Mike's commentary · Seth Speaks, Chapter 1

The "Introduction" and "Chapter Highlights" 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 blockquotes are Seth's original words (the portions Mike read aloud).

Introduction

This chapter consists of three sessions. Seth first introduces himself: he has no physical body, is an energy form, speaks through Jane Roberts while Rob records; he states that he only describes the reality he knows, not the final truth, and explains that his purpose in coming is to convey the ability and responsibility of "man creating the world he knows and projecting thought into matter." He then explains the composition of the human being: the outer self, the inner self, the subconscious, fragment personalities and the entity, as well as the conscious mind spanning consciousness and the unconscious. Finally, he explains that Seth establishes communication with Jane and the readers through the psychological revolving plane.

Key Points of This Chapter

• Seth has no physical body; he is an energy being who speaks through Jane Roberts, with Rob taking notes.
• Seth states that he only describes the reality he knows, not the final truth.
• Seth's purpose in coming is to convey that humans have the ability to project thoughts outward into concrete physical matter, and should take corresponding responsibility for this.
• A human being is composed of the outer self, the inner self, the subconscious, fragment personalities, and the entity; the inner self manages the body and contains information from past lives, and fragment personalities are projections of the entity.
• Seth establishes communication with Jane and the readers through the psychic revolving plane.

Main Text

The Content Structure of Chapter One

This chapter is divided into three sections. Seth's sessions are organized by session, and one session is one evening -- the content spoken through Jane and recorded by Rob over the course of one evening is called one session. So this chapter is basically a compilation of three sessions, and each of these three sessions has its own focus.

The focus of the first session is introducing "who I am." This is very simple. It is like when a teacher is giving a lecture and introduces himself to the students, saying what his name is, which school he graduated from, how many years he has worked, and what his characteristics are. The first part is essentially a self-introduction.

The second part tells every reader: what the characteristics of human beings are, and what we are composed of. We have an inner self and an outer self, including the id, the entity, and so on -- these are categories that go beyond our understanding of ourselves. This part explains the scope of self-knowledge in greater detail, and later I will use a chart to give everyone a complete explanation.

The third part talks about the way Seth communicates with Jane. Jane is an independent personality, and Seth is another kind of personality. It explains the way he communicates with Jane, and then how he communicates with the readers. Through these three aspects, he explains the origin of this book, and also gives a general introduction to why he wanted to write this book and what goals he hoped to achieve.

Seth's Self-Introduction — Setting Your Concerns Aside

Let's start with the first section. Seth, as a special kind of author, has no physical body. We can call him a kind of energy body, or a kind of multiple personality. He spoke through an American woman writer named Jane Roberts, through her mouth, and then her husband Rob was responsible for recording it, for taking shorthand. He was worried that people would be concerned or afraid of this method, as if a ghost were writing a book, so he did a lot of introduction and groundwork up front.

I think this is actually fairly easy for us to understand, because in ancient China there were many traditional classics that had no clear source, that were not written by a person, or where no one knows who wrote them. For example, the He Tu and Luo Shu — we do not know who the author was; the Classic of Mountains and Seas — even now we do not know who the author was¹; and the Huangdi Neijing — we also do not know who wrote it². There were many ancient books like this in China, and many other countries and peoples also had ancient books like this. His point is that you should not find it strange that a book is being written without a physical body.

Then he gave another example. He said that when I am writing this book, I am assuming that these readers all exist, that they are all actually existing real personalities or real people, but at the time I am writing this book you do not exist, and I cannot see you. He said, so can you give me the privilege of assuming that when I am writing this book I do not exist, but I am still an author communicating with you. He used this approach to set your concerns aside, so you would not treat him as some strange or bizarre person.

Then he said, you always think that because you have a physical body, those without physical bodies are different, that they are a completely different species. He said actually it is the same, that inside you are also composed of that formless kind of thing, not the way you think.

