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
Seth compares several houses that Rob and Jane looked at: the hillside house has a formal, open, sunny, modern location, but lacks a sense of secrecy; the Foster Street house carries connotations of concealment, decadence, and the past; the Searle house has an inherent darkness and is not suitable to buy. He points out that the houses reflect the two of them's personality of being outwardly relaxed but inwardly intense, as well as their creative needs, and suggests choosing the hillside house, which represents facing the world and a change in mentality. At the end of the chapter, he talks about how consciousness families can be subdivided and mixed, and how the two of them accept some of Seth's suggestions while setting others aside.
Chapter Highlights
- The hillside house is formal, open, and sunny in location, but it lacks secrecy; the Foster Street house carries a sense of secrecy, decadence, and the past.
- The house in Sayre has an inherent darkness, and Seth does not recommend buying it.
- Rob and Jane are outwardly informal but inwardly formal, and what attracts them to a house matches this personality and their creative needs; they only need reasonable privacy, not extreme isolation.
- The hillside house represents a decision to face the world, and it will bring changes in lifestyle and psychic attitude, while the Foster Street house will not.
- Families of consciousness can be further subdivided, and Gramada is a variation of Gra-ma-gh; different families of consciousness can mix like physical races, but Sumari and Borledim are close yet difficult to mix.
Main Text
Session 738 More on Sumari, Moving, and the Families of Consciousness
This session began on Wednesday, February 19, 1975, at 9:27 p.m.
At the start, Rob again talked about their recent house hunting. He said that in the afternoon they had gone out looking at houses for another whole day. Afterward, they went to the outskirts of West Elmira and took another look at the hillside house, and this time they really looked it over carefully. Previously, they actually had not liked this hillside house very much and had not chosen it. Their first choice was the house on Foster Street.
Seth spent most of Monday's session discussing the house they had seen in Sayre and on Foster Road. Some of his material was quite personal, involving matters of individual privacy; but because some of it could also apply to people in general, and there was also material that could apply to people in general, we kept some of it as it was. However, when Seth added the hillside house to his list tonight -- his list of houses under discussion -- the material he gave about Jane and me was so private that we decided to omit part of it. But I have rearranged the rest of it in proper order, enough to show how closely something as objective as a house can be connected with beliefs and emotions.
Because in this session he talked a great deal about the influence of houses on the two of them. A house is essential for every one of us -- we have a home for the psyche, and our physical body also needs a material world, a home in the three-dimensional world of objects. So everyone has to deal with houses. In this session we can see how Seth discusses this house, and it may be of some reference value to you.
The Appeal of the Hillside House
Seth says, let us now talk about the first house. He is referring to the hillside house. That house is on a hillside, and it has certain advantages—you can overlook the whole city, which provides a very good view. But the natural factors there are also very important. Keep that in mind—natural factors. And it would make you feel very refreshed, that natural—because it is on a hillside, it blends with nature; and the air itself is also cleaner and fresher, because it is far from the city.
You two appear to be informal, but your informality exists within its own quite formal structure.
With this one sentence, he pinpoints a character trait of Rob and Jane that they themselves had not noticed. They appear informal—the two of them are very casual, both freelancers, not the type who wear suits and ties. But the informality you two show on the surface exists within a quite formal structure inside your own inner selves—the two of you are very formal at the core, even though on the outside you seem very casual, neither bound to the traditional nine-to-five job nor falling into convention, unlike typical painters and writers; but at the same time, this inner structure of yours that longs for formality has always been there.
He says, so far those several houses all have a certain formality. Why do you like these several houses you have looked at? Because they all share a common characteristic—they all carry a certain formality. By comparison, you two appear informal. This kind of personality—containing informality within formality, or being actually formal within informality—such a combination is precisely what attracts you to these houses. And the house situated on the hillside, the formality of its location provides its own structure. The structure of this hillside house itself is very upright; it is a very formal house.
