Mike's commentary · Dreams, "Evolution," and Value Fulfillment, Session 912

The "Introduction" and "Key Points" for this chapter were summarized by an AI editor based on the main text below; they are not words spoken by Mike during the lecture. The main text comes from Mike's commentary, and the blockquotes are Seth's original words (the portions Mike read aloud).

Introduction

In this session, Seth explains that the genetic system is open, interacting with the physical and cultural environment, and responding to beliefs and feelings of safety. Genetic dreams before birth help form consciousness; thought precedes the brain, and language ability is already built into genetic dreams. Species survival depends on trust and biological optimism, and excessive worry can disturb the genes. The belief that life is meaningless can overturn genetic inheritance; faith, hope, and love are genetic attributes. Value fulfillment pursues excellence, and excellence in any field serves as a model.

Key Points of This Chapter

• The genetic system is open and responds to the physical and cultural environment, to a sense of safety, and to beliefs.
• Genetic dreams help form consciousness before birth; thought precedes the brain, and language ability is already built into genetic dreams.
• Species survival depends on trust and biological optimism; excessive worry disrupts the genetic system.
• Believing that life is meaningless overturns genetic inheritance; faith, hope, and love are genetic attributes, not religious ones.
• Value fulfillment is the pursuit of excellence; excellence in any field serves as a model that influences other fields.

Main Text

I am Mike, and today I continue with Session 912 of Volume 2 of the Seth book Dreams, "Evolution," and Value Fulfillment. This session began on Wednesday, April 30, 1980, at 9:04 p.m.

The beginning was quite simple. Last night Jane finished Chapter 15 of her poetry collection, a chapter that included a manifesto of the commonsense psyche that she wrote in July 1978, and the first paragraph of which she had placed at the front of The Individual and the Nature of Mass Events. That was just a brief overview. Then Seth came through and began introducing the formal content of this book.

The Genetic System Is Open

Seth emphasizes once again that the genetic system is a far more open system than we generally assume. The genetic system is open, not closed, and is constantly interacting with the external environment. The genetic system not only contains the transmission of information; it also responds to information coming from both the material and the cultural worlds. It does not merely pass on data; it also reacts to stimuli from the external environment -- including the material environment and the cultural psyche.

What he wants to explain is the manner in which the genetic system also responds to those beliefs and events that are most important in any given civilization. The genetic system responds to the important events that occur within a civilized society and to the beliefs that we humans hold. So the beliefs we hold can, on a physical or biological level, directly alter the biological structure of our human species. Important events in a civilization can activate genetic activity, and this response is not only chemical; it also responds to the genes through the personal and collective beliefs about the safety or lack of safety of the entire world. We live within a society, and whether we as individuals or as a whole group feel safe or unsafe -- both of these inner subjective feelings will have an impact on our genetic system. Insecurity will activate certain new genetic mutations to adapt to an unsafe social environment; feeling safe will stimulate or activate another kind of genetic change, to adapt to how one lives in such a safe environment.

Genetic Dreams

There is also something we call genetic dreams. There is a kind of dream called the genetic dream, which is different from other dreams. It is directly stimulated by genetic activation, a dream stimulated by certain changes in the genes. These dreams help to form and guide consciousness as it exists in any given individual before birth. What this means is, before genes are about to change or mutate, the genetic mutation may produce certain changes, but before the change occurs, it will give you some hints or preparation through dreams, so that you can meet the physiological and external bodily changes brought about by the genetic change. It prepares you in advance. This kind of dream is called the genetic dream.

For example, a fetus will have this kind of genetic dream. While the physical body is growing in the womb, the formation of consciousness is also stretched by genetic dreams.

While the fetal physical body is growing in the womb, the formation of its consciousness is also stretched by genetic dreams.

This part is a little difficult. When our little baby is growing and developing in the mother's womb, his consciousness is about to form because the genes will mutate. Before the genetic mutation, he will tell you in advance through this kind of genetic dream: your brain is about to form, your brain will think. But at this time the brain has not yet formed. Before this infant has developed a brain, he has already begun to prepare in the genetic dream.

And this is completely different from what scientists study. Scientists believe that only when a person has a brain can he dream, and they think dreams are caused by some extra or unconscious activity of the brain. Seth tells you here that this is not so — your consciousness arises before the brain, and in the process of consciousness arising, this conscious dream plays a key role. If there were no such genetic dream, if you were not trained in familiarity with and use of consciousness before your brain formed, your brain cells could not be activated, and you would not know how to use them. It is not as scientists believe, that brain cells come first and then human beings have consciousness. It is exactly the reverse: it is human consciousness that activates these brain cells and tells them how to operate and how to be applied. These two are completely reversed from our science.

He says these special dreams, directed at human beings, are the most difficult to describe. Why? Because there is not even a brain yet, so they are different from our human understanding. They really involve the formation of the limiting outlines of individual consciousness — they form the veins, the framework, the scope of human consciousness. These gene-based dreams provide subjective understanding, allowing you to understand your own subjectivity, and thought develops from that. Our thinking is developed from this kind of genetic dream.

In that fashion, complete thoughts are possible before the brain itself is fully formed.

That is, before the brain is fully formed, there are already complete thoughts. The process of thinking helps to bring the brain into activity, not the other way around. When he said this whole passage, he was very excited and stirred. Let us remember this point, which is different from our understanding: it is not that the brain forms consciousness, but that consciousness forms the brain and brings the brain into activity. To use his original words, you cannot say it forms the brain —

Such thoughts are like current patterns that form their own magnets.

He gives an example here. We have all seen those huge junkyards, where a giant electromagnet directly picks up scrapped cars and then crushes them. It lifts the cars out of a pile of scrap metal and throws them somewhere else to be crushed. This magnetic lifting device uses electricity. Scientists have long known that if you pass electricity through a coil, it becomes magnetic, and today the magnetism of many, many things is produced this way. Pass electricity through a coil and it produces a magnetic field, forming a magnet. He uses this as an analogy: magnetism exists because of the electric current. What he wants to tell us is that we human beings first have thought and consciousness, and then we have the brain. In the fetus, the ability to form concepts has already appeared. The fetus already has the ability to form ideas. The fetus does indeed form ideas.

And the precise orientation of that idea formation, and the precise orientation of thought patterns, awaits certain specific triggers from parents and environment after birth, but the process of idea formation and thinking is already established.

This establishment happens in the genetic dream, in the genetic dream of the fetus. Do you understand what he means? Before the fetus is born, its entire set of thought patterns and the entire mechanism of brain operation are already complete. It is just waiting for after birth, in our physical world, under the stimulation of parents and the external environment, to be activated one by one, waiting for specific events to trigger it. But it is already prepared, already there. This is completely opposite to our belief that "only after birth, under the stimulation of the environment and the outside world, do we human beings have consciousness and thought" — the external environment is merely a triggering process.