Then he said, if we calculate by age, I am older than all of you. Every teacher introduces their qualifications, right? He said in terms of age I am older than all of you, I absolutely have the qualifications to teach you this. Second, in terms of seniority, I am also standing on a higher level than you, or in a higher dimension. This book says "dimension" many times — "dimension" actually means the same as "dimensionality"; that is a term used in Taiwan, and for us it means different dimensions. He said I am also communicating with you from that higher dimension, and whether from the perspective of knowledge, the height at which I stand, or experience over time, I am far older than you. His point is, I am qualified to explain and transmit this knowledge to you.

He went on to say, the material I am transmitting here has actually been brought back to you many times over the centuries by people who return to tell you, except that after a while you forget it, and then someone comes back again to tell you the same thing, to tell you the truth of this time. He said actually when you are reading this material, the one reading the book is not only this self that you think you are — it is actually the part behind you, that inner you, who is also reading this book, or rather, it is more that he is the one reading this book.

This is something I have genuinely experienced and felt. I have seen many people who read the Seth books — the first time they read this book or the other books — that feeling of joy, that longing for this knowledge, that sense of recognition. Many people's feeling after reading Seth's books, even if they have only read the first chapter, is a feeling of the psyche coming home — suddenly they feel that before they were not accepted by others, and then suddenly they feel that there is such a person and such a book that can understand me, that thinks exactly the way I do, so they are especially excited. Many people say they want to swallow this book whole, and many people cry, they shed tears, and some people are especially ecstatic — that joy is an inner joy. And many people feel that reading this book makes their heart especially comfortable, especially peaceful, especially serene and tranquil, that feeling of coming home. These are actually all your inner perception at work, and these are all very normal.

Session 511

Seth's Statement — Reality as He Knows It

Then Seth made some statements about this transmission of material. He said that when this information is transmitted, it will inevitably be colored by the characteristics and interpretations of both the holder of the information and the transmitter. So he said:

I describe reality only as I know it, and from my experience in many levels and dimensions.

What he means is that beyond the reality he understands, there are still other realities — it is not that there is nothing more. But from his cognitive perspective, from the realities he has experienced and the different dimensions and levels he has gone through, he tells us what he knows. What he wants to convey here is that the knowledge he presents does not end with him — the vastness and profundity of this universe and the exploration of the world of reality are inexhaustible. So he made this statement to let everyone understand that not all truth reaches its final form with him.

Many people have asked me this question: What level is Seth actually at? What kind of standing does he have compared to the Buddha, Shakyamuni, Jesus, or Laozi? I think it is hard to sum this up in one sentence. What level they are at is a bit like asking which martial arts general from one ancient novel would beat a martial arts general from another novel — not easy to compare.

From my understanding, Seth is a very objective and genuine existence. He has said in many other places that he is currently at about the 12th level, it seems, and that he has not experienced things at higher levels, nor can he imagine them. Then there is also a personality called Seth Two. This personality of Seth Two is many levels higher than the personality of Seth. Just as Seth is a higher-dimensional existence relative to us, Seth Two is also a higher-dimensional existence relative to Seth. Seth said, I often receive information and material from Seth Two.

So Seth speaks quite objectively. But many people say, well then, do I not need to study Seth's material? I will just directly study the highest or the final and most complete knowledge, that truth — I do not want to waste time here. I think this is a bit like how we start learning from elementary school: we must go from elementary school to middle school to high school, then to college, then to graduate school, then to a doctorate, step by step. You cannot just jump directly into doctoral courses — you would not understand anything at all. Knowledge is the same way.

