The "Introduction" and "Chapter Highlights" in this chapter were summarized by an AI editor based on the main text below; they are not words spoken by Mike during his lectures. The main text comes from Mike's commentary, and the blockquotes are Seth's original words (the portions Mike read aloud).
Introduction
This chapter centers on "starting over," pointing out that healing requires reawakening the childhood beliefs of joyful anticipation for the future, a sense of safety, self-satisfaction, and trusting relationships, and noting that the opposite assumptions common among adults can damage health. Seth emphasizes that changing beliefs can be accomplished in the present moment, without needing to trace back into the past, but it should be done with a playful attitude, without solemn attachment. The chapter also discusses how negative beliefs in areas such as spontaneity, sexuality, religion, gender segregation, and old age affect health, explaining that life force does not dry up with age, and that one can start over at any age.
Key Points of This Chapter
- To begin anew, one must reawaken the childhood beliefs of joyful anticipation for the future, a sense of security, self-satisfaction, and trusting relationships.
- The body lives on a great deal of joyful anticipation; negative beliefs deprive one of enthusiasm and purpose, harming health.
- Beliefs can be changed in the present moment, for time is simultaneous, so there is no need to trace back to past causes, but one should maintain a playful attitude and not become overly serious or attached.
- Spontaneity is the very spirit of life itself and the will to live; true discipline is the result of spontaneity, and suppressing spontaneity brings physical and mental illness.
- Sexual expression is an important element that encourages physical and mental health and vitality; the belief that sex is evil or shameful leads to illness and distorted behavior; there is no illness brought about solely by aging, and the life force does not dry up with age.
Main Text
Part Two: Starting Over
Let's continue sharing the second part of the Seth material, The Way Toward Health. The title of this second part is "Starting Over." The first chapter of Part Two is Chapter Ten. Seth had suggested that Rob start a new chapter, such as "Chapter One of Part Two," but Rob may have overlooked this and simply continued the numbering from before, making it Chapter Ten. That doesn't really matter. The title of Chapter Ten is "A New Beginning: Instructions, Suggestions, and Decisions -- and When to Ignore These."
This title seems quite interesting. What it means is this: we are talking about the way toward health, so for a person whose health is temporarily not so good, if you want to change or heal yourself, you need to have an intention, to say, I want to start over. Starting over means beginning anew -- beginning what? Beginning to change my beliefs, in order to change my life and change my physical condition.
And when to start over, and how to start over -- these are topics many people care about. This is also what Seth wanted to emphasize in the latter half, that is, in Part Two. This chapter is extremely important for anyone who wants to begin healing themselves. At the time of a new beginning, what kind of instructions you should give yourself, what kind of suggestions, and what kind of decisions you should make -- these are very important. And later on, these instructions, suggestions, and decisions to yourself should all be forgotten and ignored. So when should you forget them? Why do you need to give yourself instructions and suggestions in the first place, and then finally forget them? Once we listen to the later content, you will understand. It is very interesting, and it also shows the higher-dimensional wisdom of Seth that cannot be understood by ordinary human beings. The shining point is right here.
June 3, 1984: A Beautiful Afternoon
This session was on June 3, 1984, Sunday afternoon at 3:11.
At noon today, a nurse and a nurse's aide met me (Rob) at the door of Room 330 and told me they had spent half an hour trying to make Jane more comfortable. But when I arrived, Jane was still lying on her back. She was still taking aspirin and that medication, and these two drugs were beginning to affect her hearing. I noticed that over the past week she had again become hard of hearing, and I had to speak louder, turn up the TV volume, and so on. However, Jane ate well, and afterward she reread the previous four sessions. While I was answering some letters, I told her that Frank Longwell had visited this morning, and we agreed on the spot in the backyard where the red maple would be planted. Tomorrow afternoon Frank will go plant it, and bring that young fellow to pick up the grass -- the grass has already grown to about six inches long. It rained again last night and this morning.
Then Seth came through. He said: "Now I once again wish you a good afternoon." Seth first gave Ruburt a change of tone, and gave him a message: tell Ruburt not to delay the free association about his fears concerning his physical condition. That is, do not delay this free association about his fears regarding his physical condition, and discuss these points with you as openly as possible, without any reservations, in open discussion. This indeed also allows you to give him some comfort -- right in the course of your open discussion, it gives you the opportunity to express some comfort to him, which helps to alleviate your own guilt of "not being able to help him in any way."
Rob, you always feel that you did not help Jane when she was ill, that the pain and discomfort were all on Jane. At such times you have a slight sense of guilt and culpability. And in this process, when through free association, when she truly opens up and communicates with you, when you help her sort through and communicate her hidden beliefs of fear about the body, you are actually, to some degree, helping Jane. This process can reduce your sense of guilt and culpability, which is very meaningful. So he told Jane not to stop this free association -- free association about what? About those associations of fear concerning her own body. However, that feeling of "you cannot help Jane" should be expressed and released, and no longer dwelled upon.
Then he said, we now begin the second part of this book, called "Starting Over." The next chapter will be called "A New Beginning: Instructions, Suggestions, and Decisions, and When to Ignore These Instructions, Suggestions, and Decisions."
Reawakening the Beliefs of Childhood
Below is his content. He said, when we want to start over, the thoughts and beliefs we want to reawaken are those beliefs that were dominant in childhood. As he mentioned earlier, what were the beliefs of childhood? In childhood, we never considered questions about physical health; we also never had to worry about the future or tomorrow; we were always full of beautiful longings and expectations for the future -- we did not even consider it, we simply held great longing and expectation for the future in a simple-minded way.
That is to say, we need to reawaken those thoughts and beliefs that were dominant in childhood. They are innate to every living being -- remember, every living being -- innate beliefs on the psychic, spiritual, emotional, and biological levels, beliefs that all living beings have, innate from birth, on all levels of body, mind, and spirit. Beliefs can function on all levels, including the physical biological level.
Children all believe that there will not only be a tomorrow, but many tomorrows:
Children all believe that there will not only be a tomorrow, but many tomorrows. But they also believe that each tomorrow will be rewarding, and full of discovery.
"Rewarding" is not a very good translation here; it means that each tomorrow brings good returns to you, that everything is good, full of hope, and full of discovery. Children believe that every tomorrow is good, and that they have countless tomorrows, innumerable tomorrows.
They feel wrapped in an overall sense of safety.
Even when facing an uncomfortable environment or situation, they feel drawn toward other people and other living beings, and letting things be is their way of trusting their contact with others. They always have an overall sense of safety about the future, and they always consider themselves to be in a state of safety, protected and graced. Even in an uncomfortable environment -- physical discomfort, external environmental discomfort, interpersonal discomfort -- they still consider themselves to be within an overall sense of safety.
You might ask, how could a child have interpersonal discomfort? There is plenty of that. Parents scolding their children, or casually withdrawing their love from the child, are all like a bolt from the blue to the child. Adults may feel that they are only giving the child a small punishment, but from the child's perspective, this is not punishment -- this is the sky falling. Even so, the child still has an overall sense of safety about the future -- although he temporarily cannot feel his parents' love for him, he still holds a certain unwavering safety about the future.
They feel drawn toward other people and other living beings, and let things be. For example, when they see a caterpillar, they instinctively reach out to grab it and play with it; when they see a small animal, they instinctively approach it and like it; when they see any person, thing, or event, as long as they are drawn to it, they will approach it. They trust their contact with others -- they never have the thought of "is this person a kidnapper, will they abduct me, is this person a bad person, will they hurt me." In a child's mind, such beliefs never exist. They completely trust their contact with others.
They have an innate sense of self-satisfaction and self-appreciation, to explore and discover their abilities, and nature is on their side.
An innate sense of self-satisfaction and self-appreciation -- think about how long it has been since you last had this feeling. And it is an instinctive feeling: self-satisfaction, self-appreciation, to explore and discover their abilities, and nature will be good to them.
You see, this is the mentality of children, these beliefs of children. When a person wants to begin self-healing from an unhealthy state, the first thing he must do is to awaken his original, primitive, most instinctive beliefs from childhood about the future, about growth, about safety -- that is the first thing he should do.
And people nowadays rarely have this kind of self-satisfaction and self-appreciation, and it is innate, spontaneous, and instinctive -- it is already rare. If you want to recover, if you want to be healed, self-satisfaction and self-appreciation are absolutely necessary. Then you must trust that you are within a sense of safety in the protection and grace of the universe, that you will be well taken care of; and you must believe in and trust your contact with anyone, trust this spontaneous process of being drawn to others and contacting others. If you develop resistance in this relationship, in the relationship between people and society, if you are afraid of communication and contact with people, then this is very dangerous. Once your relationship or connection with people is severed, it becomes very dangerous -- if you do not trust contact and connection with others, then you have severed your connection with the original unity of nature.
Then there was a break, at 3:23. Because I kept coughing and sniffling, trying to sneeze, Jane called a halt. I told her I felt something in my throat, but I really did not know what was causing the attack.
Then Seth continued:
They expect relationships to be satisfying and lasting, and expect every event to have the best possible outcome. They enjoy communication, pursue knowledge, and are also full of curiosity.
This is about children. They expect every relationship to be satisfying and lasting, and they expect every event to have the best possible outcome. Children are the most willing to communicate with others, and they have no fear at all in communicating with strangers. They pursue knowledge and are also full of curiosity -- these are all the mentalities of children.
All of these attitudes provide the strength and mental health that promote their physical growth and development.
All of the attitudes mentioned above promote the strength and mental health of their physical growth and development. And if we want to return to a state of health, we must, like them, restore what was mentioned above.
To adults, no matter how simple these concepts may sound, they still carry within themselves the necessary power and impetus to fill all parts of life.
No matter how simple these concepts may sound, our inner selves still carry the necessary power and impetus to fill all parts of life. You may feel that you do not have this, or that these simple ideas he mentions do not hold true -- you feel that relationships between people are not necessarily good, that with some people relationships may be good, and with others they may not be; that the outcomes of events may be good or bad, and you do not believe that things always develop in the best direction. But these simplest beliefs, even if you no longer accept them, your inner self still thinks this way. Your inner self still thinks this way -- otherwise your life could not continue, would not be sufficient to continue.
The Opposite Assumptions of Adults
Later contradictory beliefs often stifle these earlier attitudes.
Once you grow up, some contradictory beliefs begin to stifle the earlier attitudes -- that is, these attitudes from your childhood, the beliefs that "all relationships are good, and all events have good outcomes," all begin to be stifled.
Therefore, when children grow into adults, they almost possess a set of opposite assumptions. They take these assumptions for granted: any tense situation will turn bad.
When he grows up, his views on this are completely opposite. Why? He says that things are not necessarily all good; there are good and bad; relationships between people are not necessarily all good; there are also bad ones. These assumptions are all taken for granted. Any tense situation will turn bad -- as long as tension appears in interpersonal relationships, the outcome will definitely be bad, so we avoid tension and try to be a nice person. Because in our cognition and presupposition, as long as tension appears between people, it will definitely lead to a bad outcome -- and this view itself is wrong. But because of this view, we are afraid of any tense relationship with others, which leads to many of our own thoughts not being expressed, because you feel that expressing them will lead to tension in the relationship.
Then we also have the view: communicating with people is dangerous. That is, "don't talk to strangers" -- there is a TV drama called Don't Talk to Strangers. We also educate children from a young age that communication between people is dangerous, that we should express ourselves as little as possible, speak as little as possible, and make ourselves aloof and reserved, because that is safer, and more attractive and charming. Self-fulfillment will bring about jealousy and revenge from others -- if you are too outstanding, others will be jealous and take revenge, so you should show weakness to others, pretend a little, disguise a little. And as individuals, they live in an unsafe society, and that society is built upon a natural world that is itself savage, cruel, at any cost, and only concerned with its own survival.
These are the beliefs of us adults. Let us compare them with the beliefs of our childhood -- they are almost a complete 180-degree reversal: in childhood we always believed that the world is good, benevolent, mutually supportive, and supportive of everyone; in childhood we believed that communication with anyone is normal and beneficial. But after we become adults, it is not so -- our range of communication becomes smaller and smaller, and we all put on masks when communicating. We believe that authentic expression is not good, and we believe that if tension appears between people, it will definitely lead to conflict and make the relationship worse. So in order to maintain a superficial, false, non-tense relationship, we suppress ourselves.
Your Body Lives on Joyful Expectation
Then he said, "Take a break, and we will continue." At 3:33, Rob came in to take Jane's blood pressure. The weather was cold and cloudy. At 3:42, they continued.
Your body is actually kept alive by a great deal of joyful expectation.
Everyone, you must underline this sentence. If you can copy it down, even better. Your body is actually kept alive by a great deal of joyful expectation -- this sentence is extremely critical. Why are you alive? It is because you are full of beautiful expectations for the future, with joyful expectation. If you lose this, you cannot go on living.
If you understand this one sentence, you will know why so many young people today, under the pressure of society and the affliction of mental illness, choose suicide. The reason is very simple: they cannot feel joy, and they cannot feel expectation. Without joyful expectation, they choose not to live. This is caused on the mental and psychological level, not the physical level -- physically they are healthier than anyone. But mental unhealthiness is the same; mental unhealthiness is more serious and more dangerous than physical unhealthiness. And some adults, indeed because of these beliefs, have brought about physical unhealthiness.
The fetus is propelled by the expectation of future growth and development.
