“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

CHAPTER
NINETEEN:

The Inner Senses—
What They Are
and
How to Use Them

“First, you must try to understand the nature of reality. To some small extent I have begun to explain this in the Seth Material. The five hundred and some-odd sessions we have barely represent an outline, but they are enough to start with. The ideas, in themselves, will make you think. I have told you that there are Inner Senses as well as physical ones. These will enable you to perceive reality as it exists independently of the physical world. You must learn to recognize, develop, and use these Inner Senses. The methods are given in the material. But you cannot utilize the material until you understand it.

The Inner Senses are not important because they release clairvoyant or telepathic abilities, but because they reveal to us our own independence from physical matter, and let us recognize our unique, individual multidimensional identity. Properly utilized, they also show us the miracle of physical existence and our place in it. We can live a wiser, more productive, happier physical life because we begin to understand why we are here, individually and as a people.

The Inner Senses help us use telepathic abilities, for example. This doesn’t mean that we will always be able to “read minds.” It means that in family, business, or social contacts, we will be intuitively aware of what the other person is saying to us: we will know what is beneath words. We will also use words better ourselves to communicate our inner feelings since we will know what those feelings are. We will not be afraid of them or feel the need to cover them up.

At times, we can “read minds”—though that is a popular term, leaving much to be desired. But to use the Inner Senses properly, they must be used smoothly, often blending one into the other. It is often difficult to know whether we are receiving clairvoyant or telepathic information, for example. Not that it matters. Using the Inner Senses, we simply increase our entire range of perceptions.

As I write this, I am picking up all sorts of information about my environment, but I am hardly aware of doing so. Certainly I don’t consciously separate visual and auditory data unless I stop to think of it, though I know I receive the information through different senses. All of the physical senses operate at once to give us our picture of reality. We use the Inner Senses the same way, constantly, far beneath usual conscious notice. In order to explain them, we must describe them separately, though their effects are felt together.

“Think of the Inner Senses as paths leading to an inner reality. The first sense involves perception of a direct nature—instant cognition through what I can only describe as inner vibrational touch. Imagine a man standing on a typical street of houses and grass and trees. This sense would permit him to feel the basic sensations felt by each of the trees about him. His consciousness would expand to contain the experience of what it is to be a tree—any or all of the trees. He would feel the experience of being anything he chose within his field of notice: people, insects, blades of grass. He would not lose consciousness of who he was, but would perceive these sensations somewhat in the same way that you now feel heat and cold.”

This sense is much like empathy, but far more vital. (Seth says that we can’t experience these Inner Senses in their full intensity now, because our nervous systems can’t handle that much stimuli.) It’s difficult to categorize experiences of this kind, but I think that I was using inner vibrational touch in the following instance:

One night while Bill and Peg Gallagher were visiting us, a neighbor also came to call. Polly was a rather emotional young woman, and she asked me if I could “pick up” any impressions about her. I refused, saying that I was tired. Actually I felt that she was “highly charged,” unpleasantly so, and I didn’t want to get involved. Apparently my curiosity got the best of me. I switched to my Inner Senses to find out what was wrong—but without realizing that I was doing so. (In the use of the Inner Senses, like anything else, we have to learn discrimination and discretion.)

Generally, though, this first Inner Sense can be extremely valuable, leading to expansion of experience, greater understanding, and compassion. Using it, with practice, you can feel the living emotional element of any living thing, rejoicing in its vitality. It does not diminish individuality, and it does not imply psychic invasion. We are not to be psychic Peeping Toms, but should use these abilities only to help others or, joyfully, as we use muscles and bones. The intent is important, but I don’t believe that you can use these senses wrongfully in any basic way; if you aren’t ready to utilize them properly, your own personality will see to it that you don’t use them consciously at all.