“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(Seth’s clever, somewhat humorous stresses in the above paragraph were intended to make certain points to me personally while he continued work on his book. Involved were discussions between Jane and me today, and some poor perceptions on my part.)

Now let me give you a brief example of a core belief. It is a blanket belief: human nature is inherently evil. This is a core belief. About it will spring events that only serve to reinforce it. Experiences — both personal and global — will come into the perception of a person who holds this belief, that will only serve to deepen it further.

From all the available physical data of newspapers, television, letters and private communication, he or she will concentrate only upon those issues that “prove” that point. Suspicion of others will grow, to say nothing about the individual’s personal distrust. The belief will reach into the most intimate areas of his or her life, and finally no evidence will seem to be available to disprove it.

This is a sample of an invisible core belief at its worst. A person holding it will not trust a mate, family, friends, colleagues, country, or the world in general.

Another more personal core belief: “My life is worthless. What I do is meaningless.” Now a person who holds such an idea will ordinarily not recognize it as an invisible belief. Instead he or she may emotionally feel that life has no meaning, that individual action is meaningless, that death is annihilation; and connected to this will be a conglomeration of subsidiary beliefs that deeply affect the family involved, and all those with whom such a person comes in contact.

In writing down your list of personal beliefs, therefore, leave nothing out. Examine the list as though it belonged to someone else. I did not want to imply that you make a list of specifically negative ideas, however. It is of supreme importance that you recognize the existence of joyful beliefs, and take into consideration those elements of your own experience with which you have had success.

“Wealth is everything.” Now this idea is far from a truth. The person who accepts it completely, though, will be wealthy and in excellent health, and everything will fit in quite well with his beliefs. Yet the idea is still a belief about reality, and so there will be invisible gulfs in his experience of which he is ignorant.

On the outside the situation will look most advantageous, and while the person seems quite content, beneath there will be the gnawing knowledge of incompletion. On the surface there will be balance.

But here you become involved with one of the most meaningful aspects of the nature of personal reality, as you test your thoughts against what seems to be. There may be a time before you learn how to change your thoughts effectively, but you are engaged in a basic meaningful endeavor.