Mike's commentary · The Way Toward Health, Chapter 11

The "Introduction" and "Chapter Highlights" for 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 starts from the lowest points -- suicidal tendencies, cancer, AIDS, and so on -- and discusses the will to live and starting over. It points out that changing beliefs is the core, and that in the process one may become depressed and disillusioned, and needs to relax and shift attention. It analyzes how suicidal people often, because of denial, fear, and suppression, feel unneeded and without room to develop. It suggests communication, delaying decisions, family and group support, and cautious use of mind-altering drugs. It emphasizes surrendering to the inner life force and trusting spontaneity, and provides exercises such as affirming the self and inner communication. Behind illness is the expression of needs, and the body is always trying to heal itself.

Key Points in This Chapter

• Changing beliefs is the core of starting over. The process may involve frustration and disillusionment, so it is necessary to relax and shift one's attention.
• Suicidal tendencies often stem from denial, fear, suppression, and the feeling of not being needed or having no room to develop.
• When dealing with a suicidal person, one should communicate and delay the decision, avoiding condemnation or neglect; family involvement and group support are helpful.
• Changing mind-altering drugs should be done with caution, especially for those who are depressed; letting go and trusting the inner life force and spontaneity helps healing.
• Behind illness there is a need for expression, and the body is always trying to heal itself; practices such as affirming the self and inner communication can promote healing.

Main Text

Signs of Life: Starting Over from the Very Bottom

We see that this session begins on June 8, 1984. It was a Friday, at 3:14 in the afternoon. The weather was very warm, at least 90 degrees, and 90 degrees already counts as hot. But in Room 330 it was again quite comfortable, with a gentle breeze. On the third floor, it was obvious that after lunch Jane and I prayed together and read the prayers. I looked at letters for a while, until she said she was ready for the session. Jane seemed to feel better than when she had come in, and her delivery was rather slow but steady. Then Seth came through and said:

Now I bid you once again a good afternoon. Good afternoon, Seth. We will continue with the dictation.

Then he said again, starting over, changing one's beliefs is a bold endeavor, and it is quite possible to become discouraged or disillusioned along the way.

Here he says that starting over is a very bold endeavor. To let a person be reborn is to change his beliefs. If you have listened to my talks on Liao-Fan's Four Lessons¹ about how to defy fate and change one's destiny, then you understand that changing a belief is, for a person, the same as being completely reborn, washing the heart and renewing the face, becoming a brand-new person. This is quite possible, remember, quite possible, very possible. Along the way you will encounter obstacles, discouragement, and disillusionment.

When it comes to changing your face and starting over, it is very possible that you will encounter discouragement and disillusionment. Do not think it will be smooth sailing -- that the day you decide to change your beliefs, everything will immediately become peaceful and take a turn for the better. In between, you will encounter some ups and downs, some personal instability, all of which is possible. In such times of discouragement and disillusionment, giving yourself some time to relax is a good idea. Shift your attention completely to something else, and in your heart say: "For now, to hell with it!"

That is to say, a swear word, "to hell with it." Do not keep dwelling on the thing that discouraged you -- for example, your belief about health is something you recently wanted to change, but you find that even though the belief has changed, your health has not immediately improved as you wished. At that point you will have some anxiety and discouragement. At such a time, you should shift your energy to other things, do not keep staring at these matters without letting go, and then you can say to yourself: regarding the current situation, to hell with it for now, do not bother with it!

This swear word is actually very useful. I remember Teacher Nan Huai-Chin once said something: he said that swearing is also a kind of mantra. If you feel that saying "to hell with it" is very satisfying, and saying it carries a sense of power, then in fact its effect is the same as those words and key phrases we use in prayer. It just depends on how you use it.

The whole concept is a process: you change your beliefs, and thereby change yourself. In this, you are at once "both being and not being." This state is very hard to grasp; many people do not know how to find this state, either pushing too hard or lacking confidence. Here I hope that each person's state is one of full confidence, a very firm and settled confidence, yet in the doing of it, one is not attached. Many people cannot find this degree of heat.

This state of having one hundred percent confidence, yet being unattached to and unanxious about the result, is the most ideal state. So here he uses "both being and not being" -- both trying and not trying, which is very subtle. You do not strive to achieve the result, do not strive to achieve the result, but instead gently begin to allow yourself to follow the contours of your subjective feelings. You can stop pursuing the result, and only pursue these subjective feelings -- whatever you feel in the present, happy or not, whether you can find something happy to do.

Go discover those beliefs from childhood that were effective psychologically and biologically. When you were young, whether psychologically or biologically, those effective beliefs -- you had no doubt whatsoever about your future growth, you had not the slightest doubt that you could grow up and become an adult. On this point you were one hundred percent certain, beyond any question. But toward the result, you in fact added no judgment or expectation.

We all grew up from childhood, and that mindset is one we should maintain: have confidence, but never be attached to the result. No one lies awake every night worrying about what the future will become; no child is like that. But we adults often lose sleep night after night because we are anxious about what the future will be like, or we often suffer from insomnia -- these are common occurrences.

What we need to grasp is precisely this degree of heat -- both being and not being, both trying and not trying. Both having absolute confidence in the future, and not being attached to the result, while paying attention to every feeling in the present. You treat every stage of the present, every moment, as a necessary road on the way to the beautiful result of the future, an inevitable process. And what you need to do is enjoy every process in between.

If you firmly believe in the result, and are very certain about this goal or this future, with not the slightest doubt, then if you truly have not the slightest doubt, the only thing you can do is enjoy the process. Without any other worry, you just enjoy the process.

This certainty about the future, and this enjoyment of the present process, is the best wisdom obtained in this life. The only things you can do now are these two, and they are the most effective.

Let me give everyone an example. One year we went to Alaska to play; I remember it was 2020 or 2021, I cannot recall. We organized an Alaska trip, going in winter to see the northern lights, because the aurora is generally more visible in winter. Our group first gathered in Seattle, played for a day or two, then flew to Alaska, and then went to the far north, inside the Arctic Circle, to see the aurora. We rode in a local professional expedition vehicle -- of course you could rent a car yourself, but the risk would be much greater -- with a professional guide driving us into the Arctic Circle.

On the way back it was already around eleven or twelve at night, and there were still about two or three hours of driving before we would reach the camp. And at that moment, the most amazing thing was that the driver said he had been driving for over twenty years and had never had an accident, and the vehicle had never broken down. You know that in that kind of polar region, with no village ahead and no shop behind, no people, and no cell phone signal, if a lone vehicle broke down on the road, the consequences would be extremely serious.

And sure enough, the vehicle broke down halfway, and would not start. The temperature inside the vehicle would gradually get cold, because if the engine cannot start, there is no heat, and it quickly becomes cold. At that point the driver surely had a backup plan -- he used a satellite phone to call for help, asking the company to send someone over to pick us up in another vehicle. And for the company to send someone would also take about two or three hours of driving.

And during this process, we had not a bit of worry; we simply enjoyed the process. Our group even ran out of the vehicle. There were other tourists traveling with us, and they were all extremely nervous sitting in the vehicle; some had even become so nervous that they began to doubt whether they would make it back to the base alive -- because it was around thirty or forty degrees below zero at the time, and they worried that in such cold weather, if the vehicle broke down and there was no heat, would people freeze to death.

But our group was not only unafraid, we thoroughly enjoyed the process. The whole group rushed out of the vehicle, took out the portable speaker we had with us, and in the snow, by the roadside, under the vast and boundless starry sky of nature, we danced and sang, like throwing a party, an open-air party. All the other people looked at us as if we were crazy -- are these people not afraid of death? They actually did not stay in the vehicle putting on all their clothes and waiting for rescue, and whether rescue could arrive, and when it could arrive, and what if the rescue vehicle also broke down on the road? They were all thinking of the worst possible outcomes.

But we had not the slightest doubt about the result. We were very certain that this was simply a very good opportunity to properly appreciate the Arctic Circle. When we got out and danced and threw our party, we saw the most beautiful aurora -- the aurora suddenly arrived unexpectedly, especially beautiful, in every direction. And at that moment we did not really care much either; the aurora was beautiful, but we were immersed in our own joy and happiness. We kept singing and dancing down there, and time seemed to stop as well, as if there were no concept of it. We kept dancing until the rescue vehicle came to pick us up, and never went back into the vehicle the whole time.

The other tourists sitting in the vehicle waited for a long time in anxiety and fear. But we happily spent those few hours down below, saw the most beautiful aurora, and our companions were together having an absolutely wonderful time, gathered around jumping and dancing and singing. How long did that period of time actually last? We were not sure either. Anyway, until the lights of the rescue vehicle appeared in the distance, we got on and continued forward. By the time we returned to the base, it was already daylight, around five or six in the morning.

That was our magical experience. What is the point of sharing this experience with everyone? It is that in this process, if you are filled with firm certainty and confidence about the future, then the only thing left for you is to enjoy every process in between, and you no longer need to focus on the result.

There were also some small episodes. For example, last year at Mount Qingcheng near Chengdu in Sichuan, during an in-person study session, one morning while class was in progress, suddenly there was an earthquake, lasting about 20 to 30 seconds, with violent shaking and trembling. And the most amazing thing about all of us was that in the entire classroom of about eighty or ninety people, not a single person rushed out. According to earthquake shaking, everyone's first safety instinct would be to run outside, but all of us felt there was no problem, and sat in the classroom feeling the shaking brought by the earthquake. Many people felt an earthquake so vividly for the first time, and found it very novel. Not only were we not panicked, many people even laughed out loud, laughing heartily there, feeling the wonder brought by the earthquake. And the result was that all of us, eighty or ninety people, not one person stood up from their seat, and not one person was nervous.

I say this not to encourage everyone to sit still during an earthquake. In an earthquake, you must follow the earthquake safety rules and the earthquake requirements for emergency evacuation and shelter; that is the most correct approach. I am only sharing with everyone that our group's confidence in the future is so firm and certain that even in matters you consider very dangerous and involving personal life safety, our group still very much enjoyed that moment, that present.

I give these two examples as a reference for everyone; do not go and imitate them or anything like that. I am only sharing with everyone our state of mind and our inner journey.

So when you become discouraged, a playful diversion should give you a refreshing release. Remember, a playful diversion, remember it is playful. You see, we were playful -- we had no worry at all about whether we could safely return to camp; we treated the process of being stranded in the wilderness as a playful thing to enjoy.

For ordinary people, an escapist movie or novel, watching a show, watching a movie, watching a soap opera, all are fine, or buying some little trinkets that may relax the conscious mind, all are fine, all can change your focus of consciousness, shift your attention, and let you relax.

We are actually involved in a change of lifestyle, involved in a change in how we view ourselves and the world, with a new feeling of harmony with our bodies, our minds, our fellow beings, and our environment.

The so-called change of beliefs or overall change is actually this kind of change -- a change of lifestyle, a change of life attitude. And what does this change become? It becomes holding a new feeling of harmony with our bodies, our minds, our fellow beings, and our environment. You are in harmony with your body, you are in harmony with your environment, you are in harmony with your mind, and you are in harmony with the fellow beings around you. In harmony with all these external environments and people and things of your own, such a new feeling.

Remember this feeling, definitely remember this feeling; this is the only feeling you should hold. If you cannot yet achieve the sense of oneness or unity of all things, then at least maintain a sense of harmony with everyone. Maintaining this sense of harmony can help guide you toward better results. Although you do not expect the result, it naturally happens on its own.

Then it is being involved in a change of lifestyle. Before, you may have always been tense; you were tense about yourself, tense about your body, tense about your health, tense about future life, tense about the people around you, tense about things that might happen in the future. You were tense about everything. Now what you need to do is be harmonious.

Indeed, there is no longer the exciting adventure of that kind. And it will bring more surprises and discoveries than any expedition to unfamiliar landscapes.

This harmony -- the feeling of harmony with all things, of harmony with the people and things around you -- cannot bring the kind of exciting adventure you imagine. But what will it bring? It will bring surprises and discoveries that are even more stimulating, even more astonishing, and even more numerous than what any expedition to unfamiliar places in the world could bring. This state that seems entirely peaceful, entirely harmonious, light and calm, as if it would not bring any excitement, is in fact exactly the opposite. It will not bring the kind of stimulation you think of; it brings another kind of deeper stimulation, deeper astonishment, and deeper discovery.

Your beliefs are indeed alive in their own way. Remember, do not take them for granted now.

Do not take these living beliefs for granted. On the contrary, you will begin to notice their uniqueness and diversity. Your beliefs are diverse, but in essence they should be living. This liveliness of belief, this vitality, this sense of wonder and exploration toward the future, is not innate. When your mood is low, you must learn to transform it.

Your beliefs are indeed alive, that is true, but you must recognize their diversity, which may also include some discouragement and loss. Then you should adjust it as quickly as possible; that is what you should do.

However, if we are talking about starting over, we might as well begin working upward from the lowest point.

If you are starting over, you should begin working upward from the root, from the bottom layer. If you do not change the beliefs at the bottom layer, and change them from the top, the effect will not be obvious. In this way you can see the beliefs in their darkest form. From the bottom layer you will see the darkest parts, the most evil parts, or those parts of yourself that you find most unacceptable. Yet gradually watch them begin to show energy, vitality, and new impetus.

This is a point that many people do not know and do not understand, and it is also a very crucial point. Many people are especially afraid of dealing with their bottom-layer beliefs, including the belief of wanting to die, the belief of having no hope for life, the belief of discouragement, the belief of finding life utterly uninteresting. Sometimes they are afraid of these. Even the belief of wanting to die, those filthy beliefs, those evil beliefs, those dirty beliefs that cannot be brought to the table, they are especially afraid of them. They feel these are bad, and they always want to remove them, to shave them clean, leaving behind the positive parts, the great, glorious, and correct parts. They feel that those are the real self, that those can be brought to the table, that those can come out and greet everyone.

In fact, the wonder of this world lies precisely in this point. What I have repeatedly assured and confirmed to everyone is this: when you face these so-called dark, discouraged, low, directionless, goalless, death-wishing, and even evil thoughts, when you truly accept them -- you accept that they are a part of you, you do not need to remove them, you do not need to shave them off, you simply carry them, embrace them, accept them -- then the magical thing will happen at that very moment, a magical change. All these bottom-layer things you consider bad, after you embrace and accept them, will radiate a completely opposite kind of vitality and state. Suddenly they seem not so evil, suddenly not so low, suddenly not so discouraged.

