered, massive state of consciousness without having a session, or she can be speaking for Seth. [...] In Volume 1, Seth devoted much of the 681st session to a discussion of probabilities, or, in sum, All That Is, and interwound Jane’s psychic and physical experiences with that material: “The cellular consciousness experiences itself as eternal … Part of Ruburt’s feeling of massiveness² comes from the mass [life-to-death] experience of the body, existing all at once. [...] Beginning at 11:10 in that session, see also Jane’s own comments on her massive responses.

[...] It’s a smooth transition in which perception is slowed down topwise, but deepened so that usually unperceived stimuli seem to rise from an underside of consciousness and bodily sensation. In that kind of relaxation the body itself perceives differently; that’s what I’m trying to emphasize. Looking at a leaf while in that state, I easily feel myself as part of the leaf, and I think this is a biological as well as a psychic perception. At certain levels the body feels that way itself, although ordinarily we aren’t aware of it. Such a relaxation, then, is almost an extension of biological insight.”

[...] Also, Seth Two had usually expressed “itself” in the singular, whereas tonight’s material was coming through under the plural “we”:) “All con-scious-ness has as-pects that are act-i-va-ted and ex-pressed in all idi-oms or real-i-ties. This is all we can clear-ly com-mun-i-cate with you now.”

“The gurus say: ‘Give it all up.’ One of those we read about today counsels: ‘When you want to do one thing, do another instead. Do not do what you want to do, but what you should do.’ Never trust the self that you are, the gurus say, but the self that you should be. And that self is supposed to be dead to desire, beyond wanting or caring; yet paradoxically, this nonfeeling leads to bliss. The gurus say that All That Is is within you, yet tell you not to trust yourself. If All That Is didn’t want appearances, we wouldn’t experience any! [...]

“Is my body an appearance, hence an untruth amid the truth which is changeless? Ah dear body, then, how lovely and blessed your untruth, which is sensate and feels desire through the hollowest of bones. How blessed, bodies, leaping alive from the microscopic molecules that combine to walk down the autumn streets; assemble to form the sweet senses’ discrimination that perceives, for a time, the precise joy and unity of even one passing afternoon. The body’s untruth, then, is holier than all truths, and if the body is an untruth then I hereby proclaim untruth, and truth and all the gurus’ truths as lies.

Yet Buddhist belief, for instance, maintains that our perception of the world is not fundamental, but an illusion; our “ignorance” of this basic undifferentiated “suchness” then results in the division of reality into objects and ideas. But why call our generalized awareness an illusion, instead of regarding it as one of the innumerable manifestations that reality takes? No one is free of certain minimum physical needs or of self-oriented thought, I remarked to Jane recently, and each nation strives to expand its technological base no matter what its philosophy may be. [...] Even given their undeniable accomplishments, why didn’t the Eastern countries create ages ago the immortal societies that could have served as models for those of the West to emulate — cultures and/or nations in which all the mundane human vicissitudes (in those terms) had been long understood and abolished: war, crime, poverty, ignorance, and disease?

“What is this passion for nonbeing, this denial of sensual life, that drives so many gurus and self-proclaimed prophets? [...] They bask in a sort of universal steam bath that drives all impurities of individuality or creativity from their souls, leaving them immersed, supposedly forever, in a bliss beyond description; in which, indeed, their own experience disappears.