There are many kinds of houses—what does formal or informal mean? Some houses are pentagonal, some have all sorts of shapes, some are built into all kinds of strange forms according to the terrain and environment. Generally speaking, square houses are formal, relatively more formal. There is nothing good or bad about this; some people like informal ones, some people like formal ones.
He says, do you understand, the house on the hilltop itself is a relatively formal structure. The same house placed on flat ground would not work—if it were not on a hillside, you probably would not like this house. What matters is the whole picture. It is not a question of whether the structure of the house itself is formal or not, but whether it forms an integrated picture with the entire surrounding environment.
You do not understand your own mixture of order and spontaneity, formality and informality. The two of you yourselves possess an inner orderliness, and then you also express this spontaneity—as if very casual; you are very formal inwardly, and on the surface there is again an informal mixture. Such a combined and mixed personality pattern—the two of you yourselves actually do not understand it. To put it simply, this house itself has a very formal layout, but being placed on a hillside gives it an informal feeling; yet the structure itself is formal, which exactly satisfies this feeling the two of you have. The house itself is very formal, but because of its location it also carries great flexibility, making you feel a kind of informality and a kind of liveliness within it.
A House Has Its Own Life
A house itself has a certain quality, a certain life, and it will be picked up by potential buyers. Seth says a house is alive, and a house has its own particular quality. He says certain houses will make you and Ruburt feel repelled -- some houses you take one look at and find quite unpleasant -- yet they will attract other people. Just because you don't like them doesn't mean others won't. The qualities in those houses that attract you are precisely the things that make other people uninterested, and that's what keeps them from selling. So the several houses you're looking at now have certain qualities that other people extremely dislike, but it's exactly these points that other people dislike which happen to attract you, and that's why these houses haven't sold -- as if they were being held specifically for you. Many houses have this kind of characteristic; after going around in circles, you come back to them again.
But you can see they've looked at quite a few houses during this period. They spent a whole day looking today, saw many houses, and in the end only settled on two -- one was the Foster place, and the other was this hillside house. Seth suggested the Steins' house in Sayre to them, but the two of them didn't like it either; they had no feeling for it at all.
This move is very important for the two of you. Because of your work, and also because of your natures, you do indeed need privacy. One paints and one writes, and then you transmit the Seth material as well, so you certainly need this kind of privacy, free from disturbance. But this does not mean you should try to find a place where for miles around there is nothing to distract you -- it doesn't mean you should go live out in the remote wilderness, in a place with no one for miles around. What it does mean is that you accept a reasonable degree of privacy without going to extremes. Within a neighborhood, there are certain alliances and understandings, information that others can sense. Every residential neighborhood -- in America it's a block or a community, in China it's an actual residential compound, something similar -- they all have their own alliance. The houses in a neighborhood form a quality unique to that neighborhood, and other people can sense this information about the neighborhood. When you walk to that spot, or arrive at that place, you can feel that it's different from other neighborhoods. Especially with certain neighborhoods whose distinctive character is very obvious compared to others, you only have to drive through the street -- just one road over -- and the feeling that neighborhood gives you is completely different from the one next to it.
The front door of the house on Foster Road isn't even used. They often drive home and come in from the garage; in America the front doors of many houses go unused, and that's quite normal. What he means by unused is that the front door may be too far off to one side, or it really is of little use.
Environment and Its Relationship to Creation
The location of this hillside house is very high, and anyone who climbs the steps from the street understands that they have come for a reason. People who want to visit you must understand why they are coming, or rather, they must have a purpose in coming; it is not the kind of place where one casually drops by. No one is going to climb all those steps and then just not come because there is nothing to do.
Your daily environment is very important to your work. Because you are a painter, and Ruburt is a writer, you have certain requirements for your art. Artists all have such special requirements; they have requirements for their art. Therefore, in your environment, you also demand the same things. Precisely because you have requirements for your art, you also have requirements for your living environment.
In the place where you now live, you once possessed what you had wanted, as an environment that satisfied your requirements as an artist. Although you have many criticisms -- many opinions about that house -- all of that is already in the past, and you too have changed. Over these years you have grown, and that environment has also changed; you now need to move. The environments that once satisfied you -- that satisfied your environmental requirements for artistic creation -- satisfied you then, but no longer satisfy you now.