Therefore, long before they can speak, they can think. Thought must come before language, and language is the handmaiden of thought.

Thought comes first and language comes after — this is easy to understand. What many people do not understand is that we cannot distinguish the order between them. Language can only be the handmaiden of your thought. Our ability to use language is genetically generated through precise orientation. Even our language is genetically generated, through precise orientation — where is the precise orientation done? It is done in our genetic dreams. And again, genetically, it is activated by the substance of the parents' native language. Every person's language needs the parents' native language to help activate it, but before that activation, his language ability has already been written into his cells in a genetic way.

To put it in plain words, this child will speak his mother tongue when he grows up, not out of thin air, but because this ability is built into the genes. Under the stimulation of the mother tongue, he will automatically activate the genetic attributes that are already built in. Including the development of his vocal cords, his mouth and tongue, the coordination and operation of every muscle — all of these have actually been preset at the genetic level, and have undergone abundant training. This precise orientation is abundant training, except that this training is completed in dreams, and we are not aware of it. So we find it strange that children generally start speaking around one year old — a little earlier at ten or eleven months, a little later at one year and a few months. From starting to speak to being able to express fluently, basically a three-year-old child can normally express what he wants to express. In our human terms, from a little over one year old to two or three years old, he can speak like a normal, simple — you see foreign children arguing, arguing in English, it is the same. You say, what is so remarkable about that? But think about it, how many years have you spent learning a foreign language? Can you speak your mother tongue as well as a three-year-old child?

Scientists today do not quite understand why children learn language so quickly. They only observe that there is a critical window period for language learning, but they do not understand why. Seth explains this why clearly: it is built in. Why is the parents' native language built in? Because the genes come from the parents, and the parents' language is automatically written into the genes. Through practice and learning in the genetic dream, at the level of thought or consciousness, the ability to open one's mouth and speak has already been built in. It only needs the external environment, the constant stimulation of the parents or the mother tongue environment, to activate the automatic ability to use the tongue, vocal cords, and breath that he has already practiced countless times in dreams.

Children have already learned psychologically and mentally long before they open their mouths to speak.

Again, in the genetically activated dreams, infants practice language. But before infants hear their parents speak, they communicate by telepathy. Even in infants, genetic dreams involve language coding and interpretation, as well as very complex coding and interpretation of language.

Those dreams themselves bring about the substantive formation necessary for their own reality.

Those genetic dreams bring about the substantive formation necessary in physical reality. What is meant by necessary substance? It means that every one of us must be able to speak. This is a necessary substance of our humanity, a human ability. As for which language, which mother tongue, that depends on the environment into which he is born, but the ability is there. And how is this ability activated? Through genetic dreams. This dream not only teaches him to speak, but also teaches him the coding and interpretation of language.

What is meant by the coding of language? Between language and meaning — when we want to express an idea, between that idea and language, telepathy plays a role in the middle. It is an external manifestation of telepathy. It is not the way we understand it, that after going to school we learn the meaning of every word or every character, and then combine the meanings to form sentences and then express them. That is not how we humans learn language. Look at an infant, from not being able to speak to starting to speak — the development is rapid and dramatic. This process is not evolved step by step through words, sentences, and paragraphs the way we understand it. His understanding of linguistic meaning is achieved through something like a sound encoding made on the basis of telepathy. This kind of sound encoding is a matter of tacit understanding between many mothers and children. Parents who have raised children will know this — especially mothers, fathers a little less so — when a child whimpers or makes some strange sound, the mother knows what he wants. That sound has no meaning to anyone else listening, but his mother understands what he wants to do. I use this to explain the meaning of language coding. As for how he and his mother formed this kind of telepathic pattern, that is another matter. To a certain extent it does not even depend on this sound, but likewise, the interpretation and understanding of a language all require a process of learning in dreams, and this escapes the attention of most people.

Genetic Dreams Accompany Us Throughout Life

He says that throughout your life, one kind or another of genetic dream continues, whether or not you are consciously aware of it. Besides infancy, after we grow into adulthood we still have one kind or another of genetic dream. It is not only present during your infancy, in the womb, or just after birth; after adulthood, it accompanies us throughout this entire life.

You might say, we have all learned language and learned all these things, so what do we still need genetic dreams for? He tells you—

These genetic dreams play an important role in what you call the evolution of humanity.

In what you call the evolution of humanity—he put it in quotation marks, the so-called evolution of humanity. Actually there is no evolution of humanity, but we humans believe that humanity evolves, so he goes along with the human way of putting it for the time being. In the evolution of humanity, genetic dreams play an important role. How do they play it?

They are the source of those dreams we mentioned earlier, the ones that caused people to migrate in search of food, the source of the dreams that led him to fertile lands.

In ancient times, very early humanity, through dreams, we obtained information in the dream world about where there was food, where humanity had to migrate to; the dreams gave him direction. These genetic dreams guided the development of ancient humanity and the propagation of civilizations. These dreams are very closely related to survival in the physical world. Whenever that survival pattern—whenever survival seems to be threatened, these dreams will rise to the conscious level as much as possible. These dreams are generally hidden, implicit, just as you will not remember how you learned to speak in dreams. But if human survival is threatened, just as in ancient times when humanity could not survive without migrating or finding fertile land, they will surface from the unconscious level to the conscious level and give you some indications.

Genetic dreams are the dreams that warn of famine and war. When humanity faces major survival challenges, such as war or famine, these dreams will surface. However, these dreams can also be triggered in your own era—in this era of yours without famine or war, these dreams can also be triggered. When will they be triggered? When your conscious mind is convinced that human survival is threatened. Remember, it is your conscious mind that is convinced, not that it is actually threatened; there is an essential difference—that is, you feel that humanity is threatened. In such cases, those dreams then truly represent human fear. Some people have dreams of the end times, of great famine, of great catastrophe; this does not mean the world has reached that point, it is that you are overly anxious, worrying about things that will never happen. You are overly worried about the future and have frightened yourself. In this kind of situation, these dreams will be triggered. Because dreams cannot distinguish whether the outside world is truly tense or whether you yourself believe it has reached that point; they always take the judgment of your conscious mind as the standard.

Trust and the Survival of Species

Excessive worry can confuse the genetic system, and it reacts in a variety of different ways. Here he points out a mistake we humans make: excessive anxiety can cause your genetic system to become disordered, triggering changes or mutations that are fundamentally unnecessary. Because there is no real danger; it is your judgment about the future that makes you think it might be so. So do not worry excessively, do not be excessively concerned about the future, otherwise you will disrupt the normal work of the genes. They only respond to real conditions, but if you worry every day, they cannot tell whether it is real or not, and changes will occur.

