Mike's commentary · The "Unknown" Reality, Session 709

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

Introduction

This session explains that everything in the physical world has an inner source beyond the three-dimensional world. Activities faster than the speed of light, after slowing down, form observable particles and cells; at death the process reverses, and energy accelerates again and is released. Units of consciousness themselves are faster than light; they slow down into units of meaning, and then slow down further into material particles. During out-of-body experience, consciousness changes its relationship with the physical universe and enters its own space of conscious awareness, where time is not calculated according to the physical world, and one does not grow old. The relationship between consciousness and the body can have many orientations; sleep is a necessary separation in which consciousness leaves the body and the body consciousness carries out its restorative functions.

Key Points of This Chapter

• Everything in the three-dimensional world has an inner source beyond the three dimensions; it is formed when faster-than-light activity decelerates and freezes into shape, and at death the energy accelerates again and is released.
• Units of consciousness move faster than light; after decelerating they become units of meaning, and only after further deceleration do they become observable particles. This is the foundation upon which the material universe takes shape.
• An out-of-body experience is when consciousness leaves the body and changes its coordinates, entering its own space of conscious awareness. It does not occupy time in the physical world, and one does not age because of it.
• The relationship between consciousness and the body can have many orientations. Sleep is a necessary arrangement in which consciousness separates from the body and the body consciousness carries out repair and growth. A person will die without sleep, yet one can live in a coma for many years.
• The stable platform of physical reality comes from the close alliance between the primary consciousness and the body consciousness. The coordination of these two, together with the inner work done during sleep, makes the physical world appear continuous while awake.

Main Text

Session 709: Activity Faster Than Light, and the Travels of Consciousness: Probabilities and History

This session began on Wednesday, October 2, 1974, at 9:21 p.m. This session has a great deal of content, and these sessions have all been very rich. Everyone keep up, and let's look together at how Seth explains this to us.

Seth began by saying that everything that appears to be clearly within our three-dimensional space has an inner source. Every single thing in our three-dimensional world, whether it is a world, or matter, or an object, has a source outside the three-dimensional world, and the things that appear in our three-dimensional world all leap out from this inner realm.

Some of this is difficult to explain, not because Ruburt lacks the vocabulary, but because this continuous language automatically pre-packages concepts into certain patterns. Trying to escape that pre-packaging is no simple matter.

Seth still had to try to break through this limitation. The reason he said this was to tell us that there is indeed difficulty here. Why? Because our thought patterns are necessarily within the three-dimensional world, and our language and our logical structures are also three-dimensional patterns. Wanting to leap out of this three-dimensional pattern is not an easy thing to do. Because when you consider a problem, you will consider it in terms of three-dimensional problems, and that is very normal.

For example, here in this linear world, in this three-dimensional world, if you want to leap out of this angle to consider a problem, you can often manage a little leap. You say, I can now leap out of the limitations of space and time to consider a problem, but the next second, or with the next concept, you will unconsciously, automatically use the three-dimensional world's angle to consider the problem. You will always think, where is this thing, what am I doing in this matter, who is thinking about these questions, and so on. The moment these questions arise, you often fall back down from a higher-dimensional world.

The cells as you understand them are only a three-dimensional appearance of the cell.

For example, the currently understood tachyons—Seth mentioned tachyons for the first time. In Chinese this word is called "kuaizi," meaning faster-than-light particles, whose speed exceeds the speed of light. The concept is basically reasonable, but it is extremely distorted.

The concept of the tachyon was proposed by a German scientist¹. It is only a hypothetical construct, because in unified field theory, or in special relativity, or even in quantum mechanics, such a thing is needed in order to explain many things clearly. But this thing has never been seen by human beings, nor has anyone actually observed what it looks like. Because it exceeds the speed of light, human beings cannot see it, and no instrument can capture its motion. So regarding this tachyon, Seth said the concept is basically reasonable.

What does "basically reasonable in concept" mean? It means that these particles moving faster than light, when their speed slows down, can, from a certain angle, form the particles we see today. But in tachyon theory, this particle is not allowed to move at speeds lower than light. Just as in our world, our speed can never exceed the speed of light; in that theoretical reality, tachyons cannot go below the speed of light. Its greatest difference from us, as calculated by theory, is that its energy is inversely proportional to its speed². In our three-dimensional world, energy is directly proportional to speed: the faster something moves, the stronger the energy it accumulates; when its speed approaches the speed of light, even an object as small as an electron, whose mass is approximately zero, would require an infinite amount of energy to push it to the speed of light. So in the three-dimensional world, our physicists believe that no faster-than-light object can exist, because no infinite energy can exist.

But in the world of tachyons, the faster the speed, the less the energy. When its speed approaches infinity, its energy instead approaches zero. And when its speed approaches the speed of light—the speed of light is its lower limit—its energy instead requires infinity. So in their world, nothing exists below the speed of light. Just as in our world, nothing can exist faster than light.

I will not expand on this theory, because expanding on it would be too complicated. There are many theories about tachyons; you just need to have a general idea that such a theory exists. From quantum mechanics, relatively speaking, it is easier to explain, because in quantum mechanics, the strings of superstring theory move at faster-than-light speeds³, so it combines very easily with tachyon theory. These strings are divided into closed strings and open strings, and any open string vibration moves at faster-than-light speed. Then its frequency of vibration and its form of vibration determine the mass of that object or that particle—the frequency at which it vibrates, or the speed at which it vibrates, determines the mass of that particle, and it becomes the most basic material unit of our three-dimensional world. When it moves at faster-than-light speed, our three-dimensional world cannot observe it; when it slows down, we can observe it, and it becomes a particle effect. So the bottom layer of this world moves at faster-than-light speed, and when it slows down, it becomes what our material world can perceive and observe.

This is very interesting. Before such a cell appears in material form, at the point where the cell will later show itself, there will be an agitation—in our space, there will be an agitation. And that agitation is the result of the slowing down of an effect of faster-than-light activity. In that region, there is an effect of faster-than-light activity, and after that effect slows down, what does it represent? Energy has entered into our space-time system; it has entered our dimension from another dimension, entered the three-dimensional world. Then that energy can be effectively utilized to form the pattern of a cell.

He used this relatively simple analogy to tell us how our material world is formed: first there is a field of faster-than-light motion at that location, and the motion of that field is faster than light. After that faster-than-light activity slows down, it becomes what we can observe and perceive in the material world. Otherwise, it is moving in another dimension, and we human beings cannot perceive it.

The slowing-down process itself helps to freeze that activity into a form.

That is, it solidifies it. You can also understand it using the collapse of the wave function in quantum mechanics, or as a kind of solidification of a quantum state. But actually it is neither; I am only using this to help you understand. It is actually formed when a high-dimensional conscious energy frequency enters a low-dimensional frequency, and the frequency changes.

When a cell dies, a reverse process occurs. When the cell came, there was first a region of faster-than-light vibration in space, and that vibration region then slowed down and formed a cell. When the cell dies, the process is reversed; it becomes once again a field or an effect of faster-than-light vibration, and it goes beyond the perception of our three-dimensional world. You could also call it a transformation of energy. When it lowers from a higher-frequency energy field to a lower-frequency energy field, we see it; when it leaves this material world, it changes from a low-frequency energy field into an energy field vibrating faster than light, and we can no longer see it.

That death is the energy escaping from the form of the cell.

The energy leaves this material form of the cell and enters another dimension. One word for it could be "release"—the energy leaves the cell.

The release itself triggers certain stages of acceleration.

This release is a process of increasing speed: from faster than light to slower than light, and then from slower than light back to faster than light. So he said "certain acceleration."

What could be called a residual or leftover energy covers the cell that remains in this system.

The cell still has a corpse, and this corpse of the cell is actually the residue of its leftover energy. It still clings to the object, but before long it no longer exists; it is decomposed.

All of this cannot be determined from within this system, nor can it be observed.

In our three-dimensional world, this matter cannot be determined, nor can it be observed.

The original faster-than-light activity, and the later slowing down, cannot be observed by us, nor can they be determined.

And this faster-than-light behavior helps to form the foundation of the material universe. If there were no such faster-than-light behavior, there would be no material universe of ours.

This characteristic, the faster-than-light characteristic, is a basic attribute of units of consciousness.

By the time they form units of meaning, they have already slowed down to a certain degree. That is to say, the speed of units of consciousness far exceeds the speed of light, and when they become units of meaning, they have already slowed down; when they truly take form and become particles detectable by the material world, the speed is even slower. So units of meaning are between the speed of light and faster-than-light speed.

Seth paused again—one of many pauses. Because whenever he reached a difficult point like this, Seth would pause. His being stuck was not because he did not know how to explain it or did not know the material; it was because he did not know how to say it, because this material is hard to express.

When operating through the body structure, consciousness such as your own is largely focused in three-dimensional space.

When consciousness operates through the body of the three-dimensional world, you focus the greater part of your consciousness on the orientation of the three-dimensional world.

In the out-of-body state, however, consciousness is capable of faster-than-light performance.

When you are in the material world, your focus must be on the material world; you use this body to act, to perceive this world, to experience this world. When your consciousness is placed in this physical body, you cannot perceive existence faster than light. Suppose something is moving around you at faster-than-light speed; you cannot feel its existence, because your focus is entirely on a reality oriented toward the physical body or toward matter. But he said, when you are out of body, when you are not limited by this object, your consciousness can move faster than light. This actually often happens instantaneously. People who have had out-of-body experiences can understand this: during an out-of-body experience, suppose you want to go somewhere; the moment you think of it, you arrive instantly. It completely exceeds the speed of light.