How does the fetus grow? It is propelled by the expectation of future growth and development. The fetus wants to grow, to see what it will become when it grows up -- this is a beautiful expectation for the future, and it grows with this expectation.
To expect the worst circumstances to worsen, rather than improve, is bad enough.
We ordinary people not only secretly have a feeling -- that this situation will worsen, rather than improve -- which is already bad enough. What is even more absurd is that we also all believe that humanity will inevitably destroy itself, or that atomic bombs will destroy almost everything -- that destruction is inevitable. That is a bit too reckless, too absurd. Even today we still think this way. Think what? We think that humanity will ultimately destroy itself, that humanity will ultimately use atomic bombs to destroy the earth. Such an attitude of pessimism and despair about the future completely destroys your beautiful expectations for the future. You cannot possibly be full of joy and expectation for the future, and this causes great harm to your physical health -- this touches upon the collective subconscious of all humanity.
Many people no longer believe in life after death, and therefore many people are denied a psychic or physical future.
Because the fact he sees is that people will eventually grow old, so there is no future. If there is no life after death, then growing old is the end. So for him, the future is death. We should be full of expectation for the future, but when we think that some day in the future death will come, then he both looks forward to and fears the future, and spends his whole life in this kind of entanglement and tug-of-war. If you believe that after death your soul will still live forever, and will return in another body, then you will have no fear of death at all, and you will always be full of expectation for the future, even expecting that life after death will be just as wonderful. And this will actually make you live better. On the contrary, the more you fear death, the more you turn pale at the mention of death, the more you have this deep-seated fear, the more unhealthy your body will become, and the sooner you will greet death.
This deprives the body and the mind of the enthusiasm and purpose needed to enjoy any pursuit or activity.
You have been deprived. Your body and mind are meant to enjoy the enthusiasm and purpose needed for any pursuit or activity -- without this enthusiasm and purpose, your body and mind will not do anything. What kind of enthusiasm and purpose? It is the beautiful expectation for the future, with joyful expectation. This is the underlying driving force of the activities of his body and mind. If he does not believe that the future is joyful and full of hope, then he will not even take any action -- why do many patients with depression not act? Because they no longer have it.
Such beliefs make any human effort appear useless.
A person with such beliefs will no longer make any effort, and will completely give up. That is why you basically see patients with depression unable to get out of bed or move, because their enthusiasm and purpose are gone.
There are healthier and more beneficial ways of reacting to the dangers of nuclear energy, and we will discuss these points later in this book.
It is not as pessimistic as you think. For now I only want to suggest: all of these beliefs should be understood and discussed as soon as possible -- that is, again, if you want to start over, I will give you some suggestions, and this is one of them. All of these beliefs of yours must be understood and discussed anew, as soon as possible.
I hope to show that most naturally health-promoting beliefs can be applied to all mental, physical, or emotional illnesses or difficulties.
He said that this kind of naturally health-promoting belief -- that spontaneous, natural belief that can promote your health -- applies to all mental, physical, or emotional illnesses or difficulties. He gave you a guarantee, telling you that it applies to all situations. No matter how bad your current condition is, no matter how old you are, and no matter whether you are male or female, you really can start over, and from within yourself reawaken those earlier, more innocent expectations, feelings, and beliefs.
In fact, if you can imagine this endeavor in terms of children's play, rather than viewing it as an extremely serious adult pursuit, it would be much better.
Although he says this, I hope you do this with the mentality of a child at play, rather than with extreme seriousness, saying, "Hmm, from now on I will do such and such, I will seriously discipline myself, and as soon as any negative thought arises I will see it and correct it; I will strictly live according to that very innocent, very primitive mentality of childhood, full of beautiful expectation and joy for the future" -- and so on and so forth. This way can also work, it is not impossible, but a better way is to do it with a playful mentality, and not make it too serious. Because think about it: when you were a child, you never did this seriously or solemnly -- you often showed a carefree and indifferent attitude toward the future, but deep inside you held firm trust and belief in the future. If you can be like this now, that is the most effective; do not be too serious.
In other words, even for the most serious problems, we will gradually instill a more or less playful attitude.
Even for the most serious problems, no matter how serious the physical or mental problems are, we must gradually instill some playful attitude -- this is the key point, this is the trick, the secret, so to speak. If you cannot do this, if you feel that physical health is a big matter and must be strictly obeyed and carried out, and that even modifying or adjusting beliefs requires serious and solemn treatment -- if you think this way, then it is over.
Instructions and Suggestions Are to Be Ignored
This is also the title of this chapter. Again, if you want to start over, you must know what instructions, what hints, what suggestions there are. Once these instructions and suggestions have been awakened, you should ignore them, rather than constantly remembering them. This seemingly paradoxical point is the real secret and key that actually works and is effective. Many people have not succeeded precisely because they made a mistake on this point -- they constantly remember that they must live like children, constantly examine their own behavior, constantly supervise themselves and watch over themselves: "This behavior of mine is not right, this belief of mine has a problem again, I am not childlike enough, not innocent enough."
It is precisely because the concept of "play" itself -- it encourages imagination and creativity, and this is its key. If you are rigid, then there is no imagination and creativity, and you become a rigid, restrictive thing -- that is, I deliberately want to do certain things, deliberately want to maintain a certain state, deliberately want to achieve a certain belief. Your deliberateness is completely contrary to your childhood, and it will not have good results. You seem to have returned to a certain belief system that you consider correct, but you are applying it in a rigid, inflexible way without imagination and creativity -- he will talk about this later, that this approach does not work well.
So everyone must remember: treat life and death as child's play. Treating it as child's play means treating it as a game and playing with it. Even if you are in a very serious physical condition, if you really take it seriously, this proves that you have taken it as real, proves that the illness is very serious, and you truly believe it is very serious, so you must treat it seriously. But if you treat it with a joking attitude, a playful attitude, then the underlying belief is that this illness is not a big deal at all, and it will easily get better. So one reason many patients ultimately do not recover is this: on the surface they seem to accept what others say, but in reality they regard the illness as bigger than the sky, bigger than the mountain, bigger than anything, and they think about how to recover and heal from this illness every single moment, while completely ignoring that this is just a game.
Remember, mark this as important, mark this as important -- this is a key point. He again emphasizes this starting over.
Once again, because of the simultaneity of time, beliefs can be changed in the present moment.
Does the term "starting over" seem to imply a sequence in time? That is, you need to return to the beliefs of childhood, and then you begin self-healing and recovery, and the future, under the change of your beliefs, will get better and better. But at this point, what Seth wants to emphasize again is another viewpoint from a higher dimension of consciousness: your belief in the present moment will affect all the beliefs of your entire life, past and future. That is, if you change this one point in the present, it changes the past and also changes the future.
This is what he repeatedly emphasizes in the essence of his personal philosophy -- the present moment is the point of power, which means exactly the same thing. In other words, if your belief changes today, it means your childhood belief also changes, and it means the belief after your future recovery also changes. That is, a switch has occurred in your life: you have jumped from one kind of life to another kind of life, or switched into another kind of life; from one probable you, you have entered another probable you; from one probable life, you have entered another probable life.
Remember the simultaneity of time, so the change of your belief in this moment represents the change of belief at all points of your life.
There is no need to search laboriously into the past of this life or any life for the original cause of a belief.
Do not go looking for the source of this belief, saying, "Where did this belief of mine come from? What is the source of this belief that should not exist? Is it from this life? From my family of origin? Or from some karmic force from past lives?" There is no need. What is the use of looking for it? It is meaningless. Just change it now, isn't that enough? You do not have to go to the source to change it; if you change it now, it is changed. Changing it now is equivalent to changing it from the source, because time is simultaneous.
Making a certain change now will automatically and comprehensively -- so to speak -- change all beliefs.
You changed it now, so you changed all of it, automatically -- remember what he said, "will automatically and comprehensively change all of your beliefs." This very belief that you used to hold in a certain way, the same belief, once you change it now, then the same opposite belief at any historical period of your life, at any age, at any point in time, has already been corrected by you -- it is not that you only changed the present; you have changed the past and the future.
But do not overemphasize the result. Do not have too many expectations about the result, do not have too many presuppositions about the result; just change your present belief. But it is important to give yourself some leeway. Remember, do not say rigidly, "Then why hasn't it gotten better now that I've changed? I've already changed my belief, I've already done a great deal of work, dug out the belief and then changed the belief, why hasn't there been any change? My life hasn't changed, and my body hasn't changed either" -- this kind of mindset is not good. This kind of mindset will make you very tense and serious, and it is not conducive to your body's recovery.
You are only responsible for changing the belief; you do not need to worry about the result. You must remember what I say: you are only responsible for changing the belief, you do not need to concern yourself with the result. If you put all your emphasis on the result, and do not pay attention to the change in your present belief, then that result will not happen the way you imagine it will -- it is not that the more you focus on the result, the more the result will come; the psychological laws do not work that way. Many people say, "Isn't it true that beliefs create reality? Then if my belief is focused there, I will create it" -- no, you have it backwards. You are too attached to the result. Everyone tells you that you cannot be attached to the result, just as the Tao Te Ching1 says, "By doing nothing, nothing is left undone." Once you have deliberate action, the result is actually worse; only by truly doing nothing can it work.
Within the usual concepts of time, and within your experience of it, you must give yourself some time to change that habitual behavior.
What does this mean? Our beliefs operate automatically, and at the bottom layer -- for example, the concept of time is a very core belief at our bottom layer -- often without any deliberation. So when you go to change it, you have to give yourself some time for these changes to happen. Although from a higher-dimensional perspective no time is needed, and you can switch directly, why is time needed? Because you think time is needed, not because it needs time. The change itself does not need time -- it is because of your inherent belief about time, because you believe time truly exists, and that change also needs time in order to change. Even if it gets better, it has to get better little by little; it cannot just snap into being better all at once -- within your cognition and worldview, that is simply not realistic, and you yourself do not believe it. So you will deliberately create some process and experience of recovery over time.
But you must remember how this comes about: it is a habitual behavior automatically brought about by your underlying belief about time. Because there is such a habitual behavior, you must allow yourself to leave some time in the three-dimensional world. Remember this logic -- it is not that recovery needs time, nor that healing and recuperation need time; it is that you believe it needs time, so it really does need time. If your belief has changed, and you have fully accepted that this world has simultaneity, and there is no such thing as past, future, and present, then you are not affected by this, and your change really is instantaneous.
Why is it that many people, after studying the Seth material and after this kind of elevation of belief and consciousness, change very, very quickly and rapidly? It is very simple -- because they do not have this limitation, they do not think time is needed, so they can change quickly. And however stubbornly you believe that a certain amount of time is needed, then just as you wish, that amount of time really will be needed.
What Seth means in this passage is this: we normal people generally do not have the belief that "time is simultaneous." We normal people, from childhood through these several decades, have believed that time is something truly existing and eternally unchanging. So if you hold this kind of underlying belief, then you must leave yourself some time -- and this time is in quotation marks.
If you do this, you will find yourself responding as easily and automatically to the desires you want as to the beliefs you do not want.
In other words, the illness in your body is something you do not want, but it is also an automatic response; the health you want is something you do want, and it will also respond automatically. It is enough that you understand this principle.
If you do this, however, keep in mind the concept of childhood games, which will allow you to keep the whole matter suspended.
You must make this kind of adjustment through belief -- maintain the belief of a childlike mindset, and then allow yourself to recover -- you must maintain a childlike attitude of play. Only in this way can the matter remain "suspended." What "suspended" means is a beautiful expectation of the future, rather than telling yourself with certainty, "My future requires recovery, I need a period of time, and so on and so forth." Children do not think about this problem. Children know that growing up takes time, and they also look forward to seeing themselves grow up, but children basically never feel anxious -- although occasionally they may ask, "When will I grow up?" they never truly feel anxious about it. They are simply full of expectation for it, but they are not anxious. This mindset is the childlike attitude of play, and you should also hold this mindset toward the recovery of your illness -- just let it hang there: you believe it will certainly recover, that is beyond doubt; but as to exactly when it will recover, there is no presupposition, and no restrictive conditions are added. Only in this way can the matter take effect and work.
Long before they grow into adulthood, children will play at being adults. Therefore, while you are still growing into that more powerful picture, you can at the same time play with the more important beliefs, the smaller beliefs.
Before children grow up, they begin to play at being adults, playing house -- "I'll be the daddy, you be the mommy," and so on. So what he means is that before you have recovered, you can at the same time begin to play with that more desired state of recovery, with that belief. Can you understand what he means? It is what I said earlier: children have no doubt whatsoever that they will grow up in the future, but they also never struggle with it, never ask every day, "Which day will I grow up?" They just grow up without even noticing it. The recovery of your body is the same.
What he means is this: the reason your body became the unhealthy state you do not like now happened very easily and naturally; and your body's desire to return to a healthy state will also happen easily and naturally. In this process, do not be too rigid; you must carry an attitude of play -- he emphasizes this repeatedly, and I hope everyone pays attention. This is also the title of this chapter: when you start over, besides giving yourself such a suggestion, a decision, a hint, what is even more important is that you must learn to ignore them, to forget them -- this is the secret within secrets; otherwise the effect will not be obvious.
This session's dictation ends here. Seth said, "Once again, I have accelerated those coordinates that lead to peace of mind and body, and that promote the healing process, and I wish you both a fine evening." Then Seth said good afternoon, and the session ended at 4:19.
This session is very interesting and very central, but for anyone who wants to begin healing themselves, or to allow the self to recover, they must listen to this session repeatedly and seriously; otherwise, many times you will do the work, but the effect will not be obvious.