How does all this happen? Let us not explore that for now. In other in-depth courses, we will discuss the inner mechanism. But for now I do not want to discuss the mechanism; I only want to tell you that the result is this: these things you consider the worst, after you accept and embrace them as a part of you, after you hold the belief that you do not need to remove or clean them out, they miraculously change. Together with your positive and active beliefs, they begin to get along harmoniously, in balance and accord, and they all take on that radiant color and tone, all displaying their warm side, their good side, their positive side. And this transformation can only be felt by those who have personally experienced it. Many people may now understand what I am saying; many people may not accept it, and cannot understand it. In that case, all I can tell everyone is: you might as well give it a try; you have nothing to lose.

The Will to Live: Starting Over from the Very Bottom

The theme of this chapter is "starting over from the very bottom, the will to live." What it means is that we begin from the lowest layer, or from the worst circumstances in life, and move upward. If even that can be turned around, if even that can be started over, then everything else is simpler. So he goes directly to one of the worst states we might experience in life, focusing mainly on people who have suicidal tendencies, or people who are already living without hope in life. He starts from this point and begins to discuss it.

In almost all instances of poor health, unfortunate living conditions, or matters of mental and physical stress, there is a strong odor of denial, fear, and repression.

If there is poor health, if living conditions are harsh and miserable, or if there is enormous mental and physical stress, there is a kind of denial -- denial of what? It is a denial of the self, a denial of one's own beliefs, a denial of some part of oneself. And there is fear -- fear of the future, fear of the world, fear of that part of oneself that cannot be accepted, the so-called bad beliefs. And there is also repression -- repression means not accepting that part, so one represses it, not daring to accept the impulses of such beliefs, the underlying bodily reactions, unable to accept any of it, so one represses it.

So denial, fear, and repression are a fundamental cause of many unfortunate conditions in your life.

When suicide is involved, this makes them visible in their most severe and obvious manner, particularly in the suicides of young people.

When suicide occurs, the most fundamental unfortunate results caused by denial, fear, and repression become very obvious.

Later we will discuss some specific cases of characteristics and effects related to suicide. But for now, we will concern ourselves with the increasing number of suicides among young people.

Each person's suicide situation is not entirely the same; there are special cases. But at this point he says, we will not talk about these special cases; we will only talk about the single phenomenon of the rising number of suicides among young people. This phenomenon is not only present in today's China; in America and in Europe and America it is also a very common phenomenon. This problem has reached a point where it needs to be brought out for discussion. So let us see how Seth goes on to discuss this issue. Perhaps it may also be a very good reference and solution for the problem of youth suicide today.

At one time or another most people consider the possibility of their own death.

Generally everyone may have considered: what if I died? What would happen after death? It is possible to consider it. But that is a quite natural response to the form of life; most people will think about it once in a while.

For some people, however, the idea of death becomes an obsession that will not go away.

For some people, death becomes an obsession; they keep thinking about it, to the point that it feels like a way to escape life's difficulties. It is as if life has encountered all kinds of difficulties that cannot be solved, as if suicide were the only way to solve the problem. But in fact it is not; it feels that way, but in fact it is not at all. It even forms a kind of temptation in some people's minds -- for some people, suicide is the only very good way to escape the difficulties of present life, even a temptation, with many benefits. So we also see many young people going together to commit suicide; in fact they are all led and misled by this temptation.

Yet within all of existence's impetus, there is the desire for existence.

What is the core point of this sentence? It is that no matter whether you think about suicide, or even do not want to live, this desire itself is at bottom a desire for existence. No matter what kind of desire you have, there is this impetus of existence pushing at the bottom of it. You say wanting to commit suicide -- how is that an impetus of existence?

It is an impetus toward expression, development, and fulfillment.

From a certain angle, suicide is also a kind of expression, also a kind of development, also a kind of fulfillment. He also wants to express something through suicide. If a person had no place where he wanted to push this desire for existence, he would not need death, nor would he need suicide. He would be indifferent; living is fine, dying is fine, but he would not deliberately seek some act of suicide. Whenever you want to seek this act of suicide, this desire itself is in fact an impetus to express, to develop, or to fulfill something. In other words, it is still an impetus at the bottom of existence.

I hope everyone can understand: do not think that wanting to commit suicide is wanting not to exist -- suicide is another form of expression of existence.

Some people who consider suicide believe there is life after death, and some do not. And in the deepest terms, all deaths are to some degree suicidal.

All deaths, from a certain angle, are suicidal; none occur by accident. Whether or not you believe there is life after death, if survival is desired, physical life must end. However --

There are certain conditions that promote suicidal activity, and many religions and societies -- obviously not all -- have held great controversy over the termination of one's own life.

This kind of unnatural act of ending one's own life has certain contributing conditions. And many religions do not approve of suicide, including Buddhism -- it holds that suicide makes it very difficult to obtain a good reincarnation; one will enter a city of wrongful death, unable to reincarnate. Many also say that you will arrive at the in-between zone, the death zone, where it is very difficult either to reincarnate or to be liberated. Many religions and societies think this way. But there are also some religions that claim suicide can obtain the benefit of ascending to heaven; if one chooses a suicidal attack for certain purposes and meanings, one will instead receive a supreme redemption and glory. So the views of different religions are not entirely the same.

Individuals are born with a desire to cooperate with their fellow creatures, and they have a need to help others and to contribute to the common good.

This is an instinct. For example, when you see someone fall into the water, you want to save them; when you see someone injured, you want to help them, even if they are strangers. The underlying reason in such situations is that this is inborn -- the need to cooperate with our fellow creatures, with our own kind. This is an inner need to help others and to contribute to the common good; it is a natural and spontaneous behavior.

Conversely, many people who commit suicide feel that they are no longer needed, or that in fact their very existence impedes the happiness of others.

Some people who commit suicide think that others do not need them, that they are not needed by society, not needed by their family, not needed by their relatives and friends. When they feel they are not needed by anyone, the thought of wanting to die arises. There are also people who feel that their existence affects the happiness of others, that they are in other people's way, so they feel it would be better to leave. He is analyzing the underlying reasons for these people's suicides.

Young people who commit suicide are not necessarily from the poorest or the lowest classes of society.

This is indeed the case; most people who commit suicide are not those whose lives are the most difficult. In fact --

Poverty often becomes a strong impetus, causing the person to struggle for his or her daily needs.

Poverty becomes a strong impetus for a person to keep living; he will want even more to survive. And such an inner impetus will make him rarely think of suicide. But sometimes it does happen; when poverty reaches a certain degree, or when the person's individual capacity to endure is insufficient, he may also commit suicide. But most suicides among young people are not caused by poverty.

Such a person's days may be so filled with activity for life's own sake that there is simply no time to think of suicide. For the struggle for life itself is so intense.

Some people have no time to be busy thinking about suicide; they cannot even keep up with life, the pressure of life leaves them breathless, and they simply have no time to think about this problem.

Again, from another angle, the desire for value fulfillment, development, and purpose is so strong. If those seem to be denied, then life becomes, or seems to become, less precious.

When your value fulfillment is constantly denied, when your life feels as if it has no meaning, then you may not want to live either; life has no meaning anymore. This is a fact.

In many instances, children of middle-upper-class or wealthy families who encounter this critical dilemma of life will more easily encounter this kind of problem.

That is, the better the family conditions, the children of wealthy families, the higher the probability of suicide actually is.

Some young people are so overprovided for by their families that it seems as if they can no longer achieve anything more than what they already have.

They feel that what they have now is already the best. No matter how hard they struggle, they cannot possibly achieve anything better than what they now have, so they lose the motivation to struggle, and they lose this impetus. Once this impetus is gone, they cannot find the value and meaning of their lives. Such children are actually more prone to suicide. So it is not the case that many families say, I will earn a lot of money and arrange a stress-free, comfortable living environment for my child, and the child will live better -- no, sometimes it is exactly the opposite.

According to actual statistics, the rate of depression among children in wealthy families is three times that of ordinary families², the rate of illness. So you can see, from the side, it is also like this.

If their parents overindulge them, then the young people may indeed feel as if they belong to their parents, or are their possessions. On the other hand, some middle-upper-class families are competitive to such a degree that the children seem to feel that they are valued only for their achievements, and not loved for themselves.

Both possibilities exist. One is that the family conditions are too good, making the child feel that he is an appendage of his parents, so he is not an independent personality, does not need to have his own ideas, and does not need to have any personal goals or ideals, because his parents have already realized them all for him. This is a very typical phenomenon. The other phenomenon is feeling that the competitive pressure is too great, that is, studying -- this situation is relatively common in China. The child feels that only if he studies well will he be loved by his parents; otherwise he normally has no right to receive his parents' love, forming such a misconception.

For most people, such situations do not seem particularly intense.

For ordinary people, this situation exists to some degree, but it is not so intense.

And obviously there are far worse examples of human disillusionment in the world. Yet many of these young people really see no future for themselves as adults.

Many young people cannot see what better outcome there will be after they grow up. Because during their adolescence, their hopes have already been erased by their parents or by society. They do not feel that there will be anything better after growing up, so they are willing to commit suicide at a very young age.

They cannot imagine themselves as future parents or in some kind of career. It is as if their entire lives have accelerated to the edge of adult life, yet beyond that, they can see nothing.

In a sense, they have reached the edge of adult life -- they have reached the edge of a cliff, and beyond it they cannot see anything.

Along the way, whether or not it is obvious to the parents, such young people begin to feel that life is meaningless. Such people are often extremely gifted, yet they feel as if hope will never unfold.

They feel that hope can never be achieved, can never be realized, can never blossom, so they feel that life has no meaning. Remember, these children who commit suicide are not especially stupid; they are often especially intelligent and especially talented children who leave us at a very early age, which is a great pity. The reason is this. The more talented they are, the more disappointed they are; the more they feel that their talent is not recognized, and cannot blossom in a possible future life. The more talented the child, the greater his sense of loss. Ordinary children, by contrast, are somewhat better off; they already feel they are ordinary children, and whatever happens, happens. But these children are different; they can feel their own talent, they can see their own talent, but they discover that they have no future. When one has a body full of talent but no future at all, the sense of loss is even more obvious.

In most instances, these young people are in fact quite secretive.

Much of the time these young people cannot be seen for what they are. Although the image they present to their parents and friends may appear lively and sociable, may appear to be fine, in fact they suddenly commit suicide. This is something many parents cannot understand. So sometimes it cannot be seen from the surface; many parents cannot afford to be careless, thinking my child is fine, my child is very happy, my child is very sociable. One must constantly and closely understand the child's psychological state.

Such people, however, can help themselves, and can be helped by others.

He says that although these people sound very serious, they can help themselves, and they can also be helped by others, and improve with the help of others. This gives all of us hope -- they can both help themselves and be helped by others.

First of all, let me make it clear that no one is damned to hell for committing suicide. There is no specific punishment.

No one is born to be damned to hell, to receive this punishment for suicide; there is none.

A potential suicide, however secretive, will usually mention the matter to a friend or relative or close family member.

He will generally have a best friend, a close friend, a buddy, or a relative or family member, and he will talk about this matter, about his disappointment and depression with life, or about there not being much meaning in continuing to live.

The subject should not be ignored or condemned.

When someone talks to you about these things, saying that my life has this tendency toward suicide, do not ignore or condemn the matter, but should honestly examine it.

The mythic, indeed secretive aspects of his or her suicidal impulse should be honestly examined.

That is, many people feel they want to commit suicide because they feel that in suicide there will be something miraculous, something mythic that appears. So the expression of that feeling itself is beneficial, and leads to good communication.

If someone asks you for help, or brings up this topic with you, you must seize this opportunity to communicate and exchange with him well. There is still great hope that through the help of others and self-help he can come out of it. If at this time the person he confides in does not care at all, or feels it is not that serious, that things are not so serious, or says how can you think this way, and condemns him -- whether ignoring or condemning, both will make the matter more serious, and may lead to the final tragedy. So one must begin to communicate with him.

Indeed, part of the suicide's dilemma may be caused by isolation, by a lack of communication with others, and by a misinterpretation of the motives of friends and family members.

Much of the time the suicide's dilemma is partly caused by a lack of communication with others. It is precisely because of the lack of communication that he wants to commit suicide. A misinterpretation of the motives of friends and family members -- he misinterprets the motives of his friends and family, thinking that they are some kind of denial of him, non-acceptance of him, or thinking that he has become a stumbling block on the road to others' happiness; these are all misinterpretations.

And by difficulties in expressing his or her own needs and desires.

There is also another possibility, which is difficulty in expressing one's own needs and desires; he finds it very hard to express himself correctly. This may also lead him to commit suicide. Both are possible: one is a lack of communication, and the second is not wanting or not daring to directly express one's true needs.

Seeking Help and the Temptation of Suicide

Let's look at the next session, which is June 9, 1984. That day was a Saturday, at 3:38 in the afternoon.

Now I bid you again a good afternoon. We will continue with the dictation.

If you are a person who often contemplates suicide, then you really should talk about your problems with a close friend. Talk with a good companion; communication on your part will help clarify things. Communicating with a good friend can clarify things. Because one person can get stuck in a narrow way of thinking, two people are better.

Such a person is considering an irreversible step.

Suicide is irreversible; once you commit suicide, you cannot come back. Obviously, such an irreversible act should not be taken lightly.

Such people are often in a very despondent frame of mind, so much so that they no longer consider reasons for continuing to live, but only remind themselves of the availability of death.

Death can be realized at any time, but they feel all other goals cannot be realized, and they are very despondent.

Other people can often make seemingly harmless little comments that suddenly open the mind of the psychologically disturbed person.

Those who are confided in can often make seemingly harmless little comments. Regarding his views, his thoughts of wanting to commit suicide, when he communicates with you, you can make some harmless comments. These harmless comments do not depend on you having profound insight, or superb psychological qualifications or experience; you just need to make some harmless little comments. The emphasis here is on harmless little comments. Then suddenly they can open the mind of these psychologically disturbed people, letting them see new possibilities, seeing that there is still opportunity, still possibility.

Because the entire mental, physical, emotional, and psychic portions of the self are forever stimulated to seek further growth.

No matter which aspect—physically wanting to grow, emotionally wanting to grow, psychically wanting to grow—all of these can motivate him not to die, and help him give up the thought of suicide. Body, psyche, emotions, all of them can.

The mind, then, is quite capable of seizing upon even the smallest event that will at least momentarily and spontaneously relieve the person of despondency or despair.

That is, when you discuss future possibilities that have not yet been explored, things that hold hope for the future, you can pull the suicidal person out of temporary despondency, letting them see the possibilities and hope of the future, and jump out from the contemplation of death to a different angle.

If you have such a person around you, or if you yourself are in such a condition, you must remind yourself: it is far more natural and probable that any problem can be solved, and every problem has a solution; death is not the solution. Any problem has a way to be solved—if he calls it a thing, then there must be a reasonable way to solve it; no need to worry; there cannot be a problem that cannot be solved.

