The "Introduction" and "Key Points" of this chapter were summarized by an AI editor based on the main text below; they are not words spoken by Mike during the lecture. The main text comes from Mike's commentary, and the block quotes are Seth's original words (the parts Mike read aloud).
Introduction
In this chapter, Seth dictates a model of cosmic creation: the universe is not a finished product made once by an external God, but a continuous, spontaneous creation taking place everywhere at once; the systems are open to one another, the parts actively cooperate, and the very existence of the universe presupposes the existence of other universes. Creation springs from the divine subjectivity within each unit of consciousness, guided by benevolent intent. The latter part involves the cat Billy's illness and the identification with the weather, as well as Jane's emotional reaction to the topic of illness.
Key Points of This Chapter
- Both religion and science regard the universe as a finished product, and therefore both derive a single ending that moves from completion toward decline.
- The creation of the universe is continuous, spontaneous, and happening everywhere at the same time; it is not completed once and for all.
- The various parts of the universe actively cooperate, and systems are open to one another; the very existence of the universe presupposes the existence of other universes.
- The source of creation is the divine subjectivity within each unit of consciousness, and it is also the universe of dreams or the sacred psychological seedbed; it is both creator and creation, and it is guided by good intent.
- Billy the cat's illness came mainly from his emotional identification with the weather; Jane's and Rob's shared feelings about David's condition were only added coloring, not the cause.
Main Text
Weather, Cats, and Illness as an Opening
Monday, January 21, 19801, 9:15 p.m. Rob first gave a brief description of the situation: for this time of year, the weather was still quite mild, with daytime temperatures often not yet dropping below freezing, and the occasional snowflake melting as soon as it hit the ground.
This morning, Rob brought David home from the hospital. In the afternoon, he took the family cat, Billy, to see the vet. Billy is a tabby cat who has not been quite right since last Saturday -- his beautiful coat has lost its luster, and his temperature has reached as high as 105 degrees Fahrenheit, which is already very high, equivalent to over forty degrees Celsius. The vet gave him a shot and prescribed some medicine, but had no idea why Billy had fallen ill. Rob said, what role the injection and my strange cat's illness played between me and them and David's affairs -- that is indeed a thought we would not have had before the Seth material appeared. He had never before thought that a cat's illness and a friend's illness could have any connection. But the Seth material had started them thinking about things from this angle.
They also noticed that when Billy lost his appetite, his little companion Mitzi became -- in Jane's words -- "blindly rambunctious," just dashing about wildly, playing and running through the house and the hallway, as if in her own way trying to compensate for Billy's unusual lack of activity. Because Billy was uncomfortable and would not move, she alone stirred up all the liveliness that the two cats usually had together.
Rob said he hoped Seth would talk about why Billy had gotten sick. After dinner he mentioned this thought to Jane. Jane replied that she would rather take it slowly and not deliberately ask Seth these questions. She had become very relaxed and did not want to get involved in things that might interfere with this increasingly comfortable state of hers. She did not want to ask Seth about everything, did not want to delve into these questions, to explore the relationship between the cat's life and David.
In fact, Jane only hoped that he could still hold the session. She had been worrying about David's illness, worrying about the state of the world, worrying about human frailty, worrying about Billy and herself, and had to work very hard to change her train of thought. She is a person with a lot on her mind, always worried about many things, including her own body and the state of the world. Now that she had finally managed to relax, she did not want to delve into these questions again.
However, Jane knew that if he held a session tonight, the Seth material would be the dictation for this book. So when she was washing the dishes that evening, she got this news from Seth. And then Seth came through.
The Universe Is Not a Finished Product
Seth began by saying directly: dictation.
Once again, your world was not created by some externalized, objectified God from outside the universe, but rather set into operation.
For example, many religious theorists believe there is such a God who created the world in such a way, and the process of corruption began almost at the same hypothetical time that the creation ended. Religion holds that once God created the world, the world immediately began to corrupt -- devils and demons began to appear, human beings began to turn bad, and then there was original sin, and then punishment. Many people joke: since God is all-powerful, why didn't he create a good world, why create flawed human beings? We won't discuss that. Interestingly, religion believes that from the moment God finished creating this world, he was dissatisfied, including being extremely dissatisfied with the people he created, with all kinds of punishments, the great flood, and so on.