Spontaneity and Health
Let us look at the next session. June 4, 1984, Monday afternoon at 3:19.
Seth began by saying, "Now once again I wish you a good afternoon," with no small talk. Then he said, "We will continue with the dictation of this book." So Seth was also seizing every moment to present the remaining parts of this book.
One of the issues I want to discuss in depth is the relationship between spontaneity and health and illness.
This is the issue to be discussed -- the relationship between spontaneity and health and illness; this is the focus of this session.
Your physical existence itself depends upon the smooth functioning of many spontaneous processes.
We all know this: the reason you are alive is that countless spontaneous processes are operating behind the scenes; otherwise you would have died long ago. Your thoughts are spontaneous; your ideas come spontaneously; your breathing and movement are spontaneous, and you cannot control them; your heartbeat is even more spontaneous.
All guided by largely unconscious activity -- at least from the standpoint of what you usually think of as the conscious mind.
All of these are guided by that kind of unconscious activity; all of it is spontaneous.
Your body constantly repairs itself, and your mind thinks, all without normal conscious attention.
When your body repairs itself, you do not know it; when your mind thinks, you do not know it either -- it escapes your consciousness. You do not know how it thinks, and you do not know how it repairs itself; all of this is entirely spontaneous.
In other words, spontaneity is the source of your life, not your conscious control. What is even more important than conscious control is that spontaneity. Without spontaneity, there would be no living you -- your life was born under the impetus of spontaneity. And yet now you do not trust your spontaneity, which is very laughable and childish.
This also applies to all of those inner processes that make life possible.
Inner processes are the inner workings of your life; whether in body, mind, or spirit, it is spontaneity that is operating in every aspect.
Your thoughts are conscious, but the process of thinking itself is not.
Your thoughts are conscious, but how you think seems to be unconscious. In other words, you do not know how you think, but you know that you are thinking -- this is very interesting, very strange.
In children's behavior, and in the natural rhythmic activity of their bodies, spontaneity is especially important.
Children's bodily movement is very often spontaneous, moving about, rhythmic. For example, a very small child, upon hearing music, will automatically sway to the rhythm -- none of this requires a dance class or the guidance of a dance teacher; it is automatic. In other words, human dance is automatic and spontaneous, and only later did it become a specialized art form.
Emotions also seem to come and go in a spontaneous fashion.
Your emotions and feelings are the same. For example, when you fall in love with someone, you do not know how it happened; spontaneity just occurred. [In The Peony Pavilion, I have said repeatedly, "Love, once begun, no one knows from where it springs, yet it grows ever deeper"2] -- it just came without knowing how. Emotions are the same; they come and go, all spontaneously, and that is indeed true.
It seems that there are certain spontaneous portions of the personality that are far more knowledgeable than the conscious portion of which we are so justifiably proud.
This statement is very profound, but in plain words: those unconscious portions, those spontaneous portions, are smarter and wiser than the conscious portion that you are so very proud of. You think your IQ, your cleverness, your intellect are the smartest of all -- wrong. Your spontaneity is smarter than you; those unconscious spontaneous parts are far smarter and wiser than the conscious part that you are so smug about.
However, many people are afraid of spontaneity, and that is their problem. Many people become afraid the moment spontaneity is mentioned -- "How can spontaneity be acceptable? We cannot let it be spontaneous." It evokes licentiousness, excess, and dangerous freedom -- the moment they think of spontaneity, they think of these things: licentiousness, excess, dangerous freedom.
Even those who oppose spontaneity less fervently often feel that it is somehow not quite proper, somehow highly suspect, perhaps leading to disgraceful behavior.
There are some people who are not so averse to spontaneity, but they still do not dare to be truly spontaneous. They feel that spontaneity may bring about very shameful behavior. For example, for a man, when he sees a beautiful woman he wants to get close to her, but he often suppresses himself -- "No, this is too embarrassing; this would turn me into a lecher. How could I do this? I must restrain myself." He imagines that this spontaneity will certainly bring about some bad results, making his behavior no longer respectable; he considers it a disgraceful act.
But --
Spontaneity represents the spirit of life itself, and it is the will to live, the basis for the impulses that activate behavior, motion, and discovery.
This statement is extremely apt. Although you do not trust spontaneity, although you fear spontaneity, although you have attached many moral labels, judgments of good and evil, right and wrong, and many social attributes to it -- once again I emphasize -- no matter how you define it from sociology, morality, or ethics, from the perspective of life itself, from the development of humanity, from the existence of all things and the universe, spontaneity is the very spirit of your life.
Do you remember? If your life has a spirit, it is this spontaneity. This spontaneity is your spirit; it is the inherent attribute of your life. The attribute of your life is spontaneity. And it is the will to live -- without this spontaneity, even the will to live is gone. Why do many of our children choose to end their lives? Because they no longer have spontaneity: all of their spontaneity has been suppressed by parents, schools, and society. When they lose all spontaneity, they no longer have the will to live.
And it activates behavior -- it allows your behavior to arise, allows your movement to arise, and the foundation of the impulse that drives you to be full of curiosity, to discover and explore the world behind all this, is this spontaneity. That is to say, without spontaneity, there would be no universe and no world of ours, and even less our lives. Whether at the molecular or atomic level, in the microscopic world, or in the macroscopic world, one of the most fundamental laws governing the operation of all things in this world is spontaneity. And spontaneity is also one of the important laws among the eleven fundamental laws of the universe.
I hope everyone can view this spontaneity correctly -- it is a fundamental law of the universe.
Spontaneity: The Most Fundamental Attribute of the Universe
Spontaneity is a fundamental attribute of all reality -- not just of our three-dimensional reality, but a fundamental attribute within all realities, all dimensions, all spaces. There are eleven attributes in total, and spontaneity is one of the most critical among the first several.
If you still do not believe in this spontaneity, then what do you believe in? You are fighting against the principles of the entire universe, against the laws of the entire universe, and then you can only isolate yourself from this universe. If you do not trust your own spontaneity, then you can only cut yourself off from the universe, or live in this universe feeling very awkward, very stifled, very uncomfortable, very painful, very miserable. It is that simple.
Because the entire universe was formed under the drive of spontaneity, and your life too was generated under the drive of spontaneity, yet you deny it. You do not accept it, and you even label it with those filthy labels, lowly labels, barbaric labels, bestial labels -- then you are fighting against the entire universe.
In the truest terms, your life is provided to you by those spontaneous processes.
Your life is provided by these spontaneous processes. Spontaneous breathing, spontaneous heartbeat, spontaneous self-repair, spontaneous circulation, blood cells, manufacturing, the management of the body -- all of this is spontaneous. Your life is produced by this series of spontaneous processes, yet you deny spontaneity.
Humanity Once Was United with Its Own Unconscious
In previous books we have mentioned that the human personality once educated itself toward unity. Our personality was once one with itself; it attended more equally to unconscious and conscious experience, and it could handle both sides in a balanced way. In that historical period, human beings were relatively balanced in dealing with the unconscious and conscious parts of themselves. People had awareness of the unconscious, unlike us modern people who completely ignore the unconscious and can no longer perceive it. Spontaneity is one expression of the unconscious, and we modern people basically pay very little attention to this part.
It is only because civilized people have somewhat overemphasized using one kind of knowledge to surpass another that people have become afraid of their own unconscious, spontaneous parts. We modern people believe that knowledge should constantly iterate and evolve, that knowledge always goes from less intelligent to more intelligent, from less wise to wiser, from simple to complex -- the more complex, the better we can understand the world. We believe that the complexity of knowledge, or the advancement of knowledge, represents human progress. We are always eager to use new knowledge to replace old knowledge.
And the unconscious part lies at the very bottom of all this increasingly complex knowledge. If we are eager to replace old knowledge with new knowledge, then all the more so this unconscious state without knowledge, even without consciousness, should be replaced. We are all ashamed to mention our own unconscious state. The moment we mention that we still have an unconscious state, it seems like a very shameful act -- I should be conscious, logical, rational, so how did I become unconscious? Therefore, human beings do not accept their own unconscious state, and they fear this unconscious spontaneity even more.
And this point is actually what Laozi kept talking about in the Tao Te Ching1.
The entire Tao Te Ching, whether it is 2,000 characters or 5,000 characters, says many, many, many truths. If it were condensed into one sentence, if one sentence could represent it, then the whole text is talking about one thing -- spontaneity.
The entire Tao Te Ching1 by Laozi wants to tell you one thing: spontaneity is the very source of this world itself, it is the Dao. Just stay together with spontaneity, do not add any artificial intervention or contrivance, and you are together with the Dao. Spontaneity is this Dao.
Of course, he also elaborated on several other fundamental laws of the universe. But what he mainly wanted to elaborate on, among the eleven laws of the universe, the one that the Tao Te Ching1 mainly wanted to elaborate on is that one -- spontaneity. Because it is closely related to our human growth and social development. There are many other fundamental laws of the universe that Laozi's Tao Te Ching1 did not intend to emphasize.
So now you understand why Laozi wanted you to do nothing and yet nothing is left undone. Because non-action is spontaneity at work. Non-action does not mean doing nothing; it means letting spontaneity operate.
Fear itself blocks more unconscious knowledge. Because one fears one's own unconscious, and what truly exists within the unconscious is wisdom. Wisdom is all in the unconscious. What is conscious is called knowledge, called reasoning, called your brain -- that is not wisdom. True wisdom is in your heart, the heart that Chinese people speak of, not the physical heart, but that heart -- the unconscious part is all in there -- that is the wisest.
When People No Longer Trust Spontaneity, They Separate from the Body
Since the spontaneous parts are so connected with bodily activity, they are very important in promoting good health. Since they are so important, they are also very important in the recovery of health. And when people feel separated from their spontaneous selves, to that same degree they also feel that their bodies are separated from themselves.
Just as in the process of human evolution, during the evolution of consciousness and civilization there was a period when human beings trusted their own spontaneity, and at that time we were one with ourselves. But later, when we stopped trusting our own spontaneity, we separated from our bodies.
Therefore, many spiritual practices, meditations, and exercises begin with the body. Because your body itself, setting aside your brain -- if you set aside your brain and logical thinking from your body, or suppress them through meditation and other methods -- your body itself is unified. Remember this sentence I am saying.
Although your body is dualistic, it has a self, an outer self, and a separation between itself and the environment. But the separation between you and the environment is at the same time a unity, an integral oneness. This unity and oneness exist simultaneously. And the body's awareness can perceive this.
Let me put it more plainly so you can understand: when you simply do not use your brain, you know that your body belongs to you, or you could say you and your body are together. At the same time, your body is merged with all things in the world, with your environment. Without this environment there would be no body of yours, and without your body there would be no environment. They exist in this mutually dependent way. And this oneness, at the level of the body, after setting aside the brain's analysis and thinking, can be automatically perceived.
That is, many practitioners, when they fully connect with the body, reach that state of oneness with all things. From the body, this is the last place where you can feel oneness with all things, although it is oneness felt under the condition of dualistic opposition. Because without dualistic opposition, the concept of oneness would not exist. Only when you are separated does oneness exist, does the concept of union exist. And your body seems to be separate from the surrounding environment, from this universe, but in essence it is one with it, and your pure bodily consciousness can feel the existence of this oneness.
But your brain and logical thinking -- in other words, the moment your small self appears, the moment your ego appears, the moment this ego emerges -- you cannot truly realize this oneness. Because you will use many concepts and terms to think about problems; you are no longer feeling this world with your body, you are feeling this world with your brain. In other words, the body's feelings are translated by you into the brain's understanding and logical thinking.
When you love someone, you are not loving that person with your body. It is not because of your body's pleasure and bodily sensations; you are loving that person with your brain -- you tell yourself I must love him, because we are husband and wife, we are lovers, because we have feelings, emotions, and love, therefore I love him. None of this is wrong, but you are precisely ignoring the most important point: does your body still love him? Does his body still love you?
You ignore the body's most fundamental connection. And the so-called Zen practice, the so-called practices within Esoteric Buddhism, are simply using the method of uniting with your body to bring you into that state -- that is, no longer using the brain to love this world, to love your surrounding environment, to love the people around you. Stop loving with the brain; love with your body. Your body is more unified than you are.
This is also what we emphasize in the first session of every round in the Teacher's Inner Course: how to relax, how to trust your body. When you can believe in your body, believe in the body's spontaneity, then you can relax. If you cannot believe in your body's spontaneity, then you cannot relax. Your body is always tense, with the brain constantly intervening and supervising, like a parent -- hey, what does your body want to do? Your body wants to get close to him, that is not okay, that violates morality, that is improper contact between men and women. When you want to do something, no, that will make you gain weight, that is bad for your health. When your body wants to sleep in, no, you have to get up and work. I will not give more examples -- the point is that you no longer trust spontaneity, you no longer believe in your own body.
The Kind of People Who Fear Freedom and Want Control
These people become afraid of freedom -- afraid of choice and change itself. They fear freedom, fear choice, fear change. They prefer those rigid, conventional things. They desperately want to control themselves and their environment; their desire for control is extremely strong. Controlling themselves, controlling the environment, controlling the people around them -- because their desire for control is extremely strong, because they fear change, they want to maintain an unchanging state.
They fight against a great mass of rampant, spontaneous, primitive impulses that seem to come from within, against a mindless, chaotic, ancient force of nature.
