“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(Slowly:) The part of Augustus who felt powerful and alien became personified. When Augustus felt threatened then the conscious mind switched over, accepting as operating procedure the system of beliefs in which Augustus saw himself as all-powerful, secure — but as alien. This part of his beliefs, therefore, and this particular self-image, took over his conscious mind and became what we will here call Augustus Two. When Augustus Two assumed leadership then the physical body itself was not only strong and powerful, but capable of physical feats far surpassing those of Augustus One.

(10:01.) Augustus Two, you see, believes that his body is nearly invincible, and following this belief the body does perform much better. Augustus Two believes that he is an alien. In this case the rationale — because there must be one — is that he is a being from another planet, in fact from another galaxy. His purpose in this case is quite clear and simple: He is to help Augustus One, to use his power on the latter’s behalf, rewarding his friends and terrifying his enemies. Augustus One quite deeply believes he needs this kind of help.

Augustus One’s moods of course were a direct result of the ideas he was entertaining. It was this unceasing swing from high states of exaltation and power to low ones of powerlessness and depression that the body could not tolerate, because of the vast alterations entailed. For the greater periods of time Augustus One predominates, since his ideas of worthlessness, in your terms, were adopted earlier; and worse — are only reinforced by the contrast between him and Augustus Two. Augustus Two comes on sometimes for as long as a week at a time.

He does all the things and says all the things that Augustus One would dearly love to do and say, with only certain safeguards. Augustus One, however, is not literally unconscious during this time, but quite aware of the “vicarious” activities and fulfillments. Again, it is a game of hide-and-seek, in which the so-called unconscious mind is relatively innocent.

Augustus Two can therefore rant and rave, lie and cheat, assert himself, show his contempt for his fellows, and absolve Augustus One of any responsibility.

His nature is protective. The basic ideas and beliefs that have been personified into his being, that became his being, were formed to protect Augustus One from the destructive ideas given to him in his childhood, to combat the beliefs in powerlessness and futility. To that degree they were added onto the original ideas, but still at an early age; so it was from the child’s concept of a powerful being that Augustus Two sprang.

His beliefs in his unworthiness prevented him from using his abilities, or even pursuing a course of effective action, with any persistence. It was then that Augustus Two began to assert himself — and to Augustus’s wife. In his own way Augustus Two would prove to her that she was married to quite an unusual, powerful man, a paragon of virility and strength; but to do so Augustus One must appear as Augustus Two to her. This continued for some time. Augustus One would first develop a splitting headache, and then this alien from outer space would arrive: the commanding male that Augustus One was not.

(Pause.) Here, however, the “deception” brought about certain difficulties. Not only was Augustus Two more sexually promiscuous, but by contrast Augustus One seemed very pallid indeed. Augustus Two was originally intended to help Augustus One. It’s true that the exotic conditions spilled over, casting some glamour on Augustus One when Augustus Two left for a time, but the contrast was too blatant, too out in the open. Augustus One, still the primary personality, became even more frightened. He knew that gradually Augustus Two was outliving his purpose, showing him up, and had to go.

(10:46.) In fact, once Augustus Two obviously “took over” the body of Augustus One, it was all out in the open in the family. The wife began to take notes of what was done and said. When these events were repeated to Augustus One later, the lying and cheating was evident. So was the infantile nature of the “personality”; yet Augustus Two purported to be all-wise, from a galaxy far surpassing Earth in every category of endeavor. And here he was making predictions that never happened, and boasting and lying like a trouper.

The beliefs whose energy generated this “alternate self image” then appeared in the daylight, acting out their natural results in physical reality. Augustus One, now in manhood, was forced to perceive the nature of these beliefs to some extent, yet when he was here visiting Ruburt he still would not examine them.

Augustus Two has not taken over now for two and one-half months. Augustus is in a dilemma, for he still holds intact the beliefs in his own powerlessness, and the contradictory beliefs of omnipotence are not now being expressed through Augustus Two. Yet expressed they will be; and so in the interview Augustus One — who we will now simply call Augustus — at one moment came through with his gigantic belligerence, staring at Ruburt and telling him that he could annihilate anyone who hurt him. In the next moment the great plea for help would surface, the love of his wife and child. In one sentence Augustus would make a statement, and ten minutes later make it clear with another remark that the first fact had not been true.

Here the polarity between Augustus One and Two had dissolved, so that the two opposing systems of belief operated alongside each other. Still Augustus would not examine his own words, his own thoughts, or see the contradictions so obvious to others.

For the body of Augustus is once again under the sway of beliefs about himself that are highly contradictory. Before, he was physically powerful when he was Augustus Two, and weak when he was Augustus One. Now as Augustus he is alternately strong and weak, and the body stresses are apparent. As Augustus Two he could stay up night and day and perform physical tasks quite difficult for the normal human being to do, for he operated under the indivisible idea of power and strength.

Here then is a case where directly opposing beliefs dominated the conscious mind at various times, each operating the body in its own manner. Physically the body has the same capacity for strength regardless of which group of ideas were dominant; but practically speaking, Augustus One was incapable of performing the feats of Augustus Two.

It was only because the childlike characteristics of Augustus Two finally appeared so blatantly that Augustus Two had to be dispensed with. Augustus’s wife made the difference, for it was obvious that she did not have the same opinion of this “friend” that her husband had. Her beliefs then became the new foundation, the one point of change that allowed Augustus to view this alternate self-image with any kind of detachment at all.

(I’ve always found that the material seems to fly away unless it’s recorded at once in some fashion. One of the reasons for this, I’ve often thought, is because Jane isn’t the only one who’s in a trance during a session — the receiver [myself, for instance] is too, in his or her own way. When the connections between Seth and his audience are broken, the material is to some degree “left behind” in that common meeting area.)