“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

The characteristics of the ego therefore change as various situations are met. The term ego, implying one phenomena, is therefore confusing. What was ego today may belong to the subconscious tomorrow. [...]

[...] For the tumbling under is the motion that forms the ego itself, and without it the ego would be meaningless.

Various portions of the self therefore face physical reality at any given time as the ego. [...] An attempt to maintain the status quo is of course natural on the part of the ego, but when this becomes a stubborn effort to maintain dominancy then the difficulties arise. [...]

It attempted to stop other portions of the personality from entering into the ego framework. This ego that so behaved was then simply a group of particular qualities belonging to Ruburt, that were given control for a while to meet particular circumstances, and then stubbornly refused to return to the whole personality.

The ego is indeed a necessity within the physical field at this point of man’s development. The ego is in a state of becoming, however. The ego is not what it was centuries ago, and it will not be the same centuries from now. It, the ego, will not admit the change, but its refusal to admit change in no way stops change.

But as it is not wise to dispense with the idea of nationalism without gradual growths of understanding and preparation, and while the idea of nationalism cannot suddenly be dispensed with, so also the ego cannot be, and will not be, overthrown overnight; and even when it is finally left behind, it will still be used as a handy reference point; and through all this the self will not lose but gain, for all expansion outward, and expansion inward is a gain, and all boundaries, whether inward or outward, are hampering and limiting. [...] Only the ego is afraid of challenge, and therefore speaks of such limiting safety.

If the self were the ego then indeed such precepts would be necessary, but the ego is a small part of the self. [...]

[...] The self that you are, in a basic sense, is the self that you were in past instances within this existence, the self or series of selves that you were in previous existences within the physical field, and also the myriad selves that you are now, in various perception experiences unknown to the ego.

[...] The inner ego is quite familiar with the existence of the physically-oriented ego, but the physically-oriented ego is not usually familiar with its inner counterpart.

When through training the ego becomes more aware of this inner self, the whole personality benefits. The whole self as it exists at any given time can be glimpsed through studying the actions of the physically-oriented ego, as seen in physical manipulation, and in studying the activities of the inner ego as seen in dream experiences. [...]

Later you may be able to follow this inner self even while the physical ego operates in its normal manner, but this is much more difficult if overall personality balance is to be maintained. It should be fairly obvious that identity hardly resides exclusively within the physically-oriented ego. [...]

[...] The ego, the physically-oriented ego, is a convenient figurehead. [...]

The inner ego is indeed the “I” of your dreams, having somewhat the same sort of position within the inner self as the ego itself has to the physical self. Actions however merge within the inner ego. [...] We will at a later time discuss this inner ego in connection with the dream situation and health.

[...] The inner ego of which we have spoken is the director of such unifying activities, and while the inner ego is mainly concerned with inner reality, it is also aware of physical existence.

The inner ego however is to some degree still familiar with their activities. Solutions found by these dream personalities are automatically picked up by the inner ego, and transmitted to the various levels of the self. [...]

[...] If the solution is not clear to the ego, this does not mean that the solution has not been found, necessarily. There may even be instances where it is not only unnecessary but undesirable that the ego be familiar with such a solution.

Tuesday does not exist to the inner ego. Your outer ego is now experiencing the camouflage time year of 1964. This simply does not exist to the inner ego, therefore the inner ego is effortlessly aware of any choices or decisions that you may make freely in say 1970. [...]

[...] Also, the inner ego is aware of so-called future decisions not because he forces such decisions upon the outer ego but simply because the future as such does not exist to the inner ego, and therefore he can perceive where the outer ego cannot.

It is quite true that the inner ego is aware through the inner senses of any choices that the outer ego will make with the use of free will. [...] It only means that the inner ego is not bound by the dimensions in which those free will choices are made.

Your clock time as you know is camouflage, and does not exist as far as the inner ego is concerned. [...] The inner ego is aware of fewer barriers and therefore is not bound by time to the degree that the outer ego is bound.

(Seth began discussing the inner ego along with the inner senses, so material on it is woven through the sessions. A few recent sessions dealing with the inner ego are: 94, 151, 162, 173. [...]

[...] Its telepathic and clairvoyant abilities are not hampered in any way by the ego when that self sleeps. In waking hours the communications system is more or less closed on the ego’s side, but in sleep the barriers are lifted and knowledge from the inner self has a freer flow.

[...] It also occurs however in the waking state, although the ego is not aware of such projection as a rule. When through training there is greater communication between the inner and outer selves, then it is possible for the ego to realize what has happened.

I have told you that dreams are a continuing process, whether or not the ego wakes or sleeps, and whether or not it has, or retains, any knowledge of the dreaming. So also the astral self journeys often, whether the ego wakes or sleeps.

The ego does not exist within the electrical field. The ego is a product of the physical field, formed from physical birth on. [...] The inner self adopts an ego in order to allow manipulation within the physical universe, and yet part of the ego is composed of portions from the inner self, while the bulk of the ego is allowed to develop through physical heredity and environment.

Personal identity, the basic “I”, is a product of the subconscious, and as such it exists as an actuality within the electric field; because of this it is basically independent of the physical field, held to it mainly by the ego. The ego directs the identity toward physical orientation. [...]

