Mike's commentary · The "Unknown" Reality, Session 697

The "Guide" and "Key Points" of this chapter were summarized by an AI editor based on the main text below; they are not things Mike said during the lecture. The main text comes from Mike's commentary, and the blockquotes are Seth's original words (the part Mike read aloud).

Introduction

This chapter begins with "idealization," explaining how the individual blueprint unfolds at the biological, psychological, and psychic levels as the direction of cellular growth, and is influenced by consciousness and the framework of probabilities; thoughts, cells, and the body interact, and beliefs determine probable experience. Seth points out that the idealization of the human race is brotherhood, that cells are connected by instinctive cooperation, and that collective events such as illness have a stimulating effect. Finally, he gives the seventh exercise, using a group photograph to observe unmanifested probabilities and emotional relationships, explaining that the world picture is formed by the convergence of countless probability decisions.

Key Points of This Chapter

• Idealization is the process of unfolding the inner personal blueprint on the biological, psychological, psychic, and spiritual levels; it is not fixed and unchanging, but can alter along with consciousness and beliefs.
• The framework of probabilities both provides a range of choices and forms limitations; if you believe something is impossible, you will not try to actualize it.
• Thoughts change cells, and cellular responses in turn change the body's environment; the two constantly interact, and beliefs determine which probable experiences you accept.
• The idealization of the human species is brotherhood; cells are connected through inner empathy and instinctive cooperation, and one part of humanity cannot develop for long at the expense of another part.
• A group photograph is a focal point formed by the convergence of many probability decisions, through which unexpressed emotions, relationships, and decisions can be observed; the world picture is likewise composed of focal points of the same kind.

Main Text

Idealization, Free Will, and the Development of Humankind

The title of this session is "Idealization, Free Will, and the Development of Humankind -- How You Choose Events, Health, and Illness." This session began on Monday, May 13, 1974, at 9:18 p.m.¹

Seth continues from the previous session, talking about how these idealizations occur within certain psychological patterns at different levels. What does idealization mean? It means unfolding your inner personal blueprint -- you have a blueprint for your personal development -- at the biological level, the psychological level, the psychic level, and the spiritual level. At the biological level, this includes how it turns this blueprint into an ideal of yours through the chromosomes and DNA. This is called idealization -- how it unfolds the ideal.

In a certain manner of speaking, and from a certain angle, they become a cell's private concept of its own growth and development.

In terms of physical material, this exists within the living picture of the cell and as part of the cell's structure. From a certain angle, for the cell this is a picture of its future development, and it grows within this picture. It has a sense of an image of the future -- what the cell will grow into, like a picture -- and it grows according to this picture.

These idealizations provide their own impetus.

That is to say, it will grow toward its own greatest achievement, speaking in biological terms. The idealization itself is what turns the blueprint into the cell's direction of growth.

These are not inert data.

That is to say, these are not dead; it is not the case that once written into the DNA it is dead, that it was all written out when you arrived, and your life cannot be changed. Many people say, well, does that mean if I get cancer, it was already written into my life, and when I die was already written out too -- this is a misunderstanding many people have.

He emphasizes again that this idealization, this picture written into the cells and into the DNA, this picture of what the cell will grow into in the future, is composed of conscious components. What does that mean? It is determined by your consciousness; it is not something dead, like architectural blueprints printed into your DNA that you cannot change. Your later thoughts and consciousness can absolutely change it.

The possibilities themselves determine the framework in which these achievements can occur.

That is to say, whatever possibilities you are in determine what kind of possibilities exist within what kind of reality, within what kind of environment. And these possibilities themselves delineate a framework: for example, suppose there are a million possibilities, then can it only choose among these million possibilities? It cannot exceed this range of choices. These million possibilities can be understood as the framework of this one possibility, and it itself also has certain limitations, and it frames the living development. From a certain angle, it also limits certain developments -- because possibilities you have not thought of will not develop; if you can think of such a possibility, then it can develop.

Ultimately, how this thing develops in real life -- that is, how your ideal state, or the achievement of your optimal blueprint, actually comes to be realized -- depends to a great extent on your understanding of possibility itself.

On the one hand, the structure of possibilities provides a system of obstacles.

Why is it called a system of obstacles? Within these possibilities, it provides a reverse system. What reverse system? It is what we call "possibility" -- when we say something is possible, then within your reality it must not have happened, for it to be a possibility. What has happened within your reality is not called a possibility. So it implies something: those possibilities that did not happen are unimportant.

On the other hand, it ensures a safe, creative, and richly endowed reality.

That is to say, those that were not chosen are all unimportant. But on the other hand, among those unimportant possibilities, you can choose the ones that suit you. The choice you ultimately make in the present moment may be the part most suited to your achievement. But maybe not, and if not, that is also not important -- because even if you did not choose correctly, even if it may not be the best step, the step that should most fulfill you, that step still exists within your possibilities.

In any system, idealization has already accepted certain events as significant, and has also deleted equally possible actions as being of no significance.

Idealization means certain events have already been accepted as important: you consider this thing to be the direction you want to develop in, the direction and steps of your ideal, and this thing must be important, because only then can it fulfill the achievements you want to realize within that blueprint. And those other unimportant things are deleted, becoming unimportant. It only keeps the things that are important to you.

It cannot let you be too scattered. If you had to experience all the possibilities of this reality, you would not be able to accomplish anything in this life; you would already be dazed and confused at the kindergarten or elementary school stage. You would stay in one class for three years, and then another three years in that class, and then you would not be able to progress any further. It deletes all those unimportant things; within this reality of your possibilities, those things are not important to the ideal you want to realize. Important things will definitely happen, because they are important to the achievement of your ideal, to this process of idealization, so they will definitely happen in your life.

This merely provides a workable focus in which achievement and experience can occur.

Any idealization provides only those paths along which achievement and experience may occur or may be produced -- it lets you experience those behaviors and those experiences along that path, and that is enough. The other deleted ones may not be workable. Because for the effect you want, they have gone off onto another branch.

In short, you will not try to achieve what you believe is impossible within your ideas of reality.

You will not try to learn how to fly; you will not stand on top of a wall every day like a bird and jump down, trying to figure out how to fly. You think this thing is impossible, so you do not try it. So this is a limiting belief, or an aspect that is advantageous to you -- you will not attempt those useless, pointless attempts. But sometimes, it will limit your thinking.

Let me give an example so you can understand what this means. A couple of days ago I watched a video where a person shared an example. He was a distributor in a certain traditional field, a distributor for a certain brand, and he had already reached fifth place among distributors of this brand -- within one year he had reached fifth place nationally in this category. He was quite pleased with himself, so he went to show off to his investor. His investor was even younger than him, a kid born in 1989, but very wealthy. According to him, this kid had been on the China rich list for several years already, but he had always bribed the editors not to put his name on it.

This kid said to him: "Don't get complacent about reaching fifth place. If I were doing it, I would have reached third place long ago." This man was inwardly unconvinced -- I reached fifth place nationally in one year, and you still say I'm not good enough, and you say you could reach the top three nationally? You're just talking without knowing the real situation; you don't know what the current situation is in China, in this post-pandemic era, consumption is not as good as you think. But he did not dare say this out loud. He said: "Well then, if you say it could be done to reach the top three, tell me how you plan to do it." On the surface he was very humble, but inwardly he was not convinced -- he felt that he himself had actual operational experience, while that person had just gotten lucky and made some money, and there was nothing to be convinced about. But on the surface, since the other person was the investor, he did not dare say anything.

The kid said: "Fine, let's not just talk about it; let's actually try it. I'll let you reach the top three within a few months, as long as you follow my method." So he tried it.

