We have been speaking of the electric reality and actuality of thoughts and emotions, and of dreams, and of all such experiences which appear to be purely psychological in origin, and take up no space in your physical universe.

[...] In the physical universe, height and thickness determine to a large degree the potentialities, physically speaking, of any organism. [...]

[...] This involves distance in essence, although within your physical universe the particular road does not exist, so that spatially no distance would exist.

[...] You know that a conscious determination such as Ruburt occasionally shows will get you nowhere. [...]

Dictation: In connection with the creation of the universe, and with the creation of public and private events alike, let us for a moment consider a different kind of myth.

[...] By the time you are adults, it certainly seems that you are a subjective being in an objective universe, at the mercy of others, and with only the most superficial control over the events of your lives.³

[...] The child who gets the mumps with a large number of his classmates, however, knows he has his private reasons for joining into such a mass biological reality, and usually the adult who “falls prey” to a flu epidemic has little conscious awareness of his own reasons for such a situation. [...]

That event resulted in a scribbled manuscript, unpublished, called The Physical Universe as Idea Construction. [...]

It may be thought of in an analogy, as a shadow, in that you create it or project it, but without conscious knowledge. [...]

[...] In other words, on an unconscious level you here manipulate in another plane of existence entirely, one in which your conscious camouflage ego may not enter.

[...] At other levels you exist and manipulate on other planes, which are consciously unknown to you, planes which are as valid as your own, and in which your existence is also a natural result of your own psychic makeup. [...]

The chemical and electrical construction of the human individual opens other pathways, and requires other activities in other fields than those with which the conscious ego is familiar. [...]

[...] When I used the word “conscious” (or “consciousness”), I meant it as I thought you understood it. I thought that you meant: conscious of being conscious, or placing yourself on the one hand outside of a portion of your own consciousness — viewing it (intently) and then saying, “I am conscious of my consciousness.”

[...] Two months later, in May, she produced the summary for The Wonderworks, which would be a shorter dissertation on her own dreams, Seth, and the dream-formation of the universe as we know it. [...] Neither Jane nor Seth had delivered their respective world-view ideas when she came through with Health and Wonderworks, so another significant aspect of her abilities has since become conscious. [...]

(“What,” I wrote at the time, “would a state other than a conscious one be? [...] But how could the species, or its individual members, not be ‘conscious’? Since I think our collective and individual actions are self-consciously designed for survival, in the best meaning of that word, I’m curious to know in what other state these functions could be performed, for existence’s sake…. [...]

When I use the term time-wise, I refer it to the formation of a structure from which one kind of consciousness then views itself, sees itself as unique, and then tries to form other kinds of conscious structures. A fly is conscious of itself, fulfilled within that reality, and feels no need to form an “extension” of that awareness from which to view its own existence.

[...] For the poet did not simply string words together, but sent out a syntax of consciousness, using rhythm and the voice, rhyme and refrain, as methods to form steps up which his own consciousness could rush. [...]

[...] His specific art (pause) was both his method of understanding his own creativity, and a way of exploring the vast creativity of the universe—and also served as a container or showcase that displayed his knowledge as best he could. [...]

[...] In the development of each individual we act and reenact the startling events that brought our own universe into existence. The universe was not created in some dim past, but is newly recreated by our own thoughts, dreams, and desires—so that reality happens at all possible levels at once. [...]

[...] Whatever reservations she shows—her conscious inhibition of impulses, for example—are learned devices that are literally protective in nature. [...]

[...] If she’s just eaten, for example, her body focuses its resources upon digestion, with perhaps conscious lapses resulting. [...]

In Dreams, “Evolution,” and Value Fulfillment Seth outlines the great cosmic and private energies that in our terms once brought into existence the reality of the universe and the birth of those private, cohesive realities in which our own individual daily lives are couched.

[...] You renew your bodies every seven years, all without your conscious knowledge. You use the energy of the universe to heal yourselves constantly, but you have very definite conceptions of how this healing can take place and what is possible and what is not possible. [...]

[...] They conceived a dimension of reality in which these things would, indeed, exist and from themselves they sent out portions of their own entity and consciousness. And when I say that they did this, they did it joyfully and with a great exuberance and yet, also, they felt this portion of their own consciousness leave them and escape from them and so, to some extent, they cried to see a portion of themselves forever leave and yet they did this that you might have existence and song. [...]

