The "Introduction" and "Key Points" for this chapter were summarized by an AI editor based on the main text below; they are not things Mike said during the lecture. The main text comes from Mike's commentary, and the block quotes are Seth's original words (the portions Mike read aloud).
Guide
In this session Seth explains how units of consciousness formed material patterns at the beginning of the world: each consciousness is a fragment of All That Is, and units of consciousness formed the patterns of atoms, molecules, electrons, chromosomes, and so on in the dream state, through which the world entered physical existence. Early species were dream-walkers, with the dream state as their primary activity; later the physical senses focused consciousness into space and time. Dreams provide survival information that the physical senses cannot contain. Consciousness and environment create each other. Seth compares the universe to a spontaneous composition made of living notes, and gives advance notice explaining Framework 1 and Framework 2.
Key Points of This Chapter
- At the beginning of the world, every unit of consciousness was present. Units of consciousness are fragments of All That Is, and they form the patterns of atoms, molecules, electrons, chromosomes, and so on, through which the world enters physical existence.
- Early species operated in the manner of sleepwalkers, with the dream state as their primary activity, and the surface of the earth was used as the background for dream activity.
- Dreams were connected with the physical survival of early humanity, providing information that the physical senses, out of necessity, could not contain; when dreaming, a person returns to the "pre-waking state."
- Consciousness and environment, species and species, communicate with and create one another; there is no place where consciousness stops and environment begins.
- The physical senses align consciousness with space and time, and material frequencies have power and allure; the universe is like a living musical composition formed spontaneously, where purpose and performance are one. The nature of Framework 1 and Framework 2 will be explained later.
Main Text
Session 892, January 2, 1980: Dreams, "Evolution," and Value Fulfillment
This session began on Wednesday, January 2, 1980, at 8:47 p.m. The second day of the new year.
On the evening of December 27, their wedding anniversary, Rob and Jane held an unplanned, spontaneous session for some young married friends who had come to celebrate their anniversary with them. Because the amount of work involved was small, he rarely did this sort of thing. In the past, Jane had occasionally held sessions in ESP class, or when friends visited or gathered, but recently she had rarely done so. Yet this kind of creative, spontaneous expression helped him just as much as it helped the others involved. He recorded the session with the tape recorder he had given Jane for Christmas, and their friends promised to mail them a copy of the recording. The tape they brought was the one they would mail back after typing it up and sending the transcript to Rob.
Last Monday, New Year's Eve, December 31, Seth did not come. Instead, Jane and Rob held a party. The next day, they were ready to return to writing and painting, but first they had to clear away the holiday props, including their beautiful Christmas tree. Every year after Christmas, clearing away these holiday decorations involved a certain amount of work.
Over the weekend, they also signed publishing contracts with their publisher, Prentice Hall, for The Individual and the Nature of Mass Events and Jane's God. Earlier today, they mailed the contracts back. Rob told Jane that the notes he had written for The Individual and the Nature of Mass Events were the most challenging he had ever written, and there were a great many of them. They got up at six every morning so they could put in a full morning's work before lunch. During that period they worked extremely hard, both of them rising at six every day to write notes for the book. Because he did not have a computer at the time, all the material had to be located by hand. He had to search through things Seth had mentioned years earlier, or material written months earlier in the book, and then copy it into his notes. His workload was far more complex and far heavier than what we can do today with computers.
It was at this point that Seth came through, and Seth said good evening. Seth came through and immediately offered them New Year's greetings: Happy New Year. Then Rob said thank you, and Happy New Year to you too, although Rob knew that Seth's concept of time was very different from theirs. Seth did not exchange too many pleasantries with him, but came through and said directly:
Now at the beginning of the world, each of you was present. I say each of you here, meaning every thing, every object, every consciousness was present. Although we are men here, you may now be in the world in a slightly different way. At the beginning of the world, each of you was present.
What is the difference between the state we are in now, living in this world, and the state when our universe was first born? You say, I was not there when the universe was born. According to physics, or according to scientists, you were indeed not there at that time. According to Seth, you were there when the universe was born.
Remember, each unit of consciousness is a fragment of All That Is, a divine portion. Each unit of consciousness is that CU, Consciousness Unit. This thing is a fragment of him, All That Is.
Now, I may explain this more reasonably in a moment. In your terms, from your perspective, that is, from the perspective of time, there was a period when the dreamers remained more or less at that level of activity... for perhaps several centuries, many centuries.
At least several hundred years, or over a thousand years, all of this being spoken in terms of human history.
Then those dreamers used the surface of the earth as a kind of background for other activities.
Those early dreamers treated the scenery on the earth's surface as a background for their other dream activities. Their real life was the state you now call dreaming. At the very beginning of the universe, the real world of those early dreamers was what we today call the state of dreaming, the state of sleep. While they slept, they did psychic work, which for them was actually being awake.
In the work of their individual minds, and of their combined minds, they constructed all the dazzling imagery that later became a psychic reservoir from which people could draw the various materials they needed.