Let us continue with why this is so. Let me briefly explain the out-of-body state. The out-of-body state seems, to ordinary people, not very complicated, but this out-of-body thing is simple in one sense and complex in another. Simply put, the out-of-body state is traveling in consciousness space; it is not what you think, traveling in our material world. For example, your consciousness floats away from your physical body, and then it travels in your three-dimensional world. It seems to be traveling in your three-dimensional world, but it is traveling in a three-dimensional world within your consciousness space.

How do we understand this? The three-dimensional world we perceive, we feel is real: there is a table there, there is a wall there, there is a door there. But this three-dimensional world actually has another version in our consciousness space. What I say below is all plain language to help you understand: suppose your current room looks like this. When you are out of body and you see your room, it is basically the same as your current room, but if you carefully observe its details, it is different. These two are distinct. Because when you are out of body, your consciousness is not traveling in this material world; your consciousness is traveling in your consciousness space. But within your consciousness space, there is a mapping or a replica of the three-dimensional world—within your consciousness space there is a world almost identical to the three-dimensional world. The out-of-body state is traveling within that. It is not that in the material world, an astral body has come out of you, and you are there feeling and experiencing. These two are different.

But sometimes, you can use an astral body to travel in the material world. Both situations exist, but I am telling you, the vast majority of the time, you are traveling in consciousness space. There are also times when you are traveling in the actual three-dimensional world. The subtleties involved here are too complex to explain; the out-of-body state has three layers—first-level out-of-body, second-level out-of-body, and third-level out-of-body—so let us not go further down this path for now. We just need a general understanding of the out-of-body state. You only need to remember that all of your out-of-body experiences are completed within your consciousness space.

And here there is a point that may easily cause confusion for everyone. In Volume One, in Session 692, it seems that at that time, in Teacher Xiyu's after-class commentary, he had a series of exercises, nine exercises, for training your multidimensional consciousness focus, exercises that let you have multiple consciousness focuses simultaneously. In those exercises, many people easily confuse them with the out-of-body state. Everyone, do not misunderstand; that is not the out-of-body state. That is when you are clear and aware, when your consciousness is fully present—that is, when your primary consciousness, or your surface consciousness, is still present—it trains you to have multiple consciousnesses existing simultaneously; that is what it trains. Later in the training, you can even train to produce a duplicate body, but its premise is not training the out-of-body state; it is a completely different thing from the out-of-body state. They are, so to speak, using two consciousnesses to observe, and the observation is done with consciousness. This is extremely subtle. In those exercises, if you follow them, you can later train your consciousness into a multi-focus conscious ability; you have many consciousnesses simultaneously feeling the experiences, sensations, and perceptions fed back from these different consciousness focuses. And these two have certain differences here; they are not the same.

This often happens in the dream state. Though such a performance can be accomplished in various altered states of consciousness.

The out-of-body state can happen in dreams, and it can also be accomplished in different altered states of consciousness. Some are out-of-body in dreams, some are out-of-body in lucid dreams, some are out-of-body while awake—all the same.

At such times, consciousness simply places itself in a different relationship with space and time.

That is, consciousness previously placed itself in three-dimensional space-time; now consciousness places itself in a relationship different from three-dimensional space-time.

The physical body, however, cannot follow; only consciousness can go along.

The physical body cannot follow.

Consciousness best understands its own attributes by altering its relationship with the physical universe.

Why does consciousness do this? Why does consciousness, when it is perfectly fine staying in the three-dimensional world, still go to other realities to experience? Seth said that only at such times can consciousness better understand its own attributes. Consciousness must change its relationship with its surrounding environment and the universe; through this change, by switching different perspectives, switching different consciousness focuses, in different consciousness spaces, this consciousness can understand all of its own attributes.

And view the physical universe from another vantage point.

It changes its angle of viewing. Previously it only viewed from the angle of the material world; now it views the entire universe from a higher dimension, so it can observe the relationship between itself and the universe from different perspectives, rather than having only a single perspective as before.

And can view itself in a different way. When consciousness operates outside the body, it can see the properties of matter more clearly.

When your consciousness leaves your body, in the out-of-body state, it can see more clearly. Why? Because it can see clearly what the properties of matter are. The properties of matter are actually composed of consciousness at the bottom layer; beneath energy, it is determined by consciousness, so you can see the properties and essence of matter.

Yet it cannot experience matter in the same way as when it is matter-oriented.

When you use a spirit body to experience this world, the feeling is completely different from experiencing it with a physical body. Then you might say, why does it still need to become a human body with a physical existence? Wouldn't this kind of conscious experience be enough? In other words, wouldn't experiencing as a spirit body be enough? Why does it still need a physical existence? Seth tells you here why: because the experiences are different. When you use a spirit body to eat a steamed bun, can it be fragrant? Right? When you use a spirit body to embrace the person you love most, can that feeling be the same as embracing with a physical body? These two sensations are different. If you have seen Ghost, you will understand: in that movie, after the male lead dies, he desperately wants to tell his girlfriend that he has come back, and when he wants to embrace his girlfriend, his hand passes right through her.

So when we are in our material world, from our material angle, or from the material focus—that is, consciousness pressed closely against the material focus—to feel this material world, and when consciousness leaves the material world, that is, leaves our physical body, to feel this material world from the angle of a spirit body, or from the angle of pure consciousness, the feelings are completely different. This helps you understand why a human body is needed. Many people do not understand: the soul is so advanced, consciousness is so advanced, so why do we still need this human body? It is different.

From your usual viewpoint, the traveling consciousness is out of focus, and is not locked into material coordinates in the specified manner.

From our ordinary viewpoint, this out-of-body state is equivalent to consciousness going out to travel. When this consciousness goes out to travel, it is no longer in our material world, no longer in our material coordinates; it is in the coordinates of other dimensions.

The inner world, however, can at least theoretically be explored in such a manner.

When consciousness goes outside to travel, it is not locked into the coordinates of the material world; it is locked into the coordinates of consciousness space. He said that exploration of the inner self can be the same as this; this is a method of exploration—that is, no longer in the coordinates of the material system, but in the coordinates of the inner world.

Consciousness for a while is itself, and is released from its usual coordinates.

He used the word "released," not "moved away" or "left." Why? Because it is bound very tightly to its present reality space, and leaving is not such an easy thing. So consciousness can release itself from the space-time in which it ordinarily resides. When this release occurs, the out-of-body traveler has not merely left his physical form.

Here he pointed out what I just said: it is not what you understand, that your consciousness leaves your body, and physically a soul floats out of your body, as simple as that. You can think of it and understand it from the three-dimensional angle, but actually it is not so. It is that your consciousness has entered into its own space of conscious awareness. Your consciousness has a space of self-awareness, and you actually live within your space of conscious awareness. Seth has us learn this and learn that, has us practice this and practice that—what is he doing? He is expanding your space of conscious awareness. In other words, your space of conscious awareness determines everything that you as a person can experience and feel. The larger this space is, the more things you can explore and feel.

But we, because we are framed here by the three-dimensional world, have all of our space of conscious awareness within this three-dimensional world. Although your imagination roams freely, you look at the universe, look at planets, look at aliens—are you still within the three-dimensional world? No matter how many years you travel, no matter how many tens of thousands of light-years, are you still within the three-dimensional world? You have not truly expanded it. But when you are out of body, although it seems you are only one meter away from your body, or you look down from above your body at your sleeping self, you feel that this out-of-body state is not far from the body, or you only floated around the room a little, walked around a little, or circled outside the house twice, you feel that you have not gone far from your body. He said it is not merely leaving your physical form. What is it doing? It has already entered another dimensional space. The consciousness that is out of body is no longer in this three-dimensional world. Where is it? It is within its space of conscious awareness.

And the person steps out of the appropriate range. Even when one leaves the body and merely wanders to a place extremely close to the body, there are changes.

There is no need to go far out of body, no need to go out of body to Mars or the Moon, no need to go out of body to a foreign country, to some beach or beautiful scenery—none of that is needed. Even if you only go out of body to a place very close to you, just circle around the room twice, you are still undergoing a substantive change: you have broken free of the limitations of this three-dimensional space-time.

The relationship of consciousness with the room is different.

When your consciousness is in your body, your relationship with the room is a relationship of space and time in the three-dimensional world. When your consciousness floats out of your body, after that "release," the relationship between the person and space-time has already changed. Seth said it very subtly: your relationship with the space and time of this room has already changed. In other words, you are already no longer in that space-time. Be sure to remember this: when you are out of body, you are already no longer in this space-time. It seems as though you are still here; you yourself feel that you are still here, you just floated up from the bed, or you rolled over and got out of bed, and looked at yourself still sleeping in the bed—but actually it is already completely different. So Seth used very precise language to say that your relationship with this space-time is already different. That is to say, the consciousness in the physical body feeling this room, and the consciousness out of body feeling this room, are two completely different space-time structures. They look very similar, but they are different. If you observe carefully, you will find that some details are different.

By your standards, the time spent out of body is extra time.

According to our human understanding of time, the time spent out of body is extra time; it does not occupy our time. For example, you will not age. During the out-of-body state, you will not age.

For example, suppose your level is very high, and you have already reached a very advanced state, and you go out of body and live another person's entire life. Just like the dream of the yellow millet, in that dream he lived an entire lifetime. Do not forget, it was not a summary of a lifetime—in that dream, from going to the capital to take the imperial examination, to passing with top honors, and then a whole series of subsequent events over a lifetime, roughly several decades. Although to him it was only a dream, when he was out of body in the dream, he had already lived another kind of life in another space-time. Although it felt connected to his present life, because it was connected to the first half of his life history of going to take the examination, it was actually the completely different life of another person. He lived a whole lifetime there, several decades passed, and when he came back, he still had not changed; only the time of one meal had passed. So the out-of-body state does not cause aging. If you can master the out-of-body state, you gain many additional life experiences, and your experience increases greatly, but your actual age does not increase. This is like a cheat mode; you can do things outside of this time.