Such concepts are very similar to some scientific concepts. Scientists also often think this way, except they approach it from a scientific angle. Scientists believe the universe is in decline, its energy dissipating, order gradually disintegrating into chaos. This is the view of the first law of thermodynamics, the process of entropy increase2. Because as the universe expands, no matter how great the energy, in an infinitely expanding universe it will all be exhausted. An infinite amount of energy in an infinite universe will ultimately tend toward zero. After tending toward zero, according to scientists' deductions, this universe will become utterly still and silent, the overall temperature of the universe will drop to minus 273 degrees, absolute zero3, and all matter will stop moving. Because energy tends toward zero, even the movement of atoms has no energy left, and movement also requires energy. According to scientists' deductions, this is the inevitable end of the universe's development: everything disperses into chaos, from order to gradually becoming disorder.
Yet the appearance of human beings brought about a strange change in all of this. It seems that within the scope of our cognition, our universe has not been increasingly dissolving into disorder, but rather becoming more and more orderly, more and more precise.
Both versions sound like a finished creation, though one is a divine artifact, while the other is merely an accidental result through chance events.
Whether religion or science, both regard the creation of the world as a finished product. Since it is a finished product, from the day it was completed, there is only one outcome -- from the most complete state it begins to decline. If you regard it as a finished product, the outcome must be this. Science and religion are no different on this point, only their viewpoints differ.
Continuous Creation
But overall, although I must explain it in serial terms, what we are talking about is a constant, ongoing creation.
Seth says, although I have to explain to you how the universe originated from a chronological, beginning-to-end perspective, let us set aside for now the simultaneity of time, the absence of the concept of time, and speak according to your human terms. What I want to tell you is this: the creation of this universe and the birth of the universe is a continuous, ongoing process.
We are discussing a model of the universe in which creation is continuous, ongoing, spontaneous, and happening everywhere at once.
Seth says he is talking about a model of creation, a model of the creation of the universe. This model creates spontaneously, continuously, and simultaneously at every point and in every place. These points are important. The universe is not something that was born at some time and passed at some time; it is at every present moment—at this very instant while we are speaking—being born and being created at every point in every world. It is new at every moment, and it is in creation at every moment.
Within a kind of "spacious present"—the spacious present is just a term Seth often uses to describe the present moment—all of our experience of time emerges from within it. All of our concepts of time come from this experience of the spacious present.
In this model, there is always new energy.
Because this energy does not come from our dimension—the energy of our dimension always comes from other dimensions—so energy is endlessly flowing. Therefore our universe does not appear, as scientists say, to be heading toward stillness and decline. All systems are open systems—open meaning interconnected. All systems mutually influence and mutually connect with one another. Even though they may appear to be operating separately, as if each is running on its own, in essence they are all operating within one whole.
Again, this model is also based on the active cooperation of each of its parts.
This "active" is the key. The model of the entire universe is also built on the premise that each of its parts—whether the largest part or the smallest part, whether atoms or planets—actively cooperate with one another. Active means they are willing to cooperate; no one forces them, no cosmic law governs them, there are no rules and principles they must follow. They actively want to cooperate, they actively want to cooperate with one another.
Those parts in some way also participate in the overall experience... This cooperation itself is the interaction itself, and it also completes and forms the overall experience of the creation of the entire universe.
In such a model of the universe, changes in form are the result of creative synthesis. Whether it is changes in galaxies, changes in planets, changes in things, changes in society, changes between people—all these changes and alterations in form are based on creative synthesis, creative unification, creative integration.
Sacred Subjectivity
So what exactly is the source of this model? Seth says:
The source of this model is understood to come from a vast, boundless, sacred subjectivity, a subjectivity within every unit of consciousness, regardless of the level of that unit.