[...] But when you cannot do this for yourself, and when your own misconceptions hold you back from using your own abilities, then there are others who can reawaken your own energies and direct them to your advantage; who can meet you and speak with you when you are in more auspicious states than the one you usually call conscious— When you are at your most creative and alert, in other words, when you are asleep. [...]

[...] This is done automatically by a portion of yourself that is not conscious but is very vital and very real. [...]

There are two ways to get at your own conscious beliefs. [...] They are quite available once you are determined to examine the complete contents of your conscious mind.

[...] You give no conscious thought to the coming and going of cells within your organs. [...]

The “negative” subjective and objective events that you meet are meant to make you examine the contents of your own conscious mind. [...]

[...] The conscious system of beliefs behind the impediment will be illuminated, and you will realize that you feel a certain way because you believe an idea that causes and justifies such a reaction.

Before you embark upon other journeys of consciousness, understand that your beliefs will follow you and form your experience there as they do here. If you believe in demons you will meet them — in this life as enemies, and in other realms of consciousness as devils or “evil spirits.”

[...] The conscious knowledge alone will trigger intuitional responses within the inner self so that you will receive helpful information through dreams, impulses, and ordinary thought patterns.

When you affirm your own rightness in the universe, then you cooperate with others easily and automatically as a part of your own nature. [...]

[...] Your own consciousness is embarked upon a reality that basically can be experienced by no other, that is unique and untranslatable, with its own meaning, following its own paths of becoming.

[...] It places you in your universe clearly. This is an excellent exercise to use before you begin — and after you finish with — any experiment involving an alteration of consciousness.

[...] Your consciousness must learn to organize itself in more than one fashion — or rather, you must be willing to allow your consciousness to use itself more fully. [...]

[...] Your consciousness was straying. This time begin with the point of your own finest focus, which you have established, then let your consciousness stray as given. [...]

[...] They are simply the result of not yet learning how to tune your own consciousness clearly in to other kinds of focus. [...] When you alter your conscious focus in such a fashion, you are also moving away from the part of your psyche that you consider its center. [...]

This does not mean that anyone consciously decides to get such-and-such a disease, but it does mean that some people instinctively realize that their own individual development and fulfillment does now demand another new framework of existence.

[...] They will still feel that they had work to do, or that they were needed — but the main thrusts of their beings still reside in the physical universe.

There is one small point I wanted to mention this evening, merely for future reference: We have hardly begun any thorough study of the dream universe, and have dealt with it mainly in connection with other discussions. [...]

What you call suggestion, to return to our present subject matter, is but a projection into the physical universe of data that operates constantly, as a basis for, and within, action. [...]

[...] The first prerequisite is that the ego understand both the nature of its dependence upon the whole personality, and the nature of its peculiar directive abilities in relation with the physical universe. [...]

Suggestions given by an individual on any kind of a conscious basis have to be given with the cooperation of the ego. [...]

[...] Those conscious motions have an unconscious basis. [...] If you think of mass daily action as performed by one gigantic being, then all of those conscious actions have unconscious counterparts, and a great intercommunication of an inner nervous system must take place.

[...] Self-conscious righteousness can be a very narrow road. [...]

[...] You are a portion of All That Is; therefore the universe leans in your direction. [...]

(Actually, the session might better be called a Jane/Seth session, in that Jane’s own consciousness was often uppermost, riding upon Seth’s underlying and steadying influence. [...]

[...] It stands in man’s dreams as belonging to God: the power of the universe (intently). [...]

There was a tie-in, and it’s that the Christ drama happened as a result of man’s dream, at least, of achieving brotherhood — a quiet, secure sense of consciousness, and a morality that would sustain him in the physical world.

[...] Man’s fears of not achieving brotherhood, of not achieving a secure state of consciousness, or a workable morality, result in his dreams of destruction, however they are expressed. [...]

[...] The perception of consciousness is not limited, however. I have told you, for example, that trees have their own consciousness. The consciousness of a tree is not as specifically focused as your own, yet to all intents and purposes, the tree is conscious of 50 years before its existence, and 50 years hence. [...]

