“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

It has not been drowned completely by any means. Attempting to cut itself off, however, from the wholeness of the whole personality, the ego must strain for its reserves of energy; for in a large measure, it refuses to accept the energy of the whole personality that is available to it.

The very journey involved in self-discovery, the very self-questioning involved, is indeed part of the process of recovery. The energy being used in the maintenance of the ulcer will already begin to take new channels. The thoughts and anticipations of the personality have already begun to stray from the all-important ulcer to the causes behind it, for in this case, as in many others, we find a strange phenomenon.

The personality can survive well without the ulcer. If this sounds like a foolish statement it is not, for in many such cases the ulcer is so concentrated upon, and so much energy is used in its maintenance, and it is used as such a scapegoat, that the personality is loath to be rid of it.

When you see that the ulcer does not belong to you in these terms, then indeed you will have no purpose in using your energies to maintain it. It is not part of your heritage. It is not part of the whole self; and now, we will see the purpose of the ego in all this is to protect what it considers the self, for the ego considers itself as the only self.