This "image" should refer to the image of pictures. The original word "image" itself means picture, and it was translated as "imagery," meaning pictures in the mind. The mental images created by individual minds and the collective mind became a psychic reservoir from which people could draw the various materials they needed. In that multidimensional matrix, that reservoir of mental imagery was a multidimensional existence. Because at that time, early humanity was always multidimensional in its psychic creation.
The psychic forms of the units of consciousness... formed the units of consciousness themselves into units of meaning.
Here he omitted a word. It is not consciousness, it should be units of consciousness. The units of consciousness formed themselves into units of emotional energy, units of electromagnetic energy. Atoms and molecules, electrons and chromosomes, are all units of consciousness that turned themselves into these materialized things. These units of consciousness first formed these patterns on a psychic level, during their dreaming: the patterns of EE units, the patterns of atoms, the patterns of molecules, the patterns of electrons, the patterns of chromosomes, and so on, the patterns of living organisms.
And all physical life could flow within them, flow through them. The world then entered into physical existence.
The units of consciousness, within their own dreams, formed these materialized patterns. Atoms have the shape of atoms, molecules have the shape of molecules. Then life could flow within these patterns. With such a flow, the world entered into physical existence. Because it had shape, it had patterns, it had structure. Patterns endowed energy, and this energy is the energy of life. Life is consciousness, and consciousness is energy. Once this mold was endowed with energy, it was also endowed with consciousness, which is also endowed with life, and it could become physical existence.
Whatever shape they took, those units of consciousness were indestructible and vital.
Their shapes varied, from the smallest units to the largest units. Although we can no longer see these units of consciousness, they have already turned into all kinds of shapes and are already active beneath the deepest, deepest layers, but they will never be worn away, and they remain vital all along.
Although the shape of man was an image in a dream, consciousness brought the shape into the physical world, materialized carbon.
Although man is a kind of psychic image, an image in a dream, what brought it into the physical world was consciousness. Consciousness is always that driving force, the final push that drives energy into matter. Of course, consciousness itself is also a kind of energy.
Consciousness possesses the most unimaginable secrets, and never loses any of its effectiveness or potential. Those units of consciousness, for example, can mix and combine with others, forming memories and desires, neural achievements and recognitions, and millions of different sequences of structure and design.
Units of consciousness are extremely intelligent, extremely astute, extremely active, and do not lose their effectiveness or potential. They can organize themselves into all kinds of shapes, into all kinds of forms, and they can combine and merge with one another. Here "mix" means to fuse together. They can mix into different things, but they do not lose their identity.
A simple example is the one I often give: after hydrogen atoms and oxygen atoms combine to form water molecules, the atomic properties of hydrogen and oxygen are not lost. As long as the conditions are right, they can be reduced back to their original forms as hydrogen and oxygen atoms. But after they form new water molecules, the properties of hydrogen and oxygen no longer manifest; they become the properties of water. This is the concept of "mixing." The mixing between units of consciousness, the mixing between consciousnesses, is even more thoroughly fused than this, but their individual independence is preserved just as well. Each one has a clear and distinct history, existing independently. It is not that once you mix with others, you cease to exist.
Usually you now read your consciousness in a vertical manner, identifying only with certain portions of it.
What does "vertical manner" mean? Basically, it means looking at consciousness from top to bottom, and only being able to see the topmost layer of consciousness. Consciousness is layered upon layered, existing simultaneously, but we can only see the most superficial layer.
And in your view, it seems that any other organization of perception, any other identification of bodily identity, would quite necessarily deny your own and render it inoperative.
Our recognition of identity is actually overlapping. For example, we think we are just ourselves, but you forget that your body is composed of organs, tissues, cells, atoms, and molecules. Your ego's identity is superimposed on top of these identities. In other words, your sense of identity is accumulated from countless tiny identities that you do not recognize or identify with. But we only look at the surface of things, only seeing our own personality, our ego, and only identify with this identity. And the identities within this identity of ours, the identities of cells, the identities of tissues and organs, including the identities of our psychic nature, the identities of the inner self, are all unrecognized.
And we have a kind of fear, feeling that if we acknowledged those identities, our present identity would be lost, and we would no longer be able to function properly. We can only recognize one consciousness as the subject at a time, and cannot regard them all as subjects simultaneously.
For example: our consciousness is like a stack of playing cards, but we only see the top card. If another card is brought to the top, you say, no, that is a different person. Actually, nothing changed. The whole stack is you. For instance, all 54 playing cards are you, but you only recognize the top one. If I bring another one to the top, you say, no, this has become a different person. But what you do not know is that all 54 cards are you. The consciousness of those atoms is also you, the consciousness of those units of consciousness is also you, and the consciousness that you yourself consider to be you is also you. They do not conflict. But we humans cannot do this; we feel it must be either one or the other. I am either this or that.
But at the beginning of the world, consciousness had countless groupings and alliances... many also recognized as other organizations of identity.
Humanity is a kind of alliance and organization. Our human consciousness, composed of our body, our flesh, including consciousness infused within it, is one kind of combination. But at the very beginning of the universe, consciousness had many kinds of combinations, and each combination had its own identity recognition.