No matter how despondent you may feel, you do indeed still want to live—otherwise you would already be dead by now. If it were not for this reason, you would already be dead. So you have a part that seeks life and vitality, and that part should also be expressed. You have thoughts of wanting to die, and you also have thoughts of wanting to live; you have both. And the part of you that wants to live should also be expressed, and the part of you that wants to die should also be expressed. But you cannot say that you only express the part that wants to die, while the part that wants to live is ignored or suppressed by you; that is not right.

It is a good idea to postpone any decision for a while.

For the time being, do not make a decision immediately. For example, in any case, if you really choose suicide, you can always kill yourself. If you really want to commit suicide, there is always a way to kill yourself. But if you commit suicide, the choices of this life are over. You must understand one thing: when you choose the path of suicide, all your other possible choices have already ended; in this life, they have ended.

Tell yourself that you will not make the decision until after your birthday or after the holidays.

That is, negotiate with yourself: whether you can wait until after your birthday before deciding not to commit suicide, or until after some holiday—for example, after the Dragon Boat Festival, after summer vacation, or after some meaningful holiday, such as your mother's birthday, and so on—can you give yourself a period of reprieve.

Perhaps you will postpone any decision for a month, or even a week.

If you feel that any amount of time is fine, whatever feels comfortable is fine. You can delay for a few days, or delay for a month, or delay for a few weeks. Just delay for a while and wait and observe. If you really want to die, you can die at any time; you are not short of these few days. So give yourself an expression of life—you cannot only satisfy the expression of the death part.

Any therapist can also follow through by making such a suggestion, and at the same time gain the patient's cooperation by letting that person choose the period of time for such a postponed decision.

For people with very strong suicidal tendencies, you can negotiate a time with them; that will be better. At this point, persuading him not to commit suicide is basically useless. Negotiate with the patient, and he will cooperate with you. If you say "Don't commit suicide," "You must not commit suicide," "You should not commit suicide," "Suicide is bad for your health"—if you say that, he will no longer communicate with you, and will no longer have any opportunity to cooperate with you. He will not listen to you; he will suddenly leave one day for no apparent reason.

And at this time, the more effective method is to acknowledge his thoughts and feelings of wanting to commit suicide, to express understanding and acceptance, but to negotiate with him: can we postpone it for a while. If you can postpone for three days, then you can postpone for a week; if you can postpone for a week, then you can postpone for a month. Continuing to extend it like this—actually, who knows what will happen to this person during this process; perhaps some very small thing will touch him and change him. We are not certain about these things, but such things have indeed happened before.

It is useless to tell such a person that he cannot or should not commit suicide. And indeed, such a procedure may be quite dangerous, yes, reinforcing the person's tendency toward a death decision.

For a therapist, because you have to say to him, "You can die, but do not die right now; for example, die a week later, or die on your birthday"—during this process, some changes may occur that will make this person give up the thought of suicide. But there is also a risk, which is that you seem to reinforce the possibility of suicide, and confirm a specific time with him. He says, "Hmm, even my therapist says so, then it should be okay." So there is a certain risk in this.

But in any case, as a therapist, you should not abandon this method because of such a risk; you should try it, you should attempt it. And you say, can't you just persuade him not to commit suicide? He has already said that persuading him not to commit suicide has no effect on him at all, and he may even stop communicating with you sincerely from then on.

The concept of making choices should be emphasized. To live or to die is indeed each person's choice.

You must emphasize to this person that this is a matter of choice; do not look at things so extremely, as if death could solve many problems. You must tell him a basic concept: whether to live or to die is your decision, your choice; the right to choose is in your hands. In other words, choosing death is very easy; you can die at any time; this right is always in your hands. But you can also take a look and live for a while longer, and see what changes or alterations might occur; do not draw conclusions and final judgments too early.

When they argue for suicide, some people may say, I have the right to die. And while that statement is true, everyone on your planet knows that every living person needs every bit of help and encouragement.

Every person on this earth needs every bit of help, support, and encouragement from every living person. That is, your life depends on the encouragement and support of the other eight billion people, and at the same time you are encouraging the other eight billion people—that is the kind of relationship it is.

In a fashion, each person's energy does indeed keep the world going. And suicide is a refusal of a basic cooperative venture.

Originally, every person on this earth should help and encourage one another; we need others, and others need us. And this suicidal person is essentially no longer playing such a game; he has withdrawn. He does not want to encourage others, and he does not need others to encourage him. He has chosen neither to accept the help and encouragement of others, nor to help others. In this case, this suicidal tendency is very hard to change.

People of ordinary good health often contemplate suicide.

Many generally healthy people commit suicide, while many people with serious illnesses do not commit suicide. This truly exists—those who are truly seriously ill do not commit suicide; their will to live is very strong; while those who are often very healthy and not sick go and commit suicide instead.

You have to an important degree shut yourself off from the world, and even their physical senses have become blurred, so that they often seek greater and greater stimulation, in periods of physical or mental illness or unsatisfactory life conditions.

Their physical senses have become blurred; that is, ordinary stimulation can no longer make them feel happy and satisfied. Normally, when we look at a flower or eat an ordinary meal, we feel very happy and satisfied. But these people, even if they eat the best meals, enjoy the best service, and have extremely superior living conditions, can no longer satisfy themselves. This situation is very dangerous; the stimulation they need becomes greater and greater.

This same state also becomes apparent to a lesser degree in various different areas.

People will notice this change—he begins to have higher and higher demands on what exists, and becomes more and more dissatisfied with what he has. In the eyes of others, a life that already seems like heaven, he is instead very dissatisfied with.

If you are such a person, however, there are still other steps you can take to project yourself into a satisfying future. Remind yourself that the future is indeed there if you want it, and that you can grow into that future as easily and effortlessly as you grew from the past into the present.

If you are the kind of person described above—feeling that the present things are no longer enough to stimulate you, and cannot satisfy you—you can still take other steps. Most suicidal people have healthy bodies, but they are not satisfied, and do not feel that this is something miraculous. So they tend to project themselves into a satisfying future. At this point, you imagine that this future is very easy to realize, just like how you went from the past to where you are today; it seems you did not expend too much effort to achieve it. Becoming who you are today did not necessarily require going through countless hardships; it seems to have happened naturally and spontaneously, gradually becoming what you are now. The key point is right here.

Many despondent people dwell almost wholeheartedly upon the world's miseries, the possible disasters that might bring about its end.

This is how many despondent people are—wholeheartedly immersed in the miseries of the world. They can bring about their own end. That is, their view of the world's future is ultimately one that ends in a great tragic conclusion—whether it is the destruction of the earth, the outbreak of nuclear war, pollution, or the depletion of the earth's resources, it must be a disaster of this kind. And they themselves will also die in this disaster.

They remind themselves that the planet is overpopulated, and project into the future the most dire consequences, man-made or natural.

They believe that the earth's carrying capacity is limited, and as the earth's population increases, the earth will be overwhelmed, energy will be exhausted, and the future will certainly be miserable. He really is overthinking it, worrying too much.

Today, when we look at China's birth rate, it has already dropped to the level of 1941. This year's projected number of births is only 7.88 million³—this is based on the statistics from the perinatal records of pregnant women this year, and the statistics came out by April. What kind of concept is 7.88 million? In 1941, when China's population was only 400 million⁴, under extremely harsh conditions, extremely poor medical care, and raging war—at that time it was still the War of Resistance Against Japan, Japan was still invading us, we were still fighting the war, in chaos and turmoil, and the population base was only 400 million—under these circumstances, according to the population statistics of that time, there were still 7.88 million births. And today we have a population base of 1.4 billion, we have a stable and happy life, material conditions that are countless times better than in 1941, we are now the world's second-largest economy, and so on and so forth. But our birth rate is only 7.88 million.

We have a movie called Back to 1942⁵, which we have all seen, and we know the war situation at that time. In 1942, our country's births were approximately 9 million or so⁶, and now it is not even as good as 1942, let alone 1941.

So I want to say to those who feel that the population is excessive: there is no need to worry at all. The self-regulating mechanism of population exceeds human imagination. When it reaches a certain scale, the population will automatically maintain a balance. As for how it does it, no need to worry about it; it happens automatically. This has long been discovered by scientists as a basic law on earth. A species in a place will reach a natural balance. For example, on a grassland there are many rabbits that eat grass; if there are too many rabbits, they will eat all the grass, and then all the rabbits will starve to death. In order to continue their own survival, rabbits will automatically stop reproducing once the total number of rabbits reaches a certain scale, or the number of offspring will drop sharply, keeping the rabbit population at a sustainable stage. This is very interesting; in nature, this is the kind of law that exists.

So do not worry unnecessarily about this overpopulation issue; this kind of thinking will inevitably lead to despondency.

They will also present an extreme view of reality, usually held, that leaves out man's heroism, his love for his fellows, his curiosity and compassion, and the great, ancient, familiar qualities of the natural world itself.

When he is filled with despondent emotions about the future, he is very prone to suicide. He cannot see the future; he feels the future is all bad. But he does not see the other side: humanity's heroism in saving the world, love for one's fellows, curiosity, compassion, and the great qualities of the natural world itself. Including this natural decrease in population, it is all normal. Why does the population naturally decrease? Very simply, in the future world of artificial intelligence, robots can replace humans in doing many jobs, so we humans will not need so much labor. So the decrease in births is a very natural thing; we have not forced it or compelled it. In the future, when one robot can do the work of ten people or a hundred people, then we will not need so many people to do the work that humans must do. This is a natural development; there is no need to deliberately and artificially worry about it.

Such a person, therefore, must change his attention and focus. The other creative, positive, accomplished portions of life are ever present.

He must change his attention and focus, and place it elsewhere, rather than concentrating on this one point. The other creative, positive, accomplished portions of life are ever present. We still have the positive side; do not only see the pessimistic side—environmental destruction, resource depletion, exhaustion, human aggressiveness, the uncertainty of war, and so on and so forth.

And the mere thought of them can be uplifting and relieve tension.

Just by considering the positive and creative aspects of humanity itself, we can uplift our spirits and relieve tension. This provides us with a very good method and suggestion. So at times like this, watching some Hollywood blockbusters about saving the world can lift your spirits. No matter how dangerous the state of the world is, there will always be a hero-like figure who appears to save us. Perhaps that person is you; just thinking about it can make you feel very uplifted.

The point is that all of the world's problems also represent great challenges.

Problems are challenges. As we often say, the activities we organize are the same. We do not make things simple; they are world-class challenges of great difficulty. World-class problems attract world-class talent, and world-class problems also create world-class talent. So this is why we do such challenging work. Many problems represent challenges, so everyone need not worry; we can face these many and varied problems with human strength.

Young people in particular are needed to work for peace and nuclear disarmament, to take on the task of lifting food restrictions, redistributing food sources, and encouraging nations to join in such a creative and adventurous endeavor.

For example, today's young people—the boss of OpenAI, the founder of ChatGPT—he is changing the world. He is solving the food restriction problem by giving money to every human being on earth for free. He lets robots do the work, solving the problem of human labor. The money earned by robots working will be distributed to all humans on earth; he will issue a world currency called Worldcoin⁷. You download an app, and after an eye scan proves you are a human, the money earned by robots in the future will be distributed equally among all humans on earth. In the future, you can lie at home doing nothing and still receive money. This fundamentally solves the problem of food shortages and survival.

What he means is a reflection of this point. Although Seth was speaking in 1984, still about 40 years away from artificial intelligence, he was encouraging young people to do these things that can truly change the world and solve the world's problems, rather than worrying unnecessarily and scaring themselves half to death. If you think there is an environmental problem, solve the environmental problem; if you think nuclear weapons are a danger to humanity's future, solve the nuclear weapons problem. Whatever you think the problem is, go solve that problem. Go create, go solve, rather than standing there saying I cannot solve it, the world is doomed—then aren't you just scaring yourself to death?

Those are indeed worthy and exciting, and meaningful, as noble as the ideals faced by any generation in the past.

The challenges we face today are the same as in the past; whether the Renaissance, the Industrial Revolution, or the Agricultural Revolution, no matter which era, the ideals they faced were equally noble. The problems we humans face today are just like those in the glorious eras of human civilization's development in the past; we humans today will certainly overcome all the problems we face today and lead all of humanity into a new era of civilization. This is our human mission.

The difficulties we encounter are our goals, the places where we should establish our ideals, rather than the premise for our fear, dread, worry, and denial of our own abilities. And they should be exactly the time to stimulate your inner potential.

The world needs every hand and every eye, and cries out for expressions of love and caring.

How well this sentence is put. We must cry out loudly for love and caring; everyone must cry out loudly; every hand and every eye must do such things.

To devote oneself to such an ideal is far more commendable than mournful eyes and doleful voices that continually lament the world's problems.

Go do the positive thing—using every hand and every eye to convey love, express love, and cry out loudly for love—far better than carrying a sorrowful, doomsday mentality about the future, silently burning incense and paper money for humanity's future. Many of our young people often choose the latter, and then live with an end-times mentality. There is absolutely no need. Humanity will overcome the difficulties before it just as it has overcome every previous difficulty, and walk at the forefront of the times. And every era has such a group of young people who will lead the era, change the human world, make humanity better, and make the world better. And you should be such a person, rather than sitting there singing a contrary tune every day, with a very pessimistic mentality of prematurely sending the world to its funeral.

If you are listless, resolve to take the first small step of forward action; no matter how small they may be, they are very meaningful.

If you are listless about the future, you must take the first step. No matter how small this first step is, even if it is just getting out of bed and putting on your shoes, even if it is just opening the door and walking out, even if it is just doing one very insignificant little thing, it is very meaningful. You cannot say that the problem you need to solve is very big, but you cannot solve it now, so you just give up.

Remind yourself that life implies action and motion.

Tell yourself that as long as you are alive, you must act; you must move; this is what life itself implies. Life cannot be motionless. So you must always act; it depends on which action you take—you have to move anyway; whether you move optimistically or pessimistically is up to you, but you have to move.

And even the most despondent thought activity flows in a magnificent, sudden rhythm.

You think your despondent mood has already reached the extreme of despair, but do not forget: where does this pessimistic mood come from? It comes from thought. How does your thought come about? Your thought is a miraculous and great creation. When you think of this, your despondent behavior and despondent mood also seem to become so glorious, because they are produced on the premise of your thought, and your thought itself is an inconceivable, miraculous creation. Even if what you are thinking about is a very despondent matter, the mechanism that can think about despondent matters, and the ability behind it, is not despondent at all; it is vibrant and full of wonder. That is what he means.

All the suggestions given here are also helpful in lesser conditions, and useful in ordinary bouts of worry, tension, and poor health.

