simultaneous self

Simultaneous Self (同时的自己) Dossier

1. What are Seth's specific claims about this concept? How many times was it mentioned, in which books, and did the wording change over time?

1. In the most basic sense, the self simultaneously contains the self of past moments in this life, the self or series of selves of past reincarnations, and countless selves of the present moment unknown to ego consciousness, as well as the so-called "future self" [early-sessions-3 §142].
2. The self is not a single thing but "a series of simultaneous happenings"; however, this does not render it meaningless, for within it there is complete knowledge of all its parts [early-sessions-3 §142].
3. All portions of the self exist simultaneously, and the entire inner self knows that these portions are part of its own identity [early-sessions-7 §331].
4. Because these selves exist simultaneously, consciousness may enter or form a particular image, undergo experience within a specific reality pattern, and then project into another image; it may also project into one of its own past-life identities [early-sessions-7 §331].
5. Seth preferred to call the reincarnated self the "simultaneous self" rather than a past life understood in linear time; in dreams, one may engage in extensive information exchange with other portions [personal-reality §668].

Based on the materials provided, this concept or related claims appear in the following books:

1. The Early Sessions Book 3, Session 142 (1965) — proposed that the self simultaneously contains past, future, and multiple selves [early-sessions-3 §142].

2. The Early Sessions Book 7, Session 331 (1967) — all portions of the self exist simultaneously [early-sessions-7 §331].

3. The Nature of Personal Reality, Session 668 (1973) — explicitly used the term "simultaneous self" and explained its relationship to reincarnation and dreams [personal-reality §668].

4. The Early Sessions Book 9, Session 430 (1968) — addressed multiple personality structures and simultaneity within a non-temporal sequence, though the term "simultaneous self" does not appear directly in the materials [early-sessions-9 §430].

5. Session 142 (1965) used expressions such as "simultaneous workings" and "simultaneous totality," emphasizing the simultaneity of actions, but did not directly use "simultaneous self" [early-sessions-3 §142].

6. Session 331 (1967) used the phrase "these portions of the self are all simultaneous" [early-sessions-7 §331].

7. Session 668 (1973) explicitly employed the term "simultaneous self" and used it to explain the self-portions involved in reincarnation and dreams [personal-reality §668].

8. Session 430 (1968) discussed the non-temporal nature of personality and the simultaneous existence of events, but the phrase "simultaneous self" does not appear in the materials [early-sessions-9 §430].

The materials from Session 933 in Dreams, Evolution and Value Fulfillment Vol 2 primarily contain Seth's discussions on violence, creativity, and physical health, without directly addressing the "simultaneous self" concept [dreams-evolution-2 §933].

2. What mechanism does he offer?

• All experience is, in essence, simultaneous; the self in the dream state is able to scan the entirety of its own experience, and is therefore a "simultaneous self" [early-sessions-5 §233]. What is called "having memory" in the dream self does not refer to recollection of the past, but to its scanning of its own total present existence [early-sessions-5 §233]. For the dream self, past, present, and future do not exist; it simply knows all its experience simultaneously [early-sessions-5 §233].

• The probable self can likewise be regarded as a kind of "simultaneous self" [early-sessions-5 §233]. The probable self has operated within every reincarnation and within the overall materialization of the personality, and therefore possesses millions of probable situations and conditions available for value judgment [early-sessions-5 §233].

• There is a continuous "give-and-take" relationship between the probable self and the dream self: the dream personality receives large amounts of data from the probable self, and this data is often woven by the dream self into dream dramas that convey information about the success or danger of probable events to the subconscious [early-sessions-5 §233]. Like the probable self, the subconscious is also aware of its existence within an inverted time system; it perceives many realities that the ego does not accept as actual physical events, and responds to stimuli of which the ego is entirely unaware [early-sessions-5 §233].

• The probable self does not decide "whether to turn a probable event into a physical event"; it merely transmits the data it has gained through experience. The information is filtered by the dream self before being passed to the subconscious, which makes its own value judgment and transmits it to the ego, and ultimately the ego makes the decision. In certain circumstances, the subconscious will make the decision in place of the ego; if the ego's decision is clearly unwise, the subconscious may even alter that decision [early-sessions-5 §233].