And your present kind of psychological orientation. But your orientation is not the highest one.
Seth pointed out directly: your present psychological orientation, centered on the ego, this kind of human consciousness combination, is not the highest one. There are other consciousness combinations far higher than ours. In other words, there exist consciousnesses wiser than us.
Although generally speaking, the species of the earth existed in the forms and shapes you now know from the very beginning. The consciousness of the species, however, was quite different.
Although the species existed from the beginning in the same shapes as the species we see now, they had such an image or pattern, but their consciousness was quite different. That is to say, the species of ancient times, compared with the species we see today, were different in consciousness. Just look at the myths and legends of ancient times, and you will see that the thoughts of the species back then were indeed different from ours now.
All of these species were more intimately connected through multitudinous identifications of identity. Since that time, this identification of identity has entered into the bottom layers of perception.
These species may look the same, but their consciousness is different, because they have different ways of combining. These vastly different species knew of each other's existence, and also knew that they could become each other. They were one, more intimately connected. From the very beginning of the universe, this inner connectedness between species and species had already entered into the deepest bottom layer of every species' perception. At the deepest level, they knew that they were connected with each other, and connected with all things.
In the beginning, then, the world was a dream. And the consciousness you consider waking consciousness was the dreaming consciousness.
At that time, at the beginning of the world, the world was a dream. The consciousness we consider waking consciousness was, at that time, actually the dreaming consciousness. And now the consciousness we consider waking consciousness is the dreaming consciousness, while at that time, dreaming was the waking consciousness.
In that regard, the entire environment of the earth was a psychic creation, built by conscious atoms. Each atom was initially formed by units of consciousness.
If from that perspective the whole world was a dream, then the dream was its true waking state. The entire environment of the earth was a psychic creation, a creation made in our dream state, built by conscious atoms. Each atom was initially formed by units of consciousness.
Here it is easy to get confused: when he says atoms, he means the shape of atoms, the form of atoms, the pattern of atoms. Using the shape and pattern of atoms to compose things in the dream. Each atom was initially composed of units of consciousness.
I have said that these units can operate as entities and as forces.
These earliest formed units of consciousness can operate as entities, as individuals with their own sense of identity, and can also operate as a kind of force, a kind of force field.
You must always remember that units of consciousness always maintain two states. One is having their own unique individuality, which is the materialized part: once materialized, they have boundaries, they have limits, just like particles one by one, with a sense of identity. The other is operating as a force field, a consciousness field, an energy field: at this time they become a unified whole, and all units of consciousness are one. Within this oneness there is a sense of identity, but no sense of individual identity, because they have already become part of an entire energy body, part of an energy gestalt, and it is very difficult to distinguish who exactly they are.
We are not speaking of a psychic mechanics, therefore, but of the true meaning of the word entity.
We are not discussing the mechanics of the psychic level. What he wants to tell you is the true meaning of the word "entity." Many people do not know what "entity" actually refers to, and here he gives a precise explanation.
In Seth Speaks, he explained entity as the layer above our personality fragments. There is a larger identity recognition, which we generally call the greater self or higher self, and some people call it the soul or oversoul. But in that early book, he did not give a precise definition of entity; he just passed over it briefly, because it could not yet be explained clearly.
But here, he tells you what entity actually is. Everything after the colon below is an explanation of entity:
Entities of unimaginable creativity and psychic properties, with infinite minds, propelling purposeful fragments of themselves, when that mind is filled with the inspiration that gives light to the world.
To say it in reverse: only when that mind is filled with the inspiration that gives light to the world does such a mind arise, an infinite mind. Where does this infinite mind come from? It is possessed of unimaginable creativity and psychic properties. When this infinite mind is filled with the inspiration that gives light to the world, when it does not come to destroy this world, to wreck this world, but to bring inspiration and light to this world, only then does it propel purposeful fragments of itself.
This purpose includes both the purpose of the entity and the purpose of the fragment itself. It should not be understood as merely the purpose of the entity; it is also the purpose that the fragment itself wants to do, wants to become. The two are combined.
You may not quite understand the concept of entity in relation to the human being. If you substitute it into human terms, it becomes easier to understand. Replace the word "entity" with "soul," and replace "fragment" with each of our reincarnational lives, and it becomes easier to understand: what is the true meaning of the word "soul"? The soul possesses unimaginable creativity and psychic properties. Such a soul is composed of purposeful reincarnational personalities, or reincarnational lives, propelled by an infinite mind. The premise is that when that infinite mind is filled with the inspiration that gives light to the world. That is to say, every reincarnational individual it propels wants to bring light to this world, and we were created with this kind of inspiration.
Of course, his emphasis here is not on this, but on what the earliest batch of entities were like when the universe was born. This entire session is about the differences between our present entities and the entities of the early universe, and between individuals.
Those entities were so ancient in your terms. But for them there was no such thing as ancient or not ancient. They left fragments of themselves in trance states, purposeful fragments.
The early entities, in our human terms, were very ancient. But for them there was no such thing as ancient or not ancient, because they had no concept of time. Those fragments formed in trance states:
Formed our rocks and hills, mountains, air and water, and all the components that exist on the surface of the earth.
