“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

We must unfortunately often deal with analogies, because they can form bridgeworks between concepts. There are units of consciousness,³ then, as there are units of matter. I do not want you to think of these units as particles. There is a basic unit of consciousness that, expressed, will not be broken down, as once it was thought that an atom was the smallest unit and could not be broken down. The basic unit of consciousness obviously is not physical. It contains within itself innately infinite properties of expansion, development, and organization; yet within itself always maintains the kernel of its own individuality. Despite whatever organizations it becomes part of, or how it mixes with other such basic units, its own identity is not annihilated.

This basic unit is endowed with unpredictability. That very unpredictability allows for infinite patterns and fulfillments. The word “soul” unfortunately has been so used in regard to your species that it becomes highly difficult to unravel the conceptual difficulties. Using usual definitions, you would call a soul the result of a certain organization of such units, which you would then recognize as a “soul.”

(9:47.) That leads to the old inevitable questions: Do animals have souls — or do trees, or rocks? In line with the usual definition then, in your terms, this smallest unit would be “soul stuff.” That viewpoint however is highly limited, for “above you,” using that scale, there are other more developed organizations of these units; and so from that “more exalted viewpoint,” you would seem to be junior souls indeed.

All psychological structures then are composed of such organizations, however long-or short-lived in your terms. They are innately endowed with the desire or propensity for growth and creative organization. They are not found alone, then, in isolation. Since these units of consciousness exist at once, they are aware of all the organized self-structures of which they are a part. To this extent, all probable realities are connected in that basic manner. These units grow out of themselves. Since I have told you that in your terms your past, present, and future exist at once, these units are constantly emerging out of your now-point from both the future and the past.

These basic units move toward organizations then of a selective nature. Having an unpredictable field to draw from, they select activity according to those significances. Period. Various kinds of significances are the result of the units’ individual natures. The body that you have is a probable body. It is the result of one line of “development” that could be taken by your particular earth personality in flesh. All of the other possible lines of development also occur, however. They occur at once, but each one simultaneously affects every other. There is actually far greater interaction here than you realize, because you are not used to looking for it. The harder you work to maintain the official accepted idea of the self in conventional terms, the more of course you block out any kind of unpredictability.

Because of the great organizing nature of these basic units, there are also psychological structures that are quite capable of holding their own identities while being aware of any given number of probable selves. Life after death has great meaning in your reality, because death is a part of it. Your greater reality obviously transcends both your births and your deaths. The idea of one universe alone is basically nonsensical. Your reality must be seen in its relationship to others.⁸ Otherwise you are always caught in questions like “How did the universe begin?” or “When will it end?” All systems are constantly being created.