Even those with very serious illnesses always hope for improvement. Therefore, even if a person considers suicide because of a serious health problem, that should also be carefully weighed, and also recognized.

What he is talking about is the kind of decision one makes oneself—that is, euthanasia; this is somewhat like euthanasia. Even if a person considers suicide because of a health problem, it should be carefully considered. The matter of euthanasia is not something where, just because I have a serious illness, my choice of suicide is perfectly reasonable and no one can say anything about it.

Even the most seemingly irreversible physical conditions have at times dramatically changed and improved.

Some people with terminal illnesses that seem impossible to recover from may have the possibility of dramatic improvement. So even if you are ill, do not completely lose hope all at once; no matter how serious the illness, such miracles can occur. They have happened in history, and the same is true in reality.

Each tomorrow, therefore, does offer the possibility that your body will miraculously improve, dramatically change.

Hold this anticipation for the future. However, each person must make his own choices, without facing the additional burden of worry—whether the soul itself will be condemned because of such an act.

Each person must make a choice; tomorrow always holds the possibility of miracles. No one knows what will happen tomorrow, right? We must always give ourselves this possibility, or give ourselves the right to this choice, and not erase this right of choice ourselves, or prevent it from happening.

At the same time, do not condemn yourself because of certain actions—that is, worrying whether the soul, because of some actions you have taken, will praise those done right and condemn those done wrong. It will not. No matter what you do, the soul will not condemn you. The moment the soul hands the initiative to you—from the moment you were born—the soul has already let go and placed the initiative in your hands. It has some expectations and hopes for you, but it fully respects your choices. So in this process, do not have any anxiety—do not say, is it right for me to do this, is it right for me to do that; live openly and honestly.

Nature does not curse people to hell, but many religions do curse people to hell. And in the great realm of love in which all existence is contained, curses are meaningless.

The whole world is within love; what meaning is there in cursing someone? There is no meaning; it is useless. Do not worry about curses; whoever curses you, whoever puts some kind of hex on you, none of it works.

I have activated those coordinates that promote your mental and physical peace, and accelerated the healing process. And I wish you both a good afternoon.

Conclusion: Rebuilding Belief

The focus of this chapter is probably about the underlying beliefs behind suicide. But in Chapter 11 he left a loose thread -- after finishing Chapter 10, he opened Chapter 11. He hopes that everyone can start from the most fundamental health issues -- for example, suicide, the suicide of young people, which is a very serious problem -- and from that point be able to reverse course and rebuild belief. There is no other problem that cannot be solved. If these problems can be solved, then other problems are even simpler.

So in this section, starting from Chapter 10, the entire second half is about starting over. He is constructing the correct beliefs that everyone should hold when starting over, while dissecting the negative beliefs that should not be held. Including the beliefs of those who want to commit suicide is also something he particularly wants to emphasize in this part.

Drugs and Suicidal Tendencies

Sunday, June 10, 1984, 3:03 p.m. Jane seemed a little better, not a lot better, but better. I was answering letters until she said she was ready for the session -- she had been starting quite a bit earlier lately. Seth said directly, once again wishing us a good afternoon, and then continued dictating. Recently Seth's content has been very dense, with basically no extra small talk -- he just goes straight into the content.

He said that unless it involves a situation of severe physical pain, drugs should be avoided, especially for people in a depressed state. Unless your body is truly in pain and needs medication to resolve it; if it is not physical pain, you should try to avoid drugs as much as possible, especially for those who are mentally troubled or mentally depressed -- they should avoid drugs even more.

He paused for quite a while, then spoke of so-called stimulants, called "uppers" in English, which make you feel lifted and high, but soon you need some tranquilizers to adjust, and the result is a state of confusion. One moment you make yourself excited, the next moment you make yourself calm, and your mind does not even know what it is supposed to do -- and both of these are regulated through drugs. In many psychiatric treatments, the two types of drugs are indeed often alternated: when a patient is very manic, they give him tranquilizing drugs; when a person is very low and has lost interest in everything, they give him stimulating drugs. Seth said that in this way, the conscious part of the person's inner self becomes confused -- what do you want from me? Do you want me excited or calm? He is often in a kind of trance, not knowing what he should do.

In nursing homes, for those considered aged, or even for those who are mentally deranged, this kind of medication should really be considered dangerous. For people who are very old, or who have dementia or other age-related conditions, using these drugs should also be avoided as much as possible; it is also very dangerous. Including some people we consider mentally deranged -- giving them tranquilizers is not particularly good either, and is also dangerous.

Of course, Seth's viewpoint here differs from many viewpoints in mainstream medicine. Here we are only explaining Seth's viewpoint, and it does not represent a replacement for traditional medical or professional medical treatment plans. Everyone must make their own choices according to their own situation.

In some other situations, drugs are sometimes actually over-prescribed, and the effects can be very unpredictable. Especially these drugs that make a person depressed one moment, excited the next, and calm the next -- the emotions they produce that encourage suicidal tendencies, even in children who are so young, are the same. The effects of these drugs actually make it easier for some young children to commit suicide, because you make their emotions swing high and low, their inner state becomes somewhat disordered, and their own emotions cannot self-regulate -- they are completely controlled by drugs.

This situation does indeed exist. Many people who take drugs in social settings -- he means people who use narcotics -- are really playing a kind of psychological Russian roulette. What is Russian roulette? It is with a revolver. A revolver can hold six bullets. You take out five bullets and leave only one inside, then spin it randomly, and each person holds the pistol to their own temple and pulls the trigger. You have a one-in-six chance of being shot and killed, and a five-in-six chance of being fine. Their feeling may be like this: if I am not fated to die, then these drugs will not harm me; if I am fated to die, then what difference does it make what I take? Just like the people playing Russian roulette, when they pull the trigger they think, if I am fated to die, then this shot will kill me, and that means I deserved to die; if I am not fated to die, then what is there to fear? This shot will absolutely not hit; this shot is definitely the one without a bullet.

These people basically have this kind of mentality. However, they are taking a certain risk with their own lives, and for those immersed in the activity, the risk can be very high. They think, if I am meant to die, then dying from drugs is fine too -- it is fate; if I am not meant to die, then taking drugs will not kill me. But people with this kind of thinking are actually taking an enormous risk -- they did not need to do this, but because of this risk-taking they bring themselves into extreme danger, and it actually becomes very easy for them to die. He said this is not very different from suicide.

Throughout Chapter Eleven, he talks about very extreme things: suicide among young people, cancer, depression, people living at the bottom of society. He said that if these people can turn things around and start over, then people with ordinary symptoms would be very simple -- there would be no need to say so much.

He said, yes, there are some schools of knowledge that almost glorify the use of certain drugs. Some practices or schools revere certain psychoactive drugs, including stimulants, believing that these things can solve some people's problems. There are indeed such schools; they believe that the effects of drugs and the drugs themselves have a certain role, treating them as encouraging the expansion of consciousness or the release of repression. In some ancient cultures, there was indeed this way of using drugs. The drugs he refers to here, in English, are "drugs," which generally refers to narcotics, and in this context refers to stimulants of this kind.

In some ancient cultures, there was indeed this way of using such drugs. In ancient religious ceremonies, in tribes, in ancient traditional cultures, there would be this kind of drug use. But its use was understood -- in that era, the use of such drugs could be understood. More importantly, its use was socially accepted. There is a core point here: in that era, including some primitive tribes, when using these stimulants or some biological stimulants, including marijuana, opium, cactus juice, some mushrooms, even some ayahuasca -- many primitive tribes have used them from ancient times all the way to the present. But the core point Seth makes is that these things were accepted and recognized within that tribe, that era, that social culture.

However, those societies were highly ritualized. They had sacrificial activities, very ritualized. Many excavated artifacts include large numbers of objects from sacrificial activities, including sacrificial platforms, altars, sacrificial instruments, sacrificial vessels, and so on -- all highly ritualized. And their methods were very standardized, like standard ritual procedures. Just as your culture is to you.

This sentence is very well said, but he did not say it that clearly. What he means is that in that era, the use of these stimulants or drugs was part of their culture, part of the rituals of their entire life. For example, on specific festivals or specific sacrificial activities, they would have a series of magnificent, solemn, very standard rituals, and through these rituals they would use certain drugs to reach a certain state. This was part of their entire culture, and a normal component of their social or social rules.

At that time, such use was not a problem. But in our current society, just like our modern civilization, we have our own set of civilizational norms and social etiquette and cultural norms. Within our current cultural norms, these drugs are subject to extreme restrictions in most countries. Under such restrictions, under such a cultural background, if you are still using these drugs, what you face is a cultural incompatibility, or one could say an incompatibility at the level of the collective subconscious.

There is no absolute right or wrong here; it is a cultural attribute, or a person's self-perception within society. To put it plainly, it is your subconscious part at work. If the entire society believes these things are very bad, then you will inevitably accept this subconscious influence, and at the bottom of your subconscious you will also believe these things are bad, dangerous, degenerate, and madness-inducing. Then under the influence of this social collective subconscious, if you still engage in these behaviors, you will be affected by your inner subconscious, and even engage in self-attack and self-judgment. The impact of this on you is far greater than the impact of the substance itself on your body. Everyone should understand this point; Seth pointed this out. So in what situation, under what cultural background, under what larger environment certain things are used, the effect on a person is different.

Surrender and Trust

At 3:14, there was a rather long pause. The doctor, he then began to say:

Doctors should be extremely careful when prescribing any mind-altering drugs, and clearly should not encourage patients in a depressed state to use them.

Doctors should be extremely careful when prescribing these psychiatric drugs that alter a person's mind, and should try not to prescribe them at all, especially to people who are already in a very depressed mental state. But in modern medicine, psychiatrists are allowed to prescribe medication to others. Abroad, these two are distinguished very carefully: ordinary psychologists can only intervene and counsel a patient's condition through conversation, and the ones who can actually prescribe medication are a different kind of doctor. That is the relationship between them.

Under the influence of drugs, choices become limited. Once the drug is used, you have no real choice: if they give you a stimulant, you naturally become excited; if they give you a tranquilizer, your whole person sinks into dullness. And clearly, people have committed suicide under the influence of drugs. Some people actually commit suicide because of the drugs, when otherwise they might not have.

Then Seth said again:

I am not saying that drugs alone cause suicide, but the psychology of drugs already includes an attitude that promotes Russian roulette, which only adds to the problem.

The psychology of drugs already fosters in the patient this kind of Russian roulette mentality: either I can get better, so it does not matter what I take, and taking medicine does not affect me; or I cannot get better, so taking medicine does not matter either. These psychiatric drugs that affect the mind lead to this kind of consequence.

People also use drugs in order to relax. Sometimes people say that taking some medication can help them relax more, an antidepressant or a tranquilizer, as if some drugs let a person put down the barriers of fear and suppression, and emotionally rise above the problems of daily life. But the fact is, many such people instead use drugs as a chemical jar — the drugs themselves are all chemical compounds. What "chemical jar" means is that through drugs they achieve a state where they seem no longer afraid, no longer anxious, no longer worried, but this is only a surface appearance, only a covering. The underlying things have not changed. Through drugs they have achieved a passion for life, or a will to live, this desire to survive, but these are superficial, achieved through drugs.

What is being said here is that letting go is the key thing:

Letting go is trusting the spontaneity of your own existence.

This involves a very dangerous and sensitive topic. The following passage is all about this sensitive topic — what letting go means is that if a patient himself feels he can do it, he can let go. Here "letting go" means not taking these drugs that affect the spirit and the mind. But in all psychiatric treatment, this goes against treatment protocols, against conventional medicine. Here I want to emphasize again: the following words are for your reference only, and do not represent opposition to or a challenge against conventional medicine. As for who you think is right, that is entirely up to you personally.

Now let us hear Seth's view. Letting go is trusting the spontaneity of your own existence — you believe that your own existence has this spontaneity, that it will reach out and heal itself, and then you do not need to rely on external drugs to help yourself. He pointed out earlier that except for physical pain, physiological pain, which requires medication, these emotional, mental, psychological, inner states of depression do not need to be regulated through drugs. You must trust your own inner spontaneity, unless you no longer trust it, in which case you need to regulate yourself through drugs. His wording is also very subtle; he does not dare directly tell you not to take medication, but the meaning of the word "letting go" is exactly that.

Trust your own energy, power, and strength, and surrender to the energy of your own life.

Trust your own inner energy, power, and strength, believe in yourself, and surrender to the energy of your own life. The word he used is "abandon," and translating it as "surrender" is not quite ideal either; it should be more like a kind of yielding. What do we yield to? We yield to the inner energy, to the life force of life itself, to the inner spontaneity.

The word "surrender" itself may strike some readers very hard, with particular intensity, and many people do not accept it: How can I surrender? I should actively treat myself, cooperate with the doctor's treatment, take medicine when I should, get injections when I should. Why surrender? What am I surrendering to?

But every element of nature surrenders to that life form. Every atom of your body likewise surrenders to life. So surrender to your own life force is reliance upon that great power that gave birth to the universe and to you, within nature yet beyond nature.

You surrender to that great inner power that is within nature but transcends nature — surrender to your inner life force, to your inner energy, trusting that they are the underlying core and key that ultimately govern this world. It is not surrender to the environment, not surrender to the illness, not surrender to the present situation. Everyone must remember: this surrender is not surrender to those things; it is surrender to the inner energy, to the source of the life force, or from a certain angle, it is also surrender to your own spontaneity.

Then the first major step toward spiritual, physical, emotional, and psychic health is precisely that kind of surrender, that acceptance and affirmation.

That surrender is a surrender that carries a sense of inner power and of taking back one's own authority and strength, not a powerless surrender. This is somewhat like the first step in You Are Worth It⁸ — that gesture of gratitude: being grateful for your own creativity, grateful that your own energy has such great creative power, and surrendering to that creativity itself. It is like the four phrases that Dr. Hew Len repeatedly said in Zero Limits⁹, which I have mentioned many times: Thank you, I am sorry, please forgive me, I love you. These four phrases are all a surrender inward, to that inner power.

His overall logic is this: if you yourself have no problems, you cannot see other people's problems. You keep saying Zhang San has problems, Li Si has problems, but in fact the problems you see in them are all parts of yourself that you inwardly refuse to accept. In your own subconscious, in your unconscious, there is a part of yourself that you consider bad, evil, and you cannot accept it. You project it onto a person outside, they do something similar, and then you endlessly complain about them and attack them. The stronger your attack on them, the more that force rebounds onto yourself; you are attacking yourself. This attack will first make you very uncomfortable emotionally and mentally, and then if the attack continues, it will also have a bad effect on your physical condition.