How did our earth come into being? It was the fragments propelled by the early entities in trance states. But do not forget the premise: these fragments also came with the inspiration of light, to bring light to the earth, and that is why our world is so beautiful.
You can imagine a mountain range as a trance-state fragment of an early entity. Just as when we humans are in a trance, we do not know where we are, and others see you as if frozen in place, unresponsive, fixed there motionless. Actually, you are in a trance. Those mountain ranges can be imagined as the trance fragments of those entities. One kind of trance is this mountain, another kind of trance is that ocean, another kind of trance is this atmosphere. The things on the surface of the earth are all trance-state fragments of entities.
Then he paused for a minute, as if not knowing how to continue.
In that regard, those entities were in trance states. But their potential was not diminished. There was always constant communication among them.
According to the previous logic, the earliest entities formed the earth. Those entities appear to be in trance, appear as if this mountain range has not moved for thousands, millions of years, but that does not mean they lack inner potential and cannot move. You should know that when mountains move, it is no small event. They also communicate with each other, constantly. This mountain speaks with that mountain, water speaks with mountains, and they are all in communication.
Then he paused again for a long time.
On other levels that you do not recognize, there is also constant communication between them and you.
Not only is there communication among the mountains and rivers of the natural world, there is also communication between us and nature. To the extent that:
There is endless interaction between each species and the rest of the environment.
The mountains and rivers of the natural world communicate with each other, and we humans communicate with them as well. Species and environment, species and species, environment and environment are all in communication. This communication forms an endless interaction.
He paused again for a long time.
There is no place where consciousness stops and environment begins, or the other way around, where consciousness begins and environment stops.
Consciousness and environment are always interactive. Consciousness never stops, and environment cannot continue to develop without consciousness. Nor can environment stop developing while consciousness continues to develop. The two are always interacting with each other.
Each life form is formed together with every other one.
In that regard, environment and organisms create each other. Remember the phrase "create each other." This is very important. Many people have asked: who created the sun? You say consciousness creates reality. Was the sun created by our collective consciousness, or did the sun exist on its own? He will address this question here. They create each other, they create simultaneously, and it is very hard to say who came first and who came later.
Yet after the shapes were fully materialized, all species still operated in the manner of dreamers for centuries. Although in terms of that scale of inner time, the passage of time was not considered in the same way as it is now.
After the forms of all species had been determined and had manifested in materialization, in human terms several hundred more years passed. At this point the species already had bodies and flesh.
During that period, the work of joining nonphysical consciousness and matter was completed.
During that stage, the work of combining spirit and matter with form, or consciousness, was completed within those several hundred years. First there were psychic images, then the flow of life was infused into these images, and then life began, materialized life. The work of joining nonphysical consciousness and physical form was completed.
The influence of gravity, for example, was stabilized. The seasons took the rhythms most suited to the creatures of various localities.
Our earth's gravity had been determined, and would not fluctuate high or low, large or small. Seasons also emerged, with the four seasons changing, allowing all the plants and animals living in different regions of the earth to have environments and rhythms suited to their own growth. Spring, summer, autumn, winter, the growth of trees, the growth of animals.
Some animals need to hibernate, and this is their growth rhythm. Do you say that the cold environment came first, and then the bear's hibernation? Or was it because the bear needed to hibernate that such an environment came into being? We humans used to think that the environment caused it. Now that you have studied the Seth books, you will consider: not necessarily. Perhaps it was the result of the bear's negotiation with nature. Because it happened to need to hibernate, winter came into being. You then have more angles of thought, rather than only one angle as before.
To put it most simply, we and the environment influence each other and create each other. It is not, as Darwin's view holds, that the environment determined the evolution of our humanity, and that we humans are the survival of the fittest. This "fit" means those who adapted to the environment were ultimately selected, eliminated, and screened out by the environment. He says no, humans and the environment influence each other.
Up until that time, the main communication could follow the typical patterns of the units of consciousness.
The typical patterns of communication of units of consciousness, as he explained earlier: each one knows the position of every other, regardless of its absolute position relative to the others, and also knows the content of every other, unrestricted by time and space. Each unit of consciousness knows its relationship with all other units of consciousness, and because it knows the relationship between each and every one, it knows all relationships.
The creatures relied upon the inner senses, while learning to operate the new, highly specialized physical senses. They aimed their perception into time and space.
Remember this important point: creatures first relied upon the inner senses. Why did the inner senses come first? Do you remember what he said earlier? Every consciousness has inner senses, whether or not it has outer senses. For example, a stone has no outer senses, but a stone has inner senses. Every consciousness has inner senses.
These new physical senses, the eyes, nose, ears, were new to the creatures. Because the inner senses were familiar, while the physical senses were entirely new. These physical senses could only aim their perception into time and space, while the inner senses did not need to, having no concept of time and space.
This aiming of perception by the outer physical senses was extremely important.
Why was it important? Because:
When consciousness in the flesh was fully awakened, its intersection with time and space had to be flawless.