Every day he has to struggle against these things. In his world there is always an evil little person proposing evil ideas, and always a righteous little person fighting against him. Day after day he is caught in this tug-of-war and this process, and he suppresses all spontaneity, all primitive impulses. And yet those primitive impulses and spontaneity are so surging and rampant -- he uses the word "rampant"; those who have experienced it know what I am talking about. This primitive, source-level inner impulse, he can even suppress it. Think about it: how could his body not develop problems?
I just want to ask you one thing: is your physical health more important, or is morality more important? Many people say, no, morality is more important. I live in this world and I want to leave behind a good reputation, a good name. I must be responsible for my reputation, I must be responsible for morality. But you alone can choose not to be responsible for your body. You can suppress your body to a strange or severe degree and not care at all, just to maintain those seemingly pitiful, utterly meaningless so-called social reputation and morality.
Those are the least valuable things. Your body is the most precious. It is your body that brings you the feeling of life, the feeling of being alive, brings you joy, brings you happiness. If the body is gone, what meaning is there in keeping a good name, a title? You are a great philanthropist, you are a moral model, you are a model citizen, you are a virtuous wife and good mother -- so what? But how many years, how many thousands of years of traditional cultural education have taught us the opposite -- to be willing to die for those things. Life no longer matters in the face of them, while those intangible things, those artificially named things acquired after birth, become more important than life itself.
Is there anything in this world more important than life? No. Do not let anyone incite you into believing that this is more important than life, that that is more important than life. It seems as if everything is more important than life, as if life is the least important thing. Then let me tell you: from now on, no matter who tries to brainwash you or manipulate you, saying this is more important than life, that is more important than life, do not believe it anymore. For you, if you do not respect your own life, if you think life is unimportant and believe there is something more important than life, then you are living completely backwards.
You might say, that is not right -- countless people have thrown away their lives for ideals, countless people have been willing to sacrifice their lives for their beliefs and pursuits. We respect others' choices; we do not judge. But for each individual, I hope you can truly cherish your own life. Only on the premise of having life do your persistence, your beliefs, and your ideals have meaning. On the premise of having lost your life, everything you insisted on loses its meaning from the moment you die -- for you it loses meaning; for others it may still have meaning.
Then you might say, it is good if it has meaning for others. Are you living for yourself or for others? You live one lifetime, from the first day you are born to the last day you leave this world, and you should spend every day living for yourself. You should not waste a single minute or second on others. Unless being for others brings you pleasure, joy, happiness, delight -- that is fine, because you are doing it to please yourself, to delight yourself. If not, do not do it.
Here we emphasize again that you must take good care of your own life. You might say, we are all spiritual people, is not life just an insignificant thing? Just die and switch to another one, switch another skin, another set of clothes -- why emphasize it so much? This thing is not important.
The problem is not that. It is not about whether your life can be replaced at any time, whether your body is like a skin, like a vehicle that can be swapped at any time. It is about your attitude toward your life. If your attitude is like this, then even if you are given another life, you will be the same -- you will never be able to live in this present moment, in this real life. You are living for the future, you are living for the good reputation accumulated in the past, you are living for the past trajectory of your life, and you are also living for the possible future trajectory of your life. Yet you are precisely not living in this present point -- the points that draw the trajectory.
Those trajectories cannot represent you at all. The past trajectory is already dead, already accumulated by you. Yesterday's you is already dead to today's you; the you of the previous second is already dead to the you of the next second. They cannot represent you. Just remember this point. We will expand on this separately later; I will not go further here. Here we just need to remember the characteristics of this kind of person.
Compulsive Behavior and the Desire for Control
In the physical world, this kind of behavior often leads to compulsive actions, stereotyped mental and physical activity, rigid, heavily repressive, and other conditions. Here almost all expression becomes taboo -- nothing can be expressed, no random speaking, no random movement. The conscious mind must control all behavior as much as possible.
Such a person feels that only rigid logical thinking is strong enough to suppress the power of such intense impulses. Because he fears this spontaneity, fears those primitive impulses, he relies on external rigid, inflexible rules, precepts, and regulations to control himself.
This phenomenon is very common.
These attitudes may be reflected in fairly simple compulsive behaviors, such as the woman who endlessly cleans her house whether it needs it or not, the man who follows a precise, fixed life route, such as driving to work the same fixed route every day, the person who washes his hands far more often than others, the person who constantly buttons and unbuttons his shirt or vest, then buttons it again.
Many such simple behaviors show a stereotyped behavior -- that is, rigid behavior -- resulting from an extreme need to gain control over oneself and the environment. These people always want to control something. When you see such people in your life, you will know: a woman who excessively cleans the house -- what is that? It is wanting control, not believing in spontaneity, and her body will definitely develop problems. A woman with an obsessive need for cleanliness is often a woman with physical problems. You can ask her where her body has gone wrong. The cleanliness of the environment cannot bring health to her body and mind. I am talking about those with excessive cleanliness obsessions; normal cleaning is necessary, but excessive cleanliness obsession is like this. Some women have nothing to do at home and clean the house several times a day, spotless and meticulous. I will not give more examples; everyone understands.
(We took a break. At 5:52 Jane drank coffee and smoked a cigarette. The weather had become cloudy. I told her I hoped Frank Longwell would plant the red maple trees at our house, and that the young man from the school was picking up grass. New content was to begin at 4 o'clock.)
Then he continued:
Any excessive behavior may come in, including excessive smoking, excessive drinking, excessive eating...
The behaviors he mentioned above are only mild -- like constant hand-washing, which is wanting control, cleaning the house, and so on. What do severe cases become? Excessive smoking, excessive drinking, excessive eating, binge eating, smoking and drinking. You see, the more he originally wanted control, the more it backfires. You might say, are not these binge eaters people who no longer want control? No. They develop these compensatory behaviors precisely because they want control. Because they have controlled too much in other matters, they often use this retaliatory behavior to balance out what has been suppressed and controlled in them.
Beneath the Suppressed Impulses Is Love
Some people may find it hard to believe that spontaneity should be trusted. Many people do not think so. Because they may only be aware of feelings of destructiveness and violent conflict, and they think spontaneity is the cause of destructiveness and violent conflict. The concept of spontaneously expressing impulses would, in that case, be most terrifying.
In fact:
The people involved are repressing impulses that are not violent, but natural, affectionate impulses.
In fact, the impulses that the people involved are repressing, rather than violent ones, are natural, affectionate impulses. They fear the expression of love and the need for dependence, believing these will only bring them blame and punishment. So they hide their longings, and the destructive impulses actually help protect them from making the expressions of love they have somehow learned to fear.
Here, the underlying layer is still love. That is, what is being repressed is not violent impulses but natural, affectionate impulses. A very normal behavior in everyday life. But in life, what do we often do? We often act with repressed impulses -- are there impulses? Yes, there are, but they are repressed, natural, affectionate impulses. You might say, is that not correct? It is not correct. Remember, it is not correct.
The impulses being repressed, rather than violent ones, are natural, affectionate impulses. The underlying layer is affectionate and natural, but what is expressed is repressed rather than violent. Because they think violence has nothing to do with love; they think violence means not loving. What they do not know is that the underlying layer of all your behaviors is love, including some spontaneous impulses, including some behaviors you consider violent.
They fear the expression of love and the need for dependence. They fear expressing love, they fear letting others see that they need love. They need love, depend on love, lack love, but they dare not express it; they act as if they are very capable and need nothing. They believe that this expression of love and dependence will only bring them blame and punishment.
From childhood, parents told them, whether boy or girl, if you express yourself like that, saying "I need love, I want to be loved," then sooner or later you will suffer. Either you will be bullied by a bad man or dumped by a bad woman. You should not express yourself so truthfully; even if you need it, you must maintain your reserve and restraint.
So these people hide their longings, and the destructive impulses actually help protect them. So these destructive impulses protect them from making the expressions of love they have somehow learned to fear. They use repressed rather than violent conflict to express love.
Can you understand what he means? That is, he will not truly express love; instead he expresses it through an impulsive manner, or through nonviolent conflict. For example, in many healthy relationships or intimate relationships, people clearly could speak nicely but refuse to; they insist on saying stimulating, unpleasant things to the other person. Do you say he does not love the other person? No, he loves the other person very much, but he insists on provoking the other person in this way. He uses this method to express the true love beneath.
Why? Because he feels that if he were to say to the other person, "I love you, I cannot leave you, I cannot bear to part with you, I need you to stay with me," he feels that expressing this way is a sign of weakness, a sign of being the weaker party, and it will bring bad results, punishment, and blame. So he uses another kind of repressed impulse to express love. Very interesting. Therefore, normal adult romantic relationships are basically expressed under repressed impulses; people never dare to truly express their real thoughts.
Seth gives this example here to tell us that most behaviors are like this -- people dare not truly express themselves, and they feel that the concept of spontaneously expressing impulses is very terrifying.
Science and Spontaneity
The following passage explains the above passage:
Science itself, though so precise in some areas, often considers instinctive, impulsive, chaotic, destructive activities as one and the same.
Science seems to value precision, and toward these imprecise things, this impulsive chaos, it considers them destructive. These are two different things -- chaos does not mean destruction, and impulse has nothing to do with destruction. But science believes that as long as something does not follow rules, as long as it is not within our control, it must be destructive. This has nothing to do with destruction.
Nature and man's inner nature are both seen as containing savage, destructive forces.
We all believe that our inner nature contains savage and destructive forces. We do not believe in ourselves; we feel that within us there is a destructive force, something beast-like hidden there. As long as it is not restricted, people will show their bestial and savage side. Civilization and reason must firmly contend against it. We must use civilization, reason, law, and morality to restrain it; otherwise the savage forces within you will burst out.
I do not know how such an erroneous belief was formed, but people have always accepted it. Most of our current readers, in your hearts, accept this view -- they believe that their inner impulses are safe, reliable, and trustworthy, and should be accepted and encouraged. They all feel that no, if inner impulses were all released it would be too dangerous, they would definitely destroy. Not necessarily destroy the world, but perhaps destroy your relationships, destroy the atmosphere, destroy the development of your life -- you think it is all destructive.
Science itself often exhibits compulsive and ritualistic behavior.
Science is compulsive and ritualistic. It always sets a premise in front that cannot be changed or broken.
It carefully arranges the paths of its own reasoning so that they include safe areas, while steadfastly ignoring the great spontaneous forces that make science, or any other discipline, possible.
Here it says that science is very compulsive and ritualistic in its behavior. You might say, how can that be? It is like this. All science is built upon what? Built upon axioms. Whether mathematics or physics, axioms exist. And these axioms are merely imposed by people. You say, an axiom is an axiom, a truth recognized by the whole world, self-evident -- yes, but how many scientists have later proven through mathematical reasoning that these axioms are not axioms at all, that they are simply artificially set by you. On this topic, we will discuss it separately later when we talk about quantum mechanics.
Everything you think exists in science has a premise, which is the axiom. This axiom must be accepted. Mathematics has only six axioms3, including geometry -- these axioms seem to be axioms, but in fact none of them withstand scrutiny.
And yet real science could go and study those uncertain things. Science today tiptoes carefully around all those great things it considers uncertain and spontaneous. But those are the things that are truly meaningful and truly great. And science carefully tiptoes around them, using its reasoning and logic to ignore everything that does not fit logic, that does not fit reasoning, and it thinks science should not study those things. Science should study these certain, solid things. These uncertain, intangible things, the things that cannot be reasoned out, cannot be proven, cannot be seen by the eyes, cannot be verified in the laboratory, are all considered unscientific and not worth studying.
How absurd and somewhat laughable. This world was originally uncertain, this world was originally unreal, this world was originally uncertain. Yet you say you want to study what is certain. If you put it that way, then the direction of scientific research is fundamentally wrong from the start, because it is studying something that does not exist at all, namely a so-called certain universe.
A Remark by Tesla and the Predicament of Science
Tesla, that most famous, godlike figure, the inventor of the alternating current motor and so on and so forth, once said something especially classic:
If human scientists began to study those uncertain things, in only ten years the achievements of human science and technology would surpass all the achievements of the past several hundred years combined.
Those are Tesla's original words.
We are now standing at this point in historical time. With the popularization of quantum mechanics and the acceptance of quantum physics, people have finally come to realize that those so-called uncertain things are the true face of this world. Science seems to have gone in the wrong direction. Although we have arrived at such a conclusion through studying science, if science is truly science, it should have the courage to admit this reality and face this reality, rather than using some absurd excuse to explain it away, saying that on the macro level these theories are all correct, that Newtonian mechanics, Einstein's theory of relativity, and these non-quantum theories all hold in the macro realm, or in a microworld that is not so small, because the influence of those microscopic parameters on the macro level can be ignored. So they say we will still teach these outdated, wrong things, because they think what matters is that they are practical.
On this point science is truly slapping its own face. To put it bluntly, it really is slapping its own face. It wants to be both a prostitute and put up a memorial arch. It wants to flaunt its own correctness, yet it uses a wrong idea to explain this world, and even tells everyone that from the macro perspective it is correct.
What do you mean by the macro perspective? It means the observable perspective is correct. They clearly know what is right, yet they do not teach it to students, do not teach it to humanity, and instead use these methods that everyone calls effective on the macro level, thinking that these are the right ones. Then how is human civilization supposed to develop? In other words, what difference is there between this and the view people held thousands of years ago or hundreds of years ago, that the earth is flat, that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, and that the sun revolves around the earth?
