Mike's commentary · The "Unknown" Reality, Chapter 696

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 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 begins with Jane's past story with her mother about ghosts, then moves into an explanation of the blueprints of probability systems. The chapter explains that every probability system, individual, and humanity as a whole has an inner blueprint; the blueprint is a living, changeable construction plan, existing at the biological level and at all levels, but it is not equivalent to a Platonic perfect archetype. The inner world and the outer world participate in and adjust each other, and artists also participate in the creation of archetypes. Finally, it discusses that human beings have both an earthly component and a divine component, and that ideals are placed into the framework of time by the entity as indicators.

Key Points of This Chapter

• Each probability system has its own blueprint, defining freedom and boundaries, and is constantly changed and expanded by the actions within the system.
• Both the individual and humanity as a whole hold inner construction plans; the blueprints exist on the biological level and on other levels, and the needed data is woven into genes and chromosomes, yet exists separately from the physical carriers.
• The inner blueprint is not a Platonic perfect form, but something living and modifiable; the inner world and the outer world flow into each other and jointly participate in creation.
• Within the human being there is both an earthly component and a divine component; human ideals, impulses, and highest aspirations are signposts placed by the entity into the framework of time.
• Only by humanizing the concept of divinity and accepting a complete yet imperfect humanity can the original blueprint be changed and the potentials of the individual and the species be seen.

Main Text

Jane and Her Mother's Past

Jane's mother, Marie, when Jane was young, very seriously and frequently warned her: "When I die, I will come back and haunt you." You see, there is no mother like this, cursing her own daughter -- "Even if I become a fierce ghost, I won't let you off." In those days, Marie was only around thirty years old, but arthritis had already made it difficult for her to move around.

In a 1964 session, Seth said that Ruburt's birth was the source of her arthritic pain. If Ruburt's mother could have started over, she would not have wanted this child -- would not have wanted Ruburt, and therefore would not have wanted Jane. And this child hidden within the adult, even after growing up -- even now that Jane was in her forties -- his mother would still want to force that child back into the womb, refusing to give birth to him.

Tonight, when Jane spoke of that rigid, heavy concept of the dead returning, she still had a strong emotional reaction. Yet, although Seth has so far rarely talked about ghosts, hauntings, and possession, Jane's early family experiences did not seem to have set up any barriers in him against such topics. Seth occasionally had a few sessions specifically about ghosts, but in his descriptions, a ghost is also a very pitiable state of spirit, worthy of sympathy, and not all that frightening.

Jane said that Seth simply had not yet gotten around to talking about ghosts; when he did, they might become another wonderful book. Why did he feel it was not that important? Because from Seth's perspective, there is nothing much to discuss -- every one of us is a ghost. If you figure out human beings, you figure out ghosts; if you cannot even figure out human beings, you cannot figure out ghosts either.

This is very much like what Confucius said. Zilu asked Confucius how to deal with ghosts and spirits, and Confucius said: "If you do not yet understand people, how can you understand ghosts and spirits¹?" You have not even figured out human beings yet, so why talk about ghosts? Zilu, still not giving up, then asked what death is all about, and Confucius said: "If you do not understand life, how can you understand death²?" If you have not even figured out life, how can you understand death? It seems that many people think Confucius was unwilling to discuss this topic and was evading it, but that is not actually the case. He and Seth have many striking parallels. Including in the Tao Te Ching³ and in many of the finest classical Chinese discourses, they do not talk about ghosts. It is not that ghosts do not exist -- they do exist, but they are not essentially different from human beings, because human beings are also essentially a spiritual existence, an existence as a conscious body. The only difference between you and a ghost is this: you have an energy body.

Let me give a vivid example: the transformation of energy. We know that energy in this world can be transformed from one form to another -- one kind of energy can become another kind of energy. Electrical energy can become thermal energy and light energy; can light energy also become electrical energy? Solar power generation is light energy becoming electrical energy; wind energy can also become electrical energy. When electricity makes a radio produce sound or makes images appear on a television screen, that energy may come from wind, from burning coal or oil and natural gas, from a nuclear power plant, or from sunlight striking solar panels to produce electricity. In the universe, the transformation of energy is a normal state of affairs.