The kid asked him: "Tell me, where in your industry's rankings does a cliff drop occur?" What is a cliff drop? For example, if the difference in revenue between first place and second place is only ten or twenty million, that is not a cliff drop; if starting from a certain rank, the gap between that rank and the one before it is several tens of millions, seventy or eighty million, or even hundreds of millions, then that is called a cliff drop -- they are no longer in the same order of magnitude.

He went and investigated, and found that the cliff drop started from sixth place. The gaps among the top six were not that large, but from seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth place onward, the gap between these and the top six was very large, a difference in order of magnitude.

The kid said: "Now go and acquire the last four of the top ten -- seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth. Acquire them at two times PE value." PE value is a method of valuing a company. Generally speaking, PE value is based on the company's profitability, multiplied by a certain number -- for example, if your company earns 10 million a year, at two times PE I will give you 20 million to acquire your company. If your company's profit is 10 million, at ten times PE, that means I would buy your company for 100 million, which is equivalent to buying all the money your company could potentially earn in the next ten years. Two times PE is extremely, extremely low within the industry.

He wanted to acquire at two times PE, and he came back after being scolded. Before he went, he told the investor: "This won't work; at two times PE they'll throw me out." The kid said: "Just try it; how do you know if you don't try?" So he went and tried, and sure enough, he was scolded and sent back -- the polite ones showed him out, and the impolite ones said he did not understand the capital field at all, and that proposing two times PE meant he knew nothing at all.

He came back and told the kid: "See, I told you I'd get scolded. You insisted on making me go and make a fool of myself." The kid said: "Fine, tell me who scolded you the worst; pick him out." He said it was seventh place who insulted him the most harshly.

The kid said: "All right, now open an office across the street from his company. It has to be bigger than his, better decorated than his, more beautiful than his." He said: "Why should I do this? My current company is fine; the office has enough space for everyone. Why should I move?" The kid said: "Just go do it. If you lose money, it's on me; if you make money, it counts as my additional investment, as shares in your company."

Anyway, he had nothing to lose, so he rented an office, empty, with not a single person in it. Then the kid told him to invite the person in charge of human resources from the company across the street out for a meal. In this industry, after going around two circles, everyone knows everyone, so through two friends and two rounds of connections, he invited the HR manager of that company out for a meal. After only a few pleasantries at the meal, the kid said directly: "I'll give you three times your salary. Do you want to come work for our company?" The HR manager immediately agreed -- normally salary increases are normal, but it is impossible for it to suddenly triple.

After he came over, the kid gave him a task: at 1.5 to 2 times the salary, poach all the core backbone staff from the original company. The company was right across the street; moving from that side to this side to work, with double the salary, of course they were willing. In a rush, all the backbone staff of that company were poached over to this company. The boss of the original company started cursing, saying this man had no humanity at all, utterly shameless, openly poaching people. But there was nothing he could do about it -- although China does have non-compete laws², no one really enforces them, and such lawsuits are not necessarily effective. With salespeople's professional knowledge and skills, it is also very hard to sue them under non-compete laws -- you cannot say that just because this salesperson left this company, I can no longer work in sales.

At this point, the kid said to this man: "Go talk to their boss again. Don't talk about acquiring at two times PE; talk about 1.5 times PE." He went to negotiate, and the other boss said not a single word of objection, immediately saying fine, when do we sign the contract. If he did not sign, his company would not even sell for 1.5 times PE -- the core backbone had all been poached, and the company was no longer worth anything. If he could sell at 1.5 times, he should sell quickly, taking the opportunity to step down gracefully.

Then he went to negotiate with the others who had previously refused, and this time at two times PE, they all agreed readily. Why? Because if they did not agree, and if the same method were applied to them, their companies might not even sell for two times, so they quickly sold to him. He was ranked fifth, and after acquiring seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth, he rose from fifth to third.

Moreover, he acquired them at two times PE, and those companies were all profitable companies. If any of you here have done business or investment, you know that this in itself made a lot of money -- normally you should acquire at about four to five times. Acquiring at two times PE, just from the acquisitions alone you made several tens of millions. Acquiring four companies, just from this alone you made close to a hundred million.

The person who personally experienced this shared his own firsthand experience in the video, and he was sincerely full of admiration -- he said that in business, it is not about age; it is about this person's vision, courage, insight into human nature, and insight into business. I am not using this example to endorse him, or to approve of his business tactics; I am just telling you that this possibility does not exist in most people's minds. But this is not magical; in any industry's hostile mergers and competition, this is a commonly used method, used by many, many companies. It is just that this person actually put it into practice in this industry, actually implemented it.

If you have not thought of this possibility, you will not accomplish such a thing, and then this result does not exist for you; if you have this possible result in your mind, if you have thought of this possibility, you will realize it and implement it in practice.

Now that I have finished this example, I just want to tell you what it means for the framework of possibilities to box you in. If your understanding of possibilities is limited, then that limitation restricts you; if there is no limitation, you can achieve great breakthroughs. But it still has its ultimate limit -- you cannot say, well then I'll acquire you at one times PE; no one will pay any attention to you. There is always a limit; grasping this measure is very crucial.

For the conscious mind, with the abilities normally assigned to it, is used to assess the practicality of action within your world.

That is to say, your conscious mind will assess which of these possibilities, or which of these idealized possibilities, can be realized in your reality and which cannot. This is the function of your intellect and your conscious mind. Because the conscious mind stands with one foot in the material level and one foot in the inner world. It knows what conditions and limitations exist in the physical world, and it also knows your inner aspirations and your inner ideals; it will make assessments and tell you this thing is workable and this thing is not workable.

Many people will not do the things they consider impossible, and this is why many people are restricted. For example, changing jobs -- you say if you change jobs, the sky will be the limit, but he says he cannot change; he has children and a mortgage, and what if he cannot find a job. An unhappy marriage -- you say then get divorced and find someone else, but he says he cannot divorce; although he is unhappy, finding someone new may not be better than this one, so he might as well make do. He has placed many limitations on these possibilities for himself.

Some of those judgments are correct, and some are incorrect. How do you judge? That depends on training your conscious mind. In worldly matters, the life experience, wisdom, reason, and judgment you need to have -- these things all serve to improve this. Why do many people take MBA courses? What does an MBA teach? An MBA teaches cases, analyzing from cases which places were done right and which were done wrong. Does this kind of case analysis, when you are judging your own matters, give you many points you had never thought of before, opening up your possibility thinking and enriching the inventory of your possibility thinking? Some points you had never even thought of. The operating method of that kid born in 1989 that I just described -- it might have been something he thought of himself, or it might not have been his own idea at all; it might have been a method learned from a case of financial mergers and acquisitions or hostile corporate competition, just put into practice. Judging by how skillfully he operated, it probably was not his first time using it.

You will only see what you want to see.

Your judgment of the future, your possibilities, have already restricted you.

If, for example, mankind believed that space travel was improbable, you would not have it.

If you believe that humans cannot go to the moon, and cannot go to Mars, then this cannot exist. Why was Musk able to accomplish the mission of exploring Mars? Because he felt it could be done; he felt this possibility existed. Many people feel that human exploration of Mars is impossible -- sending a probe up is already difficult; sending people up is even more impossible. But how does Musk envision it? His first ship is envisioned to send 500 people³; he plans to send people to Mars in units of 500. He feels it is possible, so he envisions it in a possible way.

On the other hand, if an individual believed it was really impossible for him to travel from one end of the continent to the other, then that event would become practically impossible.

From interstellar travel on the large scale, down to changing a job on the small scale -- if you think it is impossible, it is impossible; if you think it is possible, it is possible.

Yet within that person's psyche, the idealization may not be allowed expression at any given time, but he will nevertheless pursue his own expression through experience in one way or another.

That is to say, in a particular state it cannot be expressed, and his conditions do not allow it, so what does he do? He expresses it through other means.