Though this effect varies according to certain principles.

But you might say, in that case, can I stay in there forever and never change? No, there are certain principles here; it is not always like this. He will talk about this again later.

Above we discussed that the out-of-body state and experiential feeling are different, so let us continue, because he will mention this again later.

Such a traveling consciousness may journey within physical reality.

He said that such a traveling consciousness may indeed journey within physical reality—although it is not connected to that system in the usual way, it can still be allied with it.

What I just described earlier is all about your consciousness entering another space-time, entering into your own field of awareness. That is one kind. What is the other kind he mentioned? The other kind is that you really do travel in the three-dimensional world, you really do go and feel and experience in the physical world, and that is also possible. Of course it is possible, because in your ordinary life in the three-dimensional world, when your consciousness is united with your physical body, that is, when you are awake, are you not using your consciousness to travel in the three-dimensional world? The only difference is that now you are asleep, you are not using your physical body, and your consciousness can still travel independently in the three-dimensional world on its own, only without the participation of the physical body.

Although it does not have the usual means -- which system? The physical system. Before, you traveled by means of the body; now you have cast off the body, and the consciousness travels alone -- but that does not prevent it from still being able to ally itself with it, that is, it can still be connected with the space of our physical reality, and can still perceive it.

From that standpoint, matter itself will appear different from its ordinary appearance.

Although it is the same physical world, at this time you are no longer experiencing it through your physical senses. In other words, you are not using your outer senses to feel this world; you are not using your eyes, nose, ears, hands, and feet to experience this world. You are using the sensing system of your consciousness to feel this world. Therefore this outer world appears different from the things you ordinarily see with your eyes, nose, and ears.

On the other hand, an out-of-body consciousness may also enter other physically oriented realities.

He mentioned many situations, and there is another one. What is it? Your out-of-body consciousness may also enter other physically oriented realities -- that is, you did not enter this three-dimensional world, you entered another three-dimensional world, another parallel space-time.

Those realities that already operate at frequencies different from your own.

They already operate at frequencies completely different from your own.

The basically independent nature of consciousness allows such a detachment.

Consciousness is essentially independent; it does not depend on any material existence, so it has this ability. Because it is independent, it can travel alone in different realities, even in different physical realities.

The body consciousness maintains its own balance, and that is enough.

This is a bit like a maintenance station, a bit like when you go traveling, your house is at home, and when you come back the house is still there. If you have seen Avatar, you can understand: this body is the physical vehicle of the Avatar, and your consciousness is directly loaded into it from the background, making a link with your body. Your body has a basic body consciousness, and then a higher consciousness comes in from outside, and this higher consciousness is united with the body consciousness. This is a very interesting thing.

Any discussion of unknown reality necessarily involves certain usually discarded hypotheses about the uniqueness of consciousness itself.

He says that a discussion of unknown reality will necessarily involve certain hypotheses about the essential characteristics of consciousness that we do not ordinarily discuss.

The world, as you know it, is the result of one entire complex code system.

This is a hypothesis, and it will necessarily be involved. Each one is interlocked and interlinked, and in that sense, each one depends on the others. Then all the parts of your precisely perceived universe come from a pattern of such codes -- an encryption system. This encryption system is nested layer upon layer, each one perfectly embedded within another.

To put his meaning simply, this world itself, because when you speak of unknown reality, of the travels of consciousness, of other realities, then it necessarily involves a more complex question, namely, what exactly are the attributes of consciousness itself. And the attributes of consciousness, as he explained in the previous session, are that the core of consciousness is a kind of higher-dimensional code, operating within an encrypted system. Each consciousness has its own independent encryption system, and it maintains that so it does not mix with other things, preserving its own independence. This is the core attribute by which one consciousness is called this consciousness and not another consciousness, because its encryption system is different from others. Other consciousnesses have their own encryption systems.

But when this consciousness of yours goes to explore other reality spaces, our physical world itself is composed of many consciousnesses -- there are the consciousnesses of atoms, the consciousnesses of molecules, the consciousnesses of animals, the consciousnesses of plants. Our whole world is composed of all these consciousnesses, and each consciousness has its own unique encryption system. Are these encryption systems interlocked? They must be interlocked. They have connectivity at the bottom layer, but on the surface, are they interlocked? One encryption is nested within another encryption. For example, molecules and atoms: the encryption of atoms is nested within molecules; a molecule is a larger consciousness, and a molecule has its own encryption system of consciousness, but within the encryption system of the molecule, does it not contain the encryption system of the atoms themselves? So they are nested layer upon layer. Then molecules form proteins, proteins form cells, cells have the consciousness of cells, and the consciousness of cells is again independent, and it is again its own encryption system. Each cell is different from every other cell, and the cells in each person are also different. So this is extremely complex in the middle. These layer upon layer nested encryption systems of consciousness, stacked and nested together, are what our physical world looks like.

If you alter one of these, to some extent, you step outside that framework.

As one consciousness among them, in this physical world, as that consciousness which stands alone, you change, and you are no longer in this three-dimensional world. If you want to break through this three-dimensional world, then you must break through this layer upon layer, stacked and nested encryption system of consciousness, this encryption network. When you reach that point, when you really break through, then you have stepped out of this large code system that is primarily physical. We can understand it this way: although the encryption system of every consciousness within our physical world is different, we can collectively call it the Earth code system, and under the Earth code system there are many subsystems. Of course, within each system everything is different, but it is still one large system. And if you want to leap out of this three-dimensional world, you must leap out of this large code system, and you must already be different from them; otherwise you cannot leap out, and you cannot see the things beyond the three-dimensional world.

No event of any kind occurs, in your terms, unless it has direct, unflawed intersection with your space-time continuum.

Any kind of event, if it does not continuously intersect with our physical world -- our space-time is our physical world -- then a single-point intersection is useless. A point does not exist for us; a point exists only in theory and mathematics, and in the physical world a point is useless. It must become a line and a plane before we can perceive it. Therefore this intersection must be continuous; only continuous intersection can allow an event to occur.

And then falls away.

What does "falls away" mean? It means you have also left this space-time. Let me repeat what he says here: an event can occur only when it closely intersects with your space-time, is closely connected with it, and continuously connected with it. If there is no close connection, no actual intersection with space-time, then it falls away -- that is, it leaves this space-time, it passes through this space-time, and leaves no trace in this space-time. Unless it maintains continuous intersection with our space-time, it cannot become possible within your system.

It passes through. For example, a thought of yours passes through our space-time, and in our space-time it becomes a possibility, and it is not realized. Unless you keep acting on it, then you turn it into reality. For example, suppose you want to get up now and go out to the supermarket to buy something. If you only think about it and do not take action, then it is a possibility, and it passes through our space-time and becomes a thought in your mind. If at this time you get up and go, then it is no longer a thought; it has a process of continuous intersection with our space-time -- that is, you went to the supermarket -- and then it forms an event in our world, in the three-dimensional world, and it is no longer a possibility, it is something that really happened. But if you do not go, then it is a thought passing through our space-time and becoming a possible existence.

In another space-time, it becomes a reality, but seeks its own level.

If it is not manifested or not realized in our world, then it goes to another space-time to be realized. It is on its own level -- and when it falls into another reality with another code sequence suitable to itself, what does "suitable to it" mean? For example, suppose going to the supermarket is another encryption system, and this thought happens to fall into that encryption system, then in that system it becomes real, finds its proper place, and becomes an accomplished reality.

And that is that.

Every time Seth says "and that is that," he is emphasizing that the fact is exactly like this.

Therefore, when consciousness leaves your physical body, it alters certain coordinates.

When consciousness leaves your physical body, it alters its coordinates -- these coordinates are not coordinates in physical space-time; it has already left our space-time.

There are various questions concerning the nature of the perception that then occurs, but we will discuss these later.

After you are out of body, your sensing system is also different, because you have left the physical body, and there are different questions, but we will discuss these things later.

Consciousness is equipped, at least in your terms, to focus its main energies within the body, or to leave the body for varying periods of time.

He says consciousness has this ability: it can operate within your body, and it can also leave your body to operate, as in sleep, for example.

Theoretically, your human consciousness could take many different roads while still maintaining its bodily base.

Your consciousness can go explore different routes, but still protect its bodily base unchanged, its base of operations has not run away. The body can serve as a base of operations for your consciousness.

In periods of history long past, different orientations were experimented with.

For example, very long ago, still speaking in terms of human history, different variants of humanity once tried different orientations of consciousness. Like the "dream walkers" mentioned in the previous session, they adopted a different orientation of consciousness from us humans: they no longer paid much attention to the physical world, and their attention was focused only on the dream world -- that is, they operated within the space of consciousness, within their field of awareness. There they developed their civilization, their science, their technology, their art, while on the physical level they lived like primitive people, maintaining only the basic functioning of the body.

Your own present private experience can give you some clues and hints about other cultures.

That is, the experience of each of us can give us some clues. For example, some people sleepwalk, and sleepwalking actually gives us some clues and hints: do some humans, or some variants of humanity, live in this way? Those who often sleepwalk actually give us many clues. Seth said many times in the past that many strange phenomena that occur in our human society, or some strange people, such as some children showing atavistic traits, some children born without brains, and so on, including sleepwalking as he mentioned, all of these give us clues, hinting that there are other versions of humanity.

Those abilities are still within nature's framework, still within the framework of nature.

Those abilities are still there, within our human bodies, but they have not been developed. That is, a state of conscious existence like that of the sleepwalkers is also possible, but it has not been developed, and we do not use it.

To some extent, therefore, all of humanity's potentials now lie latent within each individual.

