“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

A primary construction is a psychic gestalt, formed into matter by a consciousness of itself. Such a primary construction is an attempt to create, in the world of matter, a replica of the inner psychic construction of the whole self.

Consciousness therefore forms the primary construction about itself, not to protect itself from matter but in order to become allied with matter, the consciousness obviously being diffused through the whole physical construction.

The intertwining of consciousness and matter is most intricate and highly complicated. In all cases consciousness is first, and it forms its physical constructions according to its abilities, first of all forming its own primary construction, and then branching outward, constructing secondary images of other consciousnesses with whom it comes in contact.

The cooperative aspects of consciousness construction forms the whole fabric of your material universe. A subdivision of primary construction can be called the distortive mirror construction, which would include of course the physical construction of another physical being in birth.

The distortions are so great that the attempt is foredoomed. It is, nevertheless, attempted, and is a necessary physical adjunct to constructions in your field. I have explained birth, at least briefly. The new human being is obviously not either the father or the mother, and yet is obviously a construction formed by each from physical matter belonging to each.

Growth is an erroneous conception that begins with the distortive idea of continuous physical matter, durable in time. And as you know instead, matter is the simultaneous expression of consciousness. Matter has little, really no, durability in itself, and is merely the instantaneous form taken by consciousness as it projects itself in the physical field.

The form that consciousness takes in the field of matter is determined by its own strength and capacity. Consciousness forces its way into matter. You should see, then, that though you call a particular portion of grass one blade of grass, the matter that composes it is not static or permanent, and it is not a particular physical object growing, since the matter that composes it is neither static or permanent.

Again, there is absolutely no continuity in the matter that composes the seeds, and the matter that composes the grass. What you have instead is the value fulfillment of the consciousness behind matter, as it expands and expresses itself in various forms.

Since you can more or less count upon the appearance of grass seed, preceding grass, all this may seem making much over nothing, but it is very important, as you will see later. It is not matter that has continuity, and it is not matter that dictates the form.

Consider a lawn. Obviously this is an arbitrary designation for utility’s sake. Of itself, the matter of grass does not form itself into a lawn. You merely designate certain portions of grass and call it lawn.

You call a floor a floor. Matter may be added to the floor in the form of paint or varnish, yet you still call the floor the floor. Paint may be added to a house, and paint may disappear from a house through weathering, and you still call a house a house.

You call yourself yourself, though the color of your hair may change; and indeed the adult bears little resemblance to the child. Form simply cannot be a characteristic of matter, since matter can be proven to come and go, while form in many cases remains recognizable.