This sentence is very important. Your consciousness has no sense of time and space, but once consciousness combines with your material body, once it incarnates into your body, it must have a sense of time and space, because your physical body is within this material time and space. If it had no sense of time and space, it could not operate this physical body. Therefore it must rely on these outer senses, and cannot rely on the inner senses, because the inner senses have no sense of time and space. To put it plainly: if you want to operate our physical body, you must learn to use the outer senses, and you must learn to have a sense of time and space, and operate it skillfully.
So our perception of time and space, our control and perception of the body, our perception of this three-dimensional world -- all of these are things we learn after birth. Before birth we do not have these cognitions. We have other cognitions -- the cognition of the inner senses, which is innate. The later perception through the five senses is something we learn, because if we want to live in the physical world, we must learn to use the outer senses. But later we forget the inner senses, and this is a very sad thing -- we take what we learned later to be the only thing we have.
At this point the dream body became the physical body. Then the senses tuned to the frequency of the flesh, a frequency so powerful and so seductive.
From the dream body to a body of flesh and blood, through the shift of the senses from the inner senses to the outer senses, once you focus on time and space, the frequency of your body, the frequency of the physical senses, tunes to the frequency of physical existence. The amazing thing is that this frequency is so powerful and so seductive -- it seizes your consciousness firmly, so that you no longer pay attention to the inner senses.
They reached every living creature... and enclosed all of these creatures in one space-time alignment. Within this space-time alignment, there was a cohesive web.
Note "reached" -- this power and seductiveness covered and influenced all living creatures. From the smallest microorganism to the largest elephant, it enclosed them all in one consistency of time and space. This "alignment" we can translate as "the consistency of time and space" or "the calibration of time and space"; translating it as "the positioning of time and space" is also fine.
The cohesion here means this: our time and space themselves have an extremely strong seductiveness and power. As long as you focus on them, you are drawn in, and you cannot escape -- that is their cohesion.
To put it in plain language it may be better: when our consciousness shifts from the inner senses to the outer senses, the result is that the outer senses become addicted -- they seize firmly upon the intense stimulation of this physical frequency, so much so that you almost forget that the inner senses are actually your most basic senses, your most original and inherent senses. The outer senses are only a tool for surviving in the physical world, like sensors, like cameras. But there is no way around it: this frequency of the materialized body has tremendous seductiveness and power, and it seizes consciousness firmly, and then you fall into this web of space-time consistency, and the cohesion of this web is extremely strong. As long as a person uses the outer senses, they generally cannot get out.
When can you get out? When you stop using the outer senses, you get out. As long as you do not place your attention on the outer senses, do not focus on the physical senses, and activate your inner senses, then the inner cohesion of these webs of time and space has no influence or binding force on you. This is what we often say: at that point, you can be "beyond the three realms and outside the five elements."
In the beginning, man's dreams were connected with his physical survival. They gave him certain basic information, information which the new physical senses, of necessity, could not contain.
In the very beginning, when people dreamed, it was all connected with immediate survival. For example, where there was no water, where there was water; if there was no food, it told you where there was food. But what dreams provided to you was incompatible with your physical senses -- of necessity, incompatible.
How should we understand this? The physical senses must focus on what is right in front of them. If they did not focus only on the immediate environment, but instead focused on things beyond time and space, then you would be in trouble: you could not tell whether the tiger in front of you was from yesterday or today, and you would not know whether to run or what to do. So if we want to survive in this physical world, we must rely on the outer senses, and they do not accept the information given in dreams -- they can only accept information that is immediate, personal, and consistent with the environment.
It is like the sensors we carry with us: they can only process the immediate, present information they capture. They have no way to process information from the past, the future, from outside this time and space, from another time and space, from another location. Instinctively they do not process it -- they filter it out. They only process what is right in front of them. If you installed a camera on a robot and told it to observe its surroundings, but the camera kept playing old recordings, do you think the robot could walk? It would have no way to move in this three-dimensional world.
Dreams gave early humans certain basic information -- where to find water, where to find food -- but this information was incompatible with the information obtained through the outer senses: one was concrete information, the other was information that transcended time and space. But human dreams made up for this deficiency. The inner senses are not limited by time and space; they are connected with all things and know everything. But if they gave all this to you directly, you could not accept it, and you would block it out. So they could only give it to you through dreams.
Then he filled his consciousness with the larger generalized information and benefits that had been so readily available before.
Before he had a materialized body, this information was very easy for him to obtain; it was the most ordinary information. When he dreamed, it was all this kind of information, nothing special. But after he had a materialized body and outer senses, this information seemed so out of place, so incompatible. So it could only be given to you through dreams, filling your consciousness with this information that the physical senses could not accept -- it could not fill your daytime consciousness, so it filled the dream consciousness you have while sleeping, so that you could still obtain some information.
So people in the ancient world knew in their dreams where there was water and where there was food. This method did not interfere with their use of the outer senses during the day to explore the world. The two were combined very well, very ingeniously. At night they worked with the inner senses, giving you the useful information they obtained; during the day they used the outer senses, leading you to search for water and food according to the information obtained in dreams at night. Is this combination not perfect?