All of humanity's abilities are hidden within each person's body. For example, sleepwalking is a typical example, and it is also an ability -- that is, the physical has not developed, but the spiritual has developed to the extreme. Is that right? Yes, the state of these sleepwalkers, is it not the state that many practitioners want to reach? Yes, if you think carefully, is it not exactly like this? Many practitioners want to be like that, without desire or demand for material life, as long as the physical vehicle does not die, and then they begin to pursue the spiritual world. This potential is within every person's body.

Often through seemingly strange events, such as sleepwalking, which is a strange event, these will rise to the surface.

Letting you discover, oh, so there are such people. But it is not common; it is a strange, occasional event.

The unknown reality is unknown only because you have not looked inward to find its face.

He says why are these things called unknown? The unknown reality has actually always been latent within our bodies. The reason you feel it is unknown is because you have not looked inward, but have always looked outward.

You have been taught to give almost all of your attention to your exterior behavior.

You have placed your attention outside, always seeking externally.

So the private, largely inner life of you escapes your attention.

Because you have placed your energy and attention on the outer world, on outer behavior, on outer actions, you have not noticed the activities of the inner world, and this is very normal.

You often structure your life according to the patterns of that exterior world.

We often use the patterns of the outer world to structure our lives. Yes, when we consider our life ideals and life goals, we certainly set them according to the standards of the outer world; we cannot use the patterns of the inner world to do so.

These are important, indeed important for our lives in the three-dimensional world, but they are a result of your own inner activity.

But your outer world is also a result of your inner activity; you must distinguish the primary from the secondary.

That inner world is your only true connection with the exterior world.

Your inner world is your only true connection with the outer world. Only through the inner world can you connect with what you call the outer world; the only true connection between you and the outer world is through the inner world. You think you can bypass it, but in fact you have not bypassed it at all. Every outer action you have taken up to now is a response of the inner world; it is only a question of whether you know it or not. Whether you know it or not, it operates this way; it does not change its mode of operation because you know or do not know. It has not changed. It has always operated the outer world through the inner.

And the objective details make sense only because of the subjectivity that gave them birth.

The outer world, what you see, is all a presentation of the results of the inner world. What you face is always a world of effects -- already a world of effects -- and you do not know the cause at all. But you still force far-fetched reasons onto it: because he did such and such, I fell in love with him; because I did such and such, he fell in love with me, and so on. You look for causes outside, but you do not know the inner causes at all. As for why the two of you are together in this life, you do not know the inner cause at all, and you have found some results and some causes outside, far-fetched. Therefore, when you want to know why something happens in the outer world, you must seek the answer inward; you can only seek the answer inward. Only this can let you truly understand why you connect with the outer world and why you manifest this event.

What does "objective details" mean? Objectivity means we think this outer world is objective, and it does not change according to subjectivity. The objective details of this outer world -- matter and such -- make sense only because of the subjectivity that gave them birth. That is, this world is fundamentally a subjective world, but we regard it and perceive it as an objective world. Without your inner subjectivity, those things in the outer world would have no meaning. To put it simply, the reason this thing in the outer world is the way it is, and the reason that event happens the way it does, is all determined by its inner subjectivity, pulled and realized by your inner intentions, wishes, and thoughts. Therefore inner subjectivity is the most central thing; it is its reason, its core.

Therefore when we read the Tao Te Ching, or read such things, as soon as it says "the Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao," as soon as it speaks of the laws of the universe and the great Way of the world, we raise our heads and gaze at the stars, looking outward, seeking that Tao from outside. But that Tao is actually in your heart.

In the same way, when you look at the present world situation, or when you look at history, you often structure your thoughts in that manner.

You use the outer world to structure, and use the cognition of the outer three-dimensional world to structure your own views of them. Views of the world situation: for example, what the world situation is like today, and why humanity has developed to this stage today. Whether it is the pandemic or the economy, we have reached a transformation unseen in a hundred years -- no, not a hundred years, a transformation unseen in several hundred years. Why is it like this? From what angle do you look at it? Do you look at it from the angle of the physical world, or from the laws of economic development? Can you stand at a higher angle to look at it, from the angle of the development of human civilization, from the angle that human consciousness needs to transform, from a deeper angle to look at this question? Instead of looking at it only from the angle of the outer physical world. This is what you need to practice.

So that only the most surface events are seen.

Because you look at the world from a physical angle, you can only see surface events, and you cannot see the underlying things.

In the same manner of reasoning, you may very well judge the past history of your species with a very limited view, and ignore the great clues in your history because they do not seem to make sense.

If you judge using the values of your three-dimensional world, you will often criticize history, saying this part of history is unreasonable, that part of history is unreasonable, this should not have happened, that should not have happened, that place was a regression in history, that place was a tragedy in history, and so on. You seem like a clever person, pointing and commenting on the world. You can even point and comment on the history of human civilization. Of course, what you point and comment on is also what those physicists and historians have summarized for you; you are merely chewing on others' words and then echoing what others say. Of course, some of it may be your own judgment, and that is uncertain. But even so, the angle you stand at and the way you look at the question still come from your view of the physical world, and you have not seen its inner essence and substance at all, that is, what has really happened inside.

For example:

When you believe that only technology as you understand it represents progress, and that progress necessarily demands that excessive physical manipulation of the environment must continue forever.

You think only technology can represent progress, and those primitive societies are all very backward. You think whoever can manipulate the environment more, and with greater force, has more advanced technology. This is our cognition of technology -- if I could summon wind and rain, then my technological level would be higher.

You will judge past civilizations by that view.

You will think this civilization had higher technology, that civilization had higher technology, such as the Mayan civilization, the Atlantean civilization, ancient Egyptian civilization; you will look at these things from these angles.

This will blind you to certain achievements and other orientations to such an extent that you will not see the evidence of achievement, even if it appears before your eyes.

Because of your narrow prejudice, thinking that only control and manipulation of the environment is an expression of technology, then you cannot see true technology, and cannot see where true civilizational development lies. This is a limitation of us humans. After Seth points this out, we should not look at it in this way.

Let me give a simple example. Take the matter of ancient Chinese medicine. Judged by modern medicine, Chinese medicine is completely unscientific, completely without anything to discuss, and in their words, they disparage it to the point of worthlessness. There are many people who specifically attack Chinese medicine. There are reasons and processes behind this, which we will not discuss. But from a macro perspective, these people completely fail to see the achievements of Chinese medicine, and fail to see that Chinese medicine is far, far more advanced than Western medicine. The two are not even on the same level; I can only say the two are not on the same level. Western medicine seems very developed, with strict systems, standards, experiments, drugs, surgeries, treatment systems and protocols, but compared with Chinese medicine, if we really compare them in terms of theoretical systems, or in terms of this degree of cognition of the human body, then the two are like the difference between a kindergartner and a doctoral student; the difference is not just a little. But we cannot see it; we think Chinese medicine is no good: when some disease cannot be cured, in the end we turn to Chinese medicine as a last resort, only using Chinese medicine to save a life when the patient is already as good as dead. You see, the disease has already been delayed to this extent by you, and has already been treated by Western medicine into this or that condition, and you drag along a broken body, and then you go to Chinese medicine. At this time you begin to believe in Chinese medicine again, because Western medicine has already said you are beyond saving, so you pin your hopes on Chinese medicine to bring you back from the dead. And the key is, even if Chinese medicine has this ability, do you really believe in Chinese medicine? You do not believe in Chinese medicine; you are just trying any doctor when you are sick, and you have no choice but to turn to Chinese medicine, the last backup option. If Chinese medicine does not work, you will still go find some quack doctor; if the quack doctor does not work, you will still go find some folk remedy or wild prescription. As long as someone says this method works, you will try it. So this is not you believing in Chinese medicine; it is that when you have reached the point where there is no other way, and Western medicine will no longer treat you, you go find a life-saving straw. I give this example so you will understand.

You do not deal with the power of thoughts and emotions.

We do not have the ability to directly deal with thoughts and directly deal with emotions. You say we do -- he says it very realistically: by "deal with," he means we do not have the ability to deal with thoughts and emotions the way we deal with the physical world. How do we deal with the physical world? For example, if you get a tumor, you cut it out. But suppose you now have a depressed emotion; can you cut it out for me? There is no way; it cannot be cut out. Therefore we humans do not have this ability to deal with thoughts and emotions; you must admit that we do not have this ability.

But we can only deal with their specific effects.

Although we do not have the ability to directly deal with thoughts and emotions, we can deal with the reactions, the results, the effects they bring. For example, a depressed emotion causes you to be in that depressed state, so we give you some medicine to relieve your depressive symptoms. But does it cure the root? No. Does it solve the problem? It does not really solve the problem; it solves it at the level of effects, at the level of surface phenomena. This is what he means by only dealing with their specific effects; we have no way to truly operate on thoughts and emotions like surgery to solve them.

Therefore, to you, only physically materialized events are obvious.

Thoughts and emotions are not important; only materialized things are obvious. Why? Because those things cannot be seen or touched, and we do not know how to deal with them, so we simply ignore them, and we only deal with those things that have already materialized.

For example:

You do not accept your dreams as real.

Of course, you think a dream is just a dream. For example, last night you dreamed about your first love, with life-and-death passion, got married, and lived a happy lifetime. After you wake up, will you go find him and marry him? Certainly not; you probably forgot about it while brushing your teeth. Maybe when you got up you sighed for a long while, thinking, oh, if I had married him, how happy this life would have been. Will you take action? No, you think that dream is just a dream, not real.

And usually consider them as fantasy, mental ramblings, or imagined events.

Until very recently, you generally believed that all information came to the body through the outer senses.

Even now we still think this way; we still think that the things in dreams are just information left over in the brain from the outer senses, not fully processed, and when we sleep they pop out again.