At this point in your life, it is also time for you to take action. As for these houses in Elmira that you have looked at, it really makes no difference which one you choose; neither is perfect. You will find that in any idealized, perfect environment, you would be quite uncomfortable. In any perfect environment, you would feel ill at ease. And these two houses happen to be not perfect, which is precisely what can stimulate your creativity. For people with an artistic temperament who want to create, a perfect environment is actually not conducive to creation -- because perfection means there is nothing left to change, nothing to add or subtract. And creation, for an artist, requires working within an imperfect environment to create the kind of perfection he has in mind. This is not only true of him; many people have this characteristic -- in a perfect environment, they actually feel uneasy and uncomfortable.
You need some compromises. Both places can be remodeled to suit your particular needs. You need to find a balance point between perfection and imperfection -- this house is not perfect, but after you personally remodel it, it can approach the state of perfection you desire. This can satisfy your present needs. And each one reflects a strong element of your personality; both of these houses can reflect a strong element of your personality, which you may not even be aware of.
Inherent Darkness
Seth said, I am trying to give you the best information I can. This house on the hillside has its own kind of inner light, which the Serl house does not have. The Serl house is the house belonging to the Stans and that Mr. Marco, both of which are in Serl. I showed him four houses in total, and that Serl house does not have this attribute of inner light. I do not recommend buying the Serl house, regardless of whether its price is high or low. It has a kind of inherent darkness, and no amount of lighting can dispel it. That house has a darkness that lighting cannot change or improve. It is not like that feeling of being bathed in sunlight.
The two of you, especially you, Joseph, would never be satisfied sharing a driveway with others. Because of its location, the hillside house enhances a kind of openness that already exists inside the Foster house. But in any case, you have a feeling of openness. This house on the hillside will actually increase the openness of the interior of the Foster house. Whether it is the house on the hillside slope or the Foster house, neither has much of a problem in terms of openness. Although the hillside house has stronger openness, the Foster house, because it is reflected by the hillside house, will also show great openness.
But he does not recommend buying the Serl house. He felt that house probably had poor lighting and a kind of inherent darkness. This is very interesting. You have seen many houses, and you can feel it — everyone can feel it. When you walk into a room, you find that sometimes it is not just a matter of lighting and daylight. Some people say it is daylighting, but it is not. Daylighting is one issue, but it is not the most fundamental issue. Some houses have no problem with daylighting, but when you go inside, you still feel that it is not bright enough. This feeling is very hard to describe in words. Anyone who has had this experience can understand it — some houses, in broad daylight when the light is very abundant and the sun is shining, still give you a sense of gloom when you walk in; other houses may not have such good light, just normal daylighting, not that kind of all-around daylighting, but when you go inside, even with only a few limited windows letting in that light, it can make you feel that the room is very bright. So this thing does not depend entirely on daylighting. This inherent darkness is something brought by the attributes of the house itself.
Seth and the House Suggestions
At one point, I gave you a recommendation -- I once suggested what kind of house you should buy. Remember there was a session where he specifically offered a series of suggestions about their buying a house, but you did not actually adopt them. He said I can fully foresee all the possibilities, but you create your own reality. I can foresee the probabilities, but how the reality is specifically created is decided by yourselves, and I am not responsible for you. Many people say why doesn't Seth take care of Rob and Jane's affairs? It is not that Seth did not take care of them, but he wanted to hand the initiative back to Rob and Jane, and could not interfere with their free will and the ego's right to decide. Seth can see the reality of probabilities, but he cannot reach out and interfere with others. As an ancient being, Seth still has very strong boundaries -- very strong boundaries. Although he often bent the rules and gave a lot of advice, it was of no use -- for these two people, the water he let through did not seem to have the effect it should have, because the two of them simply did not listen.