Were those not objectively existing? Were those not observed by human beings? Were they not proven through experiments? Every morning the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. What a real objective fact that is. Does it even need proof? Then this fact proves that the sun revolves around the earth, so what is wrong with it?
But now you say all those are pseudoscience. You say the earth revolves around the sun, and the sun revolves around the Milky Way, because you discovered this later through instruments. But before it was discovered, why did you not accept that the earth is flat and that the sun still moves from east to west around the earth? Why did you correct it? It does not match the facts we observe. We do not see the earth revolving around the sun. What we see is the sun revolving around the earth. Why do you not teach everyone that? That is also a macro-level fact. And on this point you want to correct it.
But when it comes to the true face of this world, when quantum mechanics is the true face of this world, you say there is no need to talk about it, no need to talk about it, because it only operates in the microworld. This is not a question of what world it operates in. This is a question of scientific attitude, a viewpoint, a stance, a question of how you come to know this world. This is a question of worldview, namely whether this world is subjective or objective, whether this world is real or uncertain. On such a core question, you do not even dare to face it.
Is it just because they are still effective in the macro world? Well, as in the example I just gave, there are plenty of things that are effective in the macro world, so why do you not accept any of them? Why is it that as soon as it touches quantum, it does not work? "It just does not work. This thing is only effective on the micro level, so let us not pay attention to it. We only need to pay attention to what is effective on the macro level."
Is your macro world not made up of the microworld? Is the underlying layer not made up of the microworld? If at the quantum level, in the microworld, everything is subjective rather than objective, then how can you tell me that this macro world, composed of microscopic quanta, is objective rather than subjective? If its foundation is subjective, how could its superstructure possibly be objective?
You say its subjectivity can be ignored, that according to the various quantum equations, wave function theory, and so on, that uncertainty can be ignored. Only at the quantum level can this uncertainty manifest. In the macro realm it is theoretically also uncertain, but this uncertainty only accounts for 10 to the negative 39th power4, so this uncertainty can be ignored. That is to say, whether this building is here or not, the probability that it is here is 10 to the 39th power greater than the probability that it is not here, meaning it is trillions upon trillions of times more likely that it exists here, so the probability that it does not exist is infinitesimal and can be ignored.
The problem is not how high the probability of its existence is, or whether it can be ignored. Even if there is only a probability of 10 to the negative 100th power that it could not be here, you should tell people that this is the truth of the world. Whether this building, and all the matter you believe exists here, is actually here, there is always a very, very low probability that it is not here. Where is it then? No one knows. That is the true face of this world, the truth of this world, the origin of this world. Why not tell everyone? Again, you cannot simply stop talking about it just because the probability is low. Right? If science claims to be rigorous, then no matter how low the probability, it should still tell everyone.
The key point is that this is not a question of probability, not a question of how much. It is a question of worldview in how one understands this world, which is exactly what I said just now: whether this world is subjective or objective. Why do you not dare to tell everyone? Because if everyone had a universal concept of quantum mechanics, or a concept of quantum physics, it would overturn all of humanity's understanding of civilization built over the past several thousand years. All the knowledge we human beings have gained, all the wisdom we have gained, all these achievements would be completely overturned and shattered.
It is as if humanity, through the so-called logic and reasoning and so-called wisdom it has painstakingly derived, has built a false, luxurious, exquisite edifice of science. Its foundation does not exist at all, and they do not dare tell people that this foundation does not exist. They still want to maintain this exquisite edifice and let people come and go inside it. Those scientists who built this false edifice, which looks exquisite on the surface but is fundamentally false and untenable, those workers, those people who have struggled for it, those people who depend on it for their livelihood, they are afraid of these unknown things, because they do not know what lies beneath that unknown.
Because from the time they became conscious, from the day science was born, they have wanted to study what is certain, effective, and knowable. Toward what they cannot know, they themselves are filled with fear and doubt. Even though this edifice has already been overturned, already been pushed down, they still want to maintain this false, real edifice. There is only one reason: because they do not know where the new theory is, where the new system is, once this edifice is torn down. They do not know how to construct a worldview and values if this world is subjective. They think humanity would go mad. They themselves go mad first, the scientists go mad first, and then they think all of humanity would also go mad. They think that if we, with such great intelligence, have gone mad, then humanity will go mad.
They really think too highly of themselves. Scientists go mad precisely because you have learned too much knowledge, so you go mad. The reason humanity does not go mad, the reason humanity as a whole does not go mad, is that most people are not scientists. Most people feel things directly and trust their feelings and sensations. They do not know this world through theories, through formulas, through the whole set of things scientists talk about. They feel this world through the truest, most intimate way, the way most merged with themselves.
Those things scientists call unimportant, those subjective, emotional, felt, experiential things, love, emotions, spirit, for all of us ordinary people, we all know those are more important. We human beings live precisely for those seemingly intangible, seemingly uncertain things. We do not live for a house, and we do not live for a cartload of gold. We live only for the inner longing for a good life, for love, for emotion, for the people we love.
And all of that, everything I just mentioned, not one of those things is an object of scientific research. Scientists think they are very clever, standing at the pinnacle of human intelligence. Actually, from a certain angle, they are the most foolish group of people in this world. They think that by studying this world through symbols, formulas, and other abstract things, they are somehow wiser than ordinary people. But in fact, those who truly use their own bodies, their own emotions, their own senses to feel this world are the truly intelligent ones.
All right, about this part, I want to say one thing to everyone, because this mentions science. So science is afraid of this kind of spontaneity and the unknown.
Spontaneity Is the True Order
As was said earlier:
Spontaneity knows its own order. There is nothing more highly organized than the physical body, which spontaneity grows in all its parts.
From the time a person is born until he grows up, it is all spontaneity at work. What each part grows into, how each organ system and cell operates — all of it is accomplished within such a highly intelligent, highly precise system of spontaneity. Although this system is spontaneous, human beings do not know how it operates; they do not even know the mechanism by which it operates. And this highly spontaneous system is the highest order that human beings have been able to come into contact with so far. Nothing is more orderly than this.
This — is the highest order. In other words, spontaneity is the true order. The so-called orders that your human brain's logical thinking comes up with are like kindergarten children playing a game and making up their own rules — I draw a circle here or something, very childish and laughable rules. You set them yourself, you play them yourself, and you can happily go along with it, no problem.
Scientists are all like this: they first set up a premise, and then under that premise they deduce certain so-called theories that they believe hold true under that premise. First of all, the premise itself is wrong, but they do not care about that. Anyway, I will set that premise first, then do research under it, and then amuse myself and have a great time. It is the same as kindergarten children having a great time in their own world.
If you speak of order, if you speak of the laws of the universe, that is spontaneity. Now you can also understand why Laozi emphasized spontaneity so much, emphasized wu wei and yet nothing left undone. All doing is the human mind at work; none of that is spontaneity, none of that is the Dao. Only the Dao, that is, this spontaneity, is the fundamental law of the universe. The artificial things of human beings are not.
Then below he is all fervent, too excited, and gets to this core issue:
Just as your life is provided to you by these spontaneous processes.
As I said earlier, your life is all provided by this spontaneity. It can be said that the life of the universe is provided in the same way. If the universe has life, the life of the universe is the same. Just as the spontaneity of your body provides your life, the spontaneity of the universe provides the life of the universe.
You see the physical stars, and your instruments probe into distant space. But the inner processes that make the universe possible are the same processes that propel your own thinking. So it is erroneous to believe that spontaneity and discipline are opposites. Instead, true discipline is the result of true spontaneity.
The life of the universe is like these tens of thousands, hundreds of millions, trillions of cosmic stars that make up the entire universe. You want to explore them, but you do not know how they came into being. You imagine that they were born in the manner of a big bang. No. The birth of this universe is exactly the same as the way thoughts are born in your mind. Once you know how a thought is born, you will understand how the universe was born.
Your thought can expand outward from any point, can radiate outward, and can also be said to inflate outward. The universe is the same: at every point of the universe it is inflating, branching, expanding itself. That is how the universe came to be. Just like every thought in your mind — a thought arises, and this thought keeps extending, keeps expanding, keeps radiating itself. That is how your thoughts are produced. And the universe is produced by the same principle. And behind all of this is the result of spontaneity.
If you think that order or discipline is the opposite of spontaneity, that is a cognitive error on your part. The so-called order and discipline are precisely the true result of spontaneity — that is the last sentence he said, true discipline is the result of true spontaneity. If you do not believe in spontaneity, then you are precisely operating against the laws of the universe.
Impulses Are Angels
All right, here the role of spontaneity is emphasized once again, and it may once more let you understand the underlying meaning of the topic I spoke about a few years ago, "impulses are angels."
The value fulfillment of every element in life depends upon those spontaneous processes, and their source is based upon affirmative love, and upon an acceptance of oneself, of the universe, and of the conditions of life.
Every element -- remember, every single point is -- depends upon that spontaneity. And their source is based upon affirmative love, upon an acceptance of oneself, of the universe, and of life. Acceptance, in Buddhist terms, means "suchness" -- accepting things as they are, accepting them calmly. Not only toward oneself, but toward the universe and toward life, this is the attitude. The foundation is affirmative love, and what it expresses is spontaneity.
I am once again activating those coordinates that quicken the processes of inner peace and self-healing within you, and remember that they are spontaneous.
He emphasizes again that you do not need to do anything.
(At 4:26 I told Jane she had done very well, that she had had a very good day and had eaten quite well too. As I drove up the hill toward their house, I held my breath, and then saw that the grass really had been cut, and it looked wonderful. As I pulled into the back driveway, I saw that Frank had already planted the red maple tree. Not only that, he had also brought his tiller back, and had dug up the backyard once more, preparing to sow wildflower seeds -- starting to plant flowers.)
All right, regarding this portion of the content, that is all I will share with you today.
Religion's Fear of Spontaneity
Seth began this session at 3:05 p.m. on June 5, 1984. He first said:
Now I bid you once again a good afternoon. We will continue with the dictation.
Since ancient times, religion has attempted to help man understand his own subjective reality.
Religion has done fairly well on this point — telling everyone that this world is subjective. But religion has its dark side, and for this reason, religion has unfortunately contributed to the fear of spontaneity. Religion acknowledges that this world is subjective, yet it fears that spontaneous part within its own subjective world.
Religion has sought to promote the concept of man's inner worth, yet it does not acknowledge man's inner worth. Instead, it teaches people not to trust the inner self or any outward manifestation of it — trusting neither the inner nor the outer.
Most churches preach a concept that emphasizes the sinful self, viewing man as a creature polluted by original sin, polluted even before he is born — which is even more absurd, born with original sin.
Ordinary Buddhism also contains similar views, and they are often self-contradictory. It says one should explore inward and not pay attention to external things — that point is correct. But within the inner, it makes distinctions: some parts should be trusted, some places should not be trusted. You do not want your greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance, and doubt; you want to keep the good things and delete all the bad things. So do you actually trust your own inner self? Do you truly believe in your own inner self? You still make distinctions, you still have a discriminating mind. The very first principle of Buddhism is that one must not have a discriminating mind, yet you still discriminate within your own inner self — which is good and which is bad? Since you are exploring inward, then accept all of your inner self. That is a scientific, rigorous, and responsible attitude toward inner exploration. You cannot say, "I am exploring inward, but I only want the morally noble parts; those dirty little thoughts in my mind — get rid of them, push them aside, hide them away, or even clear them all out through various practices and methods, making my inner self spotless and pristine." Then what is the difference between you and that housewife with a controlling desire who never stops cleaning the house? What is the difference between you and Shenxiu, who said, "Diligently sweep and wipe away the dust every day"? Your inner self was originally spotless; the spirituality within you was never subject to any pollution. You only need to trust it. It is because you think it might be polluted that it becomes polluted.
Christianity is even harsher, telling you that every person is born sinful. We will not go into this in depth, because we are not discussing the topic of religion; I am only telling everyone how absurd this is. It encourages everyone to focus on inner exploration, telling people that subjective reality is just as real as objective reality, even more important than objective reality; yet it also denies the part of subjective reality that it considers bad.
This distorts the picture, describing a race of sinners, driven by evil and sometimes demonic forces from birth. In this teaching, man needs to apologize for being born, and the conditions of life are seen as punishment inflicted by the deity upon its erring creatures.
Did you make a mistake? Then God punishes you, and various symptoms and illnesses appear in your life.
Unfortunately, this concept is also reflected in the field of psychology, especially in the Freudian school. For example, he said a slip of the tongue — a slip of the tongue, betraying one's hidden, heinous true desires. Freud did not trust the inner self; he believed the inner self is always primitive, savage, ugly, and interested only in sex. He believed that the most fundamental, primal desire of human beings is sex, nothing else; and this sex is bad — too impulsive, too savage, too base.
The unconscious was understood as a garbage heap of unwanted desires discarded by civilization.
All the filthiest, most unbearable things were thrown there. At the same time, most religious theories project an image of a hidden self that must be bound by good works, prayer, and redemption — work hard, do good deeds, practice mindfulness, pray, seek redemption, and do not let the image of the self be revealed. Look, all religions wear the same clothes. Why not let you have individuality? Are not all the clothes the same, revealing no individuality at all? That color that is neither gray nor brown nor purple is precisely meant to hide one's individuality, to hide one's image. He does not live it out, does not reveal it — he hides it. How ridiculous. Where are you going to hide? The universe is so vast — can you even hide yourself? Is this not self-deception? It is like children playing a game — "You cannot see me, I am hiding." Stop playing these kindergarten games. Under the bright heavens and upon the vast earth, you might as well reveal yourself openly and honestly; that is more real.