The existence of every race is dependent upon trust. This is indeed a biological optimism.

The continuation and existence of every species depends on trust—trust in the surrounding environment, trust in other species, trust in nature. This trust is one that comes from the heart; without this trust, a species cannot develop. It has a natural biological optimism, in which each species can feel free and safe to develop the potentials of its members, within the natural framework of existence. Each species can bring out the abilities and potentials of each of its members, and it has complete faith in this arrangement, complete trust in nature.

The excessive worry of individual members can disrupt the generation of this trust, disturbing the normal development that genes should have under this normal premise of trust. Because of the excessive worry of certain individuals, genetic mutations that should not occur come about.

Each race enters into existence not only with an innate inner trust in its own validity, but also actually propelled by the exuberance of its ability to cope with its environment.

When each species enters into existence in the physical world, it not only feels a natural inner trust in its own validity—being able to move and walk, to manipulate the physical environment, to run and jump, to eat and drink—it never worries about this question, never has to think about how the stomach digests after eating, how the intestines absorb nutrients. It only knows that when hungry it needs to fill its belly, and the rest it does not need to think about. This series of examples I have given is all to tell you that this natural trust we have in nature is normal. On the other hand, it is also actually propelled by the exuberance of its ability to cope with its environment. We find it quite miraculous that we can actually live well in a physical environment and carry out all kinds of creative actions. This creativity makes one feel a great sense of wonder in the process of adapting to the environment, which further strengthens one's confidence in oneself, and one's confidence in oneself and in nature.

Each species knows that within the structure of life, it is unique and suited to its position.

In nature, it will naturally have its place.

The young of all species display an irrepressible abandon and resilience.

This abandon is innate. So when your child in the teenage years shows that rebellious spirit, that letting loose, that abandon, that heedlessness, it is innate. It is a characteristic that all species in this world have. If you insist on erasing it, making the child sit there properly like an old gentleman studying more than ten hours a day, then you are erasing the child's humanity. After you read this passage from Seth, underline this sentence—it is innate, something all species have, not just humans. Look at those kittens, puppies, and small animals—they are especially active, with boundless energy, constantly playing and making a ruckus. Nature designed it this way. Only in this way can its biological nature continue, can the species exist. If at this time they were all listless, then it would be over.

Our current society has stepped into just such a terrible situation: young people do not act like young people, having lost this abandon and willfulness. Through a series of systematic education and the transmission of social pressure, from the anxiety of the parents' generation to the anxiety of the children's generation, we are made to carry at a very young age pressures that our age does not need to bear—getting into a good school, getting into a good university, finding a good job. But the child is only ten, only eight years old—does he know what these concepts mean? Parents say it does not matter if he does not know, I know, we cannot lose at the starting line, we are now competing with everyone. But he is still a child; abandon and willfulness are his nature, and you use forceful measures to forcibly bend him back. Is it effective? It is. Just as was said earlier, the external environment also has an influence on genes. So what is the result of it being effective? The result is that more and more young people are aging before their time—at 20 they have the mindset of a 30-year-old, at 30 the mindset of a 50-year-old. They are skilled at planning and calculating in everything, having lost their abandon, lost their daring and fighting spirit.

Young people in the past could freely leave the place where their parents lived to go far away to work or start a business. Young people dared to start businesses even without money—a few young people pooling tens of thousands of yuan or borrowing tens of thousands of yuan dared to start a business. There was once a friend from Singapore named Angel who started with 500 yuan—500 yuan in RMB—and dared to open a beauty and hair salon¹, when he was about 18 or 17 years old, he dared to do this. 500 yuan—you would think it is simply unimaginable. So seeing the current social phenomenon, I hope that those of you here who are parents can loosen the bonds on your children. Do not put the bridle on the child anymore—do not put the horse's bridle, the horse's bit, on the child so early. Right now the child should be like a little colt, galloping freely across nature, unrestrained and willful.

This was said long ago in our ancient poetry and prose. Su Shi, in his famous poem, wrote: "The old man briefly indulges in youthful madness, a yellow dog on the left, a gray falcon on the right, a thousand riders sweeping over the flat hill"²—what kind of spirit is this? An old man with graying hair, yet as wild and untamed as a youth, leading a dog with one hand and a falcon with the other, going hunting, with hundreds or thousands of people, sweeping noisily across the wilderness to hunt. That kind of display, that state of youthful vigor bursting forth—you can imagine how thoroughly exhilarating it was. This is what youth should look like. Speaking of this, I have actually said a bit more than necessary. I saw the current social phenomenon, and there is nothing we can do about others; we can only say that parents who hear this material can truly reflect, and look at the most essential appearance of this universe and nature. When a person is young, they should be frivolous, they should be unrestrained, they should be willful—that is what their age should look like.

Animals Know the Meaning of Life

Seth emphasized that while Jane was sitting on the sofa writing this material, her cat Billy was still lying by her left hand. Because the topic had turned to animals, Seth said:

Animals know their own lives, and clearly illustrate the meaning of life.

Animals know the meaning of their lives, and express it through their lives themselves. If you asked an animal what the meaning of its life was, assuming it could speak, it would tell you: "The meaning of my life is to live my life well." It is that simple. My life is the meaning of my life.

They perceive their relationship with all other forms of life.

They know their position and relationships within nature, and know that within the framework of planetary existence their existence is extremely important. Within the entire ecological environment of the earth, every life knows its own importance, each fulfilling its role, each in its proper place.

They identify with their inner biological spirit so fully and completely that to question its meaning would be unthinkable.

These animals are fully identified with and fully understand their inner biological spirituality, the spiritual nature of life, so even questioning "what is the meaning of my life" is something they cannot imagine. Because they have complete recognition of and identification with their inner spiritual essence, how could they ask such a question? He said it is unthinkable not because such creatures cannot think, but because the meaning of life is so self-evident to them. For them there is no need to ask; it is such an obvious matter. Only humans ask this question.

When People Believe Life Is Meaningless

Seth paused for a long while.

Whenever man believes that life is meaningless, whenever he feels that value fulfillment is impossible, or indeed does not exist, then he undermines his genetic heritage.

What he means is this: for other animals, the meaning of life lies in life itself; for us humans it is the same. You do not need to go searching for the meaning of your life. The meaning of your life lies in your life itself. Your existence is the very meaning of it. It is that simple. But if you say this does not count as the meaning of life, and you insist on searching for some other meaning of life, or you believe that life is meaningless, what consequences will follow? You will undermine your genetic heritage. You are directly coming into conflict with the material or biological structure of your life, denying the essential existence of it on a biological level.

He went on:

If this person doubts that life has meaning, or if he feels that value fulfillment cannot be achieved, then he separates himself from the meaning of his own life.