As all physical matter is connected in any particular time, or era, so the individual consciousness of each being is also connected with every other. This applies to all consciousnesses as you understand that term.

Each flower on a hillside looks out with its own unique vision of the world, and each consciousness does the same thing, fulfilling a position impossible for any other consciousness to fulfill.

REINCARNATION AND COUNTERPARTS: THE “PAST” SEEN THROUGH THE MOSAICS OF CONSCIOUSNESS

[...] Once a consciousness, however, has chosen the larger classification of its physical existences, it stays within that framework in its “reincarnational” existences. Mammals return as mammals, for example, but the species can change within that classification.¹ This provides great genetic strength, and consciousnesses in those classifications have chosen them because of their own propensities and purposes. The animals, for example, seem to have a limited range of physical activity in conscious terms, as you think of them. [...]

In that 8th session Seth gave us more material on fragments: “In some submerged manner all fragments of a personality exist within an entity, with their own individual consciousnesses. [...] The entity operates its fragments in what you would call a subconscious manner, that is, without conscious direction. [...]

[...] (Pause.) The world as you know it exists as it does because you are yourself a living portion of a vast “conscious grid” of perception.

In a manner of speaking (underlined), the physical universe is “transposed” upon another reality that must be its source. [...]

At certain levels the brain can handle simultaneous material, of course, even though you may be conscious of only a smattering of it. The body is aware of multitudinous simultaneous stimuli that consciously escape you, and is able to act on the information. This includes all kinds of sense data that are not consciously pertinent. [...] Inherently the physical brain is capable of dealing with more than one main line of consciousness. [...]

(11:08.) There are even now in your species a number of different kinds of consciousness; different in that the physical life-situation is qualitatively experienced in ways that are not native to you in your culture; different in that the entire fabric of meaning, interpretation, experience, and life itself is “alien” to the kind of experience with which you are familiar. This does not mean that such differences occur as the result of cultural backgrounds or situations, for some such individuals exist within your own culture, and some with your kind of consciousness exist in cultures where they are a minority. I am simply saying that on your earth now there are species of consciousness, though that is probably not the best term. You have been so obsessed with exterior differences, especially of color and nationality, that you have completely ignored these other far more important variations in the form that consciousness takes in relation to physical life within your race — the race of man.

[...] I feel that while all of this is still coming from this anchor self, the selves in these dreams are equally as focused — each of them being dream selves, existing in their universes, and with each of their own connections expanding outwards in much the same way that mine do. [...] In at least one of these selves, the knowledge of this entire event comes to consciousness like a half-recalled dream of its own, and the experience of recalling and being recalled is like liquid electricity in me, the anchor self.

To the entity, your own consciousness could be likened to one stream of consciousness, in your terms. The greater part of your own identity, then, is completely aware of all of your conscious and unconscious living material. [...]

[...] The expanding universe theory applies much more truly to time than it does to the physical universe. [...]

(Seth dealt with the expanding universe theory in sessions 42-45, saying among other things that our physical universe is not expanding as is currently thought; he had much to say on the distortive data furnished us by our instruments.)

In an inverted time system the momentum is recognized and it is also taken advantage of, in that it is utilized by individual consciousness, so that your so-called present, past and future can be viewed as existing in a spacious now. [...]

[...] This development involved separations and concentrations of energy into self-conscious identities. This development was an advancement, yet this advancement led also to a separation and objectifying of consciousness, into dual segments of subject and object.

[...] The ingredients of matter are first of all intangible ingredients, and the study of the mind and a study of the processes by which the mind creates its dream images could lead to a basic understanding of the manner in which man subconsciously produces the physical images of his own material universe.

[...] 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.

[...] Some translation must occur if you are to become aware consciously of such material, or if it is to impress the physical senses at all.

[...] (Long pause.) In other words, if you will forgive a pun, you can never be consciously aware of the basic inner perception, but you can follow backward to that point. [...]

If you are awakened for any reason during the night, the chances for a conscious projection on your return to sleep are somewhat higher than they would have been had your sleep not been interrupted.

(On September 28, Jane received a welcome letter from psychologist Eugene Bernard of North Carolina State University. [...]