This subjectivity is not hidden outside the universe, nor does it reside in some great god above. This sacred, boundless, infinite capacity of the universe exists within the tiniest, most basic units of consciousness in the universe, spread throughout every corner of the universe, present at every single point. Whether that unit is at the level of consciousness like us humans, or at the level of atomic consciousness, it possesses this same sacred subjectivity. It is not that only a very high higher self would have it, or that only All That Is has it -- even the smallest, smallest instance has it.
And there was then a subjective sacredness within creation itself, a multidimensional creativity so great that it was itself the creator and its creations.
"Then" here refers to within that spacious present, within all time. This creativity itself is a vast, multidimensional creativity; it is not single-dimensional. This multidimensionality refers not only to spatial dimensions, but certainly also to dimensions of consciousness. Only when you are multidimensional in consciousness can you grasp the concept that "the creation and the creator are themselves one."
Seth paused for a moment, then continued:
This sacred psychological process -- and here, process may not be the best word -- this sacred psychological state of mutual interrelation, existing by themselves, formed world after world without end.
He switched to a different phrase, calling it "a state of psychological mutual interrelation." He is once again trying to explain the origin of the universe in different language -- remember, he is simply explaining the content of the previous chapters to you using different words. All things are psychologically related to one another; in this state of mutual interconnection, while also trusting in its own existence -- it is within such a state that world after world came into being. Every point of the universe, every consciousness great or small, in its own form of existence, creativity, and mutability, understands and responds to one another; within this mutually integrated whole, our universe was born.
The Multiverse
Your universe is not the only universe -- be sure to remember this. When we talk about the birth of the universe here, it sounds as if we are talking about the birth of this one universe, because there is no other way; if the birth of one universe cannot even be explained clearly, then there is no point even mentioning the multiverse. But in fact, what Seth has always been trying to tell you is this: the birth of the universe must necessarily be a multiverse.
In nature nothing exists in isolation, and in those terms, the very existence of your universe presupposes the existence of other universes.
We all know that in nature nothing exists in isolation, and that all things are interconnected. Through such a basic, plain common sense we can know: the existence of this universe itself -- the very existence we can now perceive -- implies that other universes must exist. Because all things are interconnected, the existence of this universe means that other universes must exist.
These universes were, are, and will be created in the same manner that I have explained. And again, all of these systems are open, and all are inwardly connected, though operationally they may not appear to be so.
These multiverses, these parallel universes, seem as if each one is closed off on its own, each universe a self-contained system. But inwardly they are truly open to one another, and they are connected. We generally cannot see it; the things that happen in our world actually all have deeper causes, or causes coming from other dimensions. But we cannot feel it; we feel that everything in this world can be explained, that everything has its cause and effect and its principles, that reasons can be given for everything -- but in fact this is not so.
Again, there are truly infinite, endless sequences of events that have been set in motion, and these make the existence of your own world possible.
Indeed, the emergence of our physical world is supported at the bottom by countless, unerring sequences of other universes, and it is only because of this that the physical universe we perceive today has come about. The existence we feel today is not accidental. He is telling you that this is not like something accidental, but rather the result of a series of unerring, precise sequential events.
Probability Cannot Produce the Human Body
I admit that sometimes I cannot imagine how a person can imagine that his world is meaningless.
Seth said he truly cannot understand how anyone could look at the world this way -- believing that the human world is meaningless, that it is all the result of chance probability. Because the very existence of a person's own body involves an almost unbelievable cooperation of molecules and cells:
That is something that even through all probabilities, the richest result of the most perfect combination of functions, could not possibly produce.
What he means is, even if you won the lottery a hundred million times in a row, you still could not produce something as exquisitely organized as the human body. If scientists tell you that all of this was brought about by a series of probabilities, which ultimately led to the emergence of a species such as human beings -- Seth said, just take a human being apart and analyze it. Look at how its cells, its molecules, and its atoms operate. If you truly understood how the human body works, you would understand one principle: this could never be the result of coincidence or probability. This is never about lifeless matter in nature combining at random, or survival of the fittest through natural selection, that final crowning jewel of evolutionary theory. This is impossible -- even if you combined all the best probabilities together, it still could not be achieved.