• The human nervous system determines how one perceives space and time. Time in fact exists at the "pulse crossing the nerve endings"; this is not a simultaneous process, so humans must experience time intervals, which makes past, present, and future appear convincing and logical [early-sessions-9 §426]. Many other personality structures do not have such intervals; they can perceive many events simultaneously, and their responses are nearly instantaneous. Their growth and challenges are expressed not in temporal achievements or development, but in intensities [early-sessions-9 §426].

3. Are there observable predictions or explicit forecasts (including time, quantity, conditions)?

The materials do not address this.

4. Where did he say science was wrong at the time, and in what direction should it look?

The materials do not address this.

5. What experiments or exercises did he suggest? What did Jane and Rob actually do and observe at the time?

Exercises suggested by Seth

• Seth once suggested a "walking on water" exercise: before sleep, imagine one's mind as an ocean, with oneself walking upon its surface, listening with the inner ear and watching with the inner eye, waiting for a figure to appear on the horizon, and letting that figure speak first. This exercise was to be performed at least thirty to thirty-five times before attempting any other projection exercises [early-sessions-9 §454].
• Seth also encouraged experimenting on one's own, calling it "homework," and said it could be used to train abilities [early-sessions-1 §12].

Experiments and observations actually made by Jane and Rob

• Following Seth's suggestion to "try different things," Jane once conducted a sitting experiment in the dark: spreading a black cloth, placing a red Christmas light, and laying a ring or metal badge upon the cloth, with the two sitting facing each other in silence for an hour. During this time, Jane reported that her hands and the metal objects sometimes seemed to disappear, but the experiment produced no notable results [early-sessions-1 §12].
• On the evening of January 10, 1964, Jane experienced a non-voluntary, self-induced trance state in a near-waking condition that lasted about three hours: she felt her body weightless and unable to exert force, yet her senses were unusually acute, and she could read fine print at a distance. She attempted to write, but the handwriting was small and slanted, and the written expression did not seem like her own [early-sessions-1 §14].
• While in trance, Jane recited a narrative about "Sarah Wellington" in England in 1748; Rob recorded it in the dark and found that his notes remained clearly legible in darkness [early-sessions-1 §12].
• Jane also tried crystal gazing (using a round glass bottle filled with water) without seeing any special images [early-sessions-1 §14].
• Jane and Rob regularly used a pendulum as an experimental tool [early-sessions-4 §153].
• In the early morning, in the state between sleep and waking, Jane once heard a slow, low male voice beside her ear say "twelve-o-five," and upon consulting the pendulum received the answer of "random telepathy." She also had an experience of standing in gray-white smoke, smelling smoke, and feeling slight panic, at which point the experience ended [early-sessions-4 §153].

6. What supplementary or contradictory concepts are given by other concepts in the corpus that relate to this concept?

Core statements regarding "simultaneity":

• The idea that "all these manifold selves exist simultaneously" contains no contradiction in its entirety; any law of physics that appears to make this idea incorrect is an illusion and leads to erroneous perception [early-sessions-5 §219].
• In the most basic sense, the self that you are now includes the self of past moments within this existence, a series of selves from past lives, and the countless selves you now are within various perceiving experiences unknown to the ego; your self is also your so-called future self [early-sessions-3 §142].
• All these portions of the self exist simultaneously [early-sessions-7 §331].
• All portions of the supraself operate within different systems, and all portions of course exist simultaneously; the supraself already exists in your terms of time, because all potentials have been actualized [early-sessions-7 §301].

Regarding "respective forms and operations":

• The many portions of the self assume visible forms within their own dimensions; each form carries specific identity characteristics, possesses its own environment, and its abilities enable it to operate within a specific dimension [early-sessions-7 §331].
• Because these selves exist simultaneously, it is possible for consciousness to enter (or indeed form) a particular form, undergo experience within the reality pattern peculiar to that form, and then project into another form; in all cases, it is consciousness that forms the form [early-sessions-7 §331].
• When you leave one form and enter another, you are indeed in a trance state; this also applies to forms other than the physical body [early-sessions-7 §331].