And ignored all evidence to the contrary.

Anything that tells you your feelings are not only through the outer senses, that you also have inner senses, that you also have your intuition and inspiration, but you deny them all and simply choose to ignore them.

You cannot imagine civilizations built upon telepathy, conscious acceptance, and the creative use of knowledge-data.

That is to say, you cannot understand, and cannot accept, this reception of telepathic information, conscious acceptance, and civilizations based on the creative use of knowledge-data. What does it mean? It means you still do not know how to make use of non-material things -- this consciousness, telepathy, consciously receiving this knowledge, and these materials and civilizations obtained through telepathy -- we have no way of obtaining them.

In such a case, scientists can hardly find precognitive ability in cells, because first of all they do not believe that this ability exists.

But we know that many scientists do have this ability; they consciously receive information obtained through telepathy and become great scientists. Whether Einstein, Tesla, including Edison, and so on, many, many scientists have this ability. They all obtained these things through dreams, trance, reactions, out-of-body experiences, and other abilities. Some are very frank and say they obtained these in such-and-such a state; some keep silent and say they arrived at them through thinking. Actually those truly top-level scientists all know that those things did not come from their physical world; many came from dreams, many came from another kind of intuition and inspiration. You do not believe it, but they do exist. You cannot find precognitive ability in cells, because you fundamentally do not believe in cellular precognitive ability; how could you find it?

The human body itself possesses unlimited potential.

This sentence is very important. The human body itself possesses unlimited potential.

and amazing variables, allowing many different kinds of directions.

Amazing variables; it can undergo great changes. Our human body can do too many things, not just the ordinary actions. Our consciousness can enter many kinds of realities, not just this physical world. Even this physical-world reality, or other physical worlds, we can enter them too. We can also enter non-physical realities, and within non-physical realities there are many levels, and we can enter them all. But we do not know this; we cling to this physical world and run all the way into the dark, insisting only this is real and everything else is false. Actually the most unfortunate thing is that precisely what we think is most real is instead false.

Teacher Xiyu gave a very spine-chilling example after class. Have you ever thought about this question? If you dare to think about it, you will directly collapse. And this question is extremely simple. For example, we all know the principle of pinhole imaging, right? Our eyes see things through pinhole imaging; our pupils -- a camera is also designed according to this principle, we all know this. But pinhole imaging has a most basic truth that scientists have tested and long discovered: the image formed by pinhole imaging is always inverted⁴. We know from middle-school physics that pinhole imaging always produces an inverted image. If what pinhole imaging produces is always inverted, then when we look at the world, should it not always be upside down? Should the sky be below and the ground above? If you carefully think about this, isn't it spine-chilling? Then why do we instead perceive it reversely, why do we look at this world upside down? Right. If pinhole imaging is correct, then why do we see the world like this? Why is it not head-down? Why are people not walking with their heads down, feet in the sky, ground in the sky, sky in the ground? Have you ever thought about this question?

Of course scientists have given you many explanations, saying that our brain automatically corrects it, and so on, correcting the inversion, and they will give you a bunch of reasons. This thing is very interesting; whether it is reversed or upright, do not get hung up on it. Actually it is upright; this is an ability the human brain has. Teacher Xiyu just gave this example to make you think, to make you reflect on it. Because scientists have also done other experiments proving that this is very interesting: for example, they put inverted lenses⁵ on a person's eyes -- making what he sees become reversed again, making you see upside down -- and then after wearing these glasses for a few days, I cannot remember exactly how many days, whether it was three or four, a miraculous thing happened: the human brain adjusted it back again. You were still wearing those inverted glasses; the image in your brain was already reversed, but after a few days, your brain again reversed it back, and it was upright again -- the ground was below, the sky above. Then when you took off the glasses, your brain was reversed again, because the image was again inverted in your brain, and the brain was dizzy again. This time, the adaptation time was a bit shorter, and it quickly adjusted it back.

So no matter how you invert it, it has an accurate cognition of its own position in the world: it knows that gravity is downward, it knows its feet are on the ground, not upside down. This bodily perception and balance is not only obtained through the eyes; it is an overall perceptual system sensing at the same time. In other words, more bluntly, it can be said that your consciousness lets you perceive whether you are upright or upside down, and it simply adjusts the visual image. We will not explore this question further; this just tells you that you have many potentials, and you have many different orientations of consciousness.

From your viewpoint, probable people represent alternate people.

That is, the probable human development is actually also our alternate human development. In Chinese these two words do not show their importance. What does it mean? For you, it is a probable version of a human; in another time-space, it is the version of that time-space, so it is called alternate. Therefore the alternate version of the race, the alternate version of us humans -- actually you have many alternate versions -- this also applies to individuals.

In the out-of-body state, many people have come into contact with probable selves and probable realities.

During out-of-body experience, you can contact probable selves and probable realities. Here I will introduce something else again, and will introduce it further later: during an out-of-body experience, suppose you encounter a probable self, or another self, it is best not to touch him; this is a basic point -- that is, do not touch that probable self. If he asks you something or communicates with you, you should tell him, say you are in an out-of-body state. If you encounter others, and if others are telling you similar things, when necessary you should tell the other person what state you are in.

So in the out-of-body state, many people have contacted probable selves, some probable realities. They have also traveled to what you consider the past and the future.

You travel to their realities, and they also travel to your reality; so sometimes you will meet. So many probable yous travel everywhere on the level of consciousness; perhaps in some consciousness space you will meet.

The private psyche contains within itself an awareness of its own probabilities.

Within your private psyche, there is included all possibilities, and knowledge of all possibilities.

And it also contains a mirror in which at least a glimpse of human experience can be seen.

Within your private psyche there is also a mirror that lets you take a look at the experience of all humanity. Therefore the knowledge of the experience of all humanity, you can obtain it.

You are accustomed to a particular orientation, accustomed to using your consciousness in a specific way.

We use a fixed way, only looking from the material angle. But in order to study the unknown reality, you must try to see what else your consciousness can do. You must use your consciousness in other ways; you cannot use the habitual, fixed way you are accustomed to. Otherwise, you will not make much progress, and you cannot explore the unknown.

It really means you must learn to reattain, to regain, the true feeling of yourself.

You need to regain, to relearn what is the true feeling of yourself. What does it mean? It means that before, you thought that events and objects perceived by consciousness in the three-dimensional world were the true feelings, while others you thought were not true feelings. But now Seth says, you must redefine what true feeling is -- do not only acknowledge the three-dimensional world as true feeling; you should acknowledge that whatever your consciousness feels is true feeling; just in different consciousness spaces and different consciousness levels, they are all true feelings.

In other words, this physical world is also an awareness space. If you stand in that awareness space and look at our physical world, if you look from that angle, the world in that awareness space is real, and what is our physical world instead? It is an awareness space. In other words, these are all awareness spaces -- whether this physical world, the dream world, the world after death, or the out-of-body world, everything your consciousness can perceive is an awareness space, just different; but in nature they are all the same, all your consciousness's awareness spaces. Only there is one special feature in the physical world: when you perceive this world, you are not using the perception of consciousness; you use the three-dimensional world's eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind; you use your external five senses to experience this world, and you block out the direct perception of consciousness. Therefore this is just a difference in feeling between you and other awareness spaces.

He tries to discover the nature of reality by two main methods.

Thus to explore the nature of reality there are two methods: one is the outer method, and one is the inner method. Of course these methods can be used together, can be used simultaneously; it is not that only one method is effective.

And from your viewpoint, it is necessarily for the greatest efficiency.

Aren't the two used simultaneously the most efficient? Right. So why are we in the human world? It is because we have two abilities: we can simultaneously explore the physical world and simultaneously explore the inner world; if we explore both simultaneously, isn't the efficiency higher than exploring only one? Right.

You are very familiar with the outer method, so there is no need to say more.

What we humans are best at is outward exploration.

This involves studying the objective universe, as well as collecting facts and making certain inferences upon them.

Since this is what you humans are best at, I won't say more; you are the teachers, you are the experts.

Therefore in this book, what we emphasize is that which is not necessarily fact.

He says what are we emphasizing here? It may not necessarily be fact, but it is the inner method of knowledge and intelligence. He says the things we discuss in this book may not be facts -- earlier you said to collect facts, relative to us humans -- he says what we discuss in this book are those things that seem not necessarily to be facts, but are the inner methods of knowledge and wisdom. This book is about exploring the unknown reality; that is what it explores. As for the outer ones, humans have explored them almost enough -- though still far from enough.

Now facts may, or may not, give you wisdom.

He again emphasizes that facts may or may not give you wisdom. The "facts" he refers to are those facts of our physical world, the facts we assert.

If they are followed slavishly, they can even lead you away from true knowledge.

If you servilely acknowledge only such facts and follow them, he says those facts you believe can even lead you away from true knowledge, away from true reality. If we only seek outward, we can only get farther from the truth.

But you say: can I only seek inward? No, you must combine inner and outer together. It is very interesting, right? It is a paradox: you say studying only outer is wrong, studying only inner is wrong; only when inner and outer are studied together is it interesting, can you truly see the essence of this matter.

It may be said that wisdom presents to you the inner side of facts, and the realities out of which facts emerge.

The Inner Side of Wisdom and the Unknown Reality

He says it may be said that what is true wisdom? True wisdom is not showing you facts, but showing you the inner side of facts -- that is, the inside, the inner layer, or showing you the inner part of facts. Wisdom lets you see the essence of facts, see the inner side of facts, and also shows you the reality from which facts emerge; only this is true wisdom. So we often say "opening wisdom, opening wisdom," obtaining unsurpassed perfect enlightenment; this is what Buddhism often calls prajna, prajna wisdom, which is this kind of wisdom.

