“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

Until an individual gains enough confidence in the concept of a safe universe, he or she will hang on to many of those attitudes. They are disturbing because at one stage they are only felt but not understood for what they are. If you are convinced that your world is not safe then it seems sensible to protect yourself in questionable areas by expecting the worst so that you will be prepared. Unfortunately such expectations, of course, are disadvantageous. They have, however, a strong basis in your society from childhood up. “Wear a sweater or you will catch a cold.” A simple enough suggestion, it seems, a preventive measure. Yet in that innocent remark lies the assumption that the cold can be expected rather than, say, a normal state of health.

I spoke of many minds in our last book session. Esoteric literature has mentioned various levels of reality, numbered and named them. These refer, however, to man’s other minds. They represent other kinds of mental experience, in which reality is organized differently. Identity itself is put together in another fashion. I could have said that one mind had many variations, but then you would still try to understand the concept using your old ideas about identity itself. You grow out of identities, and into others, all the while retaining an indestructible portion that does the changing. You do not discard a self as you might throw off a coat, but you do have a wardrobe of selves. This happens even in the life you know and recognize, even though you do everything possible to exaggerate the similarities and minimize the differences, so that you always seem to be the self that you have always known.

In each, man pursued different kinds of focuses. Individual life, religion, culture, politics, were each vastly different in each period, the concept of the self profoundly different in one era and another. This is something not at all understood.

You do not understand how revolutionary the concept is, and yet it is the only concept that will enable the race not only to fulfill its potential, but to continue its existence.

Ruburt’s condition has vacillated through the years, yet always contained within it the great thrusts toward health, and the improvements. These did not become official, meaning they did not triumph. Neither did their evidence disappear. The habit patterns, the attitudes, connected with the unsafe universe persisted, even as Ruburt became aware of the concept. Individually, however, in those terms he is well ahead of the species’ development.