He separates himself from the meaning of his life, and wants to find another meaning of life from outside. He does not know that his own existence is the very meaning of his life. He does not recognize this, and feels he still needs to find another one. At that point, it is over. He is separated from the meaning of his own life, and feels an emptiness inside. He cannot find it. The meaning of his life is his own existence, but he does not acknowledge that, so he cannot find it.

Faith, Hope, and Love Are Attributes of the Genes

For generations upon generations, people have attached faith, hope, and love to established religious beliefs.

For countless centuries, for thousands of years, people have attached faith, hope, and love to religious beliefs. And we have all done it backwards. What should the correct answer be?

Instead, these are attributes of the genes, not attributes of religion, inspired and promoted by the indivisible unity of the soul within the flesh.

Faith, hope, and love are the original attributes of your genes. Faith, hope, and love is a Christian phrase, so I will not expand on it too much. Faith is innate trust, the original believing; hope is the fervent longing and desire for life or the future; love is unconditional love. He uses faith, hope, and love to represent the meaning of life. We humans tend to place the meaning of life onto religion, but actually you do not realize that faith, hope, and love are not religious things—they are attributes of your genes, something every person is born with, an essence of faith, hope, and love that nature inherently grants you. It is just that religion, borrowing the name of nature, has plagiarized it away from you, making you feel, "I have faith, hope, and love—it seems religion awakened my faith, hope, and love"—it awakened something within me. But actually this thing is something every person originally has, something carried in the genetic inheritance.

Animals are as familiar with faith, hope, and love as you are, and often demonstrate it to a better degree within the framework of their own existence.

Animals also know faith, hope, and love. It may not be exactly the same as human faith, hope, and love, but they live more purely and more thoroughly than we do, and they are better able to demonstrate the true face of faith, hope, and love in their lives. We humans are actually not as good as animals in this regard.

Any philosophy that promotes the idea that life is meaningless is biologically dangerous, for it promotes a sense of despair that directly impedes genetic activity.

This kind of philosophy is widespread in society. For example, does our science consider life to be meaningless? Yes, it does. It believes that when a person dies, it is like a lamp going out—once it is over, it is over—so what meaning do those few decades have? Many other religions also deny the meaning of life. For instance, some extreme religions believe that the material world is entirely empty and meaningless. This includes some spiritual education—distorted education, I mean distorted education, not its original meaning—which also holds that this three-dimensional world is meaningless, that the ego is a virus, that the thinking mind is a virus, and that this three-dimensional world should be completely abandoned. This is precisely the denial of the meaning of life. Seth specifically brings these things up. Whatever doctrine denies the meaning of life—no matter what kind of religion, what kind of philosophy, what kind of spirituality, what kind of New Age banner it flies under—you should recognize it at a glance. As long as it denies the meaning of life, you do not need to listen any further; just turn it off.

This kind of philosophy is extremely detrimental to creativity, because it frustrates creativity itself, and especially frustrates the joyful mood, the vitality of spirit, and the sense of play.

Here we return to the question many people want to ask: Seth also says this world is all illusion, all camouflage, not real, all created by us—Seth also holds this view—so why does he say that anything denying this world, denying the meaning of life, denying the existence of the three-dimensional world is wrong? Where exactly is the difference? You also think it is illusion, and others also think it is illusion, so if it is illusion, we should abandon it, cast it aside. What are you doing hanging around illusion? What are you fussing about among a pile of flowers in the mirror and towers in the water? Should you not abandon it and go pursue the so-called great Way and truth?

Seth comes to tell you where the problem lies.

The problem lies in the fact that it wipes out creativity itself, wipes out the joyful mood of creativity, the vitality of spirit, and the sense of play.

Can you understand what he means? Whether this world is real or not is not important. What is important is that you have lost—in such a world, whether it is illusion or not—the reality of your creation. It does not matter whether the things you create are real, nor whether the environment you are in is real. What is real? What is real is that you are creating. Even if you create a virtual environment, a VR environment, even if you create a virtual space on the internet, even if you create a real three-dimensional world, build a house—all of this creation itself is real. Do not get hung up on whether the created thing itself or the created environment itself is real; none of that matters. But if you deny the meaning of life, saying these are all fake and we should not create anymore, then you have denied the most fundamental things about creation itself.

What is the most fundamental thing about creation itself? It is joy, it is delight, it is ecstasy, it is the vitality of spirit. When you wake up every morning thinking about creating something, creating a spiritual home, creating a better world, your whole body is full of energy. If you get rid of that, have you not abandoned the essential for the trivial? You have also gotten rid of the sense of play. In other words, we clearly know this is an illusion, but we play right here—we play very seriously, we are all happy, we are joyful—is the goal not achieved? You say no, this is fake, this is fantasy, this is a bubble, we should go play in the real place. If you are still distinguishing which place is fake and which place is real, then you are still very far away. Why? The place you think is fake on this side and real on that side—when you actually get to that side, you will discover that side is just as fake as this side—you could also say that side is just as real as this side. When you get there, you still have to create, you still have to experience, you still have to live joyfully, you still need a beautiful mood, you still need to be full of spirit every day. Is that not the same principle? If you deny this and say let us switch places—this place is wrong, this place is fake, let us switch to a real place—then that gets interesting.

Let me give you an example and you will understand. When we were little, children would play games together—I will be the doctor, I will be the nurse, what will you be—playing house. In China we call it playing house, and we played with endless delight. But parents would say: you kids are just playing house, it does not count for anything. They thought it was just a game. When the child grows up, they discover it really was a game, and we should play for real—really find a job, really become a nurse, really do some things. And then they feel the world after growing up is real, feel this three-dimensional world is the real one—there is real money, and real money can really go out and really buy things, unlike when you were little and drew a bill on a piece of paper—that could not really buy anything, it could only buy things in a child's game. But you went from one game to a higher-level game, and you think that one was low-level and this one is high-level, that one was fake and this one is real. Only after studying spirituality do you understand that this is also an environment, and it is also not real.

When you enter Framework 2—even if only for a single instant, even if only for a little while, even if only a few magical events happen in your life—it will suddenly awaken you to realize: this world is not an objective world after all; it turns out to be a subjective world, entirely a case of the environment shifting with the mind and appearances arising from the mind. It turns out all of this is fake, all projected by my state of mind, projected by my beliefs. If I do not pour energy into it, it disappears; whatever I pour energy into, that is what happens.

The Three Layers of the Game and the Unchanging Creative Ability

You would say, well, this one is fake, and that other one is real — which one is real? It turns out that energy and belief patterns are what is real. As long as I have a belief pattern, and as long as I infuse it with energy, it can produce — that is the real rule of the game.