As for the unknown reality, the remaining parts below will all provide an inside view of the nature of reality. He says what are the remaining large parts of the unknown reality for? To provide you with an inside view of the nature of reality -- that is, insider information, giving you a look at what the truth of this world really is, giving you the inside, not just looking from outside. And there are some exercises that will let you see yourself and your world from another viewpoint. I want you to change your angle and look at yourself, and also look at your world, no longer just looking outward from this single eye of yours; let's change our angle.

Alternate Orientations of Consciousness and the Body

Later, I intend to say more about some civilizations that, in your terms, came before your civilization. He says when we discuss your prehistoric civilizations and their orientations of consciousness, we will first talk about various alternate consciousnesses and out-of-body experiences -- that is, talk about various kinds of consciousness and what out-of-body experience is like. These will help you understand how other kinds of civilizations could operate in ways so dependent on your own. He wants you to understand how they could run their civilizations in ways completely different from this human civilization of ours, and even more highly developed than ours.

We will discuss the alternate orientation methods that can be adopted when consciousness is allied with the physical body. So Seth says, what will we talk about later? When your consciousness is united with your body, there is not only one method. Even when your consciousness is together with your physical body, it can have many methods -- these alternate orientation methods, there is not only one orientation. And I will try to give readers some personal experiences of changing this situation, try to give you ways to change and experience from different viewpoints and different orientations of consciousness. And also brief histories of certain civilizations, letting you see concise histories of other civilizations that used these unofficial orientations as their primary focusing method. Those civilizations used methods different from our human civilization, using that kind of consciousness focusing to obtain their civilization's history. By introducing them, it can broaden your horizons and let you understand that consciousness, even when combined with the body, has many different orientations, not just the one orientation we humans now have. For example, a sleepwalker is one such orientation. Does that person have consciousness? Yes; does he have a body? Yes. But its orientation is different from ours. Does it also have its own development and its own civilization? Yes.

Acknowledging the Existence of the Unknown Reality

To become familiar with this unknown reality, you must to some extent acknowledge its existence. When we study the unknown reality, you have to acknowledge that it exists. If you do not even accept it, if you think the unknown reality does not exist at all, how can you study it? And you must be willing to step out of your ordinary behavior, step out of your habitual cognitive angle of the three-dimensional world; otherwise you cannot explore those unknown realities. You say: I am just standing in the three-dimensional world, show me like a VR movie so I can believe it -- how can you do that? If you stand still in place, you cannot see those unknown realities. Your consciousness must shift away from its present focus. If your consciousness does not move, or if it will not shift away, if you are firmly anchored in this three-dimensional world, you cannot explore those unknown realities.

All the methods given to you are very natural, and are innately inherent in the body. He says the methods I teach you are all natural, and are inherently the ability and attribute each of you already has; it is not that I am asking you to practice some magical power or practice some Sunflower Manual. This ability and thing everyone has; this is the ability that the Buddha called originally self-sufficient. The methods I teach you are the simplest and most natural, nothing special. You do not need to eat some pill, practice some immortal elixir, and then practice this and practice that every day; none of it is that complicated, all simple, and everyone can do it. And it is even biologically anticipated -- that is, in the future development direction of you humans, it is likely to develop in this direction; I am revealing it to you in advance, which is like giving you spoilers.

Consciousness Leaves the Body and Returns -- You Are Born with This Ability

Your consciousness cannot leave your body and then return to it unless there is a biological mechanism that allows such an expression. He says the fact that your consciousness can leave your body and still return proves that your body and your consciousness already have this ability; you need not worry. When you go exploring with consciousness, when you go to explore those unknown realities, you need not worry either. Why? Because your consciousness can leave your body and still safely return; this itself tells you that you have this ability, so what are you afraid of?

Sleep is the most typical example. When everyone sleeps, consciousness leaves the body; does it automatically return? Out-of-body experience: many people have had out-of-body experiences; during an out-of-body state, consciousness very clearly leaves the human body; can it also return? Many people say, "What if I go out and cannot come back?" Isn't this many people's worry? Worrying that if they go out, if consciousness cannot return, won't the body here become a vegetable?

Let me tell you a joke said by someone who already has a lot of out-of-body experience: he said, "I would rather not be able to come back, but I would need to have that ability." Do you understand what I mean? You would like not to come back, and you are thinking too nicely. You need to have that level, that attainment, that state, that ability. Right now you do not need to consider this question at all; this might be a question you only need to consider after your postdoc. Joking aside, Seth will tell you how to set up your anchor point step by step, how to go step by step and return step by step. In the later exercises, there will be many methods. Teacher Xiyu has also designed many exercises, and many of Teacher Xiyu's exercises are very safe. Teacher Xiyu is a very cautious person; in order to prevent anything happening to anyone, he designed many exercise methods that are very safe and careful. For example, first set up a safe room, a safe room in consciousness space, then step by step, in consciousness exploration you first return to that consciousness space, then return to your own safe room, set up a magic circle, and so on, with an energy space acting as protection. These are all very good methods and suggestions; you may use them or not. But for a beginner, if you want to go out and not come back, you really do not have that ability -- try it and you will know: you come back in an instant.

During Sleep Consciousness Can Go Far Away

Seth says:

When the primary consciousness is separated from the body, the body can indeed continue, carrying out necessary maintenance activities. To some degree, it can even do simple labor.

He says this is amazing: you can even do some housework and some work. Although your consciousness is not there, and you have gone out of body, to others it still looks like you are doing housework and can do some simple work.

In fact, in sleep, the primary consciousness need not be alert in the body at all. (Session 709)

When you sleep, consciousness is not alert in your body.

Only in certain kinds of civilizations is such a close relationship between the body and the primary consciousness necessary. (Session 709)

Only in certain civilizations are consciousness and body tightly connected and never separated. But in this designed human civilization it is not like that; consciousness will often leave your body, happening every day, and it is normal.

Therefore there are many other conditions in which consciousness often wanders much farther, and returns to the body as a home and a base of operations. (Session 709)

For example, those who are in a vegetative state: their bodies stay here, and consciousness is gone; they treat it as a home, and have gone on a long trip; consciousness has gone far away, that is all.

Next we find that a person can lie paralyzed in bed for decades without problem, cannot die, and can sleep for decades without issue. But think about it: what happens if a person does not sleep for three days? What if he does not sleep for five days? You cannot go without sleep; if you do not sleep, you will die. Scientists have long verified this -- they give you food and drink, but do not let you sleep, and after a few days you die. This is a very miraculous thing. But look: it is fine if a person does not wake up; consciousness can be out of the body for a long time and it is fine. But if consciousness stays in the body for a long time -- that is, you stay awake, and being awake means consciousness is often in the body -- you cannot bear it. Haven't you noticed? What a miraculous thing.

Why? There are many reasons. One is that your body needs rest and adjustment, but this is not the most important. The most important is that your consciousness also needs to do what it ought to do; it needs to go to its own places to explore and adventure. Okay, we won't expand on this further; just telling you it is like this, so you need not worry. Seth said so much to tell you that you need not worry about consciousness not returning. The matter of consciousness not returning is not scary; what is scary is consciousness staying awake all the time -- that is what is scary. Do you know how those with depression get depressed? One of the main reasons is long-term inability to sleep. If a person goes ten consecutive days without sleep -- when I say without sleep, I do not mean not sleeping at all, but he cannot sleep, he has insomnia; he may doze briefly during the day, occasionally take a nap -- if he goes more than ten days of whole-night insomnia, it really can lead to an organic change of depression. So you find that being fond of sleep is not scary; being unable to sleep is scary.

It depends on it only for certain kinds of perception, but does not depend on it to see the whole picture of reality. (Session 709)

He says when the body -- that is, these consciousnesses can go far away, often go very far, and then return to the body as a home and base of operations -- it depends on the body only for certain kinds of perception. That is, we use this body only when we need certain perceptions, but do not depend on it to see the whole picture of reality. This body does not need to see the whole picture, only needs very little perception. It only needs this vegetative person lying there; it does not need to open his eyes to look at this world, does not depend on it. His consciousness is going about doing these things.

Physical Life Does Not Necessarily Require Identification with the Body

Physical life itself does not necessarily require your kind of body, your kind of identification of yourself with the body. Your ego consciousness and identification with the body is not necessary in physical life; remember this firmly, it is not necessary. The vegetative person is a typical example, and sleep is also a typical example. At such times, that consciousness that thinks itself is yourself is not in the body; it is not necessary. This does not mean that in those realities an alienation is produced; it is just a relationship. There are various kinds of relationships: there is the relationship in which consciousness and body are closely united, and also the relationship like humans', where they are united for a while and separate for a while, unite for a while and separate for a while.

Why does Seth have us sleep in short stretches, or in several separate periods? It is because he does not want this consciousness and the body to stay combined for too long, or separated for too long. Right now we humans sleep eight hours, ten hours, or even longer, and that actually means consciousness and the body are separated for too long. But can you just never separate consciousness from the body? That does not work either. So this is one kind of relationship between our human body and consciousness, but he tells you there are other relationships too, not just this one kind. He gives an example: there are also sleepwalkers, whose consciousness does not pay attention to the body at all. Their consciousness only focuses on exploring that nonphysical state of existence in the dream. That is also a pattern, right? There is also a kind where the body and the primary consciousness are closely connected, and that is another kind of relationship. Any kind of relationship can exist, and within it the body, consciousness, and other events are connected. It is just one kind of relationship.