What dark places do you have to hide? What shameful things do you have to conceal? All these things you consider shameful — those spontaneous impulses within you — they come from the universe, so how could they be shameful? They are natural instincts; everyone has them. Listeners all over the world, those of you hearing this passage, tell me — do you have them or not? Why is something that everyone has considered evil? Why is something that even the universe has considered evil? Without spontaneity, you would not have your life. While you are enjoying life, you are enjoying spontaneity, and yet you turn around and slap spontaneity across the face, saying, "You are evil, you are filthy, you should stay in the garbage heap." Your very life was brought to you by it, and yet you treat it this way. Now do you understand why so many people are unhealthy? You treat the very source of your life this way — how can you be healthy?
Filthy Spontaneity and Fictional Purity
I often tell everyone about that classic film, called Wild Guitar in English5, translated into Chinese as The Wild Guitar Road. It is about a girl who is both unemployed and heartbroken, and also gets cancer -- a fictional story, though supposedly adapted from a true story. She had loved playing guitar since she was little. When she found out she only had three months left to live, she moved into a big house she had always dreamed of, lived the life she wanted, and lived entirely by spontaneity. In the end her credit cards were maxed out, and she could no longer enjoy her spontaneous life -- but her cancer was also cured. Why? Because you are together with spontaneity. Spontaneity is the source of your life; your life comes from it. When you are together with spontaneity, no illness is a problem. Do you dare to accept your spontaneity?
Within such a large mass of negative assumptions, the concept of a good and innocent inner self seems almost shameful.
What does this mean? You portray your inner spontaneity as so savage, filthy, and overflowing with desire, and then you say that within this filthy spontaneity there is a concept of a pure and spotless self -- that really is shameful. You deny spontaneity, yet you acknowledge that there is a clean self. Are you deceiving yourself? Inside, the heart is a filthy mess, but sitting in the middle is a Buddha, utterly pure -- that is how you fool yourself. That spontaneity of yours is the Buddha. Those things you consider filthy are not filthy at all; they are the purest, the least disturbed, the most in accord with the great way of the universe, free of any human moral judgment -- that is what is most pure and most real. That innocent inner self concept you fabricated is what you invented. This truly fictional self concept is what is filthy and shameful; while the spontaneity you consider filthy and shameful is the purest of all. You have it backwards. This is a point that many people find very hard to turn around in their understanding, and it is also a fundamental point where many people have practiced for years without any achievement.
To encourage the expression of that self seems reckless.
You feel you cannot express yourself, because it seems all too clear: if the lid of consciousness were opened, all sorts of inner demons and enraged impulses would rush out. That is what you have always believed -- you believe that countless little demons are locked inside you, and the moment you open it they will all come rushing out. Do you really have that many devils locked inside?
Pause at 3:22. Seth says again:
People who hold this view of the inner self often project the same concepts onto all of nature.
Not only do they see themselves this way, they also see others this way. They believe their own inner hearts are filthy, sordid, and full of desire, and they believe other people's inner hearts are the same, and they even believe the natural world and this world are the same.
In their worldview, nature appears equally mysterious, dangerous, and threatening.
Judging the noble by one's own petty mind -- now they are judging nature by their own petty minds, judging the universe by their own petty minds. How ridiculous.
Politically speaking, such people also seek out strong authoritarian groups and governments.
These people look for whichever group has authority and power, and they attach themselves to that group or to the government.
They stress law and order above justice and equality, and tend to regard the poorer or more disadvantaged members of society as full of impulse, dangerous, and always ready for revolution.
Even today we still think this way -- many mainstream views hold that people living at the bottom of society are unstable and volatile. No one knows where this view came from. Are they not the foundation of social stability? How did they become the source of social unrest?
People with such beliefs quite often overtrain their bodies, take jobs as guards, police officers, or in some way set themselves up to control their fellow human beings.
They intensify physical training, working out, exercising, and running with great regularity every day, keeping their bodies in good condition. Because they want control, they do not even trust their own bodies. They feel that if their bodies are not trained, they will slack off or go on strike, so they must constantly whip their bodies like a lash. They do not trust others either, and generally take up work like security guards or police officers, trying every way to control their fellow human beings. They feel that if their fellow human beings are not controlled, the evil inside will emerge and society will fall into chaos.
I am not saying here that all guards, military personnel, or members of government of whatever kind fall into this category.
Not everyone is like this. But such people will tend toward an extremely distant life. Many of their health problems will erupt all at once.
Internal ulcers -- stomach ulcers, intestinal ulcers, mouth ulcers, skin rashes, or very definite mental and emotional eruptions, as well as great outbursts of strength and temper made all the more pronounced by their usual pattern of keeping their distance.
Usually they are too rule-abiding and too distant, but inside the pressure keeps building, and sometimes when they cannot control it, it erupts violently. In most cases, they lack a normal range of emotional expression. Like many officers and soldiers in the military and police, they are deficient in emotional expression, and they think this is normal -- not easily expressing emotion is normal behavior. In fact, they simply lack this kind of emotional expression.
Such people, for example, often seem to have great difficulty expressing love, joy, or gratitude.
And the people around them take this for granted -- right, such people should not express love or joy; they should be like cold, unfeeling, iron-hard tough guys. They cannot see the real situation, and instead think that the person is merely being cautious. In fact, it is not caution; it is an inability to express.
After giving this example, he gives another kind of secondary personality and schizophrenic episodes -- some schizophrenic people and people with multiple personalities more or less share these characteristics.
When contradictory beliefs are blocked and suppressed, what appears again is sudden explosive behavior.
For example, split personality and schizophrenia are like this: beliefs have never been properly expressed, and when they accumulate to a certain point, another personality bursts out.
When people believe that the inner self is really a nest of chaotic impulses, then it becomes more and more impossible for a person to express a normal range of activity.
If we believe that our inner being is a nest of chaotic impulses, then how dare we express it? We become less and less daring, because we feel there is no way to speak of what is inside.
The person then also feels lifeless, cut off from work and family.
They seem to live very regularly, very stably, very calmly, not good at expressing words or emotions, but in fact they also find it very hard to feel the emotional connection to work and family.
Yet expression is a necessary part of life.
Everyone feels that drive to express; this is a normal phenomenon.
When a rigid set of beliefs threatens to make action seem meaningless, then another buried, suppressed set of beliefs may surface, providing new impetus -- but at the same time forming a secondary personality with traits almost opposite to those of one's primary self.
He is explaining how split personality is formed. Rigid beliefs tell you: doing anything is useless, all your actions have no real meaning, and you cannot express yourself. But you have an inner drive to express, and you want to express, yet this primary self cannot express. What to do? Another personality that dares to express jumps out. Why can it jump out of your limitations? Because you say that is not yourself, that is another personality. The real self still does not dare to express, so it conjures up another personality to express, and then you say: that is not me, that is my split personality. You seem to have escaped your own limitations. And the secondary personality that emerges holds beliefs and views that are often incompatible with the first personality -- because if they were compatible, it would have expressed them. Its views and beliefs are all things the primary personality could not accept or receive, and they have been suppressed all along, so a new personality emerges on its own. The two parts of the personality's beliefs are very hard to reconcile, and in extreme cases this situation appears.
Sexuality and Health: The Inner Impulse Shamed
Seth says:
We could have much more to say on all of these issues. But what I want to discuss now is spontaneity, or the lack of it, as it relates to gender and health.
There is much that could be said about the previous topics, but what we need to talk about now is the relationship between one's understanding of gender and health, and how you have used spontaneity in this area, and how you have also restricted your own spontaneity.
All of the negative beliefs just mentioned touch upon gender to a greater or lesser degree. Those who hold the beliefs just described often think of sex as animalistic, evil, or even shameful.
The several types of people mentioned earlier -- those with split personalities, those who want to control others, those who want to become police officers, those who want to join the military to control their fellow citizens, those who want to control others in government -- they all share this characteristic. In their views about sex, they are remarkably consistent in believing that sex represents animal nature, that it is animalistic, evil, and shameful. And when it comes to women, this attitude is reinforced even further.
How is it reinforced? You have a very strong drive toward sex, one that is innate and primal. If you also believe it is shameful, then you find yourself in a very ambiguous, awkward predicament. On the one hand, your primal sexual impulse is extremely strong and cannot be suppressed; on the other hand, you feel that sex is shameful. When this manifests in a woman, it is truly agonizing and painful beyond measure.
Women who hold such beliefs and such contradictions often end up having a hysterectomy. They often develop uterine fibroids, or cervical problems, or other gynecological diseases.
Why? Because she has sexual needs but does not dare express them, suppressing them over a long period. She feels sex is shameful, yet she also has sexual impulses -- these primal impulses cannot be helped, and eventually they lead to gynecological diseases, and finally she has her female organs removed through surgery. She actually feels relieved afterward -- she is no longer a complete woman, and she feels better. Coincidentally, the ones who often perform these surgeries are male doctors who hold the same beliefs. These male doctors who feel sex is shameful often happen to operate on women, and by cutting out the organs in a woman's body that represent her femaleness, they satisfy the release of their own belief that sex is both uncontrollable and terrifying. You can see how much harm a person's beliefs can do to their own body. Women here present -- he specifically mentions women here -- you must pay attention: if you still feel shame about sex, and your beliefs do not change, your health is in serious jeopardy.
Many men look forward to having a son, while at the same time honoring marriage as a necessary part of respectable family life, and sexual behavior itself is only legitimate when it brings him a child.
There is a type of man who also feels that sex is shameful behavior, something that cannot be brought out into the open, something evil and animalistic. He considers himself a man of high moral character who should not be controlled by sex. What does he do? Only when it comes to carrying on the family line is sex absolutely necessary -- because one must carry on the family line, after all. But as for ordinary desires, he feels this is unacceptable, that it is an evil thought. He even feels that marriage degrades him, because marriage certainly involves sex, and the wife will have demands. He thinks, after you have given birth to a child, what other demands could you possibly have? You have completed your task, and I have completed mine; the two of us should stay out of each other's way from now on. How can there be men like this? You can only say you have met too few people. There are all kinds of men, and men like this are by no means rare. Their views on sex -- whether men or women -- as long as they believe sex is animalistic, evil, and shameful, will lead to these strange behaviors.
Such men, however, will go out seeking prostitutes. Why? Because he has sexual impulses. Why doesn't he express them through love? He feels he cannot -- I cannot express that I need love, that I need to be cared for, that I need to depend on someone. I am a man of iron will; how could I possibly express the weakness that is exposed through sex? Women are there for me to vent on. A powerful man like me can find women to vent on, but I will never show my vulnerable side in front of a woman; I will absolutely never express my need for love and dependence. They even keep saying things like "women are like clothes, brothers are like limbs," and so on. Or he finds someone to marry, a wife who is far beneath him -- whether in social status, education, or economic conditions -- only then can he engage in intimate relations with them normally. Otherwise, it is very difficult for him to handle a normal woman, especially an outstanding one; he does not even dare to have any intimate relationship with them. In a strange way, they even feel that it is wrong for their own wife to engage in sexual behavior, believing that sexual behavior is so degrading for both of them, and bad for both of them.
In many such cases, these individuals will be great athletes, following traditional masculine pastimes, and perhaps expressing contempt for art or any interest that has even the slightest connection with anything feminine.
He follows those so-called traditional masculine pastimes -- going to brothels, finding prostitutes -- he feels this is acceptable. But if you ask him to do something related to feminine arts, such as dancing, flower arranging, wearing beautiful clothes, appreciating feminine beauty, appreciating dance, he is utterly contemptuous. His relationships between the sexes are very strange, very twisted. The root cause is one thing -- he believes sex is animalistic, shameful, and evil. This one belief can lead to so many strange behaviors.
Dictation ends. Seth says:
I have once again accelerated the coordinates of your physical and mental peace, and facilitated those coordinates that your own intuitive abilities can make use of. I wish you a pleasant evening.
When Beliefs Are Broken, Youth Returns
Many people cannot understand why our spiritual home has done so many courses, healings, and many offline activities, and everyone who has participated has felt wonderful — every single person is like they have changed into a new life, like they have come alive again. You can see it from their faces: the light has returned to their eyes, they have straightened their backs again, they have become young again, and their youth has been renewed.
Two weeks ago, after we came back from our offline class in Thailand, about a week later, one of our very lovely fellow practitioners, one of our little friends, posted a message in the group. She is in her early fifties, very well maintained, very beautiful, very refined, but she had already gone through menopause. While doing the exercises, on the first day she felt that she might be about to get her period — but she thought it was impossible, since she had been in menopause for several years, so how could she possibly get her period. On the second day, during the exercises, she suddenly felt that she really was getting her period, more and more so — and when she looked, sure enough, there it was. At that moment, her inner feelings could not be described in words. For a woman, to have her youth and vitality renewed in her fifties, several years after her periods had stopped — she did not know how to describe this change. You could call it reverse aging, you could call it regaining her youth. This is the most real thing that has happened around us, and there are many examples like this. I have shared with everyone in class before that we had a student in Beijing who was the same way — this kind of thing happens often.