And knowing your own characteristics, I have more to say, and you may not be happy to hear it. You must understand your own characteristics; this is the most important thing. Do not bother with me; I will not be responsible for you. You should be responsible for yourselves. Do not expect me to provide you with any suggestions, any plans, or any guidance. You must be responsible for your own characteristics.
This Foster house actually represented many things. You actually missed this Foster house, and missed a great deal. Although it was not on a hillside, it represented your feeling for privacy and secrecy. Privacy is actually personal privacy; translating it here as "private" is fine, but translating it as "privacy" would be better. This Foster house could satisfy both of your needs for privacy, and also bring a feeling of secrecy -- with a little something mysterious in it. Those windows could not be opened; some of the windows could not be opened, which made it even more secret. A house whose windows are fixed is itself full of a sense of secrecy. The house itself was very dark, but it was very large; a large house inevitably has poor lighting, and yet it had its own nobility.
The house on the hillside had some privacy, but it did not have that secrecy. Although you had a very good view, you could not hide inside it. It was too modern. Although the hillside house had a very good view and its privacy was also quite good, such good privacy still did not allow you to hide inside it. Secrecy refers precisely to this -- only when you can hide inside it is it called secrecy. That feeling of a secret chamber, a secret room, with a wall outside, and when you push it open there is a room inside -- there was no such feeling.
Moreover, the hillside house had a very good view, but you were also displayed as if on exhibit before everyone, and you had nowhere to hide, nowhere to conceal yourselves. Many hillside houses, while having their advantages, also have similar disadvantages.
Past and Future
Foster's house has a certain sense of decadence. While it has its hidden advantages, it also brings a certain decadence. Some of the windows in the house cannot be opened — doesn't that give a sense of decadence? But that house on the hillside is very modern, unlike those traditional American houses, so it does not have this sense of decadence. It represents a challenge that you have not yet accepted up to now. However, as far as its present condition is concerned, it still possesses qualities that do indeed suit the natures of both of you.
That hillside house represents the future, and its contemporary characteristics. Whereas Foster's house represents the past, with a very traditional flavor, and so it carries a certain sense of decadence.
I suggest — only suggest — that you choose the hillside house. Because for you, it is the greatest bold adventure — you are going to take on a new challenge that you have never accepted before. Because that hill will bring you more than one kind of view; standing at a high position will give you different angles and perspectives. When you live in a house that obviously belongs to another era, you avoid, to a certain extent, the contemporaneity of life.
Ruburt may find that he would decorate this place somewhat more formally than the other one, but the openness of the whole atmosphere is the kind in which you do not hide inside. When Ruburt was looking at this house, he was certainly thinking about how to decorate it in the future. If this hillside house is taken, then his decoration would be somewhat more formal than the decoration of the Foster one. But there is no need to fear, because the openness of the whole atmosphere on the hill is the kind in which you do not hide inside. You cannot hide inside, because if the windows of the hillside house can all be opened and it is ventilated on all sides, that feeling will make you more willing to stay outside.
Modern Design Blends with Nature
In current modern American house design, the higher-end house designs, like luxury home designs -- I mean the kind of tract villa developments, not a single custom home -- take Toll Brothers, this kind of luxury home developer1, for example. The design concept they have been using recently is to completely open up the indoor and outdoor spaces. Those large floor-to-ceiling sliding doors can be completely hidden inside the walls. Once fully opened, the indoor living room and the outdoor living room, the yard, all merge into one, even with the pool and the courtyard becoming a single whole, so the boundary between indoors and outdoors is no longer so obvious. One reason for this is that California's climate is quite good, never very cold or very hot in any of the four seasons; and there are no mosquitoes or flies -- California itself has no mosquitoes, no flies, so it is possible to create this kind of design that is open from inside to outside.
The hillside house they are looking at now has this kind of design concept, so Seth says it is very modern, even a bit ahead of its time. Once you open it all up, it makes you unwilling to sit inside the house; you would rather sit outside, rather sit out in nature. Although you are inside a house, you feel as if you are sitting in nature.