Have you already entered the third layer of the game? To use the words of the "killing fee" in that "you deserve a better harvest"³ — you have moved from the first stage of the human game into the second stage of the human game. But is the second stage of the human game real? Is there more after it? Of course there is. Can you understand my example now?

You think this is fake, and then you think that one is real — I can only tell you, they are equally real, and equally fake. What does not change here is your creative ability, and the joy, the ecstasy, the sense of play that you experience within this creation — that is what matters most.

In this subtle difference, you can understand how laughable and how childish it is for many other religions and philosophies to deny the meaning of our life's existence, to deny the meaning of our physical world's existence. They have not seen the essence of this matter at all; they have only seen the surface, saying, "Oh, it is fake, I am not playing anymore, I am going to find a real place to play."

Don't Rush to Spread It; What Lights Up Others Is the Light Within You

Speaking of this, everyone, you must never make fun of others, and don't feel pity for them either. You can't say that just because you've studied the Seth material, or because you've reached a relatively high level of conscious awareness, you can laugh at others and say, "What you believe is all wrong; let me tell you what's correct" -- never do that.

Because every person has their own stage of learning and their own lessons. When they're ready, when they reach that stage, just like you, they will automatically come into contact with the Seth material. If they're not ready, forcing it on them does no good at all. It will only make them develop an aversion to the Seth material very early on, and they may never touch it again for the rest of their lives. They'll feel it's far removed from their own beliefs and reject it outright. Later, when someone else presents the possibility again, they won't touch it either. They'll say, "I know the Seth material. You people talk about beliefs creating reality -- I simply don't accept that." And there you have it: you didn't do any good; instead, you produced the opposite effect.

So here you must pay special attention: don't rush to promote it or proclaim it. Be patient, and live yourself into that state. What can truly light up others is not theory, not knowledge -- it's the light within you, the fire within you, your energy state -- something that transcends the Seth material itself, something beyond these theories.

Because many people, when they study up to this point and hear what I'm saying and understand it, immediately give rise to an attitude of spiritual arrogance: I understand it, none of you understand it, none of you are up to it. You absolutely must not have this attitude.

A Philosophy That Denies Life's Meaning Cannot Even Stand Up Rationally

Seth says this kind of philosophy is fatal on rational grounds as well -- let's set aside the spiritual side for now, from the standpoint of logical reasoning it is also fatal.

Because they must abandon man's great curiosity about the subjective matters that are his primary concern.

Why is it also wrong from a rational standpoint? Because as living human beings, what interests us most are those subjective feelings. What truly moves your heart, what makes you want to live in this world -- isn't it your family bonds, your love? Isn't it that there are people and things in this world that you like? This kind of liking, this kind of emotion, these are all subjective feelings. They are so real, so important, and yet someone tells you none of it has any meaning, and you are immediately thrown into confusion.

If life has no meaning, then nothing else really makes any difference.

If even life itself has no meaning, then what meaning do the people and things you like still have? What meaning does your being alive still have?

Why did I spend so long on that passage just now? I am not joking around with everyone. Because if you once fall into that kind of philosophy -- life has no meaning, the material world should be renounced, you should pursue higher spiritual goals, do not do anything more in this material world of mortal dust -- once you enter into that kind of theory and philosophy, it is very easy to end up suicidal. I am not trying to scare anyone here, because I have encountered many such people around me, and you just feel such regret, such pity.

The people who spread these ideas have no ill intent themselves. They also want to give everyone something good. They also want to tell you the ultimate truth so you do not take detours. They say, "What are you cultivating in these dreams and illusions?" Doesn't Buddhism say it all -- "All appearances are illusory⁴, but see what, dwelling in appearances yet not in appearances, then you shall see the uncreated." So you should walk that path. They latch onto just this little fragment of words and start believing they have grasped the truth. In fact they are turning black into white. They have forgotten the passage that came before in the Diamond Sutra and only remember what came after. Is what came after correct? At a certain level, it is correct. But they have forgotten that there is a sentence before it: "Let the mind arise without dwelling anywhere⁵" -- this mind is what leads you into the supreme perfect enlightenment, the bodhi mind of anuttara-samyak-sambodhi, and that mind arises from not dwelling anywhere.

You think this is bad and that is good, this is real and that is false -- are you dwelling or not dwelling? You are definitely dwelling. Because wanting to dwell permanently in the Pure Land, is that not a form of dwelling? Wanting to leave this turbid place, this world of the five defilements, is that not a mindset of aversion? "But see dwelling in appearances yet not in appearances, what is seen, unmoving suchness, like dreams and illusions" -- none of it should be cast aside. Why do you not look at the sentence before it? You must first have that earlier mindset before you can speak the words that come after. Without the mindset of "let the mind arise without dwelling anywhere⁵," do not speak those later words, otherwise you are leading others astray, you will lead people into a ditch. It is that simple.

The Tragedy of Those Who Commit Suicide

I emphasize this again here, because there are many, many people who study this kind of content and knowledge. Why so many? Because people always have this mentality: they always want to grasp at something ultimate, they always want to reach the goal in one step, they always have a mindset of seeking quick results, they always want to achieve some accomplishment, to enter some spiritual attainment. And those theories and philosophies tell you, "Ours is the real one, ours is the most ultimate, yours are all not ultimate," and so you go.

Just among those I know of, there are already quite a few — not hearsay, but things that really happened — several people committed suicide. The reason for the suicide was very simple: life no longer had any joy, there was nothing left. He did not feel afraid, and suicide did not feel painful; to him it made no difference. He felt that he was going to pursue that state, leaving this evil world of the five turbidities, entering a higher state. He felt that he had attained nirvana.

All right, we have digressed again. Let us stop here.

The Withering of Curiosity

Seth's original intent was also to prevent everyone from ending up like this, so he emphasized it specifically: if you feel that life has no meaning, then all these things also have no meaning—the things that give you the most joy in living all become joyless, and rational curiosity itself is withering away.

Rational curiosity is the essence of rationality. What we call rationality is the capacity for logical reasoning: I don't know how this question works, and I want to know—because I don't know, I'm curious, so I want to know. I use the known to infer the unknown, I want to solve it—that's what we call rationality. But if you've done away with this curiosity entirely, then how is his rationality supposed to develop?

From a rational standpoint, "life has no meaning, this is the objective world and not the subjective world, and those emotions, hobbies, and loves of yours don't matter"—this whole line of talk seems to make a lot of sense. But the very thing you're saying overturns the footing on which your rationality stands. The footing of your rationality is built upon curiosity; without curiosity, where would logical reasoning come from, where would rational exploration come from? But because you say life has no meaning, then what is there left to explore? What passion is there left for exploring, what motivation is there left for exploring? If rationality doesn't explore, what kind of rationality is it still?