We humans are still operating this way now, except that we have forgotten that the information given to us in dreams is more important. We humans have forgotten that what is given to us in dreams is the more important information. The outer senses only lead us to carry out and achieve those goals, to complete the guidance given by dreams. But now we treat the outer senses as the only channel for receiving information.
When he slept, man could utilize the information stored in the units of consciousness that composed his flesh.
Every person's body contains units of consciousness, and the interiors of units of consciousness are interconnected, so every unit of consciousness carries the information of the entire universe. During the day, your consciousness cannot be compatible with this information; it is only given to you when you dream at night.
When man dreamed, he actually returned to a state before waking.
What is meant by a state before waking? What were you doing before waking? Before you woke up, were you not still dreaming? But he did not use "the dreaming state"; he used "the state before waking." See what he says next:
It was the state from which his physical life itself emerged.
That is what his life itself should have been like. But because you have outer senses, it cannot emerge, and can only emerge in dreams. And this is your true, instinctive human state -- using your inner senses is your most natural state. Your life itself emerges from that dream.
Only now it was a new creature, a new consciousness. And the same applied to all other species.
The state you are in when you dream now is what your life was originally like. But now you have outer senses and a new consciousness; you are no longer that dreaming you. You have become a creature with a body, with physical senses, with a new consciousness -- a new kind of creature. In a certain sense, although your outer form is the same as that of humans of that time, your consciousness is already different -- this is what the previous paragraphs said: the early species were the same in shape as today's, but their consciousness was different.
We humans of today are already a new species. The earlier you could be called an old species -- of course, that is our human way of putting it. The universe of dreamwalkers that we dream of -- the early humans who survived for centuries, the dreaming early humans -- that species has already changed. You could say it evolved, changed, transformed. At this point our materialized humanity was formed, a new species, a new consciousness. The same applies to other species -- today's elephant is no longer the elephant of the past, because they, like humans, all use the outer senses now; the inner senses are no longer in charge, and they live in what we consider the waking state.
So what does "before waking" refer to? It refers to the state before we humans believed we had woken up -- that state was actually the truly awake state. But we humans of today, according to the definition of this new species, consider that a sleeping state, a dreaming state; and the present state is the waking state. And Seth says: when you sleep and dream, that is the state before your waking.
In dreams, all species were themselves and kept company with their old alliances.
In real life there is no way, but in dreams they can become familiar with their old friends and old alliances again. The inner senses are in charge again, and once they are in charge, they know that all things are connected, that all things are connected to one another. All species meet again in dreams; old friends see each other again. Although when they wake up in the daytime no one recognizes anyone else, at night in dreams they all know: we are one, you are me, and I am you.
And read their own identities in different ways. They remembered their former circumstances. They remembered that they formed each other.
In dreams they remembered the former circumstances. This "former" is in quotation marks, spoken from the human viewpoint of time. Actually, where is there any "former"? But let us interpret it according to the human sequence of time -- old friends remembered, and they formed each other.
Seth said, I admit that this story is far more difficult to understand than a simple story of a God creating the world, or the scientific story of an unconscious universe actually producing the world through improbable chances.
Religion says God created the world; science says some small, almost impossible probability led to the birth of humanity and this world. How simple those are -- one big bang solves everything, one God creating humans explains it all. Where the big bang came from, they do not say; where God came from, they do not say either. Seth says that explaining the origin of the universe is far more complicated than that. So it is normal that you find it a bit difficult to follow, because we are accustomed to wanting to simplify problems -- humans have actually been trying to avoid this problem from the very beginning, and that is why we should face it squarely today.
My story is more majestic and greater.
Whether religion or science, their interpretations of the origin of the universe are a bit hasty, a bit childish, a bit like telling stories to kindergarten children -- heaven and earth split apart, and bang, the universe exploded into being. It always feels a bit like fooling children. The other side says the universe was created by God, and that is also fooling children. So Seth says: they are all telling stories, but the story I tell should be more solemn and greater. You cannot say they are wrong, only that they used an extremely simplified, children's version -- long, long ago, God created the world, and that was it.
Because of its elements of truth... Seth's version will find resonance in those minds that can open and are willing to listen.
Why? Because the human mind itself has the desire to correctly read living experience. Because our inner wisdom itself wishes to know the nature of its existence; it has such a strong desire. The two childish approaches above are not enough to feed it, not enough to convince it. It has always wanted to know how the universe originated.
And have some perception of his own vast heritage.
The mind itself comes from All That Is. It is itself consciousness, it is itself a unit of consciousness, a fragment of All That Is, so of course it knows from within where it came from. So when it reads these words and hears this information, every fragment of consciousness, every fragment of an entity, every fragment of All That Is, can recall its origin, and has some remembrance and perception of its own identity. Many people will feel a sense of resonance in their hearts, and will feel that this makes sense -- although they do not know why.
He was not the only one with a soul somehow blessed, while the rest of creation was unblessed. In those terms, everything he knew, regardless of size or degree, was made of soul stuff.