Seth has had the experience of living in the human world. He has had many experiences of reincarnation. He also has this wish — because his relationship with Ruburt and Joseph is not ordinary, there is affection between them, there is this emotional bond, and he is willing to come back and transmit information. It is very much like parents coming back to reason with their children, so he is willing to take great pains to explain many things. Another reason is that because his level has not reached that limitless higher dimension, he is willing to come back and speak. He himself said in one place, I am not all-knowing; if I were in that state of knowing everything, then I would not come back to tell you these things. This is a very typical state. I hope everyone can understand this — do not say that you want to reach for the highest. You must first be able to reach the states that Seth describes before you can take the next step. Seth is also constantly improving and constantly progressing. I hope everyone has an objective and clear understanding of this.

The Main Purpose of This Visit

Then Seth went on to say, I am primarily a teacher, and I have come this time to bring you information. What was his information?

You create the world you know. Heaven has given you, perhaps the most estimable gift, the ability to project your thoughts outward into concrete physical matter.

Well, that ability is truly too formidable, an ability almost beyond description, this ability of getting what you think of. He said, but none of you know about this ability, nor do you believe you have it. The main purpose of his coming this time was to convey such a message to everyone. He said, each of you actually creates your own physical reality, and collectively you create the glories and the terrors of your worldly experience. So your main problem is that you refuse to accept this responsibility.

In other words, we often ask whether there is a heaven, whether there is a God, whether there is a higher deity, whether there is a creator, a maker, whether there is some other god above me to help me solve my problems. We crouch in this world like ants, how weak we are, how insignificant we are, and so on and so forth. Because the core of such thinking is that you are evading your responsibility, you refuse to take on the responsibility of being a person with this ability. What ability? The one just mentioned: the ability to turn what you think into a reality, the ability to project your thoughts into matter.

He said that with regard to this responsibility, if you keep evading it, if you do not want to take it on, then you will not want to accept this ability either. So in between, your thinking, your spirit, and this ability need to improve in step with one another. That is, you both know that you have this ability, and you are willing to take on this responsibility, and you are willing to use this ability to create more things of value. This is what everyone should clearly understand, and this is what he wanted to emphasize: do not shirk your own responsibility, do not push it onto others.

Then he also said that our ego has become too strong, like aging muscles, so strong that it has made us overlook the existence of other aspects of ourselves.

A Diagram That Shows What You Are Made Of

After Session 1 ended, Session 2 began to get into some core material. Seth started to explain some core concepts and ideas to us. From this session onward, we enter a very important point -- you need to have a clear understanding of the self. Below I will use a diagram to give everyone a detailed explanation. This diagram covers all aspects of Seth's core ideas. It will appear in different places, and I have made a summary of it. When you look at this diagram, you can very clearly understand what we are discussing and which level we ourselves are on.

First, look at the red part of this diagram, the outer self. This outer self is what we can perceive. It mainly relies on the direct sensations brought to us by the five senses -- eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body; touch, hearing, taste, smell, these kinds of senses bring us direct sensations.

Outside the outer self there is something called the ego. This ego is the self, with consciousness added -- your own thoughts and ideas about the world. Through interaction with the five external senses, this consciousness forms a judgment and cognition of the world. This judgment and cognition is reflected back into your brain, and you form a perception of self and a recognition of self -- what exactly is this thing I call "me." This part is called the ego. So much of the time, what we feel is the existence of this ego.

Inside the outer self, there is actually an inner self. We basically cannot perceive the existence of this inner self. It is internal, basically in a state of unconsciousness. Look at the left side -- what it faces directly is a state of unconsciousness. You are not aware of it, but that does not mean it does not exist, and it is extremely important. For example, your heartbeat, blood circulation, respiratory system, every aspect of your body -- all of it depends on this inner self to manage. In other words, this inner self is the most important core that forms your body.

For example, each of us has about 50 trillion cells in our body³. Every cell has its own unique life force, and every one has its own consciousness. And how these 50 trillion cells⁴ make up this existence of yours that weighs over a hundred pounds -- you do not know how they are put together, and you do not know how they operate. Although science and medicine have been researching and dissecting this, we still do not know how they coordinate and operate. So in medicine these systems are often called "autonomic systems" -- they work on their own, control themselves, such as the parasympathetic nervous system and so on, including the cerebellum's control over motor nerves, none of which is entirely controlled by your consciousness.

