“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

Now: you must understand, for one thing, that telepathy operates constantly at a subconscious level. If you continually expect any individual to behave in a particular manner, then you are constantly sending him telepathic suggestions that he will do so. Every individual reacts to suggestion. According then to the specific conditions existing at the time, such an individual will to some extent or another act according the mass suggestions he has received.

These mass suggestions include not only those given to him by others, both verbally and telepathically, but also those suggestions that he has given to himself while in the waking or dream states. If individual A is in a period of despondency, then this is because he has already become prey to negative suggestions of his own and others. If now you see him and think that he looks miserable—or that he is an incurable drunk—then indeed these suggestions are picked up by him subconsciously though you have not spoken a word, and in his already weakened condition, they will be accepted and acted upon.

You have been examining others, rather than examining the self. What you see of others is the materialization of what you think, subconsciously, that you are: not necessarily what you are. For example: if others seem deceitful to you it is because you deceive yourself and then project this outward onto others.

This is, of course, on a subconscious basis. Another example only: a very industrious individual thinks the majority of mankind are lazy and good for nothing. No one would ever think of calling him lazy or good for nothing, yet this may be precisely his own subconscious picture of himself, against which he drives himself incessantly, all in an effort to prove that his erroneous self-image is, indeed, wrong. And all without realizing his basic concept of himself and without recognizing the fact that he projects it outward onto others.

True self-knowledge is indispensable for health or vitality, and this means in every instance. The recognition of the truth about the self means that you must first discover what you think about yourself subconsciously. If this is a good image, build upon it. If it is a poor one, recognize it as simply the opinion of the subconscious and not as a definite truth.

The subconscious has its opinions as the ego does.