It is not that only humans have such a soul and are blessed, while all other things do not. All things in the world, every one of them, has a soul. The substance of their souls is unified and consistent -- all made of soul stuff. To put it most simply, all things in the world are composed of units of consciousness. These units of consciousness are the same; each is a part of one great field of consciousness, and each has its own identity and validity.
Each individual had its own unique identity and validity. No part was ever annihilated or destroyed.
Although forms may change, the small units that compose their identity and form the validity of their identity have not been destroyed. Although they appear different, these inner things will never be extinguished.
Of necessity, I must tell this story in a serial fashion. What came before the beginning, and then the early dreamwalkers in this third chapter. But the world and all of its creatures were actually put together like a certain spontaneous composition, a musical composition that was always being played.
In order for humans to understand, I can only tell this story from the angle of a temporal sequence, a continuous sequence. But what is the world itself like? It is composed of all the creatures within it -- every living being, every conscious being, every existent being -- each playing its own music in its own way, but together forming the harmonious whole of the entire world. Each one plays its own special tone and timbre, singing its own feeling-tone, forming the magnificent and splendid symphony of the entire universe.
In which the notes themselves were alive.
In this grand cosmic symphony, every note itself is alive. It plays itself -- note, this is crucial -- it plays itself, sings itself. It does not need a performer; it plays itself. That is to say, the performer and the note are the same -- there is no performer; the note sings itself, bows itself, strikes itself.
The purpose and the performance were one.
This is a very thought-provoking sentence. If you carefully ponder the deeper meaning in these words, it is very interesting. The cosmic symphony is always playing, and the performance itself is its purpose. It is not for anything, not performed for anyone, not played to anyone, not performed for anyone. The performance itself is the purpose -- you could also say its purpose is to perform. Every note, every one of us, our existence is its purpose. Beyond that, you do not need to seek any other purpose.
And each note that was played continued to play all of its probable versions.
Does not every note have many different possible versions? For example, the "sol" in "do re mi fa sol" -- this one sol has different pitches; in different octaves it can be a high octave or a low octave, and it is still itself. And different instruments produce different sounds when playing it. Play it once on the piano, once on the violin, once more on the erhu, once more on the drum, on the harp, the trumpet, the clarinet, the saxophone, the guitar -- every note goes and tries all possibilities, forming all its own possible compositions.
While at the same time participating in the themes of all other compositions... So each note played itself into definition, yet also existed by virtue of its position in the entire composition.
While playing itself, it is also consistent with the themes, melodies, and notes of other compositions. Each note plays itself into definition, distinguishing itself from others; at the same time, within all the possibilities, every possibility matches the other compositions, forming its own unique movement and theme. But every note finds its position in the cosmic sonata and exists by virtue of it -- because this cosmic symphony is formed in this way.
Each of us is like a note. In this life you play the piano, with the timbre of the piano; in the next life you may play in the manner of the erhu, and in the life after that you will play the suona. No matter how you change, you are still you. You can change all possibilities, change all timbres, sing different pieces, but because you are a part of the whole symphony, that defines your existence. You are this unique existence, and there is a place for you in the universe. Your place does not need to be fought for -- you exist, you sing yourself, and that is your place. Because you sing, that determines your place, confirms your place.
You say, what if I do not sing? Do I have a place if I do not sing? If you do not sing, you still have a place. In music there are rests, moments when there is no sound -- those places where no sound is produced also have their place. Rhythm without sound is also a rhythm, also a kind of music.
The conscious mind cannot handle that kind of multidimensional creativity.
Our conscious mind cannot understand this multidimensional cosmic symphony. It cannot understand how one note can have multiple pitches and multiple timbres being played at the same time. We can only appreciate the performance of one note, one timbre, one piece at a time. If you play ten pieces at once, your conscious mind will think it is noise, and cannot understand it, cannot process it.
But when he is carried along by his own theme, he is still himself.
You are not aware of that multidimensional existence -- there are many yous, many notes playing the cosmic symphony at the same time -- that is fine; just follow the music you are in now, follow the theme you are in now. Carried along by the present theme, you are still yourself -- you do not need to recognize that many-layered identity of yourself; you only need to take good care of your present identity and live it out, and that is enough. This is also yourself; you are one of the multiple identities, and if every multiple identity lives itself out, is that not the whole?
Moreover, as long as you follow the present theme, it can expand into a new kind of cognition. You say, if I follow this music, does that mean the music is already composed and I have no subjective initiative? No. Note that he says follow the theme, not follow the melody or the score. Theme and melody and score are two different things. A theme is bright, romantic -- that is called a theme. You only need to follow the theme; you do not need to follow a fixed score -- there is no score. Why is there no score? As said earlier: the entire cosmic composition is spontaneous, always being played, without beginning or end. Spontaneity is the key, so there is no score, only a theme, improvised.
In a certain fashion, your world follows its own theme in the composition made by creativity.
This physical world of ours is the theme of the composition that creativity follows. What theme? The experience of this physical world -- that is its theme. Our world runs according to this theme; our creativity is to create within the physical world.