For example, when you want to speak, you absolutely do not think about how to control every muscle in your tongue, including the muscles that control your vocal cords. You do not need to think about it; it just happens naturally. When you stand up, walk, run, or make any movement, you do not need to think about which muscles to use, but all of medicine knows that this requires the coordinated operation of muscles, bones, nerves, the circulatory system, and the entire body's systems -- otherwise you could not make a single movement. And who is it that does this coordination? It is the inner self that does it. Everyone will surely say, it must be the brain that does it. We will come back to discuss this question later -- it is actually not the brain that does it. If the brain had to do this, it would be exhausted and could not do anything else.

The brain does something else, something very simple. The brain is like a supreme commander, an instruction machine. For example, I want to go eat, I want to walk from this place to that place, I want to drink water, I want to go to work, I want to do things -- this is controlled by the outer self, controlled by the brain. But the daily work, coordination, and metabolism inside your body are all controlled by your inner self. You are completely unaware of the inner self's existence, but it works extremely well on its own. Your outer self still needs rest, but the inner self never rests. The moment it rests, you die. It controls all the physical, bodily things about you.

This physical body of ours is formed by the inner self. The inner self itself is beyond the three-dimensional world; it is a higher-dimensional thing. We often say that human beings are multidimensional, that they are beings in a multidimensional space, and this can be seen from the inner self. It is absolutely not a product of our three-dimensional world; it is a product of multiple dimensions. From a higher dimension, this inner self projects these cells of our three-dimensional world, manages and organizes them, and forms the physical body we have now.

Between the inner self and the outer self, there is basically not much communication or intersection. Your outer self transmits some instructions and commands, seemingly consciously passing them to the inner self, but actually, the moment your outer self has this kind of thought, or even before the thought has arisen, your inner self already knows what action needs to be taken and has already prepared in advance. We will discuss the communication mechanism between the two later -- it is a very subtle and complex matter.

Between the inner self and the outer self, we know there is something called the subconscious. There is no complete and clear boundary between the inner self and the outer self; the two are completely fused together. For the convenience of discussion, communication, and description, we divide them into inner self and outer self, but actually the boundary between them is not clear, because there is a subconscious that mixes the two together. Some information from the inner self is transmitted to the outer self through the subconscious, allowing you to perceive it. For example, some of your inspirations, some thoughts, some inexplicable sixth-sense things -- all of these come from your subconscious. But where does the subconscious come from? It is information transmitted from the inner self.

This inner self not only knows the information of this lifetime of yours; it also has the information of all your previous reincarnations, all your past lives. And it possesses all abilities. For example, if you were a painter in a previous life, you have all the talent, skill, and ability of a painter, only it has not been activated within the inner self. Everything from all your past lives is stored as memory in the inner self. So the inner self is an existence beyond time and space; it has this ability.

Between the ego and the subconscious there is a boundary, and this boundary is actually your consciousness. The consciousness we can perceive is the consciousness we ordinarily understand -- the thoughts and beliefs in your own mind. What this consciousness can perceive is only a small part of the subconscious, such as some intuitions, inspirations, and sixth-sense things from the subconscious that are given to it. More of it is through the five senses -- eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind -- combined with intention and thought, this kind of interactive response forms a self-perception system in you. This self-perception system will not go further down to perceive the things of the inner self; under normal circumstances you will not perceive it. Then you think that this inner self actually does not exist -- but the examples just given already show that the inner self definitely exists. If the inner self did not exist, your physical body would not exist at all.

Personality Fragments and the Entity

The entire inner self, outer self, plus the subconscious, the ego -- all of this together we call your personality fragment, or simply personality. This is a term: Personality Fragment. Fragment is this personality fragment of yours.