Therefore, do not have any complaints or resentment toward others. If you cannot manage that, then think about it from another angle: for the sake of your own health, do not have any complaints or attacks toward others. The core reason for the attack is this — you do not approve of a part of yourself, a part you cannot see. You say, I do not have that part, I am absolutely not that kind of person. The person I attack, how could I become the kind of person I attack? And the fact is, quite amusingly, you do become exactly that kind of person. Whether consciously or unconsciously, at the bottom of you there is a part that is exactly that kind of person. In other words, if no part of you had that kind of behavior, or the traits of the kind of person you dislike, then you would not see that behavior, you would not see anything wrong with that behavior. The fact that you see that behavior and cannot accept it proves that you have that thing in yourself. You have similar thoughts, similar ideas, but those thoughts and ideas are parts of yourself that you cannot accept.

So here you must surrender inward, accept all the bad parts of yourself, all the so-called evil, negative, passive parts within, acknowledge that they are also a part of you, and no longer have any rejection or non-acceptance toward them. Do not have the thought of "I must clean them out, clean them away completely, and only then will I be a good self." If you have any thought of wanting to clean out those evil parts, suppress those evil parts, reject those evil parts, and only the remaining so-called good parts are yourself, then you are actually always attacking yourself, and those parts can never be cleaned out. But when you accept those parts, something miraculous happens. As for how it happens, we will explore it in depth during the teacher training and in other courses, because it is a very complex underlying logic. We will not expand on it here; I will only tell you the result:

When you accept those evil parts, bad parts, negative parts within yourself, even those parts that want to die, you will suddenly discover that they miraculously combine with your parts that want to live, that strive for the good, that yearn for a beautiful life, the positive parts, the optimistic parts, the good parts, the parts that love others, love your fellow human beings, love all of humanity. That is to say, those bad things of yours are also sprinkled with divine radiance, as if bathed in golden sunlight. As for what exactly changed to bring all this about, we will not expand on it, but the result I want to tell you is exactly this. You will know once you try it.

When you accept all the parts of yourself that you cannot accept, when you calmly accept them, you tell yourself: I am exactly this kind of person, I am exactly this kind of despicable little person, I am exactly this kind of jealous person, I am exactly this kind of rotten person... We often have a slogan, a slogan of our spiritual home, said jokingly: "I just love to eat and be lazy, I just want to get something for nothing, I just want to be greedy for money and lustful, so what? What can you do about it? I am exactly this kind of person, and I accept that I am this kind of person." All right, when you truly let go and accept this part of yourself, suddenly something miraculous happens. You discover that those so-called bad parts of yourself begin to show their positive side: your greed for money and lust will actually become motivation for you to do greater things; your desire to get something for nothing will actually push forward the development and progress of human civilization — for example, artificial intelligence is exactly getting something for nothing, lying flat and still making money. Those things you considered bad, once you accept them, will actually become a positive driving force.

If you trust your inner spontaneity, this inner energy, this life force, then you surrender completely. Your own spirituality, your inner part, is forever the purest, most sacred, most holy part. The so-called sacred and pure is not the kind of false, bright, and upright idols you imagine sitting in great halls, those Buddhas and bodhisattvas. The so-called sacred and pure is precisely because it emerges from the mud yet remains unstained. The reason it remains unstained is not that it knows the mud is dirty and says, look how clean I am after coming out of the mud — that is not being unstained; that is still a discriminating mind, still a desire to rise above the mud.

True unstainedness is not thinking of it as mud at all, thinking that there is no difference between the mud and the holy lotus, and only then can you be unstained. And this kind of mindset is this: when you consider the mud to be the pure lotus as well, when you see that within the black mud there is also that pure divine existence, then in your world there is no longer anything dirty. Everything in your world is so beautiful, the whole bright universe, and there is not one thing that is not good, not one thing that is not beautiful, not one thing that is not true, because if you can see the mud as a lotus, then what else could there be that you cannot accept?

This is a question everyone on the path of cultivation should reflect on: Can I willingly be a lump of stinking mud, rotten mud, and spend this whole life as a lump of rotten mud and stinking mud? Can I live on with peace of mind? Can I just live my happy life as a lump of rotten mud in this mud pit? I do not want to be helped up the wall, I do not want to become that glorious palace, I just want to be a lump of rotten mud — is that not allowed? Of course it is allowed. When you accept this, the miracle happens: this lump of rotten mud radiates a divine light, and its inner life force, its energy, its radiance is suddenly opened up by you.

This lump of rotten mud remains a lump of rotten mud, but its inner being is no longer the same as others. This difference is not because it changed from rotten mud into glazed tiles, into a beautiful building, into a lump of gold — no, it is because it surrendered to and rested in the fact that rotten mud and gold are essentially the same. At their foundation, they are both energy, differing only in form and expression. Some people want to be gold, and some people want to be this lump of rotten mud. In terms of happiness and joy, in terms of energy, there is no difference between them. But in the human world, in the dualistic value judgments of the intellect's culture, gold and mud are completely different — but that is only a difference in your feeling; in essence they are exactly the same. In Cantonese, they are "yut mo yat yeung" — exactly the same. So the surrender here is surrender to the essence of things. Everyone, do not misunderstand.

The will to live is also innate in every element of nature.

The will to live is present in every element as well; every atom, every molecule is the same. And if you trust your own spontaneity, then the will to exist is joyfully released and expressed through all your activities. If you trust your own spontaneity, then that will to survive, that growth, that value fulfillment, that release, which pervades every tiny unit and element of all things in the universe, will automatically bloom and express itself — joyfully bloom and express. They very truly wash away the tendencies toward depression and suicide. It is all this simple. Spontaneity arises on its own. The real world is exactly like this.

The most typical example of this: I have many, many messages. Some people with severe depression, merely by listening to us discuss the Seth material, listening to our courses, or even participating in some offline workshops, salons, and exercises, their depression healed on its own, without medicine. I am not encouraging all people with depression to stop taking medication right now; that is not what I mean. It is just that when you trust yourself, when you surrender to your own inner energy and life force, when you believe in your own spontaneity, your own self-healing nature, and that every cell of your own body has the desire to survive, then you can stop taking medication — I am referring to mental illnesses, not physical pain. It happens naturally. The moment you surrender, a fundamental change occurs within you.

Those feelings do indeed encourage the expression of consciousness and release intuitive information that might otherwise be legitimately held in tension and fear.

That is, you should express, encourage the expression of consciousness. You cannot suppress them; you must express, but you cannot focus on those problems. You cannot be very tense, saying, I will not speak, I am very afraid, I will not talk — no, you must speak out, but do not pay too much attention to it.

Such drugs have their own biological effects, stimulating all the healing properties of the body.

That is, it does have its effect — express yourself truthfully. Express what? Acceptance and affirmation — the part I just talked about, how to accept and affirm on the left side. This acceptance and affirmation, this expression, is very important. What I just said was on the mental level; on the physical level it is the same: accept the various illnesses in your body, the various conditions, the various current discomforts. Accept them, first accept them, then trust them, and then change will happen.

These biological effects also easily push the mind toward higher organization.

Here "higher" is in quotation marks. In plain words, if you simply and firmly accept all of this, surrender to all of this, what change will happen? Your consciousness will ascend in dimension — let us use the term "ascend in dimension" for now. You will reach a higher stage of the mind; your mind is upgrading. Although we know that this upgrade does not really involve lower and higher, let us use this term for now to make it easier for everyone to understand. When you truly surrender to the present situation, surrender to yourself, surrender to this energy itself, to the source of the universe, your body and the energy that created this universe itself — energy of the same quality and same source — you believe it can create the universe, and you believe it can heal you. When you make this kind of change, your cognition and consciousness have already ascended in dimension.

In which it can be understood that all of life's seeming deficiencies are compensated.

When your mind ascends in dimension, you can feel that all deficiencies are compensated. You have no deficiencies; you are entirely complete in your essence. This begins with acceptance, with receiving.

This feeling of surrender to one's own life force, life's power, and strength does not lead to a mental isolation, but instead allows one to feel the role he plays in a universal creative drama.

After surrendering in this way, you will understand that this so-called physical body, this role, is only playing a very small part in the vast creative process of the universe. Your current identity, this physical body, is only one molecule, one small part, of the entire creation of the universe. This understanding often cannot be put into words — you discover that you are a part of the universe, that the universe cannot do without you, that you are a component of the universe, and thousands upon thousands of us make up the entire universe. If the universe lacked you, it would lack this one piece. Since you are a part of the universe, then you simply do not need to worry about your own life and death.

Instead, they are perceived and experienced in bursts of pure knowing and sudden understanding.

This is very interesting. Why the words "pure knowing"? It is a purely cognitive realization and understanding, something that cannot truly be reached through knowledge or through some theories. Of course, this knowledge and cognition needs to be understood, needs to be spoken by someone else, or learned by yourself, but more than that it is a pure perception. The "pure knowing" here is not pure knowledge; it is a pure perception — perceived and experienced in sudden understanding. Remember, it is perception and experience.

In the words most easily understood by ordinary people: when your wisdom rises to a certain level, your cognition rises to a certain level, your mind rises to a certain state, you will naturally have different perceptions and feelings. When you use more of the inner senses to perceive this world, your perceptions and feelings are different, and this difference in perception and feeling will give you a completely different view of the world. And at that moment, you can truly feel that you and the universe are one, that you are a part of the universe. When you realize this, your body will no longer be any problem at all.

The natural world itself is a gateway to other realities.

If you want to go to other realities, you must go through this natural world. You do not need to try to blot out the physical world or your ordinary consciousness in order to attain the necessary knowledge that leads to the health experience of exuberance. These two sentences are telling you that you do not need to reach some transcendent, saintly state in order to recover and restore yourself. You do not need that. You can change all of this within your present cognition, within your present concepts, within your present life. It is not that you must reach some realm, enter some level of meditative absorption, reach some master level of cultivation, before you can change your health to a certain degree. None of that is needed. You can change and accomplish it within your present consciousness, within your present beliefs. But this is something many people misunderstand.

In fact, the natural world itself is a part of other realities, and the source of all realities is now within your own being.

This three-dimensional world we now perceive is only one part of many realities. How were those many realities created? The source that created these many realities is right now inside your body, inside this existence of yours. The energy that created this universe and the energy that created this body of yours — they are one energy, they are one source. If you figure out yourself inwardly, you will also figure out the universe outwardly. Just as it is in any other existence — other existences are also the source of the universe, and your existence is also the source of the universe. There is no difference. You just need to understand this.

The more fully you learn to live, the more the hidden mysteries of the universe seem to appear.

Learn to live more fully, to live yourself out completely, to bloom completely. If you have one measure of strength, do not save that one measure. If you have 100 measures of strength to live out, then live out all 100 measures. Do not save even one, do not use only 99. Learn to live fully, and that means living out fully. Those truths of the universe you have been exploring, those things you have been searching for, will reveal themselves as you live out. The more you bloom, the more you live out yourself, the more those inner universal things of yours bloom, and the mystery is gradually unveiled to you.

That is why our spiritual home always encourages everyone to live out. Through various practice methods, online and offline, various workshops, salons, offline courses, we want every one of you to live out as much as you can. In Seth's words, to live fully. The more fully you live, the more the secrets of the universe reveal themselves to you.

These universal mysteries do not necessarily announce themselves with great fanfare, clamor, or display.

You see those articles introducing how there were colorful auspicious clouds, the heavens shook, the earth trembled, and then a great sage was about to appear — those are all deceptions; there is no such thing. The appearance of true great wisdom always happens in these unremarkable moments. Those so-called supernatural powers and miraculous images mentioned earlier are all myths created by later generations. They say when Laozi was born such and such happened, when Confucius was born such and such, when Shakyamuni was born such and such. Their purpose is to mythologize this person, and that in itself is wrong. Never mythologize anyone, because every person is already divine. You are already divine, so why would you need mythologizing? Only mortals need to be mythologized. A true god does not need any mythological things to manifest on his own body. He is a walking god; does he need colorful auspicious clouds accompanying him? Does he need the heavens to shake and the earth to tremble to prove his enlightenment? None of this is needed.

So Seth also highlighted this point: you must not fantasize that some strange changes and alterations will appear on your body, that from now on you will no longer be the same as ordinary people, that some visions and mutations will appear on you. If you still hold such a thought, then you have truly chosen the wrong direction and entered the wrong door. No, there will not be these visions and strange movements on you that you imagine. It happens so ordinarily, so naturally, just like every flower, every leaf.

But suddenly, the most harmless, the most innocent birdsong, or the sight of a single leaf, may reveal the most profound knowledge.

It is born just like that, the insight just appears, the sudden enlightenment just happens, that simple. It will not be the way you imagine. That is why we hold the animated film Soul in such high regard — the reason is right here. Its ending, with a leaf falling into the palm of the hand, is actually a very profound visual image. The true realization of life, the realization of the deep meaning of the universe, lies in a single leaf, a single flower — perhaps in every delicious bite of food you eat, in every beautiful scene you see, in every person you come into contact with. Just like when you hold their hands, when you touch them or embrace them, in that instant you may realize a great deal.

It is very ironic that many people who attempt to discover nature's hidden mysteries ignore nature itself. They do not pay attention to leaves, flowers, grass, and nature; they think they should have something higher. They feel these things are too lowly, too ordinary. How could there be anything mysterious in these? The mysteries of the universe should be supernatural things, supernatural phenomena, supernatural senses, supernatural experiences. These natural things are none of that; these are things that all ordinary beings can come into contact with. How could what I seek, what I want to experience, be here? These are things that confuse the eyes of ordinary beings; how could I be influenced by these things? How could I see mysteries from here? It certainly cannot be like this. But you are exactly wrong — these mysteries of the universe are precisely within nature.

And the physical body as disgusting or somehow composed of inferior vibrations.

We hold many ideas that a person's vibrational frequency is too low, that we must seek a higher vibrational frequency, that our conscious frequency must keep ascending in dimension, becoming purer and purer, until finally it becomes like light, becoming a body of light, a consciousness of light, and then this physical body is too low. Those who hold this view, and the schools that hold this view, are all misleading the public and going astray. Your body is not low at all; the energy and vibration of your body are precisely the manifestation of the source of this universe. If you deny its existence, then you deny the source of the entire universe. In their practice, many people, right at the very first step, deny their own body, deny the body's sensations, and even deny all the body's desires and impulses. On the basis of rejecting this, they then go on to practice, wanting to stand on that higher step -- below the step is their body, which they regard as something like a corpse that can be cast aside without a care. They believe that only above this can your cognition be elevated.