So Seth tells you from both the front and the back that no matter which angle you look at it from, this kind of philosophical thinking cannot hold up. But this kind of philosophical thinking is very widespread in the world—it exists in every culture, every field, every place. I only hope that having said this much, you have a certain degree of discernment, so that when other people say these kinds of things, you can tell them apart.

The Genetic System and Cultural Reality

Therefore, the rational concepts of society also have a great influence on which genetic systems are triggered and which are not.

From another angle, what we call rational concepts in our society -- that is, the perceptions of the orthodox mainstream society -- also have an influence on the genetic system. You must never think there is no influence. So the process by which we sort through the belief systems of human society as a whole is, from a certain angle, also a process of improving the genes of humanity as a whole.

Seth told Jane to take a break. Jane paused in her trance state and poured herself a little wine. Rob found it quite amusing -- amusing in that Jane was still in a trance state, still together with Seth, not entirely Jane, yet at this moment she poured herself a drink. What he wanted to say was: which of the two of you actually wants the wine?

So then Seth continued:

You have a genetic system that carries truly incalculable amounts of information.

This is true.

Through your technology, through your physical experience, you are also surrounded by an immense communication of an external nature, in an array of messages.

He was speaking in 1980, referring to your telephones, radios, televisions, and earth satellites. There was no internet yet back then; now the internet and cell phones are everywhere.

All of these networks that process and convey information -- the inner physiological system and the outer ones may seem quite separate, yet they are intimately connected.

What you do not know is that these inner biological genetic systems seem to have nothing to do with the external network environment of information, yet in fact they are intimately connected. Our entire information environment today, the social information system, has an influence on the inner genes -- never think there is no relation.

The information you receive from your culture, from your arts, from your sciences and economic circles, is all transferred and decoded into cellular information.

From the information you receive -- whether artistic, scientific, cultural, economic, or political -- all of it is transferred and decoded, becoming information that your cells can obtain, decoded layer by layer.

He gave an example:

According to the cultural climate at any given time, when that climate is relatively safe or unsafe, as interpreted through private experience, certain genetic diseases may be activated or not activated.

Within a particular cultural environment, whether you yourself feel safe or unsafe -- these two feelings of course come to you through your information, through internet information -- will stimulate certain changes in your genes, causing the possibility of certain diseases to be activated or not activated. If you feel unsafe, certain diseases will be activated; if you feel safe, they will not be activated. Whether it is safe or unsafe depends entirely on how you yourself interpret the information around you.

In other words, for example, someone feels that America is extremely unsafe, that shootings happen every day, that walking down the street you might get shot dead. A person who feels that America is extremely unsafe in this way will have corresponding physical changes and reactions. This is the influence of society upon us.

In one way or another, the living genetic system has an influence upon your cultural reality.

To put it simply, the genetic system has an influence on culture, and in turn culture has an influence on genes. This is one kind of influence and that kind of influence.

All of this is further complicated by the purposes and intents of generations in any historical period, and by the influences of reincarnation.

Your genes have an influence on the environment and culture you live in; then they also have an influence on the cultures and environments you have lived in through generation after generation of reincarnation; and those influences are in turn obtained by your genes in this lifetime from the reincarnational gene pool. Such influences are extremely complex, and by no means can human scientists simply recognize them through genetic fragments and combinations. Humanity has not yet recognized the influence of consciousness and beliefs, thoughts and culture upon genes -- this is an area humanity has not yet studied.

The Pursuit of Excellence: The Exemplary Role of Value Fulfillment

Value fulfillment always implies the pursuit of an excellence.

He specifically emphasized that it is the pursuit of excellence, not the pursuit of perfection.

Rather, the pursuit of excellence — in any given field, say emotional, physical, intellectual, intuitive, or scientific excellence — is reflected in other fields, and its very existence serves as a model of achievement.

Your excellent performance in any one field is the essence of value fulfillment. Value fulfillment is the pursuit of excellence, and not just in one aspect, but in all aspects. But when you pursue excellence in any one aspect, it has an influence on the other aspects. If you pursue emotional excellence, it has an influence on the body; if you pursue complete physical excellence, it also has an influence on the emotions, the intellect, and the intuition. Pursuing excellence and pursuing value fulfillment in any one aspect will influence the other aspects.

And when you pursue excellence in one aspect, its very existence acts like a model, setting an example for the other aspects. Take physical excellence, for example: you can train yourself into a person with a very good physique, becoming the best among all people, a model, and at the same time you will also do very well in other aspects. Why? Because you have gained that kind of confidence.

Many people cannot understand: why is it that those who are outstanding are outstanding in every aspect? Now you can understand it, right? Many people give examples and say, "Why, when you could clearly make a living on your looks, do you insist on making a living on your abilities?" Because he does not need to make a living on his looks. His face is very refined, and his physique is also very refined, so he has the ability to make everything else refined as well.

So now you understand that the exemplary role of value fulfillment in one field will influence other fields.

This excellence need not be structured into any one aspect of life, although it may appear in any aspect.

You only need to develop excellence and realize value fulfillment in the one aspect that interests you; there is no need to cover every aspect. It will automatically influence the other aspects; you do not need to manage that.

And wherever it appears, it may be said to be an echo of a spiritual and biological dictate.

Wherever it appears, it is a response from you on both the spiritual and the biological levels. The spiritual is your intent and purpose, and the biological is the expression at the genetic level; it is the result of these two working together. Your genes are already prepared, and then you are inspired and stimulated by certain things, and you realize it. And this biological preparation is also accomplished under the foundational preparation at the spiritual level — that is to say, excellence in any one aspect of yours implies that it is your spiritual goal, and also your biological inevitability.

Masters of Historical Periods and Reincarnational Intent

There have been people in different historical periods who showed what they could do, and what was possible in certain specific directions. When the genetic and reincarnational triggers were activated, and fully opened, so that certain characteristics appeared in the clearest, most spectacular way, to serve as an individual example demonstrating to all of humanity.

In these particular historical periods, there were some very extraordinary figures who appeared in human society in various magical, remarkable forms, serving as models and exemplars for us. They displayed the most spectacular, clearest characteristics in the genes to the fullest extent, purely as demonstrations for all of humanity: telling you, I can do it, and you can do it too.

Such times are closely connected with reincarnational intent.

The emergence of such extraordinary geniuses or great figures is closely connected with their reincarnational intent. This intent not only guided the activation of the genes, but also cut into the culture with the further stimulation that was required.

When these outstanding talents came to be born and reincarnated, they carried strong intent and purpose, precisely to accomplish such tasks and missions, leading human civilized society toward a new stage — whether in literature, art, sculpture, painting, politics, economics, or military affairs. They all came with a mission, to push forward the progress of human civilization, to give humanity stimulation, to let you know that such things can be done.