You want to know where you enter the musical composition... I am using a musical analogy here to point out that you are also dealing with frequencies of perception.
You will surely ask: since the whole universe is a great composition, when did we enter it? At which measure did we begin? When will the performance end so we can take our bows? But think carefully -- in the entire cosmic composition, you may play this passage today and that passage tomorrow; today you appear with this timbre, tomorrow with that timbre, and it is all you. The entire cosmic symphony has your presence from beginning to end -- speaking in human terms of time, of course -- it has your presence throughout. You insist on asking where I began? You are everywhere.
For example, you could say that you are tuned in to the earthly orchestra. And your perception of time is only the result of habit.
You are only interested in the orchestra of the physical earth, so you play one small note in the performance of the earthly orchestra. And your perception of time is a kind of habit.
At the beginning of the world, you had to learn the habits of perception.
You had to learn the habit of perceiving time. When you moved from the dream body into the physical body, you had to make a connection with time and space; this was necessary, flawless -- otherwise you would be a defective product. It is like a robot: if the sensors of its outer senses cannot transmit real-time external data back in the present, then the robot is useless. So your outer senses transmit external data to you in real time, and you receive only this data; this is an essential skill, an inevitable attribute of you as a physical being existing in the material world. Such an inevitable attribute means that you must have a definite, incomparably clear perception of time.
As your physical senses gradually became more alert and specified, you learned those habits.
As your outer senses became more and more acute, more and more definite, more and more clear, your concepts of time and space also became clearer and clearer, and your habits of time and space became firmly established, to the point that you could not escape them. Because from the time you were too young to understand, you were establishing this habit, constantly practicing and becoming familiar with it.
Then you set time for yourselves. But the larger perceptions always appeared behind your consciousness and your dreams. It was the great activity of dreams that allowed you, as psychological and physical creatures, to recognize and inhabit the world you know.
You can perceive the physical world, perceiving it through time and space; at the same time you have a perceptual system that transcends time and space. These two are combined so well that you can live in your world. But we ordinary people do not believe there is inner perception; we think we can live perfectly well relying only on outer perception -- that is a misunderstanding. In fact, at the bottom layer you do not know about, in the depths of your consciousness, in places you cannot perceive, those inner perceptions that transcend time and space are always functioning; you just do not know it.
The inner senses and the outer senses function at the same time -- the outer senses with their concepts of time and space, and the consciousness without concepts of time and space, transcending time and space, one with all things -- these two cooperate perfectly, and only then do you humans have what you are today, and only then can you live well in this physical world.
Having said this, he felt he had made it clear enough, and ended the dictation. With a little pride he ended the session once again. He was very proud, because he felt that being able to explain such a complicated matter clearly gave him a little satisfaction.
Your interpretation of your own dream was very good.
He was talking about Rob's interpretation of his own ordinary dream. And Ruburt inadvertently enriched it with his poetry -- none of this is important; he was talking about matters between the two of them.
Then Seth said, do you have any questions? Ruburt said: do you have nothing to say about the beginning of this year? Because this was January 2, 1980 -- on January 1, 1979, he had given them a New Year's address. He said: do you have nothing to say this year, like the New Year's encouragement you gave last year? Then Seth, with considerable humor, eyes wide, said:
I thought what I gave you last time was my 1980 speech.
Remember the last session? Think carefully about the last session. Seth said, did I not already give it to you last time? In the session on December 26.
Then Rob said, all right. He continued with the encouragement: continue to read these encouragements every day.
I expect that sessions like this evening's will help you understand the nature of Framework 1 and Framework 2, and the importance of your mental activity in the formation of physical events.
In future sessions like this evening's, I will explain to you the nature of Framework 1 and Framework 2, and explain the relationship between mental activity and physical, material events.
Then Rob said: that is exactly what I wanted; I want to know this; hurry up and explain clearly to me how to operate within Framework 1 and Framework 2. Then Seth said:
I bid you a fond good evening.
With a very self-satisfied air, and then it ended.
Jane said in her session that she had gone very far in the session. Later, when they were talking, she said she had received from Seth the information to be given in the next session, about our own world, species, and civilization. Seth had the ability to transmit that material right now, but even in regard to such an extraordinary phenomenon as the Seth sessions, it was only Jane's and Rob's own time and habitual natures that prevented Seth from doing so -- only they were limited by time. Otherwise, Seth could have kept speaking. But they had no choice; they could only wait for the next session.
But by this point, Jane already knew what the next session would be about. Inevitably, the session Jane would relay for Seth next Monday evening would differ slightly from the Seth material available to him tonight. There are many interesting implications here.
Rob said: Think about it carefully. Suppose Jane were to transmit this content tonight, and then transmit the content she will deliver next Monday. There would certainly be differences between the two, certainly differences in the details. Savor this carefully; there is a great deal of enjoyment in it. Why would the material Seth transmits now be different from what he transmits next Monday? Where does this difference appear? On Seth's side? On Jane's side? In the informational connection formed among the three of them? Rob did not say; he said, figure it out yourself. There is something very interesting here: why can Seth transmit material that is not entirely consistent? And what is it that remains consistent?