As I often tell everyone, on the path of practice, many people always want to go upward, but what they most ought to do is go downward, not upward. As the saying goes, humans model themselves on earth, earth models itself on heaven, heaven models itself on the Way¹⁰, and that Way in the end must also model itself on nature. What you call the truth of the human world or of the entire universe, that Way, in the end must still model itself on nature, and it comes back again. What is nature? You can explain it in many ways. I have said before that in the two characters for nature, spontaneity is "self," and "nature" is the transformation of energy, that is, spontaneous energy transformation -- this is how we understand it from a higher level of consciousness. If you understand it only literally, nature is simply the natural world. Every sentence of Laozi is the same as this content of Seth's; this one sentence contains thoughts and consciousness of multiple dimensions and levels. This one sentence does not have just one meaning; it has different levels, and different people see this sentence and understand it differently. Taking only the surface meaning of nature, it is telling you that the deepest truths of this world are right there in the most ordinary natural world around you.

The Two Polarities of Suicide

But in the case of suicide, we see the most extreme opposite polarities.

He has two extremes, to a very strong degree, this kind of person rejects his own life. When a suicidal person reaches the extreme, he rejects his own life, and often that includes general living conditions as well -- rejecting himself, rejecting these general living conditions.

Many people protest that they did not want to be born in the first place.

Who told them to be born? I didn't want to, my parents brought me here, I never wanted to come to this world. And that kind of feeling they have, because they have so thoroughly, so completely suppressed the inner will to live. They think life was passively brought into this world by others, that they didn't want to come. But how could that actually be possible? If he didn't have this will to live, he would not have come to this world at all.

They also often express a strong feeling of alienation from parents, friends, and family.

People who want to commit suicide are all like this. They automatically believe they are not close to their parents, even less close to their family, and not close to their friends or classmates either. They feel there is no one in this world they are truly familiar with, truly close to. They deliberately create this sense of alienation, so that they can feel they are living in a miserable world where they are unloved and have no emotional connections.

Along the way, they forget the cooperative, playful adventures of childhood, and the expression of love itself becomes extremely difficult.

He himself can no longer express love, no longer expresses love, he finds it very difficult.

However, in this chapter, all the suggestions do indeed help break down those habitual patterns of thinking. And when such a person sees a therapist, it would be very good if the entire family joined the treatment.

If a person has suicidal tendencies and needs treatment, it is best for the entire family to join the treatment. This is indeed the case. We have encountered many, many cases, basically all of them are children wanting to commit suicide -- teenagers, 13 years old, 14 years old, children wanting to commit suicide. But in this process, the ones who most need treatment are not the children themselves, but the entire family members, including his parents and family, who all need to be treated and need to be sorted out. But basically parents only send the child for treatment, and the effect is very poor.

Seth emphasized this again this time, and we also talked about it in Guangzhou -- that mother-child shared illness -- the family. At that time, that teacher, I think it was Teacher Guo, said that if you go to him for treatment, both parents must come together for the consultation. He won't see them individually. Why? Because it's useless.

Often this is financially impossible.

Seeing a doctor is also quite expensive, especially psychologists who charge by the hour. If the whole family goes for treatment, one person might not even be able to afford it, let alone the whole family.

But placing the person in some kind of regular group situation is an excellent procedure.

This is what our spiritual home is doing. We cannot provide individual healing for every single person, and we don't have that many healers on this front to help everyone. But our real experience, our real cases, show that when this person integrates into the collective of the spiritual home, they are miraculously healed. They are not healed by me; they are healed by this group, by the love, warmth, and expression of all the family members in the home. Those family members who have truly lived it out -- their blossoming life states, their emotions, their infectious energy -- positively influence these newly joined people. They feel a tremendous sense of safety within it, they dare to express themselves, and they truly begin to be themselves. The more they can live out themselves, the more they can comprehend the deeper, subtle, wonderful, mysterious things of the universe. This is an excellent choice, an excellent procedure. So our spiritual home builds communities and builds cemeteries, all for this purpose.

Communication among several people who are all suicidal can also establish an excellent support situation.

Several people with suicidal tendencies communicating together, if given positive guidance, is also a very good situation for them. Especially when a therapist sets some guidelines. Three or four people with suicidal tendencies together, ideally with a therapist among them providing guidance -- at that point, the effect of three or four people may be even better than the effect of one person. It is that subtle.

Not all people who might commit suicide will follow through, and many end up living long and productive lives.

Perhaps not everyone will do all of the above, and many results take a long time to show effects. Only long and productive efforts can produce results.

So even when negative thoughts show themselves in their most severe form, there is still hope of improvement and fulfillment.

The healing process also requires a long period of time. If there are relapses in the middle, or anything else, that is normal. No matter what degree a person has reached, they still have hope of improvement and healing. No one can say that this person is very severe and has no chance anymore -- impossible, anyone can be healed and cured.

In those cases that endanger life, the same unfortunate beliefs, feelings, and attitudes also present themselves to a lesser degree and in different combinations.

In the situation of wanting to commit suicide, those negative beliefs, feelings, and attitudes still appear. However, those beliefs may not be so easily observed, and many people may fundamentally deny their existence. In those cases that truly endanger life, in those who have actually committed suicide, these things are actually rarely manifested. They cannot feel these underlying beliefs of the will to live. On the contrary, they are covered up by the belief in wanting to die, and they deny the existence of these other beliefs.

Finally, they are often triggered by a traumatic life situation -- the death of a spouse or parent, a major disappointment, or any experience that shocks or disturbs any particular person, any particular person involved.

This kind of emotion is often intensified by the influence of sudden events, leading to the birth of suicidal behavior. He gave these examples: the death of a loved one, changes in life circumstances, which suddenly intensify. Actually, this kind of emotion and belief has been there for a long time.

In certain cases of cancer, serious heart problems, or other conditions that actually threaten life itself, these attitudes are often present.

Some people with serious illnesses often have this kind of mentality, which is the inner polarity mentioned above. In such cases:

An understanding of personal beliefs, that generates renewed, biologically more important beliefs, will obviously improve the situation and help alleviate symptoms.

In this situation, letting him gain a deep understanding of his personal beliefs may reveal some new things, generating renewed and more important beliefs. In other words, one method of working with these patients as cases is to let them observe the foundation of their own beliefs, carefully study their own beliefs -- why do I want to die? Where does this belief come from? They will discover some new things, and these new discoveries are beneficial to the healing and development of the entire condition.

At 4:16, this turned out to be the end of the session, although we didn't realize it until a little while later. When we heard a nurse pushing a medicine cart stop at the door of Room 330, Jane stopped speaking. A moment later, we heard the nurse begin to pour the sound of a crushed packet of vitamin C powder. Jane said, I didn't know you could hear vitamin C? Then at 4:45, I turned her over, and the session ended.

The Will to Live and Value Fulfillment

Monday, June 11, 1984, 4:08 p.m. I told Jane that I had woken up around 4 o'clock, worried about all the things I had to do this week. I was ready to begin another session of Chapter 7 of Dreams, "Evolution," and Value Fulfillment, but I realized I had to put those aside for now -- I had to go to the bank to get checks and money orders to pay taxes and bills, then hook up the garden hose and learn how to use the new sprinkler I had bought for the backyard flowers. Then Wednesday morning I had an appointment with our lawyer about Jane's social welfare and so on. Later this month I should apply for my own social welfare. There were undoubtedly other things to do today, so I had no time this morning to write Dreams, "Evolution," and Value Fulfillment, but I hoped to have time tomorrow.

Trying to finish that book made me feel as if my feet were stuck in quicksand, up to my knees. I kept losing my sense of involvement -- his enthusiasm for this book, his enthusiasm for wanting to throw himself into this book, and the daily creative effort that was so indispensable, he had lost all of it. He kept looking for ways to recover them, wanting to find these passions, these creative efforts, and maintain them on a daily basis, above the average level, and not let them go negative.

Jane suggested I open a checking account, which would help a little, but I needed far more than that. I had cut back as much as I could, including a large pile of business correspondence and the projects we were involved in. I no longer answered certain business letters or letters from readers. On top of all the other things, I learned one thing: I will never again create a situation like this one -- where several years have passed before a book is sent to a publisher. Never do that kind of thing again, a book delayed for years without being sent to a publisher. Something somewhere has to give. I want to get back to the point where I paint at least a little every day -- he is a painter. This may be necessary, even indispensable, to my own well-being. Although I must be careful not to give myself negative suggestions about this -- not to feel that if I do not paint I will be unhappy, not to give myself negative suggestions.

Then Seth came through, saying that today was still very hot, and once again I wish you a good afternoon. Then he continued dictating:

The problem of a person who says he wants to commit suicide is usually not a problem of depressive rage or anger.

People who commit suicide do not do so out of anger and rage, generally not. Instead:

A person feels that there is no further development in his private life, no further expression, or no room for further achievement, or that those attributes themselves have become meaningless.

Most suicides are not because of anger. Suicide is when a person feels there is no room for development, expression, and achievement, or that these expressions, developments, and achievements no longer have meaning in their existence. That is one reason he would commit suicide.

The will to live has been undermined by the beliefs and attitudes mentioned earlier.

You have the will to live, but it has been undermined by those negative beliefs mentioned earlier.

People with life-threatening illnesses also feel, often feel that at a certain point in their lives, further growth, development, and expansion are extremely difficult to achieve, if not impossible.

All people with life-threatening illnesses also feel that at that point in life, further growth, development, and expansion are extremely difficult to achieve, if not impossible. They feel it is impossible, I can no longer develop, this is just who I am, no matter what there can be no greater achievement, my life can be seen at a glance to its end, I can know what the next several decades of life will look like. Such people are very prone to suicide.

There are often complicated family relationships that the person does not know how to handle.

This situation is often mixed with family relationships the person does not know how to handle.

For many such people, the crisis point arrives and is overcome.

For many such people, the crisis point arrives, but it is overcome. Somehow the person learns to get around that uncomfortable situation, or the situation changes because of the involvement of other people, and in the blink of an eye the illness changes. That is, his family relationships may be very complicated, but suddenly they are resolved -- for example, a financial problem, a marital relationship problem, a parent-child relationship problem. When the problem is suddenly resolved, his symptoms are resolved. Or someone suddenly enters his life, or some changes are discovered, and his life changes too, and at that time his symptoms may suddenly disappear.

In all cases, however, the need for value fulfillment, expression, and creativity is so important to life that when these are threatened, life itself is at least temporarily weakened.

The need for value fulfillment, expression, and creativity is so important to life that when those are threatened, life is weakened.

Innately, each person does understand that there is life after death. And in certain cases, these people realize that it is indeed time, or time to move into another reality to experience death, and to begin another entirely new world once again.

Everyone should understand that we have life after death, that we begin a new life, go into a new world and begin a new reincarnational life. When you have no further progress in this world, it is all right to want to change to another one. This is what he wants to tell you.

People who are seriously ill often recognize this feeling quite clearly, but they are taught not to talk about it.

Seriously ill people can feel it, because they have been seriously ill all along, but they are taught not to talk about this matter.

The wish for death is regarded by certain religions as cowardly or even evil, yet behind that wish lies all the vitality of the will to live.

Actually, this desire to change to another reality and start over is also a new kind of creativity, also a desire for survival, also a display of very positive vitality toward existence. It may already be seeking new channels of expression. What this passage means is that although many suicides are not accepted by many religions and societies, from a higher perspective it is also a manifestation or expression of existence, and also another kind of will to live -- he wants to begin a new life, wants a new kind of expression. The underlying foundation is the same. Whether this person wants to leave this world and begin a new life, or this person lives in this world with great meaning and value, the underlying foundation is a powerful expression of existence itself. On this point everyone should recognize its essence.

There are also those who suffer from a serious illness, such as a heart problem, who are cured through a heart transplant or some other medical procedure, only to become the victim of another seemingly unrelated illness. However, if relatives and friends understand that the individual involved has not become the victim of the illness, and that he is not a victim in the commonly understood sense, they breathe a sigh of relief.

What he means is that a person gets heart disease, and later is cured through a heart transplant or some other medical means, but not long after this person gets cancer, and he still leaves this world. But he did not become the victim of the heart disease; he became the victim of another kind of illness. And at this time his relatives feel a sense of relief -- look, we really did make an effort, we tried, we cured his heart disease, but the fact that he got cancer, well, there was nothing we could do about that, it had nothing to do with us.

What he actually wants to say is that this person actually wanted to leave this world, and getting heart disease was just one of the methods and means. But you cured him through other means, yet those underlying beliefs of his did not change. He still wanted to create a new life, still wanted to create a new attempt, a new expression in a new reality, so he would have other ways of leaving this world. Of course, all of this operates at the subconscious level; it is not what the person's conscious mind is thinking.

This does not mean that anyone consciously decides to get this or that kind of illness, but it does mean that some people instinctively understand that their own personal development and fulfillment now require another new framework of existence.

It is not that someone deliberately gets this illness in order to leave, but rather that he needs a new reality, a new framework in another existence in which to complete his own expression, to complete the expression of his existence.

When people know that they themselves are going to die, but feel unable to communicate with all the loved ones because they are afraid of hurting their feelings, a great deal of loneliness is generated.

They want to leave, but their loved ones cannot bear to let them go, and at this time they often feel a sense of loneliness. For example, look at some elderly people, they are actually quite depressed and withdrawn. They are already prepared to leave, but their loved ones cannot bear it, and they cannot bear it either.

Another kind of person, however, will live a long and vital life.

Another kind of person has no thought of leaving, and just continues in a very long, vital, productive state of living, with a consistently good quality of life.

Even when their physical activity or health is most severely impaired, they will still feel that they have things to do, or that they are needed. But the main thrust of their existence is still residing in the physical universe.

When their physical vitality or health is severely impaired, when their body and spirit are both failing, they will still feel that they have things to do. These people will stay in the world for a very long time. Some seriously ill people live a very long time, and the underlying reason is here. Why? Because they feel needed, so their driving force is still in this physical universe, rather than moving on to the next physical universe.

Each person's purpose is so unique and individual that it is quite inappropriate to attempt any judgment in such matters.

Everyone is different, and it is hard to make any unified statement here. If you judge why a person wants to die, why he leaves, why he is so lonely and desolate before death, why some people are reluctant to part surrounded by loved ones, these have no real meaning, because everyone is different.

There is also the overall picture, because each family plays a certain role in the reality of every other member.

There is also an overall picture, that is, the family and clan are designed this way, needing each other. You need to play the role of a filial child, and the elderly person may need to cooperate with you by playing the role of one who has been ill in bed for a long time, so that you can still care for this seriously ill elderly person year after year, day after day, in order to display your image as a filial child. This is also a kind of overall picture, where everyone needs each other.

For example, a man may die shortly after the death of his wife. Regardless of the circumstances, no one should judge such cases.