For example, in the fields of painting and sculpture, the era of the great masters is an obvious example. Rob will give examples in the notes, from the 1470s to the 15-somethings — that time called the Renaissance⁶ — when some master-level figures made their brilliant appearance. But after that, such master-level figures were rarely seen again.

The most famous painters we remember have basically all been dead for one or two hundred years, two or three hundred years, three or four hundred years, even several hundred years or over a thousand years. Why have no such masters appeared recently? He changed direction. It is not that this thing is no longer important, but that the focus is no longer here.

"So you see, I am discussing a subject you are partial to," Seth said with humor — you see, I am not ignoring your feelings; as a painter, I have singled out the field you are familiar with.

In certain special eras of humanity, some master-level figures appear, all coming with a mission, exerting a crucial influence on the painting of that period and on the entire development of painting for later generations of humanity. In our era, these are no longer needed — no matter how well you paint, people no longer have the same great enthusiasm for painting as before. Because we have too many forms of entertainment. In the 14th, 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries, humanity had little entertainment, and the spiritual shock brought by a lifelike oil painting was far more important in that era than VR glasses and the like are now.

If you have been to a museum and stood before those famous paintings, truly appreciating them quietly, that feeling is different. I am not telling you to be pretentious about culture — when a real oil painting is placed before you, that visual impact is completely different, and you can truly feel the vividness and vitality of the figures within it.

But in this era, too many things distract our attention, and painting can no longer arouse interest. If it cannot arouse interest, then few masters will develop in this direction. But we will develop in other fields — in quantum computing, the next-generation internet, even the metaverse, blockchain, and these technologies, exemplary and outstanding figures will be born in these areas.

What Happens to Materialists After Death

Seth asked Rob if he had any more questions, and Rob said he did have one: one day Jane and he were talking about people who claim the universe came about by accident, with no meaning, no afterlife, and no psychic abilities. These skeptics, who call themselves materialists or scientific-minded, seem to have a very rigid focus within physical reality. This attitude is quite common, and Jane mostly held this view. Some people take it as their duty to promote that kind of negative belief—when others are learning spiritual knowledge, someone jumps out and says, "You should wake up," treating this as their own mission. He feels he ought to save you misguided people, and his enthusiasm and the energy he puts into it are no less than your energy in learning spirituality. He chases after you everywhere, blocking you, telling you not to be obsessed.

And Jane was curious: when these people die and discover they are still alive, how would they react?

Seth said, these pure materialists who believe there is nothing after death, when they actually die, they discover, oh, I am still alive, I still have consciousness, even though my physical body is dead—what would they think, how would they feel? When they begin to understand after death that the belief system they may have spent their whole lives defending was wrong, how would they react? Do those people even become aware of their previous beliefs? Are they frightened? Do they feel regret or embarrassment? Or are there so many different reactions that you simply cannot answer this question easily? For example, when these people begin to understand after death that reincarnation operates at this time, how do they react?

Actually, those of us who have learned to this level basically no longer ask this kind of question. But Rob's question has great universality, and many people who have just begun learning spirituality are very interested in this question. I have encountered many people asking similar questions more than once.

Actually, why is this question meaningless? You are concerned with other people's business—what does it have to do with you how they think or feel? So what if he regrets it, and says, "Oh, I should not have opposed you, you were all right"—is that the kind of thing you want to hear? Even if you wanted to hear it, he could not say it to you anyway, because he is already dead. So this question itself is not very meaningful. But for beginners in spirituality, they are very interested in it.

Seth first stated a premise: this is a very personal matter, everyone is different, and it is hard to give an overall answer. Seth was also very seasoned and crafty, and what he said was also the truth—when each person enters this state and discovers after death that the theory they insisted on their whole life was wrong, how they react is different for everyone. Some people are one way, some people are another. This also involves the patterns of reincarnation; each person has different reincarnation patterns.

Some people, after living a life relying on one religion or another, fully immersed in it, then want to give themselves a kind of detox treatment, so they live a life of trusting nothing, or at least of freeing themselves from any religion. Of course, they only discover that believing in nothing is the most limiting belief of all.

In such cases, the realization is a rude awakening.

Seth's words here are very learned. Let me put it in plain terms: why do some people believe in nothing in this life, why do they hold skepticism? Very likely in a previous life they believed in some religion—not just for one lifetime, but possibly for several cycles of reincarnation. But they discovered that what the religion said was wrong. It was not as the religion said: according to the Christian view, after death you have to wait for the final judgment; once you die you just wait here, and after everyone has died, God will judge everyone uniformly to go to heaven or hell. But they discovered it was not so—after death you can quickly reincarnate and come back. They discovered this teaching was wrong. The same goes for other religions, Buddhist, Islamic, all like that.

These people, after believing in something for several lifetimes, chose in this lifetime to believe in nothing. They feel it is all nonsense—do you still want to fool me? I will not be fooled again. So they adopt an attitude of doubting everything. But all of this comes from reincarnation, and after coming here they themselves do not know it.

So do these people seem to have become smarter, believing in nothing? But after they die, they will discover another terrible thing: it turns out that believing in nothing is the most limiting belief of all. Believing in nothing is not being an atheist; rather, it is another kind of belief. And this belief is even more frightening than blindly following and blindly believing in something, because it is even narrower than the others. Blind faith may have its wrong points, its superstitious points, but your believing in nothing is even worse than that superstition. We are not saying that kind of thing is right either, but by comparison, your believing in nothing is actually even narrower. So in this case, only after death does he discover, oh, believing in those things before was wrong, and now my believing in nothing is also wrong—for him, this is a rude awakening.

Those who relied excessively on religion, using it as a crutch, may then in subsequent lifetimes overreact to their newly discovered freedom. They throw away those crutches and live in a way that regards life as meaningless.

Some people who believed in religion for a long time used religion as a crutch. But in this cycle of reincarnation, they want to throw away this crutch and live a freer life—a lifestyle completely unconstrained by religion, one that regards life as meaningless, allowing a life of indulgence, free from any constraints.

They then realize after death that the value fulfillment of existence does not depend on any religious system.

Only after death does he discover that he had it wrong. The value of his existence, the meaning of life, has nothing to do with religion; whether you believe in religion or not does not matter. The meaning of life is an intrinsic attribute that is inherently complete, always there, only he himself failed to see it. First he believed in religion, then he threw away religion and returned completely to a free and indulgent life, and then he believed in nothing and felt life was meaningless—only after death does he discover that life does have meaning, and the meaning lies in life itself, not in religion. You think religion gave it meaning, then you discover that was wrong, cast aside religion, and think life is meaningless—both views are wrong. First, the meaning of life is not in religion; second, life does have meaning, and the meaning lies in the very existence of life itself.

The variations here are endless.

Seth gave two main possible variations, but the variations in between, specific to each individual, are all different.