So can we, as human beings who are energy bodies, also transform? Of course we can. What should we think of death as? What should we think of ghosts as? Think of them as another kind of energy body of ours. Our existence as a human being is one form of energy; after death, we are another kind of energy body. This existence, or subject, is always there -- it is just that this kind of energy body, from the perspective of our senses or perception, cannot be perceived without the aid of certain equipment. Just as without a cell phone, without a baseband chip, you cannot connect to a cell tower through your phone. It is the same with human beings -- when you die, your energy transforms into another form, a state you cannot currently perceive. It is like water turning into water vapor, floating in the air and becoming invisible, but it is still water; its nature has not changed.

Blueprints for Systems of Probability

We continue with the dictation. Seth says:

Every system of probability has its own set of blueprints, clearly defining freedom and its limits, and showing the best possible structures that can be completed.

The earlier part of this book has been discussing the basic properties of probability systems, so I won't repeat that. Probability has another property: it has certain limits, a certain degree of freedom, and its own blueprint. It doesn't develop however it pleases; the possibilities for development are infinite, but they are constrained by the system of that probability. Each probability is a separate system, or a reality space. Within that reality, within that probability, there are limits.

For example, within the limits of the probability of our Earth, you cannot fly. But this limit depends on your cognition, your conscious self-cognition. Can your consciousness fly? Not only can it fly, your consciousness can also move instantaneously, in a way faster than the speed of light. But why can't my body fly? This is a typical question: within this probability of ours, your physical body is affected by gravity in this probability system, which is why it cannot fly. When one day you can transcend this system, or when you can perceive from a higher dimension at the level of consciousness, without being confined to the dimension of this probable reality, you will be able to solve this problem. In that dimension you can fly, but in this dimension you cannot.

Seth says that these inner blueprints are not perfect inner images — it is not that we have a perfect kingdom or a perfect image within, and then through projection we cast it into the outer world. That is not how it works. Why? Because that blueprint is alive, it is living, not a dead, perfect thing. And to a certain degree, these blueprints themselves will change.

Here you must remember: it is not that all blueprints will change. If you have not reached that degree, won't the blueprint not change? In Liao-Fan's Four Lessons⁴, Mr. Yuan reached that degree, and only then could he change; before reaching that degree, he developed entirely according to the blueprint. The fortune teller's predictions for him were absolutely accurate — he even calculated exactly how much grain he would eat, to the last measure, so he followed that blueprint. Why was he later able to change his fate? Because he reached a certain degree — what degree? His inner self also needed to change. Look at his introduction: inwardly he was already utterly weary of life. He was manipulated by others, living like a puppet, and for him it was actually lifeless, so inwardly there was a desire for change. He just didn't understand it. If he truly had no thoughts about it at all, why would he go visit that famous Chan master Yungu? What was the purpose of his visit? He still wanted to ask what his life was really like.

Because action within any given system of probability automatically alters the entire picture.

In any probability we have action, and action brings more possibilities, which changes the entire picture; the entire blueprint changes because of your actions. Earlier we have been discussing another property of probability systems: events within probability are mutually influencing and mutually dependent. Any action you take in one probability system will subtly influence other events in other probabilities; and those other events in other probabilities will in turn change, and in turn influence subsequent events in this probability of yours. This mutual influence is like the jeweled net spoken of in Buddhism — Indra's net. The images on every jewel reflect one another; when the image on any one jewel changes, it affects the other jewels. He uses that image to show you the endlessly shifting relationships in all of this.

That blueprint is constantly changing, and also expanding; it not only changes but expands it, augmenting it. This blueprint is in fact more like you, more like an inner construction plan that can change along with remembrance.

If you describe it as a construction plan, then the construction plan certainly cannot be rigid; it must change according to the actual environment and the actual conditions encountered during construction. For example, if you want to build a dam, a reservoir, or construct a city, these are all your inner blueprints. But during construction you will encounter all kinds of problems and have to make various changes.

To a certain degree, they are a realization of an idea.

It is not a realization as precise as an engineering drawing; it is more like the realization of an idea. I want to make something; after it is done, is it exactly the same as your plan? Not necessarily — it may even become much larger — but the core idea is the same.