Do not go on judging why this person left not long after his wife died. Regardless of the manner in which such a man may die, it is because the thrust, intent, and purpose of his life are no longer in this physical reality. When this man dies shortly after his wife's death, do not speculate or judge that the two of them had such a good relationship, or whether they had a soul agreement. No, do not over-interpret in that direction. Very often it is simply because he wanted to leave. Perhaps he had wanted to leave long ago, perhaps because he could not let go of his wife, could not bear to part, or something like that. But at this time we should not over-interpret this matter.

We only need to remember one thing: each person's death is his own choice. In other words, it is all equivalent to suicide. It is because he himself wants to begin a new life, whether because of illness or for some other reason, or because of an accident, it is all like this. So when you understand this principle, you will look upon death more lightly, and will no longer be caught up in it.

A Balanced Mind

Look at Seth's entire body of material, and if you observe carefully, you can see that in the previous two sections he kept talking about the situation of people who commit suicide: what the underlying beliefs are, how changing those underlying beliefs can keep these people from committing suicide, and so on. But then in these last two sections he also says that the choice of suicide is also an existential expression, a powerful choice and expression of wanting to enter another reality, another time and space, to continue creating. It is not a sign of cowardice. Here he emphasizes the importance and function of surrender. So what do these two points simultaneously want to tell you?

They tell you about this kind of balanced mind. This is precisely what makes the Seth material so valuable. It is not like some theories and schools of thought that only talk about one side of a matter and insist that this side alone is correct. Seth is not like that. He can see both sides of a matter, and he points out both sides to you, very harmoniously allowing them to merge within your belief system, to combine together, so that you have a more core, non-dual cognitive understanding, and can see the truth and essence of the matter more thoroughly.

Today I continue sharing with everyone the third part of Chapter 11 of The Way Toward Health. This part began on Tuesday, June 12, 1984, at 2:58 in the afternoon. Seth came through and said directly:

I bid you once again a good afternoon.

Then they said good afternoon to Seth, and then we continued the dictation, entering the topic very directly. He said:

Many cancer patients have the characteristics of martyrs, often putting up with unpleasant conditions and situations for years.

This point is factual. Many cancer patients have been enduring humiliation and bearing heavy burdens, with many words in their hearts that they cannot speak, and many grievances or emotions that cause them pain have been suppressed all along. This is a very obvious characteristic, called the martyr characteristic, also called the special personality or habit of cancer patients, the typical cancer personality.

They feel powerless, unable to change, without strength, no way to change, unable to change. Yet at the same time they are unwilling to remain in the same position -- they do not want to stay in that painful, uncomfortable place, but they also feel they cannot change it. The most important point is to awaken in such a person a belief in his own strength and power. If you want them to be thoroughly healed or to improve, to turn things around, you must stimulate within them this belief in their own inner strength and power, the belief that they have this power and can change their present environment, the environment of the present moment.

In many cases, these people symbolically shrug their shoulders and say, whatever will happen will happen -- as if resigning themselves to fate, yet not accepting their fate, so they do not actually fight against their situation. The most subtle point here is this: some people do accept their fate, and that is actually fine; some people do not accept their fate, and that is when they suffer.

It is also important not to over-medicate these patients. Some cancer patients, many people are willing to give them heavy medication. The side effects of some cancer-treating drugs are themselves dangerous, whether chemotherapy or radiation drugs, the side effects on the human body are very great.

In contrast, some people imagine cancer as some kind of hateful enemy, fierce beast, or foe. When we treat it, we often treat cancer as an enemy, wanting to fight against it, to struggle against it, to battle the illness. You see, these words are very interesting when spoken aloud, but this is exactly the level of understanding in human society today -- regarding it as an enemy that must be fought.

Then through a mental mock battle, after a period of time, the cancer is banished.

This has also been heard of from time to time. Some people use that kind of spiritual therapy, so-called psychological therapy, saying I want to spiritually overcome this cancer, imagining that I have cleared it away, and so on. There are many such examples. The fundamental reason here is not a problem with spiritual therapy; it is that imagining cancer as an enemy, this confrontational approach, is not correct. The core point here is: treating cancer as an enemy is not correct. Although this technique does have its benefits, the method itself is not the problem, yet:

He also sets one part of himself against the other parts.

Because he makes himself fight against himself. Thinking of cancer as an enemy, this kind of thought and concept is not correct. For example, the correct method would be to imagine the cancer cells being neutralized by some imagined fairy, which would be much better, that is how it is. So you should change your belief: do not think of cancer as an enemy that you must defeat; you should think of it as being neutralized and balanced by your fairy's magic wand, rather than being wiped out or destroyed. Such a tiny change can produce far-reaching effects.

Doctors may suggest that a patient relax, and then ask him what kind of inner fantasy would be most beneficial to the healing process. Immediate images may come to mind at once, but if immediate success is not achieved, ask the patient to try again, because in almost all cases some inner picture will be seen. This is saying that some people use psychological therapy to treat cancer patients, and their treatment method is generally like this -- having the patient first look at an inner picture of his own.

But behind the whole issue is the fear of using all of one's own strength and energy. What is the core of a cancer patient? It is the fear of using his own power. He is in a very uncomfortable environment and situation, but he endures it, and he does not dare to voice or use his own power to change it.

Cancer patients most often feel an inner impatience -- an inner restlessness. When they feel their own need for future expansion and development, but feel blocked.

He recognizes that he has a need for future development and expansion, but is blocked by the actual environment, the surrounding environment, or other people. This is a common perception among cancer patients.

If new beliefs are inserted into old beliefs, then indeed the fear that blocks that energy is dispersed.

If you insert new beliefs into old beliefs, then this problem no longer exists, and that fear is dispersed. Fear of what? Fear of expressing oneself, of taking back one's own power, this fear of one's own sense of power. So once again:

We return to those emotional states and concepts that automatically promote health and healing.

We must return to those emotional states and concepts that can automatically promote health and healing, return to that state that can heal itself.

Each person is a good person, an individualized portion of universal energy itself. Each person is meant to express his or her own characteristics and abilities, the will to live, energy, power, and expression.

Each person is a unique part of the universe. You are simply different from others, and you should express what makes you different. This is the special quality of this universe. If every person in the universe looked the same, had the same personality, the same thoughts, the same beliefs, then this universe would be utterly boring, and people would truly be bored to death. And you are meant to express your own characteristics. Each person is sent by the universe to express the characteristics of the universe; you are that individualized portion of the universe. Just as the waves in the ocean are each small parts of the universe, expressing themselves. You are here to express yourself.

So life is meant to refer to energy, power, and expression. This is the entire meaning of life, just these three: energy, power, and expression. If a person has vitality, if you look at whether something has life, you look at whether it possesses these three things: first, does it have inner energy; second, does it manifest power; third, is it expressing. These three are the core.

Those beliefs, if taught early enough, would form what is known as the more effective preventive medicine.

If from childhood you educate children that the special quality of your life is being different from others, and that the essence of your life is to manifest these three things -- energy, power, and expression -- this is where all the meaning of your life lies. Look at whether in your ordinary life you have manifested all three of these things: energy, power, and expression.

Once again, we cannot over-generalize, cannot speak in sweeping terms, but:

Many people are quite aware that they are not sure whether they want to live or die.

We cannot generalize, but there are indeed people who cannot make up their minds, who are not sure whether they want to die or live. They are in a state of inner hesitation and uncertainty.

In any case, the over-exuberance of cancer cells represents the need for expression and expansion -- a need -- the only area still open, or so it seems.

A cancer patient may seem to want to die, but the exuberant growth of his cancer cells expresses an inner energy and sense of power of life. His cancer cells are always the fastest growing, unimpeded by anything. For some patients, do they want to die or live? If the cancer cells continue, then he will die; according to standard modern medicine he will certainly die. But the growth of those cancer cells is also a manifestation of life, of hope, of a life force. So within him, two forces are at work as a kind of contradiction within the body.

Such a person must also contend with society's misfortunes and with general ideas about illness.

He generally has to struggle against society's misfortunes and against illness. The dark phenomena in society, these phenomena, they pay excessive attention to them, and they are constantly fighting against them, so much so that many cancer patients end up becoming isolated or lonely. They generally become isolated, because they are in opposition to the whole of society and in opposition to illness; they have a confrontational mindset.

However, as in almost all cases of illness, if there were such a thing as a thought-transplant operation, the illness would quickly vanish.

Like all illnesses, if this person could change his way of thinking, his illness would be completely cured. If thoughts could be transplanted like organs, then what this person most needs transplanted is his brain, not his heart, liver, or other diseased parts. Although we cannot transplant brains at present, we can change his beliefs, which is equivalent to transplanting a new brain into him. In this way, his illness would quickly vanish.

Even in the most dire cases, some people suddenly fall in love, or something in their home environment changes, and the person seems to change overnight, and once again the illness disappears.

It is that simple. Falling in love, a change in environment, a change in the home furnishings, a change in living environment or work -- a person's cancer may completely change. What is the principle behind it? There is no principle; it is that miraculous, that strange. The reason is that his thinking changed, his mindset changed. So sometimes, a person with cancer moving to a different place to live, moving to a different home, moving to a different city, may actually all be very good healing methods. And if you can fall in love, that is of course even better.

I again mention the female lead in that movie The Guitar's Wild Road¹¹. After she got cancer, after the doctors had already sentenced her to death, she moved into a spacious, empty apartment where she could fall in love with everyone -- with the delivery man, with the delivery girl, whether opposite-sex or same-sex, she could fall in love with them all. And this love not only healed herself, it also healed the other person. The most touching part of that movie is that it portrays this emotion and love not as one-directional, but as multi-directional. For herself, it was a change of life, a return of vitality; for those men and women who had those relationships with her, changes also happened in them.

Of course, benefits may involve many levels of help. I call the normal world of communication Framework 1.

Many levels may help him. The world we ordinarily live in is Framework 1, while Framework 2 represents the inner world. Framework 2 is inner, in which all time is simultaneous, and actions that would take years in normal time may happen in the blink of an eye in Framework 2.

Both Framework 1 and Framework 2 are helpful to your healing, helpful to the recovery of your health. A physical condition that might take years to recover from in Framework 1 may be accomplished in Framework 2 in the blink of an eye -- a single change of belief completes it. Simply put, Framework 1 deals with all the time you are normally conscious of; everything we are ordinarily conscious of is handled in Framework 1. Framework 2 involves what lies beneath your conscious attention, the places we cannot see beneath our attention. Like an iceberg on the surface of the sea, Framework 2 is the part of the iceberg beneath the water -- the iceberg below the surface. All those spontaneous processes, Framework 2 is that kind of spontaneous process outside our consciousness, entirely spontaneous.

When you are very young, your beliefs are quite clear, and your conscious and unconscious inclinations and expectations are harmonious.

That is, when you are young, you do not fight with yourself; your thoughts and consciousness do not fight with themselves. You do whatever you want, without self-judgment, self-attack, self-denial, or self-suppression. As you grow older, all those problems above will manifest in your life. So your conscious and unconscious inclinations and expectations are harmonious -- your Framework 1 and Framework 2 are harmonious, your spontaneity and your conscious part are harmonious.

So we often see many young people who are very impulsive, doing whatever they want, acting according to their own impulses. We so-called adults find this very hard to understand, and very much want to stop them, hoping they can think rationally and live in a planned way. But young people are exactly not like that; they simply do not want to live in a planned, rational way. They prefer this spontaneity.

As you grow older and begin to accumulate negative beliefs, however, your conscious and unconscious beliefs may be quite different.

Your negative beliefs begin to emerge and accumulate. Once they accumulate to a certain degree, whether conscious beliefs or unconscious beliefs, the two are in conflict, no longer harmonious -- the conscious part and the unconscious part, their underlying beliefs begin to differ, and that is when problems arise: you fight with yourself.

You may consciously want to express certain abilities, while unconsciously fearing that you do so. You see, you consciously want to express, but unconsciously, at the bottom, you are afraid of doing so.

The unconscious beliefs are not really unconscious, however. You simply are not as aware of them as you are of your normal conscious beliefs.

The unconscious is not truly unconscious; you just do not feel them the way you ordinarily do. They still have a very great effect on you, but you cannot feel them or perceive them. They are not without consciousness; they have consciousness, and they are at work.

Negative beliefs can block the pathways between Framework 1 and Framework 2.

Negative beliefs are what block the pathways between Framework 1 and Framework 2. Framework 1 and Framework 2 should originally be in harmony; your unconscious beliefs and your conscious ones should be harmonious and consistent. But because of your negative beliefs, when you spontaneously want to do something, your conscious mind tells you that morally, legally, or according to your personal negative beliefs, this is not allowed, and so it is blocked, and cannot flow normally.

For those in any kind of difficulty, doing the following simple exercises is an excellent theme. The following exercises are all very good, and I hope everyone can organize them and practice them regularly, especially those with physical illness.

The first one, he says:

Relax yourself as much as possible. Sit comfortably in a chair or lie on a bed. Tell yourself mentally that you are a very good person, and that you want to rewrite your program, getting rid of any ideas that contradict that particular statement.

Which statement? "I am a very good person." Doing just this one exercise is very helpful. You just lie there quietly, sitting or lying down, either is fine, and then tell yourself, like a declaration to the universe: I am a very good person, I am good in every way. Just keep emphasizing this declaration, speaking this sentence, saying it in your heart or aloud, either is fine.

I am a very good person, and now I want to rewrite my own program. Then take all those beliefs that conflict with or are inconsistent with what you just said -- "I am a very good person" -- all those beliefs that make you feel you are not good enough, and clear them all away.

Then the next step, gently remind yourself again "I am a very good person," and add:

It is good and safe for me to express my own abilities, for in so doing, I express the energy of the universe itself.

After completing the first step, having affirmed that you are a very good person, and having cleared away and cast aside all those beliefs and concepts that conflict with this idea, remind yourself again: I am a very good person, and it is good and safe for me to express my own abilities. That is, dare to express yourself, without any fear or worry. Expressing yourself while still carrying fear and worry is one of the most dangerous points, one that easily leads to the growth of your negative beliefs. You must break through at this point: dare to express yourself.

The more you dare to express yourself, the more you can connect with the energy of the universe. Because you yourself express the energy of the universe; you are an individualized representative of the universe. Every word you speak, every action you take, everything you do, is what the universe wants you to do; you represent the universe in action. So you must understand this point: this is a manifestation of your energy, of universal energy.

Let us go through it again: I am a very good person; it is good and safe for me to express my own abilities; because when I do so, I express the energy of the universe itself. Earlier I mentioned the three parts of life: energy, power, and expression. Simply doing this exercise connects you with the source of your life. This exercise looks very simple, but it precisely connects you to the frequency of your life's source.

