“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

Our Ruburt did indeed steal from me a few paragraphs in his book, that were not rightfully his in one manner of speaking. In a brief communication one afternoon I explained to him the similarity between multiple personalities and the various aspects of the personality as it appeared in the dreaming and trance states.

Nevertheless it is known that cases of legitimate multiple personality exist. Here we have several personalities, all operating within one self, each unaware of the other, and each going his own separate way.

The primary ego is equally unaware of the other personalities, who very often are actually struggling for dominancy. Now. With this in mind, consider once more the various aspects of the self in the waking and the dream states. The conscious “I” is unaware of the “I” who dreams. Indeed, the dreaming “I” seems more familiar with the waking self upon many occasions. Here you have excellent examples that correspond to your dual or multiple personality thesis.

It should be obvious that there is nothing strange in the fact that the dreaming self and the waking self appear so unfamiliar to each other. The study of hypnotism will greatly enlarge man’s understanding of human personality in general. These separate states of consciousness, these multiple levels of awareness, these seemingly unrelated personality aspects, are not unnatural artificial productions, brought about through hypnosis. Hypnotism is merely a method that allows you to study the personality directly.

Its nature becomes known, for the personality, again, is not an object, nor is it an unchanging unit. You have been studying it in the past in a very superficial manner. It should be remembered however that hypnotism is also an action, and as such hypnotism will change the personality to some extent, as all action changes and affects other actions.

I am grateful to your psychologists’ ideas concerning multiple personalities, since they present excellent analogies—

I cannot stress too strongly the fact that any investigation into the nature of the human personality must indeed follow the lines which have been here given. The nature of reality, uncamouflaged, can be glimpsed to some degree as you study the personality in the dream state, where awareness does not operate in an ego-directed manner.

Again, the nature of space and time is glimpsed more clearly as it appears to the sleeping self, for in the dream state reality is to a large measure uncamouflaged, and the personality appears in a freer state. It should also be borne in mind that all aspects of the personality are part of the whole self. As such there is an overall communication between the various aspects of the self, although the separate aspects of the self may not be aware of the communications.

We have seen therefore that suggestions may be given by the waking personality to the sleeping personality, and these directions will be followed. They will be followed however by the sleeping self in its own fashion, and according to its own understanding. The solutions asked for may not appear to the conscious self in the fashion that it expects. The conscious self may not even recognize that it has been given a particular solution, and yet it may act upon the solution.

The inner ego directs all activities which are deeply subjective. The outer ego as you know deals with the manipulation of the self in the physical environment. You must remember that the whole self is more than the sum of its parts; and also, since it is action, it is never the same. It is therefore impossible at any moment to pinpoint the personality. Therefore the whole self is not only the sum of the personality as you know it in your time, it is also the sum of what it has been and what it shall be. For as I have explained action is simultaneous, and time as you think of it is caused by your own physical perception.

Therefore, in the dream state communication is possible between all portions of the self. The personality appears in its truest state if it seems, in dreams, that you are free of space and time. It is indeed because the basic self is free of space and time. If you appear to hear voices out of the past, if you seem to see into the future, it is because the dream state is a more or less faithful approximation of a basic reality in which your time and space simply do not exist.

We will be dealing rather extensively with a study of space and distance and time as they appear within the dream state, and with the freedoms that are possible for the personality within it. All of this information can be used most beneficially. It will enable the ego itself to expand its consciousness and its knowledge.