Your Personal Inner Blueprint

As each individual, you also carry within you such a blueprint:

You have your own ideal, and you develop according to this ideal. It contains the best version of yourself brought forth from within the probable systems you know, and all the material you need.

Within your system of probabilities, all the material needed for the best version of yourself is contained in this blueprint. This blueprint is larger than what you are finally able to manifest—it has to be larger, because if it were not large enough, it could not encompass all your probabilities. If your inner blueprint were only for building a chicken coop, you could never build a skyscraper from it; if your blueprint is for building a hundred-story skyscraper, then in the end you might build sixty stories or eighty stories—that is all right. I use this example so you understand: within your inner blueprint there is a best version, and your blueprint is always better than what you have achieved or imagined, and it contains all the materials for you to achieve your best. Do not say you cannot do it or that the conditions are lacking—all the conditions are there. The possibility of your achieving your best has all been prepared for you.

Blueprints Exist at Every Level

Seth continues:

These blueprints exist on the biological level, and they exist on every level.

This blueprint does not only exist on the mental level—you have an ideal in your mind, a grand aspiration, but it is not that simple. It also exists on the biological level; your cells, DNA, and chromosomes have all made preparations for it.

If I want to become an athlete, I carry the latent genes of an athlete, but they may or may not be expressed. That blueprint is prepared for you—if you want to actualize the life possibility of becoming an athlete, you can bring it to its fullest expression. In the genes of your body's cells, you possess the genetic reserves to become the finest athlete. If you did not have it biologically, you could not become that athlete. I use the athlete as an extreme example, but the same applies to everything else. Take a musician, for example—the dexterity of the fingers, the keenness, the auditory acuity surpassing ordinary people, the grasp of melody; or a painter's feel for the hand.

Many painters, especially some traditional Chinese painters, make you feel it is a pleasure just to watch them paint. Standing there, they embody a certain qi; one stroke down and it basically becomes the main contour line of the figure, the brush moving as if guided by spirit, and the exquisite curve of that single stroke leaves you full of admiration after it is done. How did he manage to paint that?

Speaking of art, many artists fall into two broad categories. What are top-tier artists like? For example, Teacher Cao Chi, whom we visited in Guangzhou this time, works in porcelain panel painting and also paints healing paintings. Right now he is devoted to creating these paintings that heal through imagery, and his paintings have a very strong healing effect. Many people on site shed tears when they saw his paintings. One painting he just completed is called "Spirits of the Ancient Past"⁵, and it took him a full 36 hours⁶—it happened that Guangzhou was under pandemic restrictions, so he stayed home and painted every day, sleeping only 7 hours⁷, painting day and night without stopping. In the finished painting, dense layers of ancient living beings are superimposed on one another, each one as if alive, each one possessing life and dimensionality, and yet their overlapping creates an extraordinarily magical sense of depth. If you gaze at the details of the painting for a long time, you can see the life force present in each small living being, and after looking long enough, your consciousness gets drawn into the painting itself.

In Teacher Cao Chi's words, these paintings are not created by him; rather, the painting already exists in his mind, already appears on the canvas, and he merely paints it out. What he needs to test is only his physical stamina and his ability to render it. The most remarkable thing is that Teacher Cao Chi never studied systematically the way one would at an art academy—he began painting at age six, but he never graduated from or studied at a professional art academy. Frontline artists of this caliber all possess this ability: they have the painting in their mind. When he paints, it is like practicing qigong—he draws up a stream of qi as he paints, and that qi cannot be allowed to dissipate; if it leaks, he can no longer paint.

He also paints porcelain panels. Porcelain panel painting is done on unfired porcelain—once you paint on porcelain, you cannot make corrections; not a single stroke can go wrong, because a wrong stroke ruins the piece. It is all done in one continuous flow, often for seven or eight hours straight or even longer, and yet he can go through the entire process without a single mistaken stroke. How do you explain his never making a single wrong stroke? He himself cannot say. If you have seen Tibetans painting thangkas or mandalas, four monks painting one picture simultaneously from four directions⁸, crouching on the ground using powdered pigments and painting at the same time, the final result is utterly seamless—even more beautiful than what one person could produce alone. How do they do it? These things are very difficult to explain from a scientific standpoint.