Regarding the integrative function of the inner self or supraself:

• The inner self serves as a relay station, a reference point, connecting the various seemingly disconnected selves; only through contact with the inner self can knowledge of the whole self be obtained. The inner self may be regarded as the core, the point of origination of all other emanations that form the whole self [early-sessions-3 §142].
• These seemingly separate projected selves are of course portions of the "one"; these experiences always become part of the whole inner self [early-sessions-7 §331].
• The whole self is not bound by any system; there is communication between the portions of the self [early-sessions-7 §301].
• The supraself is the overall identity of all those self-portions operating within different systems; it is very close to the entity and represents the highest potential in your terms of time [early-sessions-7 §301].

Regarding the relationship with the physical self:

• In dreams and other states of consciousness, the self can partially perceive what the ego alone ignores; the perceptions of self A (the physical self) are not in total confined to its physical field of existence [early-sessions-5 §219].
• Any true psychology must take into account all these levels of the self, for the physically oriented self as you know it is largely formed by the subjective self of which you know very little [early-sessions-7 §331].
• The ego is only a portion of one of the selves, not the whole of it; when the ego is no longer physically oriented, its consciousness will become aware of certain other realities [early-sessions-5 §219, early-sessions-7 §331].

7. Questions that have not yet been asked

1. Seth proposed that the dream self can scan its entire experience simultaneously; does this claim conflict in a testable manner with research on the temporal sequencing of default mode network activity or hippocampal reactivation during sleep (e.g., Wilson & McNaughton 1994)?
2. Could the hypothesis that the probable self transmits data to the dream self be tested for predictability using decision reaction time in lucid dreams or dual-task prospective memory experiments?
3. Seth argued that synaptic intervals in neural transmission shape time perception; can this be indirectly verified using temporal bisection tasks or simultaneity judgment experiments combined with magnetoencephalographic measurement of synaptic plasticity changes?
4. The "walking on water" exercise Seth suggested claims to require at least 30–35 repetitions; can a randomized controlled trial be designed to compare differences between those who complete the exercise and relaxation meditators on self-reported identity continuity or personality dissociation scales?
5. Seth emphasized that all portions of the self exist simultaneously and can be integrated through the inner self; does this view conflict with predictions of multiple-self models in neuroscience (e.g., Bregman 1994 or Seth 2009) on dimensions of self-focused attention or depersonalization?

Appendix: Claim List (for Phase C)

id	claim	type	source
simultaneous-self-1	The self is not a single thing but a series of simultaneous happenings, within which there is complete knowledge of all its parts.	ontological assertion	early-sessions-3 §142
simultaneous-self-2	All portions of the self exist simultaneously, and the entire inner self knows that these portions are part of its own identity.	ontological assertion	early-sessions-7 §331
simultaneous-self-3	The reincarnated self should be called the "simultaneous self," rather than a past life understood in linear time.	ontological assertion	personal-reality §668
simultaneous-self-4	The dream self is a simultaneous self that scans the entirety of its own experience; past, present, and future do not exist for it.	ontological assertion	early-sessions-5 §233
simultaneous-self-5	The probable self is likewise a simultaneous self, possessing millions of probable situations and conditions available for value judgment.	ontological assertion	early-sessions-5 §233
simultaneous-self-6	There is a continuous give-and-take relationship between the probable self and the dream self; probable data is woven into dream dramas by the dream self, then transmitted to the subconscious, and ultimately the decision is made by the ego.	mechanism description	early-sessions-5 §233
simultaneous-self-7	The human nervous system determines how one perceives space and time; time exists at the pulse crossing the nerve endings, producing the illusion of past, present, and future.	mechanism description	early-sessions-9 §426
simultaneous-self-8	Any law of physics that appears to make the simultaneous existence of selves incorrect is an illusion and leads to erroneous perception.	ontological assertion	early-sessions-5 §219
simultaneous-self-9	The inner self is a relay station and reference point connecting the various seemingly disconnected selves; only through contact with the inner self can knowledge of the whole self be obtained.	mechanism description	early-sessions-3 §142
simultaneous-self-10	The supraself is the overall identity of all self-portions operating within different systems, and all potentials have been actualized.	ontological assertion	early-sessions-7 §301
simultaneous-self-11	Because these selves exist simultaneously, consciousness can enter or form a particular form, undergo experience within it, and then project into another form.	mechanism description	early-sessions-7 §331
simultaneous-self-12	The perceptions of the physically oriented self (self A) are not in total confined to its physical field of existence.	ontological assertion	early-sessions-5 §219