This applies to the race as well as to the individual. Because you are now a conscious species, in your terms, there are some racial idealizations that you can accept or deny.

The idealizations of your species often first appear in your world as fiction, painting, or so-called pure theory at particular stages of your development as a species.

Let me give a rather crude, unrealistic example. Many men like the idea of having multiple wives and concubines, but the current era is monogamous, so he is not allowed to realize it. So he satisfies that desire for a life like an emperor with three wives, four concubines, and seventy-two consorts by going outside to find prostitutes, or by watching adult films at home, through fantasy and imagination, or through some acts of infidelity. My example is not appropriate, but what I want to say is that he uses this method as a substitute.

The same is true in the process of human development. For example, when humanity did not yet have the technological level, when there were no rockets and no modern technology, space travel was impossible. How did people realize it then? Through fantasy -- for example, Sun Wukong could travel a hundred and eight thousand miles with a single somersault⁴; the immortals of that time could all fly; in ancient times there was also qinggong, and various magical arts that allowed one to walk on water. Is this not an ideal of humanity? But this ideal could not be realized in that era, so it could be realized through fiction, painting, and also through some theories. So many human possibilities are hidden within these artistic and literary creations.

Thoughts, like cells, have their own kind of structure, and seek their own fulfillment.

Thoughts also grow like cells; they move toward similar thoughts. In other words, in terms of what we call consciousness resonance, they resonate with what is similar. Therefore you have an inner grouping of thoughts -- you can think of a thought as an entity; every thought has an entity. For example, the thought of compassion is a group, and within it there are individuals; every thought is like an entity with a specific form.

Privately, your thoughts are expressions of your idealizations.

For an individual, your thoughts are the expression of your idealizations. What you think is what you idealize. When thoughts express those inner patterns, they also partially alter them, and creatively change that pattern.

The inner one is a blueprint; when this blueprint is expressed through thought and turned into your own ideal, this process involves some changes; it is not one hundred percent unchanged.

Each cell in your body is altered to some extent by each thought you think.

This is why in treating illness, we need to use spiritual therapy, art healing, and healing through thought; and why some psychological illnesses lead to physical illnesses -- all for this reason.

And each cellular reaction alters your environment.

Your thoughts change your cells, and the changes in your cells affect the entire biological environment of the body. Then the brain reacts to that biological change -- because the changes in the cells release certain trace elements, and these trace chemical elements are captured by the brain, but ultimately it all began with that change in thought.

So there is a constant process of give-and-take.

Thoughts affect your cells; the changes in your cells affect the changes in the entire biological structure of your body; this change is then captured by the brain -- making you feel comfortable or uncomfortable -- and the brain then produces new thoughts based on this, and the new thoughts again affect your cells. So in the end, is it the cells affecting the thoughts, or the thoughts affecting the cells? You can no longer tell them apart; they influence each other.

Just as at certain levels, cells react to the ever-changing streams of possibilities, so do your thoughts.

However, your body reacts in the way you think it should react. Therefore your conscious beliefs about reality are intimately connected with the possible experiences you accept as part of your personal life.

Your beliefs are very important. What kind of beliefs? Your conscious beliefs about reality -- remember this, conscious beliefs -- they will unconsciously affect your cells. Which experiences you may have is determined by your beliefs. This is why beliefs create reality; he emphasizes this point again, and the reason is here.

Your private blueprint at birth is, in a certain manner of speaking, far greater than any of its physical materializations that can occur in your time and space. This provides your range of choice, gives you maneuverability, and makes possible a variety of probable activities.

The blueprint given to your life at birth is greater than even the most extreme state you can realize within this time and space. If it were not greater, it might restrict you; but it is greater than the extreme you can imagine, the extreme you can achieve within this time and space. Only in this way can it provide you with a range of choices; only in this way can those probable activities become possible.

In that regard, you are the judge and the determiner.

Which activities become possible and which become impossible -- you are the judge; whichever one you decide is possible becomes possible; you are the determiner; whichever one you think is impossible becomes impossible.

As your ideas change, as you move toward a probable self and decide to make it your official self, you will always have a rich bank of probable actions to choose from.

When you discover this world of possibilities, and when you want to become a member of these probable selves -- for example, you have a possibility of becoming an artist, and you have a possibility of becoming a business leader -- all the probable actions matching the identity of this probable self have already been prepared.

You might become one of the leading figures on the world wealth rankings, and the vast bank of all actions matching this identity, matching this role, has already been prepared. But maybe you did not achieve that; you only achieved success in a certain field, maybe becoming a small wealthy person in a certain field, or a successful businessperson, but far from reaching that world-class level. However, the conditions are already in place.

So go ahead and push yourself as hard as you can, and do as much as you can. All the possibilities you can imagine, from the physical to the mental to the psychic to the spiritual, have already been prepared for you. It just depends on whether you dare to believe it is a possibility, or whether you think it is simply impossible. If you think it is simply impossible, then in your world it really will be impossible.

If only one possibility were provided, then you would have no choice. The same applies to humanity -- if there were only one possibility, there would be no choice. For example, if you could only do business, then wanting to do art, wanting to make films -- all of that would be possible. Your private blueprint is extremely rich.

Many people should stop asking: so what exactly is my blueprint? Your blueprint is far richer than you can imagine; it is not one specific, fixed, rigid thing. The blueprint is very rich, and it is alive.

You currently accept one apparent line of consciousness as real, while ignoring these other possible ones, and this decision makes this idea of yours difficult to understand.

That is to say, if you think about problems in this way, it becomes very hard to understand those other possibilities.

You train yourself, even physiologically, to suppress certain stimuli, and then the body itself often responds precisely to the stimulus that you meaningfully ignore.

Because in real life you often accept only one storyline, and when you ignore the existence of those possibilities, you train yourself to suppress certain stimuli on a physiological level. For example, when you dance you feel tremendous joy and delight, but right now you are a lawyer, and you say, how could I go dancing every day? Maybe you treat it as a hobby, something you can do when work is not busy, but when work is busy and every day there are clients and lawsuits, you may put it aside. By suppressing that physiological stimulus, you actually suppress that possibility, and you erase the possibility of becoming a gifted dancer.

Yet the body itself often responds to the stimulus that you meaningfully ignore. You suppress it, and from within it also ignores it, until in the end there is no response at all.

This is the sorrow of many people. Many people say, I pursue the highest joy within, you tell me to follow my inner impulses, but I have no impulses, and I have no joy, and I do not know what I want to do; everything feels utterly dull, everything is optional. How did this happen? It is because you yourself ignored it within, suppressed it, and then it really did disappear.

What do you do in this situation? One way is that your life has become too comfortable, so find some greater challenges and more stimulating things to do. The second is Seth's exercises - from Exercise 1 through Exercise 6, all of them are meant to open windows of possibility for you, to enrich your consciousness, to let you know that you do not have only one life, that you have the possibilities of many lives. And those possibilities, those events, will stimulate you, giving you new perceptions and new experiences, making your life vivid and alive once again.

For example, maybe you have no interest in your current life, but if you were given a different kind of stimulation, would you become interested? Suppose you have no interest in your current life, but suddenly imagine that you have a possible identity as the mayor of this city - would you be interested then? When you shift among these possible events, they will stimulate you, just as a child tries out all kinds of interests and hobbies, and you never know which one will touch that point of inner potential, and suddenly there is a response.

However, by opening your mind to new kinds of significance, then you open your mind to that new kind of significance, and you can begin to catch a glimpse of an order of other events closely related to it.

You can begin to see things beyond those events that are closely related to you. Those things may seem unimportant to you, not part of the map of this life of yours, but they are also part of the blueprint of your larger life - within your world of possibilities, they too are supported by possible events. The inner order of those possible events forms the foundation beneath the important and closely related events that you consider to be your present life.