The breath of life, so to speak, is breathed into the ego by the inner self, but from that point on the ego is independent.

[...] In other words, though the ego was adopted originally by the inner self, and was a product of physical heredity and environment, it does not die; but its existence is changed from physical reality into electrical reality. [...]

[...] That consciousness of your usual daylight hours, the ego consciousness, rises up like a flower from the ground of the “underneath,” the unconscious bed of your own reality. Though you are not aware of it, this ego itself emerges, then falls back again into the unconscious, from which another ego then rises as a new bloom from the springtime earth.

(10:27.) You do not have the same ego now that you had five years ago, but you are not aware of the change. Ego rises out of what you are, in other words. It is a part of the action of your being and consciousness, but as the eye cannot see its own shifting colors and expressions, as it is not aware that it lives and dies constantly as its atomic structure changes, so you are not aware that the ego continually changes, dies, and is reborn.

[...] The creative inner psyche creates the ego. [...] The psyche brings forth the ego that perceives psychologically as the eye perceives physically. Both the eye and the ego are formations focused toward perception of exterior reality.

[...] The ego rises out of the structure of the psyche. [...]

[...] The ego attempts to stand apart from action, to view action as the result of ego. However, again, the ego’s attempt to stand apart from action in no way changes the basic nature of action itself, and the ego merely limits its own perception.

[...] The inner ego, however, you may think of as another face that looks inward. [...] We may say therefore, starting from the outer environment, that you would have first of all what you consider the ego, which I will call the outer ego.

In sleep, when the ego is quieted, then the self looks in other directions. [...] But the ego cannot tune into that perceptive range.

[...] Consciousness is the direction in which the self looks, again, but the ego is not aware of the whole self. The ego is not even familiar with the context or the meaning of your own dreams.

The ego chooses channels of reception with great discrimination; and, again, it censors anything which it feels is a threat to its own dominance. [...] It is the ego’s persistent discrimination in choosing the stimuli to which it will react that in a large measure determines the nature of physical time as it appears to the personality. The ego, because of its function and basic characteristics, cannot make swift decisions as can the intuitive self. [...]

It goes without saying that there are electromagnetic connections between the ego and the subconscious, within the physical system. Again, we speak of the ego and the subconscious as separate merely for the sake of convenience. [...]

The ego will become more of an organizer in general, letting in literally a barrage of experiences, and organizing them into meaningful patterns. Now the ego fears such experiences, and censors them and holds them out because it is not certain of its strength, or its ability to mold them into significant patterns.

[...] When the polarities are changed however in reverse fashion, the present ego follows its attraction to the subconscious, and the two are more or less united.

This information is sifted often through the dreaming self to the subconscious which has intimate knowledge of the ego with which it is closely connected. [...] Then the ego makes its decision. In some cases, the ego refuses to make the decision, and it is done by the subconscious. On occasion, when an unwise decision is made by the ego, the subconscious will change it. [...]

The ego structure remains, of course. [...] The ego becomes more like the inner ego and less like its old self, comparatively speaking. [...] Once this freedom is achieved, the ego can never return to its old state.

[...] In the materialization of personality through various reincarnations only the ego and layers of personal subconscious adapt new characteristics. [...] The ego, in fact, receives much of its stability because of this retention. Were it not for experiences in other lives on the part of deeper layers of the self, the ego would find it almost impossible to relate to other individuals, and the cohesive nature of society would not exist.

[...] In your system, only one ego predominates and you think of yourself as that ego. [...] In some, the inner self is aware of having more than one ego, of playing more than one role at a time. [...]

We are bringing the ego inward, so to speak. [...] In the past the ego has been overexaggerated. [...] This does not mean that the changing pendulum must now attempt to eliminate the ego. [...]

The psychedelic experience under these circumstances transforms the ego also in beneficial ways. Otherwise the ego is left behind, unable to perform, as a rule now, its primary functions. The ego can organize the old data when it undergoes a psychedelic experience as a part of the whole self. [...]

[...] In an experience without drugs, the ego loses its substantial quality momentarily. [...] We have been and we are expanding consciousness, and this consciousness includes the ego.

It is precisely because the ego is excluded from the psychedelic experience with drugs that difficulties are encountered afterward. Given the opportunity the ego can and does merge with other portions of the self, and yet loosely maintains a psychological framework within which the experience can be translated in your terms.

[...] The ego does not and cannot make use of them. Indeed the ego is almost entirely formed by the physical senses method of perception. [...]

In time, you see, the (smile) various ego memories will become part of these. [...] (Long pause.) The ego is not snuffed out, however. [...]

[...] The ego may be strong enough to insist upon its old prerogatives of control, yet too inflexible to adjust to the new conditions. [...] The ego is then in command after some struggle of generic frameworks, in a way not possible to it earlier.

[...] It is not dependent upon the ego, but predates it. [...]

This inner ego knows the outer ego well. The outer ego is but a counterfeit image of the inner ego. The outer ego as a rule is not aware of what you may think of for now as the thoughts or communications of the inner ego; but the inner ego knows every step you take, every particle of air you breathe, every dream you have; and it is the source of your own personality and is the representative of the entity of which it is part.

