“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

Chapter Five. (Pause.) “The Constant Creation of the Physical Body.” As mentioned (in Chapter Four), the conscious mind is a portion of the inner self; that part that surfaces, so to speak, and meets physical reality more or less directly.

You are mainly concerned now with physical orientation and the corporeal materialization of inner reality. Therefore the conscious mind holds in ready access the information that you require for effective day-to-day living. It is not necessary that you hold in steady consciousness data that does not directly apply to what you consider your physical reality at any given “time.”

(Pause, one of many.) As soon as the need for such data — aid, information, or knowledge — arises, then it is immediately forthcoming unless your own conscious beliefs cause a barrier. The exquisite, precise and concentrated focus of your conscious mind is quite necessary in physical life. It is because of this highly selective quality that you can “tune into” the particular range of activity that is physical.

In their own way, animals also possess this selective consciousness. They also focus their attention in very specific directions, perceiving from a vast general field of perception stimuli that is “recognized” and accepted in an organized manner.

Now the animals’ conscious minds, connected with their physical brains, make this necessary selectivity possible. Without it there would be an “out of focus” effect that would make physical survival impossible, so certain portions of the inner self come to the foreground of being.

New sentence: Because your mind in life is connected with the brain and the physical organism, it is automatically attuned to corporeal reality, and to some extent of course it ignores some nonphysical data that lies within any given field of perception. Quite simply, it does not allow it into its organizing perceptions. It [the data] is then blocked out.

In your present life the conscious mind assesses physical reality and has behind it all the energy, power and ability of the inner self at its disposal. Any information that it requires will be available. Its job is to assess that reality effectively, using that fine focus mentioned earlier. (See Chapter Two.) Because of its character, consciousness, or the conscious mind, cannot be swamped by too much detail, too much information. The inner self sends to it only the information it asks for or feels necessary. To a very large extent then conscious beliefs act as great liberators of such inner data, or as inhibitors of it. Are you following me?

The conscious mind is itself developing and expanding. It is not a thing. It learns through experience and through the effects of its behavior. The inner self brings about whatever results the conscious mind desires.

It does not leave the conscious mind at loose ends nor isolate it from the fountains of its own being. Because the conscious mind is part of the inner self, it is obviously made of the same energy, filled with the same vitality, and revitalized by the deep sources of creativity from which all being emerges.

You must understand that it is not cut off from the inner self. The inner self keeps the physical body alive even as it formed it. The miraculous constant translation of spirit into flesh is carried on with inexhaustible energy by these inner portions of being, but in all cases the inner self looks to the conscious mind for its assessment of the body’s condition and reality, and forms the image in line with the conscious mind’s beliefs.

So — once more — you form reality through your beliefs, and your most intimate production is your physical body. Your beliefs about it are constantly fed into inner data. You organize on an unconscious level the atoms and molecules that compose your cells to form your body. But the blueprint is made by your conscious beliefs. To change your body you change your beliefs, even in the face of physical data or evidence that conflicts.

You each have a body and you each have a consciousness. You can practice with these ideas by applying them to your body. For now we are taking into consideration the fact that, generally speaking, you are not going to make yourself five physical feet taller if you are a grown adult already, because there are certain physical laws with which you must contend. We will discuss those more fully later.

(As Seth, Jane paused during her delivery. She evidently changed her mind about just what to say and how to say it.)

What should you do, then, if you find yourself feeling tired? This is your conscious assessment of your body’s reality at a given time. You want to change it so you do not reinforce it. Instead you say mentally that the body can now begin to rest and refresh itself. You take your initial judgment for granted then without restating it, and instead suggest the remedy be carried out (positively).