In ancient times, including the Han, Tang, and Song dynasties, houses people built in the mountains had similar characteristics. Ancient houses did not have an obvious wall -- they had walls, but they often had rows of tall doors, and these doors could all be opened. Once all the doors were opened, the house became like an exquisitely transparent structure, like a pavilion, set in the mountains. This kind of structure allowed nature and the house, through this design, to make you feel that you had merged into nature, and the house had merged into nature as well. Our ancestors, very early on, had this concept when designing houses -- not to separate themselves from nature, but to connect themselves with nature. Even now, including those very expensive multimillion-dollar luxury homes, their designs also draw on this concept. Of course, they also have places that emphasize privacy, with very private designs; but in the open areas, there are open areas, and both needs can be well satisfied. The hillside house can achieve privacy, but it cannot yet achieve secrecy.
Then Seth says, if some rooms are very small, you can enlarge them, make them bigger. Then he took a break.
Jane's Reaction
During the break, Jane said: I feel very sad. As soon as Jane came out of that state, she said: I feel strange, as if some part of me wanted to lurk in that house on Foster Road, wandering alone in the yard at night. Actually, Jane still cared a great deal about not getting the Foster house; she felt very sad. Because she felt she had become one with that house, some parts of her had already resonated with it, and she could even imagine her soul going to that house at night, wandering in someone else's yard, treating it as her own home, yet she felt regret.
Then Rob said: I think the advice Seth gave was very good. Rob was very calm, while Jane at this moment was the relatively emotional one. Jane retorted: For a while I quite liked that place, but Seth is just too damn clever -- Jane even said a swear word -- really too clever. What Jane meant was: what Seth said made sense, but I really did like that Foster house; yet what Seth said was indeed too reasonable, and I had no way to refute him.
In the end, Seth, from a certain angle, actually gave them a way out -- you should still choose the house on the hillside. In a sense, by this point going back to the Foster house would have put them in a very passive position, and Seth may have simply seized this opportunity. Do you remember what Seth said just before giving them his final recommendation to choose the hillside house? He said that actually it made no difference which of the two houses you chose, there was no real distinction, neither could achieve perfection. And you two don't actually like that kind of truly perfect house; you like having room for renovation and the possibility of renovation within it. So Seth said either house was fine, it didn't matter. But since you are already in a passive situation where you might not be able to buy it, then I suggest you buy the hillside house. And then Seth also pointed out some of the advantages of the hillside house, but he also pointed out that this hillside house might mean a new challenge for you two. In other words, you two might feel a little bit like you are leaving your comfort zone.
Attitude Toward Seth's Suggestions
Rob continued: You got the answer you wanted. Weren't you the one who kept wanting to ask Seth about the house? Seth also gave you this answer, and I think the answer was quite good. Jane said: I know. Before the session I said that if we could get information about the house, I would really relay it faithfully, and I would interfere as little as possible.
Why did Jane say "not interfere"? Because she had interfered before. You may remember that in 1964 Seth said that in Elmira they should use the veterans' loan policy2 to buy a house, and then the veterans' office rejected that contract. But that didn't matter — if it was rejected, they could go choose another loan, or they could look at houses again. But after the rejection, this couple went eleven or twelve years — you see, it was rejected in '64, and by now it was already '75, so for eleven years they didn't go buy a house, and they didn't look at houses either. And at the time, Seth actually rather hoped the two of them would buy that house, but in the process of transmitting this material, Seth perhaps wasn't all that forceful, and then Jane added her own interference, so what finally came through was an ambiguous suggestion. So this time Jane said, I won't interfere. Whatever Seth says, whatever his viewpoint is, I won't impose my personal opinions on it; I want to let his opinions all come through.
Many people often want to know to what extent Jane and Rob actually followed Seth's advice or material — did they follow it completely, or did they hold something back? Rob gave an answer: If the advice Seth gave matched our conscious purposes, then we might decide to go along with it; sometimes, though, we didn't agree with what Seth told us, even when we knew it was good advice. What he meant was that their principle regarding Seth's suggestions was this: when it matched the logic of their surface conscious thinking, they would follow it; when it didn't match their current understanding, they wouldn't do it, they wouldn't listen to him — even if sometimes they might feel his advice was good, if they didn't want to do it, they simply wouldn't do it.