The Dream Universe and the Seedbed
In any case, Jane's delivery for Seth today was not his fastest. Although Seth's personality energy elements were very warm, and he ended the passage above with no small amount of humor, Jane's pace had now slowed, with many pauses. Actually, Seth was quite spirited, but Jane's state was not good—she was too relaxed.
In a manner of speaking, your universe and other universes all leap forth from a dimension that is the creative source of all realities, the source of all universes—a basic dream universe, so to speak, a sacred psychological seedbed.
A seedbed is the bed where seedlings, tree saplings, and flower sprouts are cultivated. In that subjective existence, ignited by its own infinite desire to create—on that psychological seedbed, within that dream universe, subjective existence is the core. Note, he deliberately emphasizes that it is subjective existence, not objective existence. Subjective means it is conscious, with its own agency, intentions, desires, goals, and ideas. The universe began precisely from these subjective existences, ignited by their own infinite desire to create, illuminated, stimulated, penetrated, and then their creativity burst forth with such force that their imaginings became worlds.
And he was endowed with such a brilliant creativity that he sought the most exquisite fulfillment, because even his most minute thought and all of his potentials were guided by a benevolent intent truly beyond all imagination.
Every point in the entire universe is the most exquisite fulfillment, precisely because its smallest unit of thought and its smallest unit of matter all possess their potential, their full potential. Full potential is infinite desire and infinite power—when infinite power is combined with infinite desire, it creates our infinite universe. And what drives these desires and these potentials? They are guided by a benevolent intent truly beyond all imagination. So these creations are not destruction; they are creation. Although sometimes it may look to you like destruction—such as wars, disasters, geological changes—you may see them as calamities, as destruction, but their essence, their inner nature, is always guided by a benevolent intent. From the most minute object to the largest universe, to the starry seas, it is all like this.
Good Intent
That good intent is very evident in your world, quite evident, that good intent beneath all matter, in the cooperative adventure that unites the mineral, plant, and animal kingdoms, in the relationship of the bee to the flower, is very evident.
Many people say, how come I cannot see this good intent? A long, long time ago, someone in a QQ group asked a similar question: You say this world is neutral, I accept that; you say this world is good, I do not accept that, because I cannot see any good side to the world. Actually, the world's good intent is reflected in every aspect, only we have not noticed it.
For example, the relationship of the bee to the flower. You say the bee just wants to gather nectar from the flower, it wants to get honey -- that is humanity's understanding of the bee and the flower. Why have you never thought that the bee is pollinating the flower? You say pollination is only for the sake of its own desire to gather nectar, pollinating along the way -- how can you know that pollination is not its main purpose, and gathering nectar is only the by-product?
Yet we humans believe the opposite: we think they are not cooperating, that they are all out for themselves. The bee goes to the flower to gather nectar, accidentally gets pollen on its legs, and when it finishes with this flower and goes to the next one, it pollinates it along the way -- that is humanity's understanding of the bee gathering nectar. Because you do not want to, are not willing to, and have not seen the cooperativeness among all things. You see them all as selfish, competing for nature's resources for the propagation of their own species, and you do not see the good, well-intentioned intent beneath them.
You have turned a blind eye to your own human cooperative nature, to the human being's innate desire to benefit his fellows, his desire to take care of others, and his natural tendency toward altruistic behavior.
When Seth said these words, he spoke with a tone that was earnest yet gentle, with gentle emphasis. This kind of affection among human beings of the same kind -- seeing a fellow creature suffer and wanting to help, this innate, heartfelt goodness -- is this not the most basic expression of good intent? Yet why do you turn a blind eye to it? Even the smallest infant knows that upon seeing a fellow creature suffer, he wants to help; this is very normal.
But we will discuss these matters later in this book.
Why do you humans turn a blind eye to good intent as a basic expression in human behavior? Then Seth took a break.