For example, you often handle probabilities very well, while at the same time, because of your concepts, you consciously turn a blind eye to them.

You are actually quite good at handling probabilities, but you often turn a blind eye to them as well, and this depends entirely on you.

Nevertheless, even so, on other levels you react unconsciously, following your own conscious intent.

Some possibilities come to you, and you do not know why they happen, yet you do them; and over here you consciously do certain things, and in another time and space, that probable self of yours experiences them as if they were unconscious actions - he does not know why it is so, but it happens. Just as when Rob was driving and saw that house, he did not know why he turned onto that street, but it happened. Later, through interpretation, we could understand that it was actually within a deeper probable reality, composed of such a deep-level cause.

Every day you deal with probabilities. Every single action you take in this reality affects the selves in other probable realities, and the selves in other probable realities are all affecting you, only you do not notice it.

In this physical life, you may seem to do something for one reason. You may also be unconsciously reacting to quite pertinent data concerning probable actions between yourself and others.

That is to say, you respond to the actions of other people in real life that have not unfolded, have not happened, but could have happened.

The example I give may not be perfectly apt, but probably everyone can feel it. Suppose you have a secret crush on a young woman in your company, and you have never told her; you only imagine it in your mind - you might be good to her, buy her breakfast. In fact you have done nothing at all, it is only in your imagination. Then you may notice that the way she looks at you seems different, her reactions to you seem different, as if many things she does carry hints for you. Actually, maybe she has done nothing at all, and it is only your own imagination.

Perhaps in another reality, in another probability, you did all these things, and the two of you are already in a relationship. The you who is in that relationship in that reality has already felt her kindness and affection toward you; the you in this reality can then have a faint sense that she treats you differently from others.

Perhaps that young woman can also sense the fact that in another time and space the two of you are already in love. Maybe you have done nothing at all, and you have not bought her breakfast, but that young woman, somewhere beyond conscious knowing, begins to feel goodwill toward you, begins to send you signals and hints. But at this moment, in your heart you actually already know it, you already have telepathic contact, but you block it out - you think this young woman is so outstanding, I probably cannot win her over, how could she possibly be interested in me? I am just a lowly clerk. And so you block out this experience, this unofficial psychic feeling.

Yet even so, on another level you take it into consideration. You block it out, but in your heart have you really given up? Are you not still fantasizing that maybe she really is interested in me? Maybe we really can get married and walk toward a beautiful and happy life? This is a very conflicted state.

You are far more aware than you suppose of probable futures within those areas you are concerned with. This is true on all levels.

If you are at this stage of life, then you are aware of all these possibilities, and you have gone through an inner psychological analysis and comparison of these possibilities. The same is true for women - a woman in a group knows perfectly well which men are interested in her. She does not need the man to say anything, or show anything, or do anything; through intuition alone she knows which man likes her and which man has no interest in her. And for every man, in her heart she has already played out the possibilities of developing a future with him: what it would be like to marry this man, what it would be like to have that man as a boyfriend.

So sometimes people say a woman's heart is like a needle at the bottom of the sea, impossible to fathom. Perhaps in her inner projection, you have already been defined as that kind of irresponsible man who is unqualified and has been eliminated, and then her attitude toward you in reality will not be good. If, on the other hand, in her inner drama, in her projection of probabilities, you have already become her dearest husband, then in reality, even if you have not fallen in love, have not defined the relationship, have not made any sign at all, she will treat you differently from other men.

This magical thing is just like that. Generally speaking, unless a man is straightforward to the point of being foolish beyond measure, a woman's mind is more finely detailed. You are not unfamiliar with these probable futures; in fact everyone has this ability, and you have already projected them. Then you will draw near to the man who, in the course of your projection, you feel comfortable with, feel is good, feel willing to be with, and in present reality you will approach him and give him hints.

For example, if your purpose does not involve illness, and if you believe that contagion can occur, then you will automatically avoid those environments that might lead to epidemics.

If in your thinking there is no concept of catching the disease, and yet you believe the disease is contagious, then you will automatically avoid the environment where that infectious disease is present. Therefore, in terms of probability, that particular kind of epidemic will not enter your experience.

Just like the COVID pandemic that humanity has faced. For some people it was an absolute catastrophe, for some families and individuals it was exactly that; but for some people it was completely unfelt, and they only saw it in the news, newspapers, television, and media, and for them it never entered their lives, existing only in the reports of the news media. This was especially typical among some Westerners - at the height of the pandemic, a large number of Westerners did not believe it was real, thinking it was all media propaganda, all fearmongering, all aimed at achieving greater government control. Even today some people completely do not believe it, because the pandemic never entered their lives.

As a whole, for example, all of this applies to the diseases that rage among mankind as a whole.

Is the current pandemic not a disease raging among mankind as a whole? When Seth said this sentence at that time, and we read this passage again decades later, do we not feel it deeply? What he means is that it is the same for humanity - if humanity did not want to get the disease, humanity would not get the disease; if humanity wanted to avoid it, humanity could avoid it. Then why did it happen? There are deep reasons for it, and there are inner group beliefs.

This book has not yet begun to discuss group beliefs; it will say more later, and here it is only an introduction. The content Seth calls "group beliefs" was discussed later in The Individual and the Nature of Mass Events; although in our order of interpretation we interpreted that book first, in the order in which Seth delivered the material, it was delivered later. So here he does not discuss the issue of group beliefs, but he will mention it.

I will have more to say about illness, epidemics, and mass upheavals.

Actually, in this book he does not say as much as in The Individual and the Nature of Mass Events, which is specifically about this subject, but at this point he already wants to address it.

The nature of consciousness is to continue to expand. The nature of consciousness as you understand it as a species will in any case lead you beyond your narrow concepts of reality.

Human consciousness will certainly lead humanity beyond our present narrow concepts of physical reality; it will certainly transcend them. Because that is humanity's blueprint. Why is there this spiritual knowledge? Why are there these body-mind-spirit teachings? Because all of this is written into humanity's blueprint; it is a great trend and direction.

Because your experience will set up challenges that cannot be solved within your present framework.

Our experience is all experience of the material world, all experience of the three-dimensional world. We have lived in this material world since childhood, and we have been educated this way since childhood. The reason we run this spiritual school is that we want human children from the very beginning to come into contact with a basic fact: we are both material beings and spiritual beings, rather than treating the material as the only existence. This is an extremely narrow viewpoint, yet no textbook or school or curriculum dares to teach this. And this is a fact, yet we choose to ignore it and close our eyes to it.

The problems set by one level of consciousness will automatically cause breakthroughs.

In the material world you are subject to the limitations of the material world, and these limitations themselves will automatically cause a breakthrough - a breakthrough in our conscious perception of the three-dimensional world. If our consciousness is to ascend in dimension, if it is to break through the three-dimensional world, must our consciousness first break through the three-dimensional world? If our consciousness cannot break through the three-dimensional world, then even if we reach a higher dimension, if we still have the consciousness of the three-dimensional world, you will still be living in the three-dimensional world, and within that illusion you will create yet another three-dimensional world. You will never escape the three-dimensional world, because your consciousness is within the three-dimensional world.

Just as Seth said, when Rob was out of body he would still look for a tree branch, a wall top, or a roof edge, seeking such a support point to rest on. Because he felt that even out of body he needed a support point; since childhood his sense of structure, space, and physics was very strong, and his consciousness had always been the consciousness of the material world. When he was out of body, even though his body had no weight, he still wanted to find a tree branch to rest on, feeling that only then would his heart be at ease - that is, his consciousness had not broken through.

Into other areas of conscious activity, where the solutions can be found.