Belief and Neural Conditioning Obscure the True Nature of Consciousness

Only your belief training, and your mental conditioning, prevent you from recognizing the true nature of your consciousness while you sleep. He says it is because of your beliefs, the learning and training you have received since childhood over a long period, and this conditioning on the mental and neural level. Neural conditioning is conditioning in time and space. Our nerves require time and space, because transmitting information between neurons takes time. So these perceptions of time and space cause us not to recognize what our consciousness is actually like while we sleep. We have a whole pile of distortions, twists, and misunderstandings about it, or we cannot see it clearly. You shut this material out because of your belief training and neural tendencies.

Yet during that period, while you sleep, within the inner order of events, you are very active. In the dream world where events especially emerge, you are not idle at all; you are very active. In the inner world, you are not asleep. You are very active, and you do a great deal of inner mental work that later appears in concrete experience. You are busy in the dream world, performing this and performing that, rehearsing all kinds of plays, acting as director, actor, and set designer all at once. After the performance, some of those scenes may later become real in your life. He tells you, do you think you are idle, that you are asleep? No, your consciousness does not rest.

The Body Consciousness Performs Functions During Sleep That Cannot Be Done While Awake

While your consciousness is busy with these activities, your body consciousness is carrying out many functions that are impossible for you to perform while awake. He says your primary consciousness has gone into the dream to busy itself with these things, so what is your body doing? Your body, under the control of your body consciousness, is carrying out many things that cannot be done while awake, such as the repair work of the organism, bodily repair, the clearing out of chemical elements, and the release of excess hormones. Sometimes you notice that after someone sleeps, there is a smell in the room. That smell is not only because something has gone wrong in his body; it may even be the smell of excess hormones being released from his body.

For example, when you are asleep, the greatest biological miracle occurs. What does biological mean? It means that while you sleep, the functions of certain cells are accelerated. He says these functions only occur during sleep. Take children, for instance: only during sleep do certain cells grow; when they are not sleeping, these cells do not grow. So if you want your child to grow tall, the child must get enough sleep, because certain cells can only grow in that environment.

The separation of your primary consciousness from the body is clearly necessary, absolutely necessary. Because your body consciousness needs to carry your body through self-repair, self-growth, and self-regulation. To put it simply, this physical body needs to be recharged. To use a vivid analogy, it is like your phone: you have to charge it at night, right? How can it work if you do not charge it? It is like your watch: it needs charging every day, and if you do not charge it, the next day it will just die on you. It is that simple. So the separation of your consciousness from your body is necessary; it has to be this way, otherwise neither your body nor your consciousness would be well. If this were not necessary, you would not need sleep, because the need for sleep is what gives rise to it.

Sleep Is Not a Byproduct

Sleep is not a byproduct of waking life. He says sleep is not just a matter of being tired from work during the day and therefore needing sleep. No, it is not a byproduct of your daytime work. There is actually a deeper meaning and a more important meaning in it. You must sleep; if you do not sleep, you really cannot go on, you really will die.

Broadly speaking, when you fall asleep, you are also awake. You are also awake, from a broad perspective. But the focus of your own awareness has been turned in other directions. What are you doing while awake? You are not dealing with matters of the physical world; you are dealing with matters of the nonphysical world, inner matters, matters in your dream.

As you know, you can live for many years in a coma, like a person in a vegetative state. But you cannot go without sleep for many years and live. Never mind many years without sleep; try going a week or ten days without sleep, and you will simply die. Even in a coma there is mental activity. When you are in a coma, your psyche is still active, although it may be impossible to determine this from the outside. You say, let me put an instrument on your brain and measure your brainwaves? Brainwaves cannot measure it. That conscious activity cannot be measured by brainwaves. Brainwaves can measure the activity of the brain, but do not equate brain activity with conscious activity. The two are not on the same level at all. Brain activity is still the operation of matter within the three-dimensional world, that is, the operation of the nervous system. The operation of consciousness no longer depends on the nervous system. Do not think that your conscious activity necessarily has some relationship with your brain; it completely transcends the brain.

There is a great deal of evidence for this. I once told you about an example: Alexander, a neurosurgeon, contracted a kind of viral encephalitis. Medically speaking, his brain had already died or gone into shock. For an entire week there was no brainwave response at all; medically speaking, he was brain dead. After a week, he came back to life. He himself was a neurosurgical expert who studied brain science, and when he looked at the scans from his own hospitalization, he was shocked, completely stunned, because all the data showed that during those seven days his brainwaves were zero, his activity was zero. Medically he was judged brain dead, and brain death actually means there is no value in further rescue efforts. But who would have known, this fellow came back alive and kicking after a week. After he came back, he went around giving lectures every day, talking about how the world of consciousness exists. You can search online for this doctor Alexander. His family had been doctors for generations; his father and grandfather were both famous neuroscientists⁶.

So even in a coma there is mental activity, but this mental activity cannot be measured by our brainwave instruments. Many people say that a person in a vegetative state has no responses. That is not true; his responses are just not the kind of responses you understand.

Conscious Activity During Sleep Is Necessary for Physical Survival

When you are not awake, a certain kind of free, conscious behavior is possible. (Session 709)

When you are not awake, you have certain other conscious behaviors, and that activity is also necessary for the survival of the entire physical body. That conscious activity during sleep is absolutely necessary for your physical survival. Without this conscious activity during sleep, your body cannot live.

As for the Nobel Prize in Medicine winner from a few years ago, if he had read this before winning it, that is quite possible — actually Seth came out with this long ago: humans cannot live without sleep. That year's Nobel Prize in Medicine winner proved through experiments⁷ that lack of sleep causes organic damage to the human body, not just mental damage as everyone thought, but organic damage, all the way to death.

This also has to do with the pulsations of energy, in which consciousness as you know it exercises itself, using innate abilities that cannot be expressed through physical orientation alone. (Session 709)

He says this necessity means that the existence of the physical body depends on certain activities of consciousness during sleep. Why is this so? You can understand it as consciousness only doing certain special exercises and practices while you are asleep. Only after it has exercised and practiced well can consciousness continue to work while you are awake.

Let me use a vivid analogy, using Avatar, which is a typical example. When your consciousness is connected to its physical body, to its muscular and nervous system, when you are operating this physical vehicle, for a consciousness that can go up to the heavens and down into the earth and is not limited by time and space, it is a very tiring thing. Consciousness itself is not limited by the physical shell; it can go up to the heavens and down into the earth, and cross time and space. But when it comes into this three-dimensional world, it has to carry this physical body, this ugly shell, around everywhere, and it has to direct all its operating mechanisms. I can use a vivid analogy — this is not scientific, just a vivid analogy — for consciousness, operating such a physical body, moving through this world at your slow speed, is a very, very tiring thing. So it needs rest; it needs this physical body to lie down and do nothing, and then it goes off to recharge itself. You can understand it this way: this consciousness needs to recharge. Seth uses another way of saying it: the pulsations of energy, or consciousness exercising itself. You can understand it this way.

You say, why does it not work while I am awake? Why does physical exercise while I am awake not work? It cannot be achieved through physical orientation alone. Your own primary consciousness has the ability to perform faster than light, but that sensation is too fast; your conscious part of awareness cannot keep up. And the neural structural patterns you accept — that is, our neural structural patterns — cannot capture them; they are too fast to capture. So your consciousness performs many things that cannot be obtained by your waking consciousness. That is why after many dreams you have no awareness of them.

In that respect, cellular comprehension and response are too fast for you. (Session 709)

But you did not understand, yet your cells did understand, and your cells did respond. Their ability to understand is much faster than our conscious understanding. Our consciousness cannot follow, but the cells can follow, can understand, can respond. See, the cells are more capable than we are.

The Balanced Framework of Physical Reality and Its Flickering

The balanced framework of physical existence requires a specific platform of experience that you accept as valid and real, and only on that level do you have your present experience. (Session 709)

Physical existence requires a balanced framework. What kind of balanced framework? It is a framework within which you can accept a specific experience as valid. You need a platform. What kind of platform? This platform has to be just right — your physical perception and your conscious perception, the outer senses and your conscious understanding, they have to be exactly right between them, meaning the inner and the outer must reach a balance. Sleep is when your inner consciousness is operating and the outer is no longer operating; when you are awake, it is the outer. Your inner and outer need a kind of balance. If they cannot be balanced, you cannot perceive the universe you now perceive. Only on that balanced level, the level where body and consciousness are balanced, can you perceive our physical universe. Otherwise it does not work.

That platform, or focus, is the result of the most precise cooperation. (Session 709)

Remember, it is the most precise. This seemingly unremarkable physical existence is the result of countless experiments and adjustments, fine-tuning, micro-tuning, and detailed tuning. The precision of the human body is the ultimate crystallization of countless highly intelligent consciousnesses. You must never look down on your own body. You may think it seems ordinary; everyone has one, and life is everywhere. But actually its precision — how long would human scientists have to develop before they could create a body like a human being? Never mind creating its consciousness, just creating such a body. So you should know that this body, seemingly ordinary, is the crystallization of such exquisite, such high intelligence.

Your own free consciousness and your own body consciousness form an alliance. (Session 709)

Suppose you have a free consciousness, which is what we call the primary consciousness, and then with your body consciousness, you have two consciousnesses — one consciousness responsible for the body, one responsible for the primary consciousness — they must join together and form an alliance, making this platform possible, making it possible for you to perceive this world. This is also very interesting: there are two consciousnesses in your body, and these two consciousnesses must cooperate closely and unite tightly. The body consciousness and the free consciousness must come together to be useful.

Such a manifestation actually means that physical reality flickers. (Session 709)

From this perspective, your physical world and physical reality, including your body, are flickering on and off, here one moment and not here the next. In your terms, it exists only during your waking time. From our perspective, after we fall asleep, this physical world no longer exists for the sleeping you; it exists only during our waking time.

The inner work that makes it possible is done largely in the sleep state. (Session 709)

That is to say, the existence of this physical world, this flickering world that we understand as truly existing, is accomplished by that inner work. And this inner work must be done in the sleep state. Without this sleep state, without this inner work during sleep, this physical world would not exist.