Seth continues, saying that this blueprint exists on the biological level, and it also exists on every level—the psychic level, the spiritual level, and the mental level. What are the differences among these three? To put it simply, the psychic level refers to your inner present-moment perception, your present self-awareness, and your emotional state; the spiritual level refers to your connection with your higher self, the universe, and all things; the mental level refers to your belief system, your cognition, and the worldview and outlook on life you ultimately form.

Teacher Xiyu has a dedicated elaboration on the interpretation of these levels, so I will not expand on it further here.

Genes and Chromosomes Are Only Carriers

Then:

This material, then, was woven into the genes and chromosomes.

Interesting. You have to understand what is being said here. First of all, biologically there is a preparation, and ultimately we have to express it through the physical form of the person, through the body. Every person seems to be born with a different personality; even twins sometimes have different personalities. Where exactly this personality comes from, humanity has not yet fully figured out. The result of scientists' research is roughly that 45% of personality may have some relation to the parents⁹, and the remaining 55% of personality comes from who knows where¹⁰. But how can personality be spoken of in terms of percentages? They are mixed together; you cannot say what percentage of this person's worldview is the same as that person's. It cannot be quantified.

What material? It is the blueprint—all the material needed to fulfill the best version of yourself. This material was woven into your genes and chromosomes. Your DNA contains all the physical conditions for you to become the best you. You already have it all; it is in your DNA.

But "an existence apart from it"—it is placed in the chromosomes, but it is not an attribute or inherent property of the chromosomes. The role of the chromosomes is like a carrier, like a hard drive in a computer, like storage space. The physical structure only represents a carrying tool for the material—the information is not the hard drive; it is just that the hard drive stores such information. The purpose of saying it this way is to keep you from thinking that your attributes are determined by material DNA and chromosomes. The information in DNA and chromosomes is all external; it is determined by your inner blueprint.

The Inner Blueprint of Humanity as a Whole

In the same way:

Humanity as a whole, within its vast inner psyche, also preserves this kind of blueprint.

Humanity also has such a blueprint within, and it is according to this blueprint that humanity develops into its best self, its best human state. These blueprints are separate from the physical world and exist in an inner world.

From this inner blueprint, you draw forth those doctrines, concepts, civilizations, and technologies, and then convert them into physical form.

You first have this blueprint of the inner world, and then this blueprint constructs an inner world. Constructing this inner world requires you to draw forth doctrines and concepts from real life, from the era and social civilization you are in—right now we are drawing forth the Seth material of our era. Is it not a doctrine? Is it not transmitting to us certain concepts, civilizations, and technologies? Then we convert them into physical form and display them. Through such a physical presentation, humanity is brought to a better state, until it finally reaches the state of the ideal blueprint it ultimately wants.

Critique of the Platonic Idea of Perfection

He says Platonic thought treats this inner world as perfect, and that is wrong. Plato wrote something like the Republic and all that. Perfection as you conceive of it always implies something already finished, completed, or unable to be surpassed. You think of perfection as dead -- everything is already at its best, with no room for progress, and this denies creativity's innate quality of always wanting to surpass itself.

Creativity has a characteristic: it always surpasses itself, just like the Olympic motto "higher, faster, stronger," which expresses humanity's constant challenge to and transcendence of itself. So this sentence also hints at our nature -- human nature is always to surpass ourselves. Therefore, do not think there is some perfect blueprint sitting out there.

A Platonic idealized inner world would ultimately become a lifeless world.

The externalized patterns within it are regarded as finished, ended, and perfect -- is that not lifeless?

Speaking of this, it happens to touch on a question discussed today with Simon in the group. There was an article where Osho interpreted related material -- interpreting Laozi and some Buddhist scriptures. One passage of his has a very interesting synchronicity with this: Buddhism turned the Buddha into something perfect, as if the Buddha had become so perfect that no further progress was needed -- omniscient, omnipotent, all-compassionate. Omniscient means knowing all things; omnipotent means being able to do all things; all-compassionate means possessing the highest level of compassion, compassion for all beings. Portraying the Buddha as such a state and realm is to deify and perfect the Buddha, which then limits all possibilities for his future development, and he becomes lifeless.