In plain language, humanity will inevitably develop to a stage that transcends the material world. But how can we reach the transcendence of the material world, the transcendence of the limitations of time and space? The solution can only be found on a higher level of consciousness, and in our present material world you cannot find the solution. Because the limitations of your consciousness are already within these limitations; what is possible and what is impossible have all been fixed for you, set in your mind since childhood like rules and frames.

As I said before, when you raise cattle you do not need to set up very thick rails; stringing a few wires is enough - the cattle see the wire and know they cannot get through. In fact, that wire means nothing to the cattle; even the posts holding the wire could easily be knocked over by the cattle, but they think it is impossible, so it becomes a cage, and they cannot break through. They have done experiments: put a frog in a container, place a glass lid on top⁵, and every time the frog jumps it is blocked. After a long time, even when you remove the glass lid, the frog will not jump higher than the height of that glass lid - because it thinks that is a glass ceiling.

By the same principle, your three-dimensional limitations have limited you. Humanity will certainly move toward a civilization that transcends the material world; this is inevitable, because it is written into our blueprint. But how do we transcend it? We must cross over - from the level of consciousness you must ascend in dimension, you must cross over it. If you cannot cross over it from the level of consciousness, you will not find the way to solve the problem. That is to say, some problems that absolutely cannot be solved in the three-dimensional world can easily find their solutions on a higher level of consciousness; but in the three-dimensional world, no matter how hard you try, you cannot find that solution.

Many of your global dilemmas seem so hopeless only because in those areas you have come to the end of the line.

We are now encountering just such a dilemma - this pandemic seems to have no solution. Why is there no solution? It actually hints that in those areas, humanity has come to the end of the line and can go no further.

In that respect, those problems have a stimulating effect.

This problem has its benefits; it can stimulate us to reflect and examine ourselves. This does not mean that you must experience disasters; it is not that we must experience disasters in order to reflect, but this disaster does indeed have a stimulating effect for us.

Placing this matter in the context of our current pandemic makes it very clear. I have discussed this issue before: the result of humanity's development with material progress as the only goal inevitably leads to today's result. And the pandemic, in its own way, is telling humanity that this model of development with material goals at its center no longer works and cannot continue. So on a global scale it has shut down the free trade and global commercial circulation that you have been familiar with for hundreds of years, and it has locked them down one by one. It is actually a hint, telling you that this model cannot continue.

From the spiritual level, the repeated harvesting and oppression of the bottom-level "leeks" by these financial oligarchs has already awakened those leeks. After awakening, these oligarchs were especially confident that they controlled all the tools - whether media, television, social media, everything - and that you simply could not resist, that resistance could not even make a sound, that it was absolutely impossible for any sound to be made.

Let me give a simple example: a while ago, in one of my own videos, I posted a video that YouTube least wanted shown, and I set it to "unlisted," meaning it was not publicly available. As a result, that unlisted video was played 250,000 times, and YouTube did not discover it for five months. Because it was unlisted, if you knew the link you could play it, and if you did not know the link you could not. Why was it played 250,000 times? Surely everyone was forwarding it to one another, sharing it around. Then at the end of April this year, in late April, YouTube discovered it...

The Pandemic, Stimulus, and Human Reflection

What I just said is actually what Seth says in this section of The "Unknown" Reality -- he is explaining the role that collective events like the pandemic play for humanity. It is not predestined, not as if you have to go through this particular disaster for it to count. What determines it then? It is determined by the fact that we have already chosen certain experiences -- we chose to undergo this stimulus so that human civilization could move up to a new level. Without this pandemic, if we humans continued not to reflect and kept developing in the same way, then we could foresee what the future would be like.

They are not predestined... they are determined by the fact that we have already chosen certain experiences.

But if you allow it, they will automatically lead to further creative development. If you allow it -- if you feel this is a disaster, or a global pandemic, and you see it as bad, that is also normal; but if you can embrace it, if you think it can actually bring about better creative development, then it is not entirely bad either. It is simply that you chose these experiences. Again, it is not predestined; it is something we ourselves chose.

Let me look at my own personal experience. A while back I put a video on my channel that YouTube least wanted to see, and I set it to unlisted, not public. That unlisted video ended up with 250,000 views, and for five months YouTube never noticed -- it was unlisted, you know, so if you had the link you could play it, and if you did not have the link you could not. So how did it get 250,000 views? It must have been people sharing it with each other, forwarding it around. Then at the end of April this year, in late April, YouTube discovered the video and deleted it directly, no warning, just deleted it, and then sent a warning saying this kind of thing could not be posted again. That is normal too; I understand, I get why they do these things. But what happened after that was extremely strange and eerie: from the moment this video was discovered and deleted, my YouTube subscriber count stopped growing. You could still see people watching videos every day, with thousands of views, but the subscriber count no longer increased -- however much it went up, it went down by the same amount, very strange. You can tell from this just how powerful and how fine-grained these people's control over media restrictions really is. So this is a typical example. I may open another channel later, but not in the near future, because this channel has already been flagged by YouTube.

Under these conditions, the韭菜 get harvested again and again, and in the end, you see the rise of the lying-flat movement in China -- this is a typical example: I will not let you harvest me anymore; I would rather not consume at all, sink myself into the lowest level of consumption, the lowest pursuit in life, but I will not let you extract any labor value from me either. Do you think this business model can be sustained? With the financial system, the commercial system, and the economic system built the way they are now, none of your economic measures have any stimulating effect on the lying-flat crowd, none whatsoever. So in fact, these things are hinting to us that humanity should make adjustments, should reflect -- the model of development based purely on the material can no longer continue.

This pandemic has its stimulating effect, but it seems we humans have not reflected on it very much. Fortunately, many people studying spiritual knowledge suddenly emerged -- there were not this many before. Because of the stimulus of the pandemic, people were stuck at home with nothing to do, outdoor activities were all canceled, so they could only stay at home. And what did they do while squatting at home? They had had enough of entertainment, finished binge-watching all the shows, so they turned to things they had never looked at before. So sometimes it is also a good thing -- it aroused our human alertness and stimulation.

Brotherhood and Cellular Cooperation

Then Seth said, as far as our species is concerned, that idealization is about brotherhood.

As far as your species is concerned... that idealization is about brotherhood. In your terms, physiologically the cells work together to form...

For humanity, what is this idealization? It is that humanity has a developmental vision.

Humanity has a developmental vision, a developmental blueprint, but this blueprint cannot be directly revealed. What does it reveal itself as? It reveals itself as a common ideal shared by humanity -- that we humans are one family, one community. The idea of a community with a shared future for mankind is not wrong; it is a very good one. This is what brotherhood means: humanity is one. Our pursuit of the blueprint and vision for humanity's future, concretized at the level of our conscious awareness, is a community with a shared future for mankind -- it is the brotherhood of humanity, the bond of kinship, the relationship in human nature where blood is thicker than water.

Seth said, from your human perspective, the cells in your body work together to form the physical structure of the person. As far as our cells are concerned, they do not distinguish between self and other -- you think these are my cells and those are your cells, but actually your cells contain my cells, and my cells contain your cells. It is very simple: you also have animal cells and plant cells around you. You say you do? Of course you do -- you eat those animals, that meat, those plants, and where do they go? They are recombined in your body, broken down into proteins, amino acids, and various forms of energy. Yes, they die, but do they not recombine into new cells? From a certain kind of memory perspective, are not the food cells you ate recombined in your body and turned into your cells?

This brotherhood operates instinctively in their cooperation.

At the cellular level, the community with a shared future for mankind operates instinctively -- it cannot not operate.

From your viewpoint, you do not appreciate the great individuality of each cell.