The Compact Focus of the Primary Consciousness and the Body Consciousness

The meeting of the body consciousness and your primary consciousness, the two coming together, requires a compact focus. When you are awake, the focus of your primary consciousness and the focus of your body consciousness must be close to overlapping — not exactly overlapping, that is not quite right, he says compact — their focuses must be aligned, otherwise they split apart, right? Your body wants to do one thing, your consciousness wants to do another, and then everything falls into chaos, right? So remember, when you are awake, the focuses of these two consciousnesses must be close together, close to an overlapping state. But this does not mean they must always be stuck together like superglue, that they must overlap. No, it is only for your existence in the physical world that they overlap. But the focus of the primary consciousness can move away at any time.

In which the greatest manipulation is necessary. (Session 709)

This manipulation is necessary. You must manipulate this physical body, manipulate your senses, manipulate the body consciousness. In physical terms, perception must be precise. When your hand picks up a cup, you never make a mistake. Your eyes seem very ordinary, but the resolution and accuracy of your eyes are extremely precise. For example, if you hang a picture on the wall and it is slightly crooked, you can immediately notice it. How much is this "slightly"? No more than three millimeters. If it is off by more than two or three millimeters, your naked eye can immediately see that the picture is not hung straight.

However, to a certain degree, that exquisite concentration means that certain limitations occur. The focus of the body consciousness and your primary consciousness overlapping and concentrating together has its advantages, but it has limitations — because the focus of your primary consciousness cannot move elsewhere; it is constantly being pulled along by the focus of the body, the focus of the body consciousness. It has limitations. There are clearly two consciousnesses, but they can only be combined, and the primary consciousness cannot do anything else. But the primary consciousness is very capable; it can do many other things.

The normal conscious self is not attuned to cellular comprehension. (Session 709)

Your conscious self cannot understand cells, and you do not know the comprehension of cells. Our conscious self has no way of unfolding understanding at the cellular level.

He is also aware of his own unfettered nature at higher levels. (Session 709)

This conscious self can also perceive that at a higher level, it has an unfettered nature. So a process of separation is bound to occur. Why? Because consciousness can perceive that it has this unfettered essence; it is inherently unrestricted, not restricted by this physical body, not even restricted by time and space. That is its essence. But living in this three-dimensional world, it has no choice; it must combine with your body consciousness. So at certain times it must separate. What is this separation? Sleep is the separation. It leaves your body consciousness in your body, letting it manage your body, while the primary consciousness must leave. It goes to feel and enjoy this unfettered, natural attribute of its own. If you do not let it do this, then it cannot recharge, cannot replenish itself, and it will not continue to operate your physical body for you. Then problems arise.

Only in this way can each be allowed to be reborn. (Session 709)

What does "each be reborn" mean? Here it refers to cells. Each cell is reborn, and only after rebirth can they form your body. But on the level of your consciousness, you cannot perceive matters at the cellular level. So who is doing the comprehension of cells? It is that inner part of you, that is, the part of your primary consciousness that you do not perceive, which can be called the subconscious or the unconscious. It is actually communicating with every one of your cells, and it works very hard too. So it allows the separation to occur, and it also allows each cell to live and die. Because the living and dying of cells is also a state of separation. Cells and the body are the same; the life of a cell and the life of the body follow the same principle — both are your consciousness leaving this physical body and then returning again. The same principle.

Your consciousness will still leave your body. When you die, you leave the body; when you fall asleep, you also leave the body. The body consciousness stays with the body, while your consciousness goes to a higher level to be unfettered. "Higher" refers to a higher level of consciousness. Your body consciousness, meanwhile, stays behind to take care of your body. And then, more or less, he ends the session.

Notes: Tachyons and Rob's Out-of-Body Experience

I will not go into the notes that follow. They are simple. One is about tachyons, which are particles faster than light; in Chinese they are called "kuaizi," hypothetical particles faster than light, and so on. This is considered possible in Einstein's special theory of relativity, only considered possible. Physics experiments have tried to detect them, but it is impossible. According to our interpretation here of Seth, they actually cannot be detected; it is impossible in the physical world.

The second note: Rob says Seth said that when you leave your body even in an out-of-body state, even if you only leave your body and your line of sight, you have already crossed over — you may seem to have only crossed beyond your body, left your body by a very short distance, but you have actually already crossed into another time and space. Rob says he had a similar experience, which he wrote about in Session 583 of Seth Speaks. That is, he left his body by more than ten feet; his consciousness actually left the body in an out-of-body state, but the feeling was completely different, so vivid and so pleasant.

He says about eight months later, he added another note. Seth would occasionally mention, at long intervals, that in the out-of-body state, the body slows down its aging. He had also said before that when you enter psychological time, your body does not age. And he mentioned certain principles involved. He had these principles, but he did not expand on what those principles were. Rob and Jane always felt there was some very interesting material on this subject. If people could avoid aging, is that not something humans have always wanted to explore? If we could find that a person does not age while consciousness is out of the body, then could we keep a person in this out-of-body state for a long time, and would he not stop aging? He wanted Seth to give more material on this, but up until April 1975, when The "Unknown" Reality was finished, Seth never mentioned that matter again. Actually Seth had already said it very clearly, so what more was there to say? What he wanted to ask was which principles Seth meant by "certain principles," and Seth did not expand on them in the book. Well, this leaves us with another direction to explore. We can go dig into it.

In Seth's early sessions, he devoted some space specifically to out-of-body experiences. In there you can find some clues about the different states of out-of-body experience. Seth believed that out-of-body experience has three levels and three realms. In ancient China there were many ways of describing this, such as "fen shen," "chu yang shen," "chu yin shen," and many other terms. Well, we will not expand on this topic here. This is actually a direction we humans could research. If we spend time researching traditional physics that is no longer interesting and has already been disproven — these things have already been proven wrong, so why still teach them? There is no meaning anymore. If we spend time researching these areas instead, could we not help human civilization achieve greater accomplishments? We should put our energy and time into research in these areas, not into researching things that have already clearly been proven wrong. What do I mean by wrong things? Our scientists have already proven that this world is fundamentally composed of energy; the most basic unit is energy, including quantum states and all that. So why are we still learning those Newtonian things? We cannot say that just because they are effective in the world our eyes see, we should go straight to researching them. We also know that is a dead end, because current research has already proven that classical physics has reached a dead end; it is only effective in the macroscopic realm.

注释与核实

1. According to Mike's original words, "The concept of the tachyon was proposed by a German scientist"; upon verification, it should be "The modern concept of the tachyon was systematically proposed by three American physicists in 1962, and the name 'tachyon' was coined by the American physicist Gerald Feinberg in 1967; the German physicist Arnold Sommerfeld only studied superluminal electrons earlier." (Source: Helge Kragh, "Tachyons before tachyons: Lev Strum –1936) and superluminal velocities," 2025, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1140/epjh/s13129-025-00103-z) ↩

2. According to Mike's original words, "Its energy is inversely proportional to its velocity"; upon verification, it should be "For hypothetical tachyons, energy decreases as velocity increases, but it is not inversely proportional to velocity; the relationship is E=m₀c²/√(v²/c²−1)." (Source: John D. Norton, "Energy and Momentum of a Tachyon," https://sites.pitt.edu/~jdnorton/teaching/HPS_0410/chapters/spacetime_tachyon/tachyon_energy.pdf) ↩

3. According to Mike's original words, "The strings in superstring theory move at superluminal speeds"; upon verification, it should be "Strings in superstring theory do not move at superluminal speeds; the endpoints of a free relativistic open string move at the speed of light." (Source: Barton Zwiebach, "From Vibrating Strings to a Unified Theory of All Interactions," 2004, https://physics.mit.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/physicsatmit_04_vibratingstrings.pdf) ↩

4. Source: Nanyang Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision, "Pinhole Imaging," 2018 (https://www.nydi.gov.cn/sitesources/nysjwjw/page_pc/xcjd/s/article83baf6c4aa1044d69a9ce3514bc329f2.html) ↩

5. Source: Center for the History of Psychology, University of Würzburg, "Theodor Erismann" (https://www.uni-wuerzburg.de/zgp/archiv/film-fotoarchiv/theodor-erismann/) ↩

6. According to Mike's original words, "Alexander, a neurosurgeon, himself contracted a viral encephalitis. Medically speaking, his brain had died or was in shock. For a whole week there was no brainwave activity at all; medically speaking, he was brain-dead. After a week he came back to life. He himself is a neurosurgical expert who studies brain science. When he looked at the films from his hospitalization, he was shocked, stunned, because all the data showed that during those seven days his brainwaves were zero and his activity was zero. Medically he was judged brain-dead, and brain death actually means there is no value in further rescue. But who would have known, this fellow came back alive and kicking after a week. After he came back, he went around giving lectures every day, saying that the conscious world exists. You can search online for this doctor Alexander. His family has practiced medicine for generations; his father and grandfather were both famous neuroscientists"; upon verification, it should be "Eben Alexander was in a coma for 6 days due to Escherichia coli bacterial meningoencephalitis. No EEG was performed during his hospitalization, so it was not a case of 'seven consecutive days of zero brainwaves or brain death'; he was extubated on day 6, showed marked improvement on day 7, and later made a full recovery." (Source: Surbhi Khanna, Lauren E. Moore, Bruce Greyson, "Full Neurological Recovery From Escherichia coli Meningitis Associated With Near-Death Experience," 2018, https://med.virginia.edu/perceptual-studies/wp-content/uploads/sites/360/2018/09/Greyson_-Alexander-JNMD-2018.pdf) ↩

7. This claim could not be verified. ↩