Why do many people feel so oppressed and dull when they enter Buddhism to study? Although it has its good side -- solemn, dignified, tranquil, restrained -- the overall feeling is still oppressive and dull. Why? This one sentence from Seth reveals the truth for you: because you have perfected and idealized the Buddha, as if he were above worldly concerns, without any flaws or blemishes. That is wrong.

Osho emphasized one key point there: you should correctly accept a whole, complete person -- whether it is a whole self, a whole Buddha, or a whole Laozi, all of it is complete, and this includes the immaturity of his youth, includes some of his present immaturity, includes his imperfections, includes the basic attributes he should have as a human being. As a human being, everyone has basic biological limitations and is necessarily imperfect. But do not pursue perfection; being imperfect is right. This is one of humanity's biggest misconceptions -- always wanting to seek perfection, to seek completeness. That is wrong.

What you should pursue is not completeness; what you pursue is being a whole version of yourself. This wholeness includes mistakes, includes imperfection, includes shortcomings, includes the foolish and ignorant things you have done. What we need to accept is a whole self, a whole world, a whole humanity, and not to nitpick every day, not to always look for a perfect model to develop a perfect society, or even to want a perfect self, a perfect leader, a perfect social structure, a perfect organization, a perfect other half -- wanting everything to be perfect.

Seth has already made this point very thoroughly here. He is afraid you will fall into this misconception: thinking that the inner world has a blueprint, and that if you just follow that perfect blueprint to develop, that will be enough. This is a question many people have asked me: How do I know what my life mission is? What is my life blueprint? If I follow that blueprint to develop, avoid detours, avoid going in circles, avoid wasted paths, and directly realize it in the real world, wouldn't that be enough? This kind of thinking is what Seth fears most, so he deliberately emphasizes it here.

Osho also emphasized the same thing, and he said it even more simply and directly: what we should advocate and pursue is accepting a whole Buddha, accepting a whole self, accepting a whole idea. You cannot pursue perfection -- pursuing perfection is wrong; pursuing wholeness and completeness is right. This is like the second attribute of teal organizations -- whole humanity. You must accept the whole humanity of this person, and you cannot accept only his excellent side. If you reject his wrong side, his flawed side, his vulnerable side, his emotional side, and only want his excellent and perfect side, that is wrong.

The reason I am emphasizing this here is that many practitioners easily fall into this misconception. They shift from pursuing the material world to pursuing the inner spiritual world. Previously they wanted to pursue fame and fortune and thought that was wrong; now they turn around and say they pursue the spiritual and no longer pursue material things, but spiritually what they pursue is still something lofty, something perfect, something extreme, and this idea itself is dangerous. Always remember: whole acceptance is the best, the greatest, the most practical, the most down-to-earth, and the most in line with living in the present moment.

The Mutual Flow Between Inner and Outer

Then:

Many people have regarded that inner world as the source of the material world, but imagined that the purpose was merely to construct, as best one could, these perfect images in material terms.

Many people think the outer world is projected outward from the inner world, and what we need to do is to replicate the inner world into the outer world as perfectly as possible, because they believe the inner world is perfect.

Seth emphasizes very forcefully:

In that picture, man himself did not help create that inner world, or help create its beauty, and at most he only tried to reproduce it materially, yet could never equal its perfection.

In such a version of the inner and outer worlds, the fluidity and the mutual regions of coming and going between inner and outer are overlooked. Because of the nature of man's own psyche, man is part of that inner world, and automatically participates in the creation of that blueprint, and on another level — on the material level — uses that blueprint as a guide.

Why is this idea wrong? Because you overlook the fact that you also participate in the inner world, and man is also part of that inner world. Within that inner blueprint, your human portion is also in it, and must merge with it. You are constantly creating, constantly renewing, constantly adjusting, and that blueprint is alive, adjusting and changing at any moment in response to the feedback from your material-world self in the process of creation.