From your human perspective, you do not go around admiring how amazing this cell is, how broad-minded and generous it is, able to build such a clever human being like me -- I am this smart because of the contribution of every single cell. You do not sing the praises of cells every day; you take them for granted. Because the cells cooperate so well, you assume they have no private uniqueness. You think cells have no individuality, that they are all the same, just the most basic units that make up the great human being that is you. You cannot give each cell a name -- this cell is called Alice, that cell is called Wang Dajun -- you would not do that, because you do not think there is individuality within them.

What does Seth mean by this? He is saying it in reverse: from the human perspective, people do not feel that every individual has his or her uniqueness, nor do they feel that every individual has his or her importance, just as we view cells. Yet from another angle, from the social level, you have not yet achieved the psychic [brotherhood] that your cells possess.

However... in social terms, you have not yet achieved the kind of psychic brotherhood that your cells possess.

Socially speaking, you are not even as good as cells -- cells are connected as one, knowing they are one body; whereas in your human society, you do not even know you are one, and you still fight and kill each other. Because of differences in beliefs, values, and ideas, and even because of gender differences, you attack each other -- how ridiculous. You are not even as good as cells, and yet you mock cells, look down on them, think they are lowly -- he says you are not even as good as they are.

You do not understand that the experience of your world is intimately connected with your own private experience.

Just as your body is composed of cells, and each cell has its own unique individuality, and the uniqueness of each of these cells makes up the uniqueness of your entire body, so too is your world connected through the intimate experience of each person's uniqueness.

If you burn your finger, it hurts immediately, and your body at once begins a cooperative venture in which adjustments are made so that the wound begins to heal.

From the body's perspective, your cells are a miraculous place -- you burn your finger, you immediately pull it back, then you look and examine it, see how severe the burn is, what degree of burn or scald it is, and then you start applying ointment and treating it, and under your care the body begins to heal. This is a process of close cooperation between cells and the human body. If you think of your human body as humanity, and each cell as each individual -- our society is not even as fast, as responsive, or as cooperative as cells.

If a portion of mankind is hurt...

Is that not just like your finger being hurt? Yes, it may take a while before you feel the pain. For example, suppose Africa is suffering from famine right now -- you will not feel the pain. Only when the famine becomes severe enough, and reporters and media from various countries report on it and you see it all, might it affect your feelings somewhat, but even then the pain may not be that strong -- unless you personally go to the scene in Africa, only then will the feeling become intense.

But the entire unconscious mechanism of mankind will try to heal the wound.

Humanity has an unconscious mechanism, and it will try to heal the wound. Although you feel nothing, the underlying unconscious of humanity will not ignore it; it will heal the wound. You can consciously promote that development -- you can actively do a better job of this healing process, rather than leaving it only to humanity's passive unconscious.

And acknowledge your brotherhood with all other living beings, and if you do so, the healing will happen faster.

If humanity thinks of itself as one body, it has an automatic mechanism that will also heal wounds, but it heals relatively slowly. If every individual knows that the harm suffered by every other person in the human community is equivalent to harm suffered by you -- when we all have this kind of empathetic recognition, then the healing process will be very fast.

A biological brotherhood exists... an inner empathy at the cellular level... that connects all individuals of the species to one another.

This is something each of us has within. This inner empathy has always been there, which is why we cannot bear to see human beings suffer -- whether or not they are our own family or friends, as long as it is a human being suffering, you cannot stand it, you really cannot. If you do not believe it, try it: those horror films, those films that make people suffer and feel pain -- why do movie theaters restrict them from being shown? Because the images cannot be too bloody; people simply cannot bear that kind of thing. Why can they not bear it? Because this inner empathy is present. This is a result of biological idealization.

Why does inner empathy arise? It makes it impossible for you to harm your own kind -- never mind harming them, you cannot even watch it. You cannot even accept the image, the photo, that kind of scene, let alone actually do it. So Seth says, if one of humanity's inner blueprints manifests as this brotherhood, then the physiological expression of this brotherhood within us is inner empathy.

There is a compassion within each person's heart, and it exists within all species and connects all species.

It is not unique to humanity; other species have it too, other animals have it too, and they are interconnected -- all species and all things are connected, all beings are together. So now you know why the Buddha insisted on saying "all sentient beings," "sentient beings with feeling" -- what is this feeling of sentient beings? It is inner empathy. What the Buddha called the feeling of sentient beings is right here -- everyone has this empathy; humans have it, Buddhas have it, bodhisattvas have it, all sentient beings have it.

When any of its members dies of starvation or disease, mankind suffers.

You must understand: when any person dies of starvation or disease, all of humanity suffers as well. Just as a plant can be harmed, and if one cluster of its leaves is unhappy, the whole plant is harmed too -- the same principle. In the same way, all members of humanity will be made happy by any of the individuals who compose it.

All members of mankind will be made happy by... any of those who [compose] it... and benefit from each person's health and achievements.

The happiness of every member who makes up humanity, the health of every member, the achievements of every member -- all of these benefit everyone. So now you can understand why the Buddha or the bodhisattvas insist on saving these sentient beings, saving humanity -- the reason is that it benefits everyone.

Mankind can become aware of the medium of vast probabilities in which it exists, and thus consciously choose those probabilities that are most suited to the idealization that points toward its greatest fulfillment.

"The medium of vast probabilities" -- he discussed this in the previous few sessions, that is, the psychic climate; we will not expand on it here. He says humanity can sense it -- that thing that universally exists in all realities, in which probabilities can arise and be born, in which all thoughts and consciousness can exist -- we can call it a medium, a kind of substrate, that is, that nonphysical state of existence. Teacher Xiyu calls it the etheric body, the etheric web, or whatever -- it does not matter whether you give it a name or not -- it is in that medium that your thoughts, your consciousness, your probabilities can exist or connect with one another.

One portion of mankind cannot long grow and develop at the expense of another portion.

Remember, this sentence is a profound summary he made: one portion of mankind cannot long grow and develop at the expense of another portion. Can it in the short term? Yes, in the short term it can; sometimes in the short term there are needs for adjustment, needs for transformation. But in the long term, the idea that one portion of humanity keeps suffering -- for example, that Africans keep suffering -- and yet humanity can still develop very well, is impossible.

Here I want to add one more point. Although I am about to say something unpleasant, I will still say it: we often talk about racial discrimination and criticize Europe and America, but in fact, when it comes to real racial discrimination, Chinese people are far more serious about it than others; we just do not dare admit it ourselves. If you ask which ethnic group in this world has the most severe racial discrimination, it is actually the Chinese -- they are born with a genuine, heartfelt discrimination against black people, ethnic minorities, and those who are less developed. Although they do not say it out loud, and even act without restraint, they feel that under heaven only the Chinese nation is the greatest, worthy of praise and celebration, and that all other ethnic groups have their own problems -- for example, the little Japanese, the Indians, the black brothers, and so on. I am not saying every person is like this; I am only talking about the phenomenon. It exists in Europe and America too, but because of their rule of law, they dare not express it openly, and over time, in the education of children, the problem of discrimination becomes less obvious and less expressed, and over time many people simply do not have this discrimination anymore -- they really do not. I am not saying there is no discrimination in European and American societies; I can only say that some people do not have it.

So I raise this point again here: this universal value, that all people are born equal -- do not judge a person by skin color, background, poverty, education, or quality -- is a fundamental basic condition. Once you finish reading what Seth said in this passage, you will understand why such universal values exist, and why when humanity on Earth encounters great disasters, there are always people who go to solve them and help.

Photo: The Concretization of Idealization

Then Seth said:

To one extent or another, a photograph is a concretization of an idealization to a certain degree.

At a certain moment in your life, for example, you take a photograph. To one extent or another, that photograph is, to some degree, a concretization of an idealization. What does "a concretization of an idealization" mean? It means that, in the process of developing toward the blueprint of your life's goals, it is a picture, a miniature, a freeze-frame of an action you took in order to realize your own ideals -- it is a concretization.