However, neither Jane nor I mind admitting the following fact: sometimes when we decided to ignore what Seth said, we made the wrong choice. In retrospect, we can see that he gave very useful material. Neither of us avoids this matter: we often didn't listen to Seth, and we made wrong choices. But we admit — when we often look back, we can see this. Yet the next time he gives us advice, we will still apply the same principle. You see how interesting these two people are — they don't avoid this at all; if they don't want to listen, they just don't listen.
The Significance of the Hillside House
The hillside setting is just as important to your painting as the ready-made studio in the Foster house. The Foster house had a very good studio, and this hillside house does not have that good a studio; but the hillside house has a very good view and natural surroundings, so the two balance out. The air itself is inspiring -- the environment itself is inspiring. So even though your work area is not as good, not as good a studio or painting room, you will still paint more there, because the environment is so good.
The sun-drenched quality of that hillside house, regardless of what Ruburt thinks right now, will help him both creatively and physically. Because that hillside house represents a decision to face the world, while still maintaining certain necessary, quite reasonable conditions. Jane is actually still somewhat resistant to that hillside house; she still prefers the Foster house. Then Seth says, tell Jane not to resist -- no matter what she thinks now, this sun-drenched house will help her creatively and physically. You see, he has already pointed out that it helps both physically and creatively. You can imagine what a sun-drenched, south-facing house on a hillside means.
That house represents a very important meaning -- it represents a decision: you dare to face the world. And you still maintain certain necessary, quite reasonable conditions. The two of you by nature do not want to face the world, do not want others to know what you are doing; you are also two people who very much dislike interviews, media, and such things. But choosing this house that faces the hillside, that overlooks the entire city of Elmira at the foot of the hill, represents that you are now ready to face the world. However, you still maintain certain necessary, reasonable conditions -- not completely open, not without boundaries, not stepping to center stage, not stepping into the spotlight. You have certain conditions; you are not entirely facing the world, but you have made the preparation. Before, you had not made the preparation to face the world; you had always disliked a life of dealing with society or the media.
That hillside house provides privacy, yet without losing its openness -- it has both privacy and openness, which is a very rare quality in a house. That hillside is not yours, but it is before your eyes, within your field of vision, and it has a strong, thought-provoking connection to your creative lives. Your work is all creative, whether writing, painting, or the Seth material. The hillside scenery has a thought-provoking connection to your creativity.
There will be a definite change in lifestyle patterns and in psychic attitudes, and that would not happen in the house on Foster Street. Seth says, the reason I recommended this house to you is that it will bring a very obvious change to your lifestyle patterns and psychic attitudes. And such a change would not happen while you live in the Foster house. Change what? Change facing the world -- that is a very big change. And it is sunny and bright -- don't you think the two of them staying indoors every day, one writing and one painting, are living a life that is not quite sunny enough? Right, so using this kind of sunny, south-facing house with such structure and environment gives the two of them a very positive courage to face the world, gives them such a preparation. In terms of lifestyle patterns or psychic attitudes, there will be very big changes.
This also means a considerable adaptation is needed. You need to adapt to this kind of change, because before the two of them were not very willing, but there will be benefits, great benefits.
The entire difference here revolves around the natural qualities of the two locations. The main difference is that the natural qualities of the Foster house and this hillside house are different. One of them invites you to take walks; the other asks you to stay indoors. The hillside house invites you to take walks, to sit and wander in nature; while the Foster house invites you to stay inside and create paintings, because the Foster house has a better studio. These are two completely different styles. Both houses carry the characteristics of Sumari, but in different combinations.
You both need the sun.