He emphasizes again: if one follows this kind of thinking, at most one can only reproduce materially what one imagines, and can never equal its perfection — one does not understand that inner and outer flow back and forth, nor can one create its beauty.

To put it simply, this is actually the same as what is said in Buddhist Yogacara: seeds produce manifest activity, and manifest activity perfumes the seeds¹¹. The seeds are seeds of the multidimensional world — you can understand it this way: our three-dimensional world is only a projection and manifestation of that seed, but the projection and manifestation of the three-dimensional world will in turn influence that seed, and this is "manifest activity perfuming the seeds," the perfuming of influence. Seeds create new realities again, and new realities in turn influence the seeds — it is an eternal process of mutual giving and mutual influence.

When this region of mutual influence, this process of mutual drawing between outer and inner, forms a dynamic inner blueprint, that blueprint will dynamically provide guidance to your material world.

Artists and Inner Archetypes

Then Seth paused for a long while, eyes closed, and said:

To some extent, great artists not only grasp the inner idea, not only grasp a physical picture of the inner idea, they also participate from the very beginning in the creation of that idea and the inner archetype.

Great artists do not simply paint out the inner idea. Just like Teacher Caochi I mentioned earlier -- he is not merely painting out the picture in his mind. He may think he saw that painting in his mind, but in the process of painting, he has his own creativity involved. He often says there are things in his paintings that he himself feels he cannot express, or that he feels would be better expressed in a certain way. A true artist does not simply capture the inner inspiration and call it done; a second creative process is also needed -- to bring that multidimensional world's picture down onto a flat, two-dimensional canvas in our three-dimensional world. This process itself is creation once again.

He uses artists as an example, so are we as human beings the same? When we humans engage in creation, we are not merely taking out that inner blueprint and replicating it; you need to carry out a second creation upon it.

In your terms, that inner world does indeed represent potential ideas not yet actualized.

Those ideas and that potential are not something existing outside of consciousness -- do not always think of them as things in your subconscious or outside of consciousness. They are set as an ideal within the human heart, and what they manifest as is the ideal in your heart, your longing, your yearning, your impulses, your highest aspirations. That is the part of your inner latent potential.

That inner blueprint is not something vague and ungraspable. Many people ask: what exactly is my blueprint? What on earth am I supposed to do in this life? Go ask your higher self, go ask a channeler -- actually, your blueprint is simply the ideal in your heart.

He says, the inner world does indeed represent potential ideas not yet actualized -- that is, the potential of ideas, the latent possibilities of ideas. And those ideas and that potential are not something existing outside of consciousness; do not always think of them as being in the subconscious or the unconscious. They are set as an ideal within the human heart, and what they manifest as is the ideal in your heart, your longing, your yearning, your impulses, and your highest aspirations. That is the part of your inner potential.

Many people ask: what exactly is my blueprint? What on earth should I do in this life? So they always seek outside, wanting to find their higher self, wanting to find a channeler to give them guidance. They never think that, to put it simply, it is the ideal in your heart, it is the longing in your heart, it is the potential of your ideas, the latent potential of your ideas.

And to put it another way, those ideals are drawn out from the deeper knowledge of the entity that transcends physical time. Our entity is our existence -- you could call it the higher self. Your entity draws out those ideals from its deeper knowledge and places them into the conscious mind so that you can become aware of them. The one who places the ideals into your heart is your entity. It draws out the deeper things and places them into the conscious mind, turning them into life goals and life intentions.

Existence is intelligent and compassionate.

He emphasizes this point once again. What does it mean? He is not playing hide-and-seek with you. Many people say they have wandered around all their lives and never found what they want to do, feeling that existence is vague and hard to grasp. Here, existence can be understood as the entity, that is, the existence of your higher self, the existence of your spiritual self.

Why is it compassionate? It will not let you run around like a headless fly, like an ant. It has already told you, in a very obvious way, the blueprint you should develop in this life -- through the ideal, that ideal in your heart. So it is compassionate; it does not make you play hide-and-seek.

The meaning of intelligent is this: it uses a clever method to draw out the underlying unconscious things, the blueprint part, and under the premise of fitting the present reality, places them into your heart, becoming the inner ideal.