A personality fragment is a part of an entity above it. Your entity is the Entity. Seth uses the word "entity" to replace terms like higher self, original self, total self, which easily lead to confusion and misunderstanding. He explained that he did this to avoid creating a sense of strangeness with the soul, spirit, and such things in religion, because those carry too much religious coloring, so he used a neutral word, "entity," instead.

Each reincarnation of the entity -- when it projects down or sends out an incarnation -- is a personality fragment. When this personality fragment incarnates into the human world, it becomes what we think of as a person. But the person we think of is only a very small part; it is actually a complete personality fragment, composed of the inner self and the outer self.

How do we prove the existence of the inner self? Actually, it is very simple. For example, from your birth, from the fertilized egg onward, until you are born, until you become aware, you have no self-consciousness. Before you have self-consciousness, you can live perfectly well on your own; all kinds of autonomous physiological functions are fully present, whether conscious or unconscious, they all exist. And this part is not guided by your self-consciousness, so it is entirely under the management and control of the inner self, plus a portion of the primitive perceptual system of the outer senses, operating simultaneously.

A personality fragment is a projection of the entity. After the projection is complete, generally speaking, there is not much contact between it and the entity. Do not think that the two of them often communicate; basically, they hardly communicate. What they communicate through is only this inner self -- because at the time of projection, the entity has already brought down all the knowledge and all the information of this personality fragment, has already given it all to you, so it is more through communication between inner selves. When I say there is little communication, I do not mean there is none, but rather that it is very rare. But when needed, your inner self can connect with the entity, and after connecting, they can carry out communication on some higher dimensions. The entity and inner self I am talking about are both on higher dimensions; neither is something that exists in the three-dimensional world. In the three-dimensional world, you cannot see them or perceive them at all.

This connection between the inner self and the entity is more across reincarnations, across personality fragments. One reincarnation of yours is one personality fragment, and these personality fragments do have connections with one another: first, through the inner self, their information can be transmitted in; second, they can communicate information with one another through the entity. When this personality fragment of yours finishes this reincarnation and returns to the level of the entity, and then when it is time for the next reincarnation, there is communication between them -- communication at this level.

The Conscious Mind

Then from the conscious to the unconscious, this "conscious mind" refers to our ordinary understanding of consciousness. What we generally think of as consciousness is what we can feel. But later we will also talk about a higher level of consciousness, one that can itself pass through time and space and exist in higher dimensions.

What kind of state is the conscious mind? It straddles the line between the conscious and the unconscious, like a person sitting on top of a wall, able to see both sides. He can see the things of the inner self on the unconscious side, and he can also see the information and thoughts transmitted by the outer self's inner senses and outer senses. He straddles both ends, able to understand and communicate with both sides. So your outer and inner are actually unified at the level of the conscious mind; he is unified and consistent.

We often say that whether we want to practice spiritual cultivation or enter a state of meditation, what it really involves is gradually shutting down the outer self's outer senses, and then gradually entering into the state of one's own inner self. If you do not shut down your outer senses, it is very hard for the inner senses to open. What is this somewhat like? For example, when we go to watch a movie. The outer senses are somewhat like the things projected on the movie screen, especially bright, especially clear, with sound and images that are especially striking, and at that moment they draw all of your attention over. But the inner self is like the place behind the screen or beside the screen in the shadows that you ordinarily cannot see or notice. There, perhaps another great drama is being performed -- maybe at that very moment a murder is taking place, maybe a thief is stealing something. But you have been so captivated by the movie screen that you cannot see the things of the inner self. Suppose we now turn off the projector and stop the screening. At that point, even in the darkness, after your eyes adjust for a while, you will be able to discover all kinds of people in the movie theater, each one acting out a movie of their own, and in the darkness there are still many stories unfolding.

It is just like your inner self: it is only when your outer self exists that you cannot feel it, and when your outer senses are very strong you have no way of feeling it. What we call establishing contact with the inner self is simply shutting down the outer senses, and then the things of the inner senses will gradually and naturally emerge on their own. Because the outer senses are too strong; the intensity of that stimulation completely suppresses the things of your inner senses. The intensity of the two is entirely different.