Variations on the Families of Consciousness
Below, let me add a small note. Seth said, I do not want to discuss variations on the families of consciousness, but the variation on the Gramada family of consciousness that Sue--Watkins received, namely, Glennaf--is valid. Because earlier he had asked why Sue received a name for a family of consciousness that was not among the nine families of consciousness. And this family is actually a branch of Gramada, called Glennaf, and at that time, for Sue, it worked very well; the frequency these materials were aligned with was not wrong, and she did indeed receive this thing.
People like to make distinctions, so there are combinations you could call sub-families, and these are highly creative combinations. All distinctions are only for the purposes of organizing consciousness; the families blend and relate to one another. So you can indeed subdivide them further, but for my purposes, there is really no need to subdivide any further. These families, each one of them can be subdivided further, just as the races of humanity can also be subdivided. But Seth said, from my point of view, there is no need to subdivide further; subdividing further does not have much meaning.
Just as physical races blend with one another--this is not common in China, but it is especially obvious in the West, where the blending of various peoples and races is very evident--the psychic races are the same. This kind of interracial marriage, cross-national marriage, and intermarriage leads to an overall blending of people. The psychic races are the same. In your terms, every so often, a new family will form out of such groupings.
So these families should be understood as general categories. And the consciousness that is aligned with the earth will more or less naturally fall into one of these families of consciousness. Suppose we have a higher consciousness whose focus is placed on the earth, and each of its focuses is one of our living human beings. Every focus of consciousness that attends to the earth--it will more or less correspond to one of the nine families of consciousness, and will fall into that classification of the families of consciousness. It can be subdivided endlessly, and every so often there will be a new family. If you keep dividing this way, it becomes endless and meaningless.
When reading this part of The "Unknown" Reality, each person should be able to sense that they identify with one family of consciousness. Among the nine families of consciousness discussed earlier, our listeners or readers may sense in this process: I seem to be quite close to a certain family of consciousness, very much like it. But they may also find within themselves strong traits of another family--"I am also very much like that one," which is normal. In that case, that person is in the same position as someone who has partly Irish and partly French ancestry. When you match the traits of two families of consciousness, it is like being of mixed blood on earth, blending the traits of two different races; this kind of blending is very common.
Now, if you are half Italian and half Chinese, that is quite unusual--remember, this is 1975, when the Cultural Revolution in China had not yet ended; it ended in 19763, and at that time people could not go abroad. In that era, saying that a person had half Chinese and half Italian blood was very rare, though it was still possible. So certain psychic families blend more easily with others. Italians and Irish blend easily, and Spanish and French blend easily. But with Chinese, it is not so easy.
And some families that resonate very easily with one another are found to be quite difficult to blend. For example, he said, the natural earthly parents--Borledim, that is, the natural perfect alignment of human genes, the human capital--and Sumari, the two of them are very close. One likes having children, the other does not like having children, but blending them is very difficult. If you want to mix people from these two families together, it is very difficult. Because one of them regards the family itself as art; while the other subordinates the family to a different kind of art. One takes life and family as art; the other holds that only something like painting or music is art, and places the family beneath that art. So two families of consciousness that seem close sometimes often cannot blend together. Usually they do not even recognize that they share many of the same traits--Borledim and Sumari, their creativity, their understanding and pursuit of art, have more in common than their differences; but they basically cannot see what they have in common, and what they see are all the differences.
That is what was said tonight about the families of consciousness, and that is all for now. He then really did continue to speak for Seth for several paragraphs about the house, but that part has been deleted here.
Then comes the following dialogue, and the session ends here. Unless you have questions. He said, I think you have answered all the questions. He said, I think so too, and very well--he was flattering Seth. Seth laughed and said, I think I did quite well too, on the subject of the house. Then it ended at 11:45.
注释与核实
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Source: Toll Brothers, Inc., "2025 Form 10-K," 2025 (https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/794170/000079417025000112/tol-20251031.htm) ↩
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This claim could not be verified. ↩
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Source: Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, "Resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on the Major Achievements and Historical Experience of the Party over the Past Century," 2021 (https://www.moe.gov.cn/jyb_xwfb/s6052/moe_838/202111/t20211116_580248.html) ↩