From a certain standpoint, consciousness knows itself as human.

He emphasizes once again: consciousness knows that in this life it is human, knows that its present existence is a physical existence. And it sends its own extension into the framework of time -- its future extension, which is the state of the future ideal, the ideal blueprint.

What does "sending into the framework of time" mean? To put it simply, at a certain time, at a certain age, you suddenly understand something, or suddenly have a thought, an ideal. That coincidence of circumstances -- remember, from a certain standpoint -- is arranged for you by your consciousness. The entity, the higher self, has arranged it all for you, weaving it into the framework of time. So at a certain time you will encounter certain things, and certain things will guide you toward an elevation of consciousness, or give you some ideals in real life.

Some people have never studied spiritual material, and that does not hinder them from realizing the ideals in their hearts. There is no obstruction in between. They will encounter various things in life, and then adjust their ideals.

So it places its own future extension into the framework of time. So that the human will know, and with love, set up signposts.

This is where it is intelligent, and where it is compassionate. The intelligence lies in placing the future extension into the framework of time; the compassion lies in setting up signposts with love -- toward the self that will later arrive at that place, it very compassionately reminds it, reminds it with love.

So, the fact that you are sitting here today studying the Seth material, or studying other spiritual material, is all because you yourself -- and I am putting this in quotation marks -- set up signposts for yourself in the past, allowing you to encounter these things today, allowing that later self within the framework of time to follow. Thinking of this, are you not moved by yourself? Do you not want to thank yourself? It loves itself so much that it has set up signposts for itself.

The human itself has within it the stuff of the gods.

The human itself is composed of the stuff of the gods. Within the human body there is divinity -- this God stuff, stuff means material, meaning there is something of the divine within the human, composed of divine material.

As much as it is composed of the stuff of the earth.

We used to think that humans are composed entirely of the stuff of the earth. Earth, water, fire, wind -- the primitive religious schools often say that humans are composed of the four great elements. He repeatedly emphasizes that earth, water, fire, and wind are all earthly elements. But humans are not merely composed of earth, water, fire, and wind; humans also have a divine part, and this divine part is not one bit less than the material part that makes up the human body -- he uses "as much as," not one bit less. So you understand, you are not a material existence; you are at the same time a divine existence.

So in those terms, the god within himself yearns for the human within the god and the experience of the earth.

In this way of speaking, it is as if the divine wants to experience the human and the experience of the earth, so it places itself into the human body. Remember, this is only a way of speaking. This way of speaking is built upon the earlier context of "the human body has within it the stuff of the gods and also the stuff of the earth." You cannot extend it into a truth-like statement; it can only be said in this way within such a context.

Because you do not understand yourselves, you have tried to place the concept of the god outside of yourselves and outside of the framework of your lives.

Because you do not understand yourself, you have separated the divine from yourself, from life, and from nature. You think the divine is outside of them, even outside of the universe.

Through the various exercises in this book -- earlier we did six exercises, and Teacher Xiyu also designed many exercises specifically for this book. In one of those exercises, he designed a consciousness exercise of reversing from the small self into the higher self, and even into the source self. In such an exercise, you gain a kind of divine awareness. As the divine, as the higher self, what does that feel like? You will only know when you reach that point. Those who have not done that exercise can try it -- there are nine exercises, very difficult, and the difficulty increases the further you go. It cannot be finished all at once; you can take it slowly, making it a process of continuous practice throughout your life, taking it out to play with now and then, quite interesting. So you understand, do not place the concept of the divine outside the framework of your life.

Through the exercises in this book, I hope to acquaint each of you with the innate unity of inner and outer reality.

Through the exercises, he wants you to understand: inner and outer reality are innately one. Just as A Course in Miracles¹² says, separation never happened. They are innately one; it is you who have understood them as separate.

Even within your biological boundaries, the infinite nature of your own selves helps you see the divine stuff within the human stuff.

Through these exercises of possibility, you can, on this physical plane -- you have not yet left the physical body, you are still shuttling through different times and spaces in the three-dimensional world -- experience a portion of the divine nature. Once you complete those exercises, you will understand what he means.