The reason is that in our offline class exercises, through various methods, belief work, and life practice, everyone came to know their own body anew, and also re-established a correct concept of themselves and of the idea of sexuality. From then on, they no longer felt that sex is animalistic, evil, or shameful. Once this belief changes, the whole person will be renewed with youth, and will remain together with their own spontaneity. I want to tell everyone, especially my female compatriots, that if you still have these three beliefs above — these three beliefs about sexuality — you should either change them immediately, or you had better be careful, because they really may lead to some illnesses in your body. But I hope that those of you who hear this part will not change because of fear, but because you truly want to live that kind of happy life, and because you trust your own inner being and therefore change. Do not change because "Teacher Mike said I will get sick if I do not change" — if you change for that reason, then you still have not grasped the essence.
Sex and the Psyche Are Not Opposites
At 4:30, Jane's rather slow delivery was interrupted three times by the staff. I told her the session was very good, just as good as all the sessions in the recent series. She was very happy. It was very hot today, over 80 degrees Fahrenheit, and it felt like summer for the first time. Jane felt a bit better today, ate both lunch and dinner well, and turned over easily. She was still on medication and aspirin therapy, plus calcium and other extra supplements -- we did not know what they were. Around 6:40, Peg Gallagher came to visit, so I got ready to leave the hospital without reading the prayer with Jane.
The next session was Wednesday, June 6, 1984, at 4:09 p.m. I brought Jane a chicken sandwich -- the third in a row, indeed made from a rotisserie chicken bought at a convenience store. She enjoyed the sandwich again. She was still uncomfortable, but felt a little better today. I told her I had to leave early to see the dentist -- last night I cracked a tooth, and I was afraid of losing it. I suggested Jane could have a session before I left. At first she felt nothing, and I handled some letters while I waited. Finally she said she felt Seth was nearby. The delivery was a little slow, but steady. Seth said:
I wish you a good afternoon again. We will continue the dictation.
Many religions and so-called esoteric schools of knowledge have advocated that the concepts of sex and the psyche are directly opposed to each other.
Many concepts tell you that if you want to practice spiritual cultivation, you must abstain from sex, must abstain from lust -- Buddhism, and other sects as well. Many religions regard sex as the great enemy of spiritual practice, believing that sex and the psyche are completely opposed. If you want spiritual growth, you must abstain from lust. But this is fundamentally wrong. Quite the opposite: your sexuality and your heart are actually the closest to each other, and the two can often resonate with one another.
Why? When you are in love, when you are with the person you love, do you not feel the most wonderful? Is that feeling not felt with the heart? It is not because of any specific thing, it just feels wonderful. And this wonderful feeling is the same as the first stage of your spiritual growth -- so sublime and beautiful that it cannot be described in words. If you cannot obtain it through body-mind-spirit growth, then falling in love can also give you a similar feeling. What I mean by this is that the human psyche and sex are inherently connected. Look at the ancient Chinese characters: both of these characters contain the character for "heart" -- the character for "nature" contains a heart. And in ancient times, "nature" itself referred to your innate disposition. Confucius said, "Food and sex are human nature," right? Sex is also your innate nature. If you deny it, you deny the existence of your life, deny the meaning of your inner existence.
People in the athletic arena have often encouraged this view as well.
For example, people who play sports, who play ball -- if there is a match tonight, they must abstain from sex for two or three days beforehand. Even now many teams still believe this view, and although many Western teams no longer believe it, many Eastern teams still do. They believe athletes should abstain from sex before a competition, that sexual expression somehow weakens a man. They say if you do not abstain, if you are rolling around with your girlfriend every day, the next day your legs will surely be weak and your energy will not be vigorous enough. Who knows where that came from. As if sex could weaken a person? Everyone knows that a good sex life makes a person full of energy -- how could it weaken anyone? Look at men and women who have just made love: although they may be sweating and tired, their body and mind are incomparably joyful. Give them ten or twenty minutes to recover, and the radiance on every face is beyond words. It is even more obvious in women -- a woman who is loved can be told apart at a glance from a woman who is not. The same goes for men: they glow with spirit.
But somehow people decided: no, if a man indulges in sex, his body will collapse. A person's energy is only so much in total; however much you use, that much is gone, and once it is used up it is gone, so it must not be used recklessly. They even extended this to say that "masturbation most harms physical health" and so on. This concept violates common scientific sense, makes no sense scientifically, and makes no sense spiritually either -- who knows where it came from. These things are all produced by your body, just like your saliva, produced at any time and any place -- how could there be a fixed amount that is used up and then gone? Who knows how this concept came about. But this belief is deeply ingrained in people, and it weakens their constitution.
And priests have taken vows guaranteeing celibacy.
Many clergy must be celibate; in many religions, you cannot do without celibacy.
As a matter of fact, sexual expression is an important element within the entire range of human experience, encouraging physical and mental health and vitality.
Remember, this is what Seth tells you: within the entire range of human experience, sexual expression is an important element that encourages physical and mental health and vitality. Some people may have stronger or weaker interest than others, yet that drive is a powerful part of anyone's natural rhythm. Your sexual desire, your sexual drive, comes from nature, not from anyone else -- it is a powerful part that each person naturally generates, it is innate.
If you block it up, this interest still seeks expression. If you suppress it through spiritual practice, celibacy, precepts, or belief, it still wants to express itself. People who habitually practice abstinence often suddenly break out in bouts of promiscuity or violence. The more abstinent a person is, the more prone they are to such outbreaks -- promiscuity, molesting boys, rape, or violent behavior. Many of the vicious incidents that occur among us often prove this point.
For example, there were several important cases in New York City. A priest from a certain church in New York was accused of raping and molesting countless children over a period of ten or twenty years -- who knows how many; hundreds came forward to sue and accuse him, and many more did not come forward. Among the children he violated were boys and girls alike, and these were all crimes committed by clergy. If you look into the history, there are far too many cases, and they are not recent -- they have existed for a long time. Look at Boccaccio's Decameron6, which is full of exposés of the shameful deeds done behind the scenes by these clergy. He would have been better off expressing his own sexual desires and needs properly, expressing normal love and having a normal sex life like a normal person -- that would have been smooth and reasonable. But their repression instead led to terrible things.
Practically speaking, the philosophical emphasis upon the distance between the body and the psyche, and the belief in the sinful self, often combine to bring about the most unfortunate of human dilemmas.
This philosophical emphasis on the distance between body and psyche, and the belief that one is inherently sinful, are two sides of the same coin. When they combine and settle together in one person, it is truly miserable, forming a devastating dilemma for that person.
These concepts are usually coupled with the feeling that power is desirable but dangerous. Celibacy then means storing up one's power.
Power, like sexual desire, must be stored up. Especially before a match, an athlete absolutely must not indulge the night before, or else it is all over.
People with such beliefs often have severe constipation, and urinary retention, for example, to hold back the water -- or whatever it is they want to retain.
Because they practice celibacy, they want to retain; they have had this belief since childhood, leading to constipation and urinary retention. They may also have gastrointestinal problems. Many such people overeat and are overly fond of extremely spicy foods, love eating hot peppers. Some have enormous appetites, even though these may be mediated by a series of diets -- first binge eating, then dieting, then breaking the diet, then binge eating again, then dieting again, cycling back and forth. What is he doing? He is struggling against celibacy, and it is the same principle as celibacy: when restriction fails to hold, he goes on a binge; then he feels he is wrong, and abstains again -- abstains for a while, suppresses to a certain point, cannot control it anymore, and does it all over again. He uses eating as an outlet, and it is the same principle as celibacy.
So many other elements in human nature are involved that I do not really want to point out any culprit.
I am not trying to find the root cause.
I am, however, encouraging in that behavior of male segregated communities, which are obviously notorious.
For a period of time in America, there was something called male segregated communities -- Black and Hispanic, low-income men were confined to a certain area, their movements restricted, not allowed to leave, only allowed to move around within that area, where there were no women, only men. There was such a period in American history, and it was a very wrong and notorious practice, which Seth particularly condemned.
The effects upon each individual in such institutions or communities are not the same.
The effects cannot be generalized. But relatively speaking, you do have such closed communities, and they can truly become cradles of fanaticism and rigid behavior -- they will evolve into future models of fanaticism and rigidity.
So the practice of separating boys' schools and girls' schools is still very much discouraged. As for China, very early on -- especially after liberation -- coeducation was adopted and single-sex schools were abolished, which was a very wise decision. Later we learned that in Taiwan, before college, boys and girls attended the same school but were in different classes -- boys in one class, girls in another. I do not know how it is now; during a certain later period it was like that, and later it may have changed to mixed classes. But they still have boys' schools and girls' schools, and they still exist in America today. These should all be abolished; there is no need for them at all, and they are detrimental to human growth, leading to such fanaticism and rigid behavior.
Again, you find the emphasis upon discipline rather than free will, so that the opportunities for choice are drastically reduced.
Under this premise, what we emphasize is more discipline and rules, while ignoring free will. There are few opportunities for choice; everything is locked down by discipline. Then your health problems become more and more serious.
It may not be good for me to say this, but I will say it anyway: you would think that many monks, who eat vegetarian food, chant sutras, work regularly, and live regularly, should be free of illness -- and they eat very healthily, live in a healthier environment, have fewer worries, and do not have the effects of rich food on the body, so their health should be better than ordinary people's. But the facts are exactly the opposite. If you understand this, you will know that the rate of illness among many monks, according to general sociology, is no less than that of ordinary people, and often more. The reason is simple: they restrict spontaneity, they do not stay with spontaneity, they do not truly stay with their own bodies. If they do not trust their spontaneity, they do not trust their bodies. This inner tug-of-war, distrust, lack of self-acceptance, and emotional pulling leads to physical unhealthiness.
Seth's final sentence is very well said: the more open a society is, the healthier its people are. A society's openness index is closely related to the health index of its people.
All right, this session ends at 4:30.
Gender Segregation and the Suppression of Expression
Next is Thursday, June 7, 1984, at 3:21 p.m. It was very hot today, over 90 degrees Fahrenheit. You see, the area they lived in was strange -- New York State, like many eastern states in the United States, was cold most of the time. In May it was often in the thirties, forties, fifties, and once June arrived it immediately jumped to the eighties and nineties.
When I arrived at Room 330 at noon, Jane was doing better today. The room had the air conditioning and an electric fan on, and the windows were wide open, so it was not hot at all. I had brought shorts with me, so I changed into them. The weather had a lush, juicy quality, as if our earth had finally turned from an enemy into a nurturing, sustaining parent. After Jane finished lunch, I handled correspondence until she said she was ready for the session. I told my wife that my tooth had really fallen out -- yesterday the tooth cracked. Seth spoke again:
I bid you once more a good afternoon. We will continue with the dictation.
What I have said also applies, although to a lesser degree, to organizations that deviate along female lines.
The previous session was all about male matters, and women have the same problems. Some women also shut themselves up in a small community or a living area, forbidding men from entering, and they themselves do not go out either, like an independent female community. This is also wrong.
In both instances, both sexes are denied any true communication, and are maintained within an extremely artificial framework. The two sexes literally become strangers to each other.
Well of course -- they never even see each other. In this community there is not a single woman, and in that community there is not a single man.
This also encourages all kinds of hysterical reactions, as well as a greater frequency of contagious diseases than people normally experience.
He is not talking about biological contagion, but spiritual contagion -- hysteria, and this kind of behavior often occurs.
This situation also occurs with variations in religious fanatic sects.
Whether or not strict character is enforced, if human relationships become highly regulated and supervised, or if family members are encouraged to spy on their relatives and friends, then you have the same kind of reduction of natural expression and communication.
Even without sexual segregation, in a normal society if people all supervise each other and report on each other at any time, if relatives can report on relatives and family members can report on family members, then this kind of behavior causes people to be afraid to truly express themselves. This is extremely frightening and dangerous. During the Cultural Revolution in China, this kind of human tragedy occurred -- wives reported their husbands, husbands reported their wives, children reported their parents, parents reported their children. Because of differences in political views, close family members reported on each other, causing the other to be paraded through the streets, beaten, and possibly imprisoned. This kind of mutual supervision, which makes people afraid to truly express themselves, is very dangerous and can lead to the birth of great physical, social, or group contagious diseases. The reason is simply the inability to express oneself.
People in such societies often suffer from malnutrition, frequent beatings, the overuse of enemas, and the excessive administration of corporal punishment.
Children are strictly disciplined, and the lack of normal spontaneity becomes the rule rather than the exception. In such societies, children being controlled and having their spontaneity restricted becomes the norm, while encouraging them to have spontaneity becomes the exception.
Members of such organizations often develop diseases in which their own bodies cannot utilize nutrition. They often succumb to some fashionable food, but because they truly fear spontaneity to such a degree, they often become exhausted by diseases related to the body's unconscious processes.
3:34 p.m. Pause of two minutes.
Of course you can also find single families, or a certain family, or an entire nation, operating like fanatical cults, given over to repression and the violence that results from it.
This kind of thing is often found in history -- an entire family, a region, or an entire nation operating like a fanatical cult, abnormally fanatical. Why? Because they have been repressed for too long, and they present it in a violent way.
The concepts you have, then, play a large role in the body's handling of its nutrition and in its use of its healthy vitality.
If you believe that the body is somehow evil, you may nearly starve yourself to punish it. Even if your diet might be considered normal by ordinary standards, you will still starve -- because you no longer absorb nutrition. You believe your body is evil and unworthy of absorbing nutrition, so although you eat about the same as everyone else, your beliefs cause your body to stop absorbing nutrition, and eventually your body will still starve even while you eat normally. Because your concepts may cause chemical reactions that prevent your body from accepting nourishment -- your body cannot accept nutrition anymore, caused by belief.