Conversation During the Break
At this point we took a break, at 9:50. When Jane came out of the trance state, she was very relaxed. Rob did not mention that she had had many long pauses in the middle -- in the last passage alone, she had taken a full three minutes. Her head swayed slightly, and her eyelids fluttered.
Jane said: Again, I really shouldn't have taken a break -- this was my worst one. She said she wanted to get back to the state where she could go for two hours straight in a session, and didn't want to end it so soon. While Rob was writing his notes, she sat quietly. Of course, by "worst" she meant she was too relaxed. Rob told her she didn't necessarily have to continue the session. Jane said: I'm so relaxed, I don't know if I can go back.
Cats and the Meaning of Illness
Then the following session is not directly related to this book, and Seth placed it in the notes. Seth came back at 9:59 and said: The dictation for this session is over. Then what follows all concerns the relationship between the cat and David's illness.
Now life either has meaning or it does not. It cannot sometimes have meaning and sometimes not. Or human life has meaning while the life of other species does not. But meaning is not always obvious, because when we discuss it, we are of course discussing it from a human viewpoint.
What this refers to is our view of all things -- apart from humans, our view of other species. For example, cats. We humans tend to feel as though only human life has meaning, or sometimes we even feel that human life has no meaning either. Seth says this idea is very strange: you sometimes feel that life has meaning, and sometimes feel that it does not. Can you have a precise statement about it? If this life has meaning, then it has meaning; if it has no meaning, then it has no meaning. You cannot say that sometimes it has meaning and sometimes it does not, and then sometimes say that we must give it meaning, as though without giving it meaning it would have none. The same goes for other species -- as though only human life has meaning, and the life of other species has no meaning.
He says this is wrong. Because when you discuss the word "meaning," you always discuss what meaning is from a human viewpoint, and never consider it from the perspective of other species. You only speak from the human angle, saying this has meaning or that has meaning.
Seth gives an example: why did David become ill? He says he has discussed this before -- in the previous two sessions, Sessions 895 and 896 -- and it involved several levels:
But meaning often falls into categories that are almost impossible to describe.
Regarding suffering and illness, Seth said a great deal in those two sessions. But meaning itself often falls into a category that cannot be described. It is very hard for you to define what meaning his illness or his life has, because from your angle, as an observer, it is very hard to speak of the meaning of another being's existence. You can only speak of your own meaning -- when you go to evaluate the meaning of another's existence, you are not him, so it is very hard for you to understand his meaning. So Seth says this is a category that is very hard to describe.
Why the Cat Got Sick
Seth then went on to talk about the cat:
In a strange way, your cat does react to the weather, not so much that he reacts too strongly, but rather his emotional interpretation of and identification with the weather. His interpretation of the weather carries a sense of identification, and in a manner of speaking, he becomes part of the weather.
Why? Because animals' perception of the natural world always contains a sense of oneness within it, something humans do not have. Animals are born with this ability; they have always been merged with nature. So the cat's identification with the weather -- the weather becomes part of him, and he is also open to the weather. "Open" means they interact with each other: he influences the weather, and the weather influences him. If you put it in your human terms, you could say the cat became depressed. Why did Billy get sick? Because he became depressed -- because the weather was changing. But remember, the cat does not think of it that way; the cat simply feels that he has become part of the weather. For that cat, this is an experience.
There were also additional hints, in that they picked up -- in that the cat picked up your shared feelings about your friend David. But that was not the cause, merely an added coloring.
Both of you were worried about David's illness, and this affected the cat, but it was not the main cause of the cat's sickness; it was merely an added coloring to the cat's emotions.
The interaction between weather conditions and animal behavior is seldom understood.
Humans have never understood the relationship between animals and the weather. For example, your other cat reacts to the weather in the opposite way, actively offering its own extra stimulation. The other kitty's reaction to the weather is different from Billy's -- not all animals, even within the same species, react to the weather in the same way.
Someday I will say more on this. For now, good evening to you both.
He ended it just like that, all of a sudden.