The manipulation of camouflage material depends to a large degree upon the outside ego’s confidence, and the outside ego’s confidence is only strong when it follows the inner ego’s pattern. [...]

[...] The inner self-conscious ego as I have said—and this is for Philip’s edification—the inner self-conscious ego can be compared to another face, looking out upon a different world. [...]

Your outside egos are constructed to enable you to deal with the camouflage world. [...] During your existence you are focused, you are stuck to, you are placed and centered in, your physical universe by the outside ego. [...]

[...] One, a continued lack of acceptance of the inner self could lead to worldwide catastrophe, as the ego runs wild. Two, the inner self, restrained and denied for too long a period, could explosively overwhelm the ego so that existence in the physical field was made most difficult, since the ego is equipped to handle such manipulation. Ego domination must indeed be halted, but it must be replaced with a balance between the outer and inner selves. [...]

[...] Such inner data continually and automatically is accepted by every other portion of the human framework except by the outer ego. Even this outer ego, however, acts all unknowingly often on the basis of such information, which it will not admit it has received; and often such action saves it from dire circumstances.

As you know, at one time it was necessary for the ego to focus exclusively upon outer data, but the channels never closed between the inner self and the ego. [...]

[...] Mankind still deals with surfaces, depending mainly as he does upon the powers of the outer ego, whose purpose it is to deal only with surface reality.

[...] You do not see the ego, though you know that it exists. But the idea, ego, is in itself an arbitrary unit chosen for particular reasons. [...] This does not mean that the ego does not exist.

Though we speak in definite terms of the inner self, the entity and the ego, neither the inner self, the entity or the ego are stationary and complete. [...]

[...] As you cannot hold even the ego in the palm of your hand, so you cannot hold the inner self within the mind. [...]

Neither, then, is the ego ever finished, nor the inner self, nor the entity. [...]

[...] When the conscious ego desires information, and when the outer ego is in full control, then the information is sought from the outer senses. When the outer ego is caught unawares and information is requested, the subconscious often delivers it through the use of the inner senses. [...]

When the ego becomes a mere observer rather than a controller, and momentarily suspends its rigid judgments, then inner direct experience is given some freedom and yet the ego is still aware of it. When the ego is completely or nearly completely subjugated, as in sleep, then there is direct experience through the inner senses, but no conscious awareness of it.

More difficult to achieve is an experience in which the ego becomes more alert in self defense. The ego, for example, did not have to worry about Ruburt’s physical survival as he lay in bed and “saw” (in quotes) the clock in the other room. When the ego’s instinct for self-protection is aroused, then of course it rises up in arms. [...]

[...] However the ego instantly stiffens its control when it feels that any physical law is being disobeyed, because the ego is concerned with your physical universe, and your existence upon your plane is definitely determined by your recognition and obedience to camouflage necessities.

[...] The ego is of course a part of action. There are endless levels of action however, which the ego does not perceive. It is possible for the inner and outer egos to merge to some extent, and this merging when it occurs does indeed represent the formation of a new kind of consciousness.

[...] When this occurs the inner and outer egos merge. The outer ego recognizes its own duties, but it is aware that more is involved.

[...] Here with this realization the inner ego may suddenly open. Intuitive springs rush to the surface, and because the outer ego has already been alerted, it is able to accept these realities while still performing its ordinary duties.

Identity is no longer limited to the outer ego alone. The outer ego is now familiar with the whole self, or the entire identity, and has available to it strength of which it was not previously aware. [...]

The ego considers itself the self, and considers anything outside of its self as being either nonself or another such separate identity, and so the individual man is led to believe that telepathy is basically a communication between two or more basically alone, separate and aloof selves. Telepathy does not operate at the level of the ego, although its actions may protrude into the domain of the ego. [...]

What I am trying to get across here is that, because of the superficial studies done so far, it seems that telepathy operates with separateness because of the limitations set by the ego on the definition of self. [...] The limited idea of the self held by the ego clouds and distorts the main issue, for the ego is not conscious of the underlying bonds of sympathy that serve to merge, momentarily, the identities involved.

[...] The manners in which telepathy operates are difficult to explain because of the divergence of definition held by the ego and by the inner self of any given individual. [...] The ego, you see, has one definition for the self, and its own idea of the limitations of itself.

You can see that the inner self is much more spacious and unlimited than the ego self, and that while divisions occur they may vary, and the boundaries of the inner self constantly change.

The early Hebrew god became a symbol of man’s unleashed ego. [...] Man’s emerging ego therefore brought forth emotional and psychological problems and challenges. [...]

[...] Historically the characteristics of God changed as man’s ego changed. These characteristics of the ego, however, were supported by strong inner changes.

The ego feared for its position, frightened that it would dissolve back into the inner self from which it came. [...] In your terms, by the time of Christ, the ego was sure enough of its position so that the projected picture of God could begin to change.

[...] Man was growing more and more aware of the ego, of a sense of power over nature, and many of the later miracles are presented in such a way that nature is forced to behave differently than in its usual mode. [...]