By and large, within the vast plan of reincarnational reality, the belief system in the meaning of life is the rule.

No matter how many cycles of reincarnation you go through, you must explore the same question: what exactly is the meaning of your life. Whether you are male or female, a king or a beggar, you must ponder this question. And the other journeys are really only offshoot variations. In your process of exploring the meaning of life, all the other side details are merely variations on this theme—not the theme itself, but still branches of the theme.

In terms of such life episodes, however, this of course involves their moment of realization after death.

What is meant by a life episode? You may have several hundred reincarnational lives, and most of them have a theme—the theme of value fulfillment is there. But this does not prevent certain reincarnational lives from deviating from the theme, or being episodes on the theme. Such a reincarnational life, among the many reincarnational lives of your entire entity, exists merely as an episode off the main line. In this way, after death, at the moment of realization after death—simply put, suppose there is such a moment, such a point in time—he will feel dejection, shock, or whatever, suddenly discovering that this life was lived in vain, that this was not his main line, that he had gone off course. Only after death does he understand this, and he will certainly have a feeling of dejection or shock. Everyone is different; some people say, well, it is fine, I also experienced a different life.

He said, "If you will remind me, I will discuss this topic from time to time." Actually, whether we discuss it or not does not matter much; this kind of thing, with a thousand people having a thousand faces and a hundred different states, is not worth discussing. Then Seth said this session is over, and wished the two of them good night.

Rob's Note: Why the Four Painters Appeared Only in Those 98 Years

Rob told Jane that this session was fantastic. It really was, and much of the content was touched on by Seth only briefly, without being expanded upon. Rob could feel the true value and significance of the Seth material.

Following is Note 1. Seth spoke of a question Rob would ask Jane but rarely discussed with others -- he and Jane often discussed it between themselves but not with others, because others seemed uninterested.

The discussion was about Rembrandt. This is not the name of one person, but a school of painters. Why is it that among all the world's painters today, not a single one can compare with this man called Rembrandt, who used his great genius to awaken deep compassion for the human condition? In my opinion, there is no such person now. Furthermore, why is there no Rubens, Velazquez, or Vermeer painting today? Of course, my choices are quite personal and arbitrary.

Rob said this was his personal preference. He considered these four painters extraordinary, because they awakened the entire human condition. Yet why do we not have a painter like Rembrandt contributing to our present reality? Only these four painters, whose lives spanned a mere 98 years, not even a full century -- from 1577 to 1675⁷ -- explored human insight in such a powerful way. Why were all four of these painters masters?

Seth's mention in this session that "masters are connected with reincarnational intent" opened up a new field for answering my question, indeed a very large and very interesting field. Seth told us that they came with their own reincarnational missions and meanings. This idea of Seth's blew Rob's mind wide open.

Why is it that these master figures in the history of painting -- figures who had a major influence on human painting, including on the expansion of human consciousness -- why do they no longer appear? In that brief period of only 98 years, four painters suddenly appeared, and yet in the several hundred years since, there has not been even one such painter?

Many of our outstanding modern painters inevitably work within a different world atmosphere. Yes, the world has changed, and the art of our species is fundamentally different now. Our present world's understanding of art is completely different from that of that era. A fact Rob both admired and mourned. Admired because the times are progressing, and we must move with the times; mourned because he felt this era's understanding of art was less important than what he considered the era of 1577 to be, and he felt we lack master-level figures.

Rob's insight was: "In the course of our world's development, we have not lost certain qualities of art, but rather we no longer emphasize them." Rob had been pondering this question all along. He found that this era lacks masters not because of a lack of ability regarding these artistic qualities -- whether the ability to appreciate them or to create them -- but because we no longer pay attention to them, we no longer emphasize them. No matter how well you paint now, nobody is interested. Doesn't a photo taken with a phone work far more effectively than an artist's painting? No matter how lifelike you make it, can you match that lifelikeness? When society no longer pays attention to it, the quality of art has not died out; the point of focus has simply shifted.

Note 2: A Poem About Life After the Flesh

Note 2, Rob said he had been looking for a suitable place for Jane's following untitled poem. She wrote the poem below on November 7, 1979, about a month before approaching Session 886 in Chapter 2 of this book. Rob suggested that readers also look at the opening remarks of that session. Placing the poem here reflects one of Rob's sentiments -- because this session ends by discussing life without a physical body, what happens after death, and whether those materialists will regret it after they die.

If there is no life after the flesh, then it was ash and dust that formed the universe. Then who was it, ash and dust, that formed the universe? For accident alone could not be so prolific, or fabricate an order in which massive chance occurrences, as in Genesis, happen so inevitably. Each aimless element, obediently taking its proper place, each consciousness appearing on time, the parts of the body then neatly assembled, only to be wasted, broken down, dissolved into nothingness. Meanwhile accident grinds out yet newer transport, if there is no life after the flesh, then the universe is far too poor at reckoning. For nature strings one molecule to another so ingeniously that every seed grows into a tree, and contains the attributes of an entire forest, while the propagation of life is implied in every direction.

This poem, from a poetic angle, poeticizes much of Seth's content once again. From the poem we can appreciate Jane's talent in poetic creation and her spiritual insight.

---

注释与核实

1. According to Mike, the original words were "starting from 500 yuan, daring to open a beauty salon with 500 yuan RMB"; upon verification, it should be "Angel Tong received 50,000 yuan in support from her mother and opened the first Angel Face beauty shop in 1987, not opening a shop with 500 yuan RMB." (Source: Leila Poon, "Beauty blossoms with sincerity Angel Tong On-ki tells the secret of her beauty kingdom," https://sys01.lib.hkbu.edu.hk/scadb/bujspa/detail/0002396) ↩

2. Source: Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and National Supervisory Commission website, "A Breath of Noble Spirit, How Joyful Old Dongpo" (https://www.ccdi.gov.cn/lswh/wenhua/wyzd/201701/t20170105_156314.html) ↩

3. This claim could not be verified. ↩

4. According to Mike, the original words were "all forms that are violated are illusory"; upon verification, it should be "The original text of the Diamond Sutra is 'All forms are illusory,' not 'all forms that are violated.'" (Source: Kumarajiva of the Later Qin, trans., Diamond Sutra, https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/zh/T08n0235_001) ↩

5. According to Mike, the original words were "because of having no abode, the mind arises"; upon verification, it should be "The original text is 'one should give rise to the mind without abiding anywhere,' not 'because of having no abode, the mind arises.'" (Source: Kumarajiva, trans., Diamond Sutra, https://dlbs.liberal.ntu.edu.tw/BDLM/sutra/html/T08/T08n0235.htm) ↩ ↩²

6. This claim could not be verified. ↩

7. Source: The National Gallery, "30 key artists" (https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/30-key-artists) ↩