“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

The subconscious, and in fact all portions of the self with the exception of the ego, are capable of assimilating a wider area, so to speak, of action. Therefore to these other portions of the self, time has a much different essence than it has for the ego. The ego is indeed many things. It can be defined in relationship to many other aspects of reality. In relationship to action, and moment points, the ego is indeed that portion of the self which stands at the apex of the moment point, and is limited by the moment point. The ego is in this context the portion of the self which is utterly focused upon, and imprisoned by, the moment point.

The subconscious however is not so limited. If you consider the ego at the apex of the moment point, and imprisoned therefore within the realm of its own before-and-after, cause-and-effect experience, then you can imagine the subconscious reaching further outward and seizing upon many other moment points. It should be easy to see then why the focus of the ego is so sharp and brilliant. Within its limited scope there is intensity of stimuli and response. Indeed, the ego is that portion of the personality which is plunged into a specific and intense preoccupation with a given field of action or dimension.

Your whole concept of time is built about your own capacity for perceiving action; as this capacity for perceiving action grows, so indeed do the dimensions of time grow. Conceivably therefore one moment of your time would indeed be experienced by the whole self as centuries.

For to the whole self all personalities that compose it exist simultaneously, and personalities that would appear to you as future personalities are experienced by the whole self in the same dimension as it experiences personalities that you would call past personalities. For all your ideas of time are illusion, not merely philosophical illusions, but delusions as far as any basic reality is concerned.

The whole self not only perceives these limitless moment points, but being a part of action, each whole self projects fragments and personalities from itself to all these points, creating therefore other egos, other intense focus points which are independent, which work out their own destinies and experiences, which in turn perceive any given moment point in slow motion.

The inner ego looks inward, yet in looking inward it looks outward toward those vast portions of the self. Because there is always action within action, and because of the three dilemmas of which we have spoken earlier, the new personalities projected outward into other fields of perception, or other moment points, these other personalities in turn create new ones, and the cycle is again repeated.

Time, physical matter, these are but portions of action as perceived in one particular fashion. The basic stuff, or the basic action of the universe, is one. It is perceived differently, and therefore reality constantly wears a different face. It is speeded up or slowed down according to the scope of perception.

Yet within your own psychological experience you can perceive its fluid nature. The material that I have given you concerning the three dilemmas will be most helpful here.

A note here: Ruburt may try the psychological time experiments twenty minutes daily; and indeed yes, the time of the day should be uniform. I would suggest now that he seriously begin to schedule this with his daily activities. It is best that you be in the house with him, Joseph. And indeed, for your own edification your life in general will be much more comfortable within what I would call a short time; though to you this may be two years, before a noticeable change is apparent.

Despite the fact that I had not intended to deliver any personal material this evening, a small note to you, Joseph: you should now once again concern yourself with your painting. It is very necessary to your own concept of yourself in many ways. Not only do you impart energy into a painting, but you also derive energy from a painting even while you are working on it. I had indeed meant to mention this earlier.

There is a delicate connection here with the dream universe that is somewhat difficult to explain. The dream universe, however, pervades many other fields. It does not exist outside or apart from your own universe, but simultaneously with it. It appears, and is a reality, to all aspects or portions of the self, and often it is only within the dream universe that the personality can change focus easily or efficiently enough so that he can perceive the variety of roles that he himself has played.

There are such manipulations within various systems that change other systems. Your own behavior and action within the dream universe definitely affects the physical universe. From one field of activity then you have changed another, and without ever knowing, in many cases, that you have done so. In the same manner do the activities of the physical universe alter the dream system. It is virtually impossible for me to explain all these inner workings. We will have to wait until you can experience concepts for much of that.

Inner action, in terms of psychological reality, is every bit as important as physical action; more important. It would be most unfortunate if either or both of you let physical action on the part of others stand in the way of beneficial action on your own parts.

I tell you that you are indeed headed for more comfortable times, but this does not mean that there is not very much within your own daily life now to be thankful for. Spontaneity will open many doors. I am speaking of emotional spontaneity.