On another level, your body and your experience are a richly varied achievement... a living concretization being experienced.

From another level, your body and the things your body is currently experiencing are also a concretization of an idealization. Can you understand what he means? For example, we human beings currently exist as a whole, developing toward the blueprint of humanity's future. And you, as a member of this humanity, as this physical body currently existing in material form -- anything it experiences is a concrete, tiny, insignificant little action within the process of all humanity developing toward this blueprint. But even though it is small, the actions of all humanity are made up of the gathered actions of each individual -- no matter how insignificant your action is, you are still a part of the overall action of humanity.

And the current picture of your world -- if we took a photograph of our present world, taken from a satellite, and if the resolution of this photograph were high enough, it could capture not only mountains, rivers, oceans, but also the voice and appearance of every person -- if it could be magnified to that level of clarity, then this present picture of the world could also be called a concretized picture of humanity moving toward idealization, composed of this one frame. If the history of human civilization could be composed of frame after frame of such pictures, then the developmental course of your individual life is also composed frame by frame of your personal photographs -- each frame is a concretization of an idealization, each frame is moving forward toward the blueprint of your life.

Below there is an exercise, an exercise period -- it is the seventh exercise. This exercise is also very interesting, and it really trains your thinking and your brain.

Exercise: A Group Photo

The exercise goes like this. If you can find one, get a group photo -- not one of a single person, but one with a lot of people together. For example, your high school graduation photo, your college graduation photo, or a group photo of your sports team, or a group photo of you and a few close girlfriends on a trip together -- any kind of group photo will do.

Perhaps it is a graduation picture, or a picture of the members of a club.

Take that photo out and look at it. Look at what is in the photo, and then think about what you did not see. Observe carefully what you do see, and then think about what you did not see -- can you think of what it is that you did not see?

Then move on to the next step: imagine the emotional state of every person present at the moment that photo was taken. Then let your imagination expand, and think about each person in the photo -- what was his or her emotional state at the moment that photo was taken? Then try to feel the emotional interactions that existed between the various individuals -- feel the mutual emotional interactions between each person. Do it slowly, one person at a time, do not rush. For example, if there are ten people in the photo, go through them one by one, and imagine what that person's inner emotional state was at the moment the photo was taken.

When you have finished that:

Try to glimpse each person's intimate relationships with others not in the picture, but contemporary with it.

That is, think about what kind of emotional state this person was in at the moment the photo was taken -- was he single? Was he dating anyone? Who was his boyfriend or girlfriend? Who was his husband or wife? Consider these things. Then think again about whether they had intimate relationships within the group itself -- for example, look at a graduation photo. Among those in the graduation photo, who were already dating? Who had already paired off? Who had a secret crush that had not yet been confessed? Who was involved in a love triangle? Which girl was liked by many boys, and who did she like? Try to imagine it. This exercise is fun, right? It is especially suited to people who love gossip -- people who love gossip enjoy this kind of exercise the most. You say you do not like gossip? Even if you do not like gossip, you can still give it a try, to train this thinking consciousness of yours, and expand it a bit.

This exercise has two stages. The specific steps: first look at who is in the photo, and look at what you see; then look at what you did not see -- what did you not see? For example, in this group photo, who should have been there but did not come? For instance, your class had 56 students, but only 49 showed up for the group photo -- what were those 7 people doing? All of that is what you did not see. Then think again: among the people you do see, are there any inner emotional connections between them? Did any of them have secret crushes on each other, or open crushes, or confirmed relationships, or polyamorous entanglements? Spread the wings of your imagination. After you have thought about that, think again about each person in the photo: apart from the possibility of intimate relationships with the people in the photo, did they in reality have relationships with other people? For example, look at this boy in the graduation photo. You know that back then you also liked him, but you never confessed, and he did not know you liked him, but you know that this boy actually had an intimate relationship with a girl from the class next door. So these are the people who are not in the photo, but who are in the same era as you -- what intimate relationships did they have with each person in the photo? Some of it you know, some of it you do not; for what you know, go ahead and imagine it.

Then:

Let your thoughts continue to imagine the contacts involved in each person's family interactions before the picture was taken.

Imagine what kind of interactions would have taken place in the family before the photo was taken. For example, in the example I gave, I will not talk about graduation photos now, because graduation photos do not involve family -- though actually they do involve it to some extent. For example, he was going to have his photo taken, but his parents disagreed, saying, "Do not wear those clothes." Or, "I happen to be going on a trip tomorrow, so let us go together first." For instance, you graduated on June 1, and the school scheduled the graduation photo for June 4, but your family was going on a trip on June 3. So you might have chosen between the graduation photo and the trip, and gone on the trip with your family instead -- and so you might not have been in the photo. That is one kind of family discussion.

Another kind -- let us not talk about graduation photos, but about something like a class reunion. Ten years after graduating from college, everyone gets together for a class reunion. At the class reunion, imagine what happened to each person before the gathering -- did her husband not let her come? Did his wife also not let him go? Or if he did go, what was said? "When you go, behave yourself. Do not go making eyes at that girl from your class again. I knew all about what went on between you two back then." Did they say something like that? What might they all have said? Remember here, this is all "might" -- just imagine as much as you can, and the more vivid, the better.

Then think of the probable actions, accepted or discarded, that allowed the people in the picture to come together at that time.

Then imagine the things that could have happened, the things that actually happened, and the things that might have happened -- what factors determined that the people in the photo could gather together at that time. For example, her husband simply would not let her go, because she had been the class beauty back then, and he knew that many people had secretly admired her. He was afraid that if she went, those people would pursue her again -- because his financial situation was not good now. Back then he might have been a talented scholar who never achieved his ambitions, while those who had pursued his wife back then might have been the troublemakers of the class, but later they all went into business and every one of them became rich. He was especially afraid of his wife attending this class reunion, afraid that she would lose her grip and be swept away by wealth. But his wife insisted on going no matter what, because for her, the class reunion was not about any of that messy stuff at all -- she was only thinking about the friendship of her classmates, whom she had not seen for ten years. I am just giving this small example to help you imagine: what reasons, what things happened, and what things did not happen, that led to everyone being able to gather together and take such a graduation photo ten years after graduation.

Biologically there are illnesses that were avoided, and deaths that might have occurred but did not.

Biologically, there are such things: some illnesses can be avoided, and some deaths should have occurred but did not.

There are endless decisions of probabilities in space.

In space there are simply endless possibilities and the decisions related to them.

People could have moved away and did not.

For example, at the time this photo was taken, perhaps this classmate of yours should have already gone abroad with his parents, but for some twist of fate, the whole family did not go abroad -- if they had gone abroad, he would not be in this photo. But he did not go abroad, so he is in it. Or someone did move away, and thus entered that particular spatial range. Someone moved away, and originally it would have been impossible for him to attend, but once the class reunion notice was posted in the WeChat group, distance meant nothing -- you know that many people come back from abroad just for class reunions. No matter how far he had to fly, he still wanted to come back for the class reunion, so he came.

Therefore, behind all those decisions there are countless concepts.

Just this one simple group photo, this concretized photograph -- in the middle of it there are countless possibilities that determined that this photo could be taken.

You form your own experience... You only know why you yourself went to have the photo taken... You did not think about the others.

Therefore, in a broad sense, those people decided to appear at that particular time and place, so that photo is the result of many decisions. Each person made all sorts of strange and varied decisions -- some flew back from abroad, some were right there locally and still did not attend, and in the end it was decided that there would be exactly these 26 people in the photo. These 26 people are the result of many decisions -- not 28, not 24, but the result of all the possible decisions in the present moment, creating today's outcome.