Jane's Emotions
Then Jane began to speak. Rob asked her: I thought you didn't want Seth to say anything about Billy tonight. Rob said, before the session you said not to ask Seth about the cat, not to ask about Billy's illness, so why did you add a passage about Billy at the end of the delivery? Rob meant: if you weren't thinking about this in your mind, or if you weren't focusing on it, Seth shouldn't have brought up Billy on his own. Since Seth mentioned it, that means you were focusing on it in your mind. You said earlier you weren't going to worry about him, that you'd take it slowly, so why were you focusing on it again?
Jane said: it was my fault, that was material carrying very strong emotion. I really shouldn't have focused on this; I should have delivered the course material, but the emotion was indeed very strong. The cat's illness, and David's illness too. She said Seth had originally wanted to say more about illness, and for me it was still quite stirring — he had wanted to say more about the relationship between the cat's illness and David.
Rob said, I think his physical difficulties must have played a strong role here — Jane's body was already not well, and once illness came up, she was certainly excited and wanted to hear Seth's views on illness. Although Jane didn't put it that way herself.
Jane said quietly: this matter made me very angry. Because during the break, I felt that he was already fully prepared to go deep into Billy's situation, and I began to feel somewhat conflicted inside. I didn't tell you — Rob, I didn't tell you. Then I said to myself: Seth, just go ahead and talk, talk as much as you want. What she meant was that during the break she sensed Seth was already prepared to talk about Billy, and she began to feel conflicted inside: should she continue the session on the origins of the universe, or talk about the cat? Then she felt Seth was already ready, and in her mind she said to Seth: Seth, just go ahead and speak.
So why didn't Jane say the cat would be all right? The point she was worried about, the point of anxiety, was: why didn't Seth say your cat would be all right? She was actually worried, which meant the cat probably wouldn't be all right — this was a dread inside Jane, and fear came.
In answering another question, her emotional agitation involved the death of the original cat, Billy the First, in February 1979. If people who listen to the Seth sessions know, that cat was one they adopted from a shelter, and after three years it died. After it died they grieved for a long time, and then they went and adopted two other kittens — the current Billy and Mitzi. So before the current Billy there was another Billy, who died in February of '79. Now it was January 1980, not even a year later. Billy the First had been the predecessor of the current Billy, and the current Billy was very similar to the original Billy in appearance and temperament.
Jane said: I really can't stand myself. I really wish we had named this cat Willy instead of Billy. But I know that's all superstitious nonsense — the first cat named Billy died, so this cat named Billy won't have a good outcome either. That's superstition, because Willy lived a very long time — they had a cat named Willy before, who lived more than ten years. How nice it would have been to call him Willy; why did we still name him Billy? Jane said she hated herself.
Just at the end, Rob heard Mitzi still playing in the kitchen with the paper ball he had tied up for her. Their cellar door was open, and Mitzi repeatedly knocked the paper ball down the cellar steps, chased it down, brought it back up the steps, and then kicked it down again. It seemed she still had to perform for her companion, to make up for Billy's absence. Meanwhile, Billy, in the midst of recovering, was dozing on a comfortable chair in the living room, while Mitzi kept fussing about.
In this you can see that their emotions about the cat, and about their own bodies, influenced the content that followed. Seth had actually been prepared to say more, but they didn't go further either. Seth saw the signs were not good and quickly put on the brakes — because Jane's emotions were already very bad, and any question of life and death, any question of health, was a sensitive state for her at the moment. So Seth stopped abruptly, didn't continue, and said we'd talk about it later. He was very smart, knowing when to say what.
注释与核实
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Source: Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, San Diego, "1980 Day-of-Year Calendar" (https://igppweb.ucsd.edu/~agnew/Cals/cal2.doy.1980.pdf) ↩
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This claim could not be verified. ↩
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According to Mike's original words, "the temperature of the universe as a whole will drop to minus 273 degrees, that is, absolute zero"; upon verification, it should be "absolute zero is −273.15°C (0 K); the temperature of the universe can at most approach this limit and cannot truly reach absolute zero." (Source: National Institute of Standards and Technology, "About Cryogenics," https://www.nist.gov/mml/acmd/cryogenic-technologies-project/about-cryogenics) ↩