“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

Now, to return to an earlier discussion. What you call suggestion is indeed expectation. You should understand by now how the physical image is constructed. This construction is from the inside out. The inner self attempts to construct a physical image in line with its own self-image. Any errors of construction have their origin not in the inner self, but in either the personal subconscious or in the ego.

As errors and mistakes creep into the physical organic system, bringing forth mutant genes and distortions, so also these mutant genes and distortions are, on a smaller scale, the result of inner distortions within the consciousness of the individual genes.

You think for example in terms of good and bad suggestions, and I have on occasion used the terms myself, in order to make a point clear. However what you call suggestion, left alone, is a part of the inner impetus of action, which is translated in all areas of consciousness outward.

What interrupts this inner impetus could be compared to what you call poor suggestion. It is indeed distortive. It represents a blocking of impetus. It interrupts what should be a simultaneous and easy flow of inner impetus outward, in your case outward to physical construction. The particular negative words spoken or thought are but indications of this break of impetus. The break occurs first, and it is for this reason that what you call negative suggestions therefore are acted upon.

The negative suggestions therefore are symptoms of an inner block of energy and impetus. They represent a rift that has already occurred. It is rather important that I make this point clear. It goes without saying that these which you call negative suggestions are in themselves actions. They represent however dead eddies, the motion that means nothing in dead waters. They are impeding actions.

What you call a negative suggestion is never acted upon unless the inner block of energies has already occurred. Suggestion, as I understand it, is the culmination of the inner voice that urges action into ever more diverse and creative patterns.

It is this that allows the body its physical manifestation. It is this that allows for all change. It can be called on one level instinct, on other levels it is much more. When it operates at its most efficient level suggestion is indeed the inner affirmation. Without the ego we do not have what you call negative suggestions, for when action is left to itself it flows unimpeded, seeking its fulfillment along its numberless unimpeded ways.

The personal subconscious can be thought of as a threshold between the ego and the inner self; not only can glimmerings of the inner self be glimpsed through the subconscious, but also the diverse characteristics of the ego touch this personal subconscious. When the ego, therefore, becomes too overbearing it attempts to impede the flow of action. It cannot so impede action directly, for the very act of forming such impediments involves action. Nevertheless such impediments often set up actions that block the overall movement or direction of the action that composes the whole personality.

The delicate inner mechanisms by which inner reality should be constructed into physical reality therefore become seriously affected. Distortions occur almost like mutant mental genes, which are then faithfully and duly reproduced.

You recall, I am sure, the material concerning the gestalt of the physical body. Here suggestion constantly plays its part in the formation of the tissues, and in all other such areas of development and growth. There are various manners in which these inner suggestions are translated from inner pure energy form into the electrical and chemical systems which compose the physical organisms, and it is possible for errors of translation to occur along these lines.

It will refuse to assimilate certain experiences. This very refusal is in itself an action. It will attempt to construct itself on a physical level, since it is within the physical system of reality. The cooperation is broken down to some greater or lesser degree. This conflicts with the inner data in the case of illnesses, and the illnesses are actually the result of conflicts of data. It is obvious that the body is equipped to handle many such distorted actions, but a conflict is hereby brought into play, where constructive energies or actions are not given full reign, and patterns of distortions are set up within the system.