Representing a focus of experience born from innumerable probabilities.

From countless possibilities, one focus of experience finally emerged, and that was the taking of this photo.

And the picture of the world represents the same kind of focus in a larger fashion.

Seth shifts his focus here -- he often makes very strong leaps, which is why people have trouble keeping up with him. He has just finished talking about this class reunion photo, but actually his main point was not to talk about the class reunion photo -- he shifts his focus to tell you this: the same principle applies to the class reunion photo or the group photo, and the picture our world presents today. Behind it there are countless decisions of possibilities that we cannot even imagine, which finally formed the way society looks today.

Your most private decisions affected all of humanity.

Here he states it all in declarative sentences -- your most private decision, that is, your most personal decision, one you made entirely out of consideration for yourself, one you thought only concerned yourself -- it affects all of humanity. This sounds like a big claim, but the fact is exactly that, only the degree of influence differs. You say, how much can it affect? Maybe it does not affect you very much, but suppose you are the president of a country? Suppose you are a military expert or a general of a country? Your decisions really could affect the whole world. But perhaps your decision was based only on your personal aims, very private ones.

Nevertheless... within space and time [you] are your own creator.

You must remember this sentence: within space and time, you are your own creator. After choosing among those many possibilities, you determine what your present picture looks like.

But you [also] participate in the larger creation of human experience.

You are not only your own creator; you are also one part of the larger creation of human experience.

Now the dictation ends. So this seventh exercise also comes to an end -- this exercise goes from the small to the large, from one small photo all the way to such a grand chapter as the development of the whole of human civilization.

The Life of the Material

Later he has a note on this, which was already discussed in The Nature of Personal Reality; in the note I will briefly explain it. Seth tells us that the material does not exist on its own in isolation; the consciousness of all those who understand it, perceive it, and originate it is connected with it. What he means is that the material does not exist in isolation; it is necessarily mixed together with the consciousness of the people who transmit, create, and share it—the consciousness of these people all influences the material. There is no original, pure version of the material. You might ask, can you find me an original, pure one? There is none. The moment this material is created, it is necessarily influenced and necessarily mixed; there is no such thing as pure material.

Therefore, there is no objective, eternally available record of it in some data bank.

Remember, there is no objective, eternally available record of it in some data bank that you could tune in to and receive his information from. There is no such data bank. Why not? Because it is necessarily influenced by the users and transmitters of the material, so no such objective, eternally available thing exists—it is always alive.

Instead, the consciousness that would hold such information in the past, present, and future will attract it to itself like a magnet attracts iron.

Let me point out the wonderful thing about this sentence—"would hold" is in the future tense. Why does he use the future tense for past, present, and future all alike? You might say "the future would hold" and that grammar works; but in English, "the past, present, and future would hold" is itself grammatically flawed—the past and the present do not "would hold," they have already held it. But here he uses "would hold." Why? Because of simultaneity: past, present, and future are simultaneous.

So he uses "would hold." As for that consciousness, let us use the Seth material as an example so you can understand it more easily—the consciousness that would come into contact with the Seth material, for example you, whether you came into contact with it in the past, are coming into contact with it now, or will come into contact with it in the future (for instance, 200 years from now you only then come into contact with the Seth material), it does not matter. As long as it is the consciousness that goes to contact this material, whether in the past, present, or future, it will attract this material to itself like a magnet attracts iron.

That is one side of it; then he turns it around and continues:

And the material itself also desires to draw close to that consciousness.

Not only do you attract it, it also wants to draw close to you; it is also attracted to you. It is not something dead or immobile. Do not treat the Seth material as something dead, sitting here waiting for you to discover it—it is itself alive. When you attract it, it also attracts you; it is not only something you want to grasp, it is also willing to be grasped by you. Interesting, is it not? Many people say, "How did I ever come into contact with the Seth material?" At the time in your life when you needed it, you came into contact with the relevant material—not only did you want to contact it, it also wanted to seize hold of you.

Thus it is drawn to those who seek it.

Because you have an inner longing in your heart; you want to know these truths; you have distress in your heart that cannot be resolved, some questions that cannot be explained clearly, and so you carry this vague searching within you—and this material also draws near to you, and you also draw near to the material. On that day of fortunate coincidence, you open YouTube and see me talking about this, and you click and listen. Maybe before that you first listened to something like "Taking You Into Thought-Space-Time," and that title may have been very tempting to you; you wanted to see what thought-space-time was actually like, and so you went in, and from thought-space-time you arrived at the Seth material. So who exactly caused it? Was it that I posted that video and drew you here, or was it that you yourself wanted to draw near to this, or was it that the Seth material wanted to draw near to you? They all work together.

Your consciousness will attract those consciousnesses already connected with the material.

Do you understand? It means that consciousness attracts what is on the same frequency. If you do not understand, let me explain it to you in plain language. Suppose you have studied the Seth material for 20 years, and you have deep insight into it and feel very good about it. But at this point, the you of 20 years later has already studied it very deeply, and you look at the you before age 20 who had not yet come into contact with the Seth material, and the you of 20 years later gets a little anxious: "How come you still have not started studying? I have already studied for 20 years; if you do not study, how am I supposed to keep going? How did I ever come into contact with the Seth material?" And then he can arrange some coincidences for you, making you think it was coincidence, chance, happenstance, and so you come into contact with it.

If you insist on understanding him in plain language, you can understand it this way: has the future you already connected with this material? Has the consciousness of the future you already been together with this material for a long time, already been "mixed up" with it? Without the limitations of time and space, is not that future consciousness attracted by your present consciousness? Yes, it is that simple—attracted, and then it seems like some vague coincidence, and you come into contact with the Seth material.

I use this example to tell you that other things are the same. It is not only the matter of studying spiritual material; other things are the same—why do these things happen in your life? They all come through a pattern similar to this. You attract each other; it is not one-sided enthusiasm. This is very much like the state of young boys and girls in the hazy, ignorant stage of courting—both people are interested. One side being interested is not enough; pestering relentlessly is also useless; only when both sides are interested. You might ask, well, who was interested first? That is no longer important; in the end, what matters is that both of them are interested, and only then can the thing come about.

As for the interpretation of this part, it ends here. Next, Teacher Xiyu will provide a detailed analysis and interpretation. Teacher Xiyu's analysis always has unique insights and his own distinctive examples and exercises, which can allow you to gain a deep understanding of the Seth material once again from another level. Alright, as for the interpretation of this part, it ends here. Finally, thank you all, and I wish everyone a magical and beautiful day.

注释与核实

1. Source: Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, "May 13, 1974" (https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/research/almanac/may-13-1974) ↩

2. According to Mike's original words, "Although China has a horizontal competition law"; upon verification, it should be "China has the Anti-Unfair Competition Law of the People's Republic of China, and there is no law named the Horizontal Competition Law." (Source: The National People's Congress of China, "Anti-Unfair Competition Law of the People's Republic of China" 2025, https://www.npc.gov.cn/npc/c2/c30834/202506/t20250627_446247.html) ↩

3. This claim could not be verified. ↩

4. Source: Wu Cheng'en, "Journey to the West, Chapter 2" (https://zh.wikisource.org/zh-hans/%E8%A5%BF%E9%81%8A%E8%A8%98/%E7%AC%AC002%E5%9B%9E) ↩

5. Source: Maggie M. Hantak et al., "Dietary Alkaloid Sequestration in a Poison Frog: An Experimental Test of Alkaloid Uptake in Melanophryniscus stelzneri (Bufonidae)" 2013 (https://ralphsaporito.weebly.com/uploads/5/9/1/7/59174543/hantak_et_al._2013_-_alkaloid_sequestration_in_melanophryniscus.pdf) ↩