You should remember this diagram and often take it out to analyze, and then you will understand the relationship between yourself and the entity.

As for the relationship between the entity and the fragment personalities, to use an example Seth gives, it is more like an onion and each of the sections within the onion, and also like the relationship between the segments of an orange: they are all connected as a whole to a common life force. An onion is a whole, and each of our reincarnations in every lifetime, or each fragment personality, is like each layer of the onion, developed out of a common living body. They are completely independent of one another -- each section of the onion and another section of the onion are independent as onion sections, with no overlap, but they grow from a common root. Describing it this way makes it easier to understand, but in reality it is far more complex than this; this is only for the sake of understanding.

All Things Have Consciousness

He said that all things in the world have consciousness. For example, a nail also has the consciousness of a nail. But everyone may not quite understand why a nail would have consciousness, and a stone would also have consciousness. I think we will talk about this later; today we will not discuss this question for now. I will only mention one point: the consciousness of all things in the world is not the kind of human consciousness you imagine. No, it is not. The consciousness of a nail is just that of a nail, the consciousness of a flower is just that of a flower, the consciousness of a great tree is just that of a great tree. Their consciousnesses are different. As human beings, human consciousness is just "I am a person," and that is human consciousness. But all things in the world do indeed have consciousness. Later on, when we come back to specifically discuss what this world is composed of, we will discover that consciousness is actually the most basic unit that makes up this world. Today we will not expand on it.

How Seth Communicates with Jane

Then it begins to discuss the third section -- how he communicates with Jane. The simplest way to put it here is that, in terms of imagery, a part of Jane's psyche extends outward, and it intersects with a part of Seth's psyche that extends outward as well. Seth describes it as actually a kind of psychic convoluted surface, a transparent convoluted surface. This so-called transparent convoluted surface is like a window, through which things from Seth's dimension or plane can shine into Jane's body through this transparent window, this convoluted surface, and thus he forms this kind of union with Jane. The information from this convoluted surface can then be spoken through Jane's mouth.

Then he extends this further. He says that just as when readers see the Seth books, when you receive his material, you also do so through a convoluted surface of your own psyche, and it is very similar to how Jane receives Seth's information. You think you are obtaining the Seth material through words, through sound, through other means, but actually what truly receives the Seth material is your psyche. The slow, plodding method of written description is only a means, but through this means, through this tool, you also open a small window in your psyche, and through this small window you have the most genuine, most direct connection with Seth.

Many people say, why is it that when I listen to Seth's material I have such strong feelings, such deep realizations, that kind of psychic touching and shaking that cannot be described in words. Actually, here he explains the reason: it is the same principle as Seth's communication with Jane. Seth is actually communicating with you as well, only he is making use of a channel in your psyche, a convoluted surface.

注释与核实

1. Source: Wikipedia, "Classic of Mountains and Seas" (https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hans/%E5%B1%B1%E6%B5%B7%E7%BB%8F) ↩

2. Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Huangdi neijing | Chinese medical text" (https://www.britannica.com/topic/Huangdi-neijing) ↩

3. According to Mike's original words, it was "about 50 trillion cells"; upon verification, it should be "the modern systematic estimate of the total number of human cells is about 37 trillion (3.72×10^13), not 50 trillion." (Source: Bianconi et al., "An estimation of the number of cells in the human body" (Annals of Human Biology, 2013), https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23829164/) ↩

4. According to Mike's original words, it was "50 trillion cells"; upon verification, it should be "the total number of human cells is about 37 trillion (3.72×10^13), not 50 trillion; another revised estimate gives about 30 trillion human cells." (Source: Bianconi et al., "An estimation of the number of cells in the human body" (Annals of Human Biology, 2013), https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23829164/) ↩