If you believe the body is evil, the purest health-food diet will or may do you little good at all. Your body is evil and filthy, so what use is it to eat the purest, best food?
At the same time, if you have a healthy desire and give respect to your physical body, then eating TV dinners, or even fast food, will very likely maintain your health and sufficient nutrition.
If you have a healthy desire -- no matter what kind of desire, you treat your inner desires with a healthy attitude -- and you give respect to your physical body. Respect what? It is normal for the body to have such desires; do not scold your body as if it were a child who has made a mistake. You must respect your body, honor it. The body's desires are normal and healthy, not something evil, shameful, or indecent. If you hold such healthy beliefs, then even if you eat junk food, your body will still be healthy; conversely, even if you eat special provisions every day, it will do no good.
If we talk about health, we must look at your beliefs. A person has within the body the most efficient and most beautiful physical organs -- every one of your organs is most beautiful and most efficient, the noblest joints and viscera, the most vital lungs, the most exquisite senses.
It is up to you to form a body image worthy of your body.
Together with your beliefs, these perfect organs and flesh can form a body. Because you are nourished by your beliefs, your body is also nourished by your beliefs. Those beliefs can make your daily food increase your vitality, or increase your worries and stress. If your beliefs are right, daily food can help you increase your vitality; if your beliefs are wrong, even eating rare delicacies is useless; if your beliefs are right, even eating junk food has nutrition. This is one point he wants to make.
Do I Have a Body, or Am I My Body?
There is a very typical concept here that I want to point out to you, and you may not have noticed it. In our cognition, in most cases, we do not identify with our own body. In other words, we clearly know that this body is us, but we do not acknowledge it. We introduce ourselves by saying: I have a body, I have a pair of hands, I have a pair of feet, I have my head, I have my neck, I have my face, I have a body. You rarely say "I am my body."
Think about it carefully. In your life, do you rarely say "I am my body"? You say "I have a pair of hands," but you never say "I am my pair of hands"; you never say "I am my pair of legs"; and you certainly would not say "I am my sexual organ" -- you only say "I have a sexual organ."
What does this way of speaking mean? It is like saying "I have a bag," "I have a computer," "I have a house," "I have a car." You acknowledge that they belong to you, but you do not acknowledge that they are you. I give this example so that you can clearly see how much you do not identify with your body, how much you reject it. When have you ever said to anyone "I am my body"? "I am my hair, I am my eyes, I am my skin, I am my appearance, I am my hands, I am my legs" -- and of course I am also my sexual organ. No matter what primal desires drive it, I am it, and I identify with the fact that I am it. Only in this case can you achieve unity with yourself, can you achieve reconciliation with yourself, can you identify with your own body, can you accept your own body, can you trust the spontaneity of the body -- including that primal desire you cannot control, which is also the most obvious part of your spontaneity.
Through the example just now, I hope you can truly realize how much you have not identified with your own body in the past. Do you have a body? Or are you your body? Or is your body you? Think about this question carefully.
Let us take a break. At 3:45, the nurse came in for a routine check. Jane's vital signs were all normal, and so on and so forth, and she was given her medication, as usual. Then at 4:44 we continued.
Negative Beliefs About Old Age
The weight of unfortunate beliefs perhaps falls heaviest upon the older population, because beliefs have had a longer time to operate relatively unimpeded.
This belief that "old people are unfortunate" falls heavily upon the elderly. He is now gradually dismantling these unnecessary erroneous beliefs for everyone, first in terms of gender, then in terms of age. Don't forget what the title of this chapter is -- starting over, beginning anew. If you want to start over, you first have to sort out these beliefs, otherwise you can't begin.
Those particular beliefs actually take root in the young, so that it seems as if all the flowers of life are placed in the growing years of youth to bloom completely, and then from that prominent position fall faster and faster into disadvantage and helplessness.
People hold a particular belief: when you are young, everything should reach its peak -- life gets its greatest blossoming, the most beautiful time is in youth, the handsomest time is in youth, the most energetic time is in youth, the greatest sense of achievement is in youth, the best memory is in youth, the fastest reflexes are in youth. Once you pass that youthful peak, you're finished; once you get old, you begin to deteriorate step by step. This anxiety is especially obvious in both men and women, and particularly acute in women's anxiety about their appearance -- they always think that once they get old they won't be good-looking anymore, and not being good-looking is an extremely terrifying thing, filling their hearts with fear at every moment. This belief will greatly compromise your health.
Such concepts not only cause serious difficulties among the older population, they also play an indispensable role in the behavior of many young people who commit suicide directly or indirectly.
Many young people commit suicide precisely at their most glorious moment. They don't want to grow old; they want to kill themselves at their most beautiful, at their most accomplished. Because they believe that life from then on is all downhill, and they cannot accept this concept of life going downhill. Since they believe life has already reached its peak, leaving at this moment leaves no regrets -- they have already experienced the most beautiful, the most brilliant, the most glorious, the healthiest version of themselves; what remains is just decades of barely hanging on, completely unnecessary, so they just leave.
Knowledge gained through experience is not considered practical enough to learn from, so that the skills and understanding that come with years are seldom taken into account.
The experience of the elderly is extremely valuable, but we generally don't think so. We tend to believe that knowledge from books and theory is the only real knowledge, while life experience and accumulated wisdom are ignored and undervalued. In fact, these are the more important things. An elderly person's life experience is extremely valuable to young people -- after all, he has lived through your age, he has lived from where you are now, he has the most authority to speak. But how many young people are truly willing to listen to what the elderly have to share? They think they're nagging, long-winded, boring. If you were truly willing to listen to what these older people share, you could avoid many detours, and your life wisdom would be greatly enhanced.
Again, to a certain extent, religion and science, especially medicine, seem to be encouraging the most negative beliefs about human nature with renewed vigor.
Religion, science, and even modern medicine are all encouraging people's most negative beliefs, which is very strange. There are clearly so many positive beliefs they could encourage, yet they insist on encouraging these negative ones. What kind of negative beliefs? It is the belief that people take for granted:
All mental, physical, psychic, and emotional satisfactions deteriorate with age.
This is the most negative belief people hold. A person's mental, physical, psychic, and emotional satisfaction has absolutely nothing to do with your age. It is completely unrelated to age. Elderly people can also enjoy the sweetest love and the most harmonious sex life; elderly people can also enjoy psychic joy and growth, spiritual growth, and the enrichment and growth of life experience -- these things not only do not deteriorate with age, they actually become stronger.
Let's take sex as an example -- isn't it true that the more you do it, the more experienced you become? With anything, when we do it over a long period of time, we accumulate rich experience and learn how to please our own body and our partner's body. How precious this experience is. Yet people think this is wrong -- only young people's sex has vitality and meaning; what's the point of old people's sex? That can only mean you yourself are shallow. You are completely arrogant, thinking that only young people are qualified to talk about sex, about love, about bodily sensations, as if old people have no right to any of it. Don't forget how you came into this world: before you were even a fertilized egg, your parents were already doing what you are doing now. By the time you've grown up twenty or thirty years, they've gained several more decades of experience, and in this area their experience is far richer than yours -- of course I'm referring to those who have a normal, healthy attitude toward sex. If this one point holds true, then other matters go without saying.
People take it for granted: our memory will fail, our bodies will weaken, our senses will dull, and our emotional vividness will dim.
Even after the age of 40 or 50, imaginative sexual activity is considered shameful -- you can't even think about it anymore; if you do, you're "an old lecher."
Faced with such an erroneous projection of the future, it is no wonder that many young people would rather die before seeing the first hint of deterioration -- such as their first wrinkle or first strand of gray hair.
These natural signals inevitably appear as harbingers of disaster. The appearance of wrinkles and gray hair seems like a catastrophe approaching; from then on life can only go downhill day by day -- dim eyes, no sex, no love, no emotion. He thinks about such a life and feels he might as well die.
And at the other end of the scale, older parents are treated by their grown children as if they were falling into a grotesque version of a second childhood.
Young people view the future elderly this way, so how do they treat their own parents? They feel their parents are like ignorant children, that once they get old they understand nothing, like people without wisdom. Then they start shouting at them -- speaking very loudly. They say it's because old people are hard of hearing, so they speak loudly, but that's not true. Loudness and attitude are completely related, regardless of whether they have hearing problems. Many of us speak to our own parents in increasingly loud voices, even starting to yell: "Can you just listen? You should do this, you should pay attention to all these things." Why? Because you think old people are no longer capable, no longer useful -- hearing deteriorating, emotions deteriorating, cognition deteriorating, everything deteriorating. They gradually deteriorate into ignorant children, and you treat them like children and scold them.
Your entire commercial and advertising world -- the world of competition and commerce -- reinforces this attitude.
And that's not even counting the impact of the entertainment industry. All entertainment, all advertising models are young people -- the younger the better. This push from the entertainment industry tells everyone: only youth is beautiful, only youth deserves to be on television and in advertisements; old people have no qualifications, don't deserve any of this. It is actually implying that once you're old, you're finished. So many young people start doing beauty treatments, skincare, makeup, and cosmetic procedures very early -- in their twenties they don't need it at all, but why do they start so early? Because they have fear of future aging. This fear makes it very hard for them to escape this psychological entanglement and tug-of-war.
Growing old has very clear and excellent marginal benefits.
I will also discuss this in this book. But here I want to assure the readers: fundamentally speaking, there are no diseases brought about by old age alone. Again, there are many benefits to being old, which we will discuss later. I give you a guarantee now: no illness is caused by age. Although many people tell you that older people have a higher probability of getting certain diseases, this has nothing to do with old people themselves -- no illness is caused by getting older; it has nothing to do with age.
Old age is not a cause of illness.
The body is often worn out because it is used less and less.
The body does not get worse the more you use it; it gets worse the less you use it. There is an old Chinese saying: "Use it and it advances, abandon it and it regresses" -- the more you use it, the more it progresses; the more you abandon it, the more it regresses.
And that is because there has been little study of the true abilities of the healthy physical body in the later years of life, and those years also contain certain rhythms in which the normal healing processes are greatly accelerated.
It is not true that once people get old, recovery slows down and illness becomes hard to cure. No, healing is also very rapid.
The life force within the body itself does not get used up or diminish.
The life force within you is not a fixed unit of energy that gets smaller the more you use it. It is inexhaustible and will not diminish as you age or as you use it more. At any time, its expression may be blocked.
I'm reminded of a director in our country from a while back, named Zhang Jizhong, who married a wife 39 years younger than him. A while ago his wife became pregnant and went to the hospital for a checkup. Guess what he did? He actually didn't believe it was his -- he was 82 or 80, I can't remember exactly -- he actually didn't believe he could get his wife pregnant. This was actually a great insult to his wife, but the news still broke. They went to the hospital for a DNA test, and it turned out to be his. He didn't even believe it himself -- he neither believed in himself nor in his wife. And this is a famous director. Such a cognition -- he doubted his own sexual ability far too much; he felt he could no longer father a child.
At any time, its expression may be blocked. But each individual's unique energy does not dry up simply because of age.
Each person's energy does not dry up because of age. Energy has nothing to do with age.
We will have more to say about older people and their ways of life, and will also discuss many beliefs and concepts that can almost immediately bring about sustained benefits.
That is, some new concepts -- the moment you change them, they will immediately turn your life around.
The subject of suicide will also be discussed in a different context. And as I invite our readers to start over, I want you to understand that you really can begin again, regardless of your age or circumstances.
He wants to tell you: you can start over at any time, and you can renew your youth. Your life can begin again, regardless of your age. Whether you are sixty, seventy, eighty, or ninety today, you can bring forth the vitality of your life. Start over -- don't say your body is old; it doesn't matter.
The dictation ends here. Seth says:
I once again accelerate and encourage those coordinates of your own physical and mental well-being, and speed up your own healing abilities.
Starting Over
This session has ended, and this chapter is also coming to an end. The theme of this chapter is to tell you: everyone can start over. The theme of the entire Part Two is starting over. In the first chapter of "Starting Over," through two sections of content and four to five sessions, one concept was explained to you: we can start over. How do we start over? By calling back that most primal, joyful expectation of the future from our childhood, and so on. This was said earlier, so I will not repeat it. But these New Year's resolutions, these decisions, all have to begin in the manner of play. What beginning in the manner of play means is this: you should ignore these things, and not be too serious or too earnest about them. The more serious and earnest you are, the worse the results. Once you have these realizations, accept them, change, and that is enough. Then operate them in the manner of play, and in that way the results will actually be better. That is what he said: at the appropriate time you should ignore them, rather than treat them seriously.
I hope everyone can benefit from this, and in your own lives, including the decades of life ahead, you can always remember this advice given to you once again: when it is time to fall in love, fall in love; when it is time to live a normal life, live a normal life; when it is time to express yourself, express yourself. Accept your true self, reveal it, and express it. Trust your own spontaneity, trust your own inner impulses. Carry joyful expectation with you, and live in the present moment at all times, live in this eternal moment.
注释与核实
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Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Tao-te Ching" (https://www.britannica.com/topic/Tao-te-Ching) ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5
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This claim could not be verified. ↩
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This claim could not be verified. ↩
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This claim could not be verified. ↩
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Source: Wikipedia, "Wild Guitar" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Guitar) ↩
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According to Mike's original words, it was "The Decameron written by Dante"; upon verification, it should be "The author of The Decameron is the Italian writer Giovanni Boccaccio, not Dante; Dante's representative work is The Divine Comedy." (Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Decameron", https://www.britannica.com/topic/Decameron) ↩