In other words, this can help you see the potential of your species.

In the previous exercise, he had you, as a human being excelling in a certain field, imagine to the greatest extent possible what future breakthroughs and possibilities humanity still has, breaking through the obstacles of limiting thoughts.

I want to change your concepts about human nature.

To some extent, this will require you to humanize the concept of divinity. To put it simply, half of your human nature is a divine existence -- let us assume this understanding. Actually, it is not a matter of halves; there is no issue of one half and the other half; the two are merged together. But borrowing from his earlier "as much as" statement, this is the context: the divine part and the earthly material part are equal in measure.

What is the benefit of this process? It is that you can humanize the concept of divinity. You no longer turn the divine into something high above, separate from you, separate from the natural world. You will regard the divine as being you, because you have divinity. Acknowledging your own humanity, you also acknowledge that divinity; acknowledging the divinity, you also acknowledge your own humanity. No longer opposed, no longer split, and no longer conflicted.

This logic may seem a bit convoluted, but actually it is not convoluted at all: bring the divine down from the altar, let the divine walk into every person's heart, becoming a part of every person's heart. The divine on the altar is perfect, flawless, desireless, and without needs. When it walks into your heart and becomes a part of your humanity, it is humanized by you -- it also has flaws, also has emotions, also has imperfections, and also makes mistakes. Do not think the divine does not make mistakes; that is your misunderstanding. The divine makes mistakes just the same. When you can correctly recognize this point, you will be able to see divinity in humans. If you cannot do this, you will forever see opposition -- you are a person, others are also people, still far from the divine.

Therefore those ideals that previously seemed unattainable by the individual or the species will change their character.

When you see divinity within humanity, when you see the existence of divinity within the human species, you will have a great cognitive change regarding the blueprint. Originally you thought those impossible things, the things impossible within your blueprint as a human being, when you recognize that you have divinity, you will dare to place them into the blueprint. Your blueprint is then revised. Joy is the key point -- not only effective, but a joyful construction blueprint.

So why do so many people experience such tremendous changes in their lives after studying the Seth material? Many people do not know how that change happened. Now you understand how it happened: some of your old mental obstructions were broken down, new concepts were born, and the blueprint within your heart has quietly changed. And your life is guided and led by the blueprint; when the blueprint changes, life changes too.

Finally Seth says, when Jane completes certain challenges, there will be what seems like the birth of a new concept. Only because those old mental obstructions previously prevented certain important connections, and also prevented the establishment of a better communication system between the waking and dreaming states. When some limitations are broken down, when those obstructions and erroneous perceptions are broken down, there will be a breakthrough, and new concepts will be born. Perhaps the latter has already begun to happen -- in recent weeks, the interaction, recall, and participation between the waking self and the dreaming self have increased considerably. This interaction is beneficial; this has been said before, so I will not elaborate further here.

注释与核实

1. This claim could not be verified. ↩

2. This claim could not be verified. ↩

3. Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Tao-te Ching" (https://www.britannica.com/topic/Tao-te-Ching) ↩

4. Source: Wikipedia, "Liao-Fan's Four Lessons" (https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hans/%E4%BA%86%E5%87%A1%E5%9B%9B%E8%A8%93) ↩

5. This claim could not be verified. ↩

6. This claim could not be verified. ↩

7. This claim could not be verified. ↩

8. Source: Frist Art Museum, "Sand Mandala Painting," 2017 (https://fristartmuseum.org/exhibition/sand-mandala-painting/) ↩

9. Source: Thomas J. Bouchard Jr., "Genetic and Environmental Influences on Adult Personality: Evaluating the Evidence," 1993 (https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-94-011-1660-2_2) ↩

10. Source: Diana Samek, Martha Rueter, Bibiana Koh, "Overview of Behavioral Genetics Research for Family Researchers" (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3780434/) ↩

11. Source: Master Baiyun, "Consciousness-Only and Dharma Characteristics 40: Seeds Producing Present Activities," 2014 (https://www.chiefsun.org.tw/zh-tw/6_magzine/5_detail.php?Id=1674) ↩

12. Source: Wikipedia, "A Course in Miracles" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Course_in_Miracles) ↩