“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

What you call suggestion, to return to our present subject matter, is but a projection into the physical universe of data that operates constantly, as a basis for, and within, action. It is basically a psychic manifestation that gives direction to action, and to the various manifestations which action may take.

Suggestion is therefore one of the characteristics of action. The term suggestion is a poor one. As it operates within your system, and within the human personality, the word expectation is a much better term. Nevertheless, expectation is only one phase, for the same kind of inner directive activity is pertinent within all forms of action.

What you call suggestion then is but a small aspect of a larger directive characteristic that is ever part of action itself. It is indeed in the nature of an impetus, an inner impetus that belongs to action, and is not some force separated from action, and acting upon it. This impetus is a natural and spontaneous movement that springs from within action itself. It can even be termed the direction, or the various spontaneous directions, in which action itself moves.

These directions are not forced upon action by any laws. They are merely the resultant patterns with which energy expresses itself. You are only familiar as a rule with this impetus, or these directions, in rather shallow manners, for the ego prefers not to perceive them. These motions are merely the flow which action takes. What you term negative suggestions are usually impeding actions, or directions of action which impede the main directive inner flow. They operate then in much the same manner as crosscurrents, setting up blockages, and impeding main energies by dividing them in several diverse directions.

It is important that it be understood that suggestion, as you know it, is but the manifestation of inner flows and inner directions. Without the inward flows and directions, it goes without saying that action would indeed involve itself in chaotic disorders, without constructive patterns or materializations. It would instead entangle itself within the power of its own energy, and be unable to form any long-lasting patterns or frameworks within which fulfillments and fairly permanent constructions could be formed.

When you speak of negative suggestions, you are actually referring to a situation where such crosscurrents entangle action within itself, and therefore impede the main constructive impetus that unrestricted action allows. Until the energy, once again, becomes disentangled, action will therefore flow also in the crosscurrents, and the main trunk of energy that gives overall integrity and identity to any given unit could therefore be severely threatened.

I suggest your first break.

We will discuss what you call suggestion in more practical terms, for your particular uses. Nevertheless it is necessary that its basic nature be understood. The ego simply cannot judge, as a rule, whether an action is a constructive or an impeding one, for the personality as a whole.

Suggestions given by an individual on any kind of a conscious basis have to be given with the cooperation of the ego. Many suggestions bypass the ego entirely. Suggestion however, as you think of it, operates both ways. This is not usually understood. Suggestions may come therefore from the physical world, to act upon the personality. Suggestions may also come from within the personality to act upon the physical environment.

You can indeed to a large measure train yourself to react to constructive rather than impeding suggestions. This merely means that you will, or may to some extent, choose the direction in which action within you will move. This also implies that some part of the personality does the choosing, and is capable of distinguishing a constructive suggestion from an impeding one. And here it is necessary that we discuss more thoroughly the nature or characteristics of constructive suggestions versus impeding ones, for one may turn into the other.

I now suggest your break.

This is the ideal circumstance, for when this is the case then the ego listens to the inner self, and then directs its energy outward in a way that is beneficial for the whole gestalt framework. What you call negative suggestions are often judgments of the ego, for suggestion works from the ego to the subconscious, as well as it works the other way around. Such suggestions made by the ego can indeed be caught, and positive or constructive suggestions given to replace them.

However, automatic responses can also be set up, so that only constructive suggestions are reacted to. In such instances however, the inner self should be allowed to make the judgment ultimately, as to which suggestions are constructive and which are not.

There are certain manners that are more advantageous than others in the giving of such suggestions, and we will go into these at another session. We may also, indeed, begin at least a partial study of the framework of the personality as it is related to action, for such a discussion will follow along well with our material on suggestion.

It must be understood that the personality is indeed an action within action, and that it is therefore never stationary. Indeed suggestions, being the directions in which action moves, represent the very impetus that constantly changes the action of any given personality. It goes without saying, once more, that all of these designations imply a separation which does not exist in fact, and imply definite boundaries which are not present.