“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

It does mean that action is turned into channels that are not to the best interests of the whole personality. The energies appear concentrated and turn inward, affecting the whole system. They represent offshoots, again not necessarily detrimental in themselves, but only when viewed from the standpoint of the other actions that form the personality framework.

For one thing, while pain is unpleasant it is also a method of familiarizing the self against the edges of quickened consciousness. Any heightened sensation, pleasant or unpleasant, has a stimulating effect upon a consciousness to some degree. It is a strong awareness of activity and life. Where the stimulus may be extremely annoying, and humiliatingly unpleasant, certain portions of the psychological framework accept it indiscriminatingly because it is a sensation, and a vivid one. This acquiescence to even painful stimuli is a basic part of the nature of consciousness, and a necessary one.