The frequency of the source of life, I repeat once again, is this energy. What kind of energy is this energy? It is the energy of the universe, not your own personal energy -- your own energy is the energy connected to universal energy. Power is the power manifested under the drive of this energy, under your spontaneous expression. Whether it is the power of your growing life, the power of your expression, the power of your love, this power must be embodied. And then expression -- what kind of expression? The expression of life force, the expression of the beauty of life, the expression of love, the expression of the ideas of the universe. So energy, power, and expression, these three are all the original state of your life, and this exercise lets you make a deep connection and identification with the source of your life. In this way, under the inner working of the life force, you will be healed without even realizing it.

The above is only one example. Different sentences with the same meaning may come to mind. If so, substitute them for the ones I have given you. There are countless powerful exercises available, but here I will only mention the few that seem most meaningful.

He gave two exercises, and these two are actually progressive. The first says I myself am a good person, a very good person; the second, I normally express myself, and I am very safe and very good, because this expression is an expression of universal energy.

So what is the third exercise? He says:

Again relax yourself as much as possible. If you have some illness, imagine it as somewhat like spots of dust. Tell yourself that you can see into your body.

Imagine these illnesses as like those specks of dust -- not thick dust, but the kind of specks of dust you see settling on a tabletop after cleaning at home. Then tell yourself: I can see clearly into my body, I can look inward, I have this ability, I can see my body clearly.

You may see streets or continents. You may not see muscles and bones, but follow along with whatever images appear.

When you look inward at your own body, the pictures that appear in your mind may not necessarily be muscles and bones; they may be a city, a picture of a city, or a natural landscape -- it does not matter. Follow along with it. You cannot say this picture is not my internal organs, not my inner body parts, I do not want it -- that is not necessary. Follow along with your inner images.

For example:

You may see a street with dirt or garbage along it. Perhaps in your mind's eye you see yourself sweeping these remnants clean, and then calling trucks to carry the garbage to a dump. There you may see the garbage burned and disappearing in smoke.

First imagine those illnesses as specks of dust, then look inward at your own body. If at this time some city or street or natural scenic area appears, and you see some garbage or some trash cans or something, then in your mind, in the pictures in your mind, clean them up, sweep them clean, and have garbage trucks haul them away.

There are many cases like this. Among the cases we have encountered, for example, there is one case: a person saw a street full of fallen leaves, and he picked up a broom himself, sweeping very carefully but very powerfully, sweeping all those fallen leaves clean, all those withered, yellowed, rotting leaves, and then gathered them together and set them on fire. As those piles of leaf garbage, piled up like small hills, were burned away, miraculously, when he returned from that meditative state, his body miraculously recovered and was healed. There are very many examples like this.

There are also other cases, for example, some people have chronic otitis media or ear diseases for many years, very painful. And at this time, when he was meditating, he suddenly saw a picture: thick, foul-smelling pus was flowing out of his ear. Actually there was none; it was just that in this picture he saw and felt it continuously flowing out of his ear, endlessly flowing, and he did not know how his ear could have so much capacity to hold so much dirty water. After all that thick pus and dirty water had drained out, he cleaned it up -- this was in the meditative state -- and then his otitis media miraculously got better. Many, many examples like this. I think everyone can benefit from this. This is just a meditation exercise, and I hope those of you with illness can try it, as a kind of healing for yourself.

If instead, you may see an invading army attacking your own troops. In such a case, see the invaders being driven out. The pictures you see will follow your own unique inclinations and characteristics.

There are also people who see other armies fighting against their own, a battle scene. In all these cases, you should imagine that you have driven out the invaders, completely eliminated them. This is very helpful to you.

The unconscious levels of the self are only unconscious from your own viewpoint. You think the unconscious is unconscious because you look at it from the conscious point of view, but actually they are quite conscious.

Everything you consider unconscious is conscious. And because:

They do indeed handle the body's spontaneous processes, and they are also entirely familiar with your own state of health and well-being.

Your unconscious states handle your health and well-being and are also very familiar with them, entirely familiar. You can also communicate with those parts; you can communicate with those parts -- the parts you consider unconscious. Your unconscious parts hold your health and well-being, and they are entirely familiar with them.

How do you communicate with the unconscious? He says:

Again relax yourself as much as possible, sitting comfortably in a chair or lying on a bed.

We are learning to communicate with the unconscious parts. A chair may be better, because if you are lying down, you may easily fall asleep.

You may call all of these portions of yourself assistants, teachers, or whatever suits you best.

Just give your unconscious parts a name, treat them as your assistants, your teachers, or your closest friends, or you may call them the inner self, the inner you, the consciousness of the body -- it does not matter what you call them. Give them a name.

Then simply make a direct request, asking that some pictures and images be shown within your body's mind, that will represent that portion of your own inner reality.

Make a request of them, saying: now show me a picture in my inner mind, a picture that represents that portion of my inner reality. Just have them show a picture, a picture within your inner mind. And that picture is actually those portions of your inner reality.

So do not be surprised, because you may see a person, or an animal, or an insect, or a landscape.

Trust whatever image you receive, whatever it is, trust it.

He is a picture, a presentation of your inner reality. He is not your inner reality; he is a pictorial presentation of your inner reality.

If what you see in this picture is a person, or an angel, or an animal image:

Then you say to him, please speak with me.

Let him communicate with you. Just speak to him inwardly, that is all, so simple.

And tell you how to most effectively rid yourself of your disease and problems.

Then let him tell you how you can effectively rid yourself of your disease, or the life difficulties you have encountered. You can ask him for anything, ask him to give you direct answers and clear guidance. That is all, so simple. Seth has given you a very simple and effective method for directly communicating and connecting with the unconscious part of your own inner self.

If it happens to be the opposite, and what appears is not a person you can communicate with, but a landscape -- a landscape cannot communicate with you -- then:

Ask for a series of such images, and again he will somehow reply, pointing toward the road to recovery or the solution of the problem.

If what appears is a picture, a landscape or whatever, rather than some person or animal or angel or god, then it cannot communicate. You should not fight against it either. You tell it, "Please give me more such pictures." Then you follow these pictures and directly observe and appreciate them. In this process, he will again lead you toward the solution of the problem, or the road to your body's recovery. How exactly is it done? You do not need to worry about it; when the time comes you will naturally understand and know. Do not use your intellect to overanalyze it. You just sit there quietly observing and appreciating these pictures, one after another, and they will all point toward your road to recovery or your solution.

Then follow through on whatever answer you receive.

Follow through means to carry it out immediately. Whether it is the insight and intuition you receive from the images, or the clear instruction he gives you after you communicate with that person, animal, or angel, what you must do is this: no matter what that instruction looks like -- no matter how much it may not match your current ideas, meaning that in your understanding these things may be things you cannot do, or do not want to do -- no matter what that instruction looks like, you must follow through and carry it out. This is the key point.

In all of these instances, you are opening the doors of Framework 2, clearing your channels.

In all the examples mentioned above, clear your communication channels.

Since your physical body itself is composed of the very energy that drives the universe, then there is nothing about you that this energy is unaware of. Simply repeating these ideas to yourself can result in releasing pressure and accelerating the healing process.

This exercise can clear away the obstructions between you and your own inner communication, clearing away those things that block the communication between you and your inner self, or your unconscious part, so that the conscious you and the unconscious you -- the you of Framework 1 and Framework 2 -- become unified, harmonious, and coordinated.

This exercise is not effective if done only once. It must be done repeatedly and regularly, and it is very effective for people, especially those whose connection with their own inner self is not strong enough. Here you must not cling to, or keep considering, whether the guidance he gives me is right or wrong. If you are still struggling with the question of whether it is right or wrong, then you still do not believe him at all, and then the effect on your healing or recovery will not be great.

These exercises may suggest other exercises of your own, and if so, follow through on them.

Perhaps you are doing other exercises, but these exercises will give you some insights, and he will tell you how those exercises should be done better. So these exercises are very fundamental, because they are connecting you with your inner self. If he gives you suggestions about your other exercises -- for example, we have many other such healing and recovery exercises -- you will receive some suggestions, saying that exercise should be done this way, that exercise should be improved, that exercise you should do like this. You must implement them and follow through on them. Remember, this is key.

But to some degree, every reader should benefit from some of them.

Everyone may benefit from some of these exercises.

His dictation is finished. Very good. He gave us three very, very good -- actually four exercises. Yes, four exercises.

The first exercise: feel that I am a very good person. The second exercise: I can freely express my thoughts and abilities, and it is safe and good. The third exercise: imagine, if you have an illness, imagine that the illness is dust, and then begin to enter a kind of psychological image picture, and at that point begin to sweep away this garbage, in the picture or in other pictures, such as an army going into battle, and so on. The fourth exercise: communicate with the unconscious part of your own inner self -- tell yourself to bring forth a picture, and this picture is a manifestation of your own inner world. No matter what appears, he will bring you this kind of insight for resolution and recovery.

This session gives four exercises, and I hope everyone can truly put them to use and practice them.

Once again, I have activated those coordinates that promote your mental and physical well-being, and begun to accelerate the healing process.

Then he said, thank you. As Jane began the session, her pace increased steadily as the process went on. I told her she had done very well.

Let us look at the next session. The next session is Wednesday, June 13, 1984, at 3:13 p.m.

Today was a very hot and very busy day. This morning, before I went to see our lawyer at 10 o'clock, I did work on Dreams, "Evolution," and Value Fulfillment for half an hour. As I was leaving the house, I met Frank Longwell in the driveway. He was checking whether I had watered the backyard and the new books in the way he had told me. Frank left right away, but I was still late getting to the lawyer's. We talked about many things, and he still had to get back to me about Jane's social welfare, disability payments, income, and so on. He also applied for a birth certificate for me from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and will check with social welfare to see what benefits I can receive while I am still working.

That is, he had already reached his sixties and should be able to receive benefits. In America, you can start receiving benefits at 62. To be precise, if you want to receive full benefits, it is 67¹², and you can receive the full amount of your retirement pension. If you take it at 62, you may only receive 85% or 90%¹³.

On the way home, I bought a roast chicken at the convenience store, and then made Jane a lunch sandwich. It was very good, still almost warm, and she ate a very good lunch. I answered some letters, until she told me she was ready for the session.

Then Seth continued:

I bid you again a good afternoon. Good afternoon, Seth. Now we continue with the dictation.

Seth said:

Once again, every effort should be made to insert humor into the life situation.

You must insert humor into life. For example:

The patient can collect jokes or funny cartoons from magazines and newspapers, and watching comedies on television will be very helpful.

Whether it is collecting jokes or watching comedies, talk shows, or skits, all of it is helpful to you. What he is talking about here are those people whose bodies are not very healthy and who need treatment.

The reawakening of love may very well activate Framework 2 to such a degree that the healing energies become unblocked, and also send their probable lines of action into this person's life situation.

One is humor, and the other is love. Once the channels of Framework 2 are opened, then new possibilities immediately open in all areas of life. Of course, many of these have a direct relationship to health and the healing process. As long as Framework 1 is opened and new possibilities appear, they all directly help the recovery of your disease. No matter what it is, you must follow it. It may begin a new romance, it may bring some changes to your life -- originally you were a very dull person, and now you become a humorous person. Just these changes alone will make your body's healing take effect.

Then there was a break. He had intended to continue, but then stopped because of some thunder. That is, he thought it was going to rain, so I will not go into that. Then dinner came early, and he ended it. This session was very short.

What he means is that as long as you want to heal, you can start by changing your own sense of humor and adding some humor. You say, I am not humorous, is it good to force myself to be humorous? I say, I do not like to laugh, I do not have any desire to laugh -- I am sick right now, and you want me to laugh? No, you must laugh. There is a therapy called laughter therapy, or happiness therapy, and it is very meaningful. In the West this has become a specialized discipline.

Collect many things that normally make you laugh. When you see anything that interests you, makes you smile knowingly, or makes you burst out laughing, save it. Today's phones have enough storage capacity, so save it, and make a separate folder called "A Moment of Joy" or "A Collection of Life's Humor." When you are unhappy, or when you need a sense of humor, open it and take a look.

Then the next session is Thursday, June 14, 1984, at 3:20 p.m. Today was much cooler. At least some rain fell last night, and Jane seemed to feel somewhat better today.

Now I bid you again a good afternoon.

Again, once more, we continue with the dictation. Now there is not a single word of nonsense.

In these and all situations, it should be remembered that the body is always trying to heal itself, and even the most complicated relationships try to disentangle themselves.

No matter what the situation, your body has never for a single moment given up on healing itself. Your body has never given up on resolving the most complex, most intractable, most difficult situations; it always tries to help you untangle them. So remember, your body has never given up, not for one second has it given up. You must not give up either. Your body has never given up.

When Seth said this sentence again, I felt a great sadness.

In terms of all of life's seeming misfortunes, development, fulfillment, and achievement far outweigh death, disease, and disaster.

If you have encountered various misfortunes in life -- whether in body, environment, family, wealth, or career -- he says that these are all more important than death, disease, and disaster. What is more important? Your development, fulfillment, and achievement are more important. They are more important than your so-called death, disease, and disaster. Remember this; this is the core.

Starting over is most possible, and anyone can do it under any circumstances. Anyone can start over, that is, let their body heal itself, and no matter what the previous circumstances were, it can bring about some powerful effects.

No matter what happened before, it will bring about improvement.

In the most basic of ways, behind all diseases there is a need for expression. And when people feel that their areas of growth are being curtailed, then they incite action, meaning to clear the way.

Behind all diseases there is a need for expression. When people feel that their areas of growth are being curtailed, then they incite action. They want to express, but you do not let them express, so they incite action to clear the road. You do not let them express, so they make trouble, they look for things to stir up trouble -- what is stirring up trouble? Illness is one way of stirring up trouble. Illness is when you wanted to express but did not express, and your body is stirring up trouble. The purpose of stirring up trouble is to clear these things out and make you see: these things have blocked the road between you and your inner self, or between you and the unconscious part of yourself, and you have blocked it. It manifests as your illness, to make you reflect on and clear out these things.

Almost always, before a health problem presents itself, there is a loss of self-respect or expression.

That is, before a person develops a health problem, there will first be a loss or absence of self-respect or expression -- feeling that one has no dignity, no self-respect. This loss may:

Occur in the environment itself, in changes of social situations.

It may be caused by changes in the external environment.

In the AIDS matter, for example, there is a group of homosexuals, many of them out of the closet for the first time, involved in organizations that promote their ideals, and suddenly faced with the suspicion and distrust of many other portions of the population.

Many homosexuals who came out of the closet for the first time were met with suspicion and distrust from the majority of the population. They wanted to express themselves -- whether by coming out, or by publicly standing up and declaring themselves homosexual -- they were struggling to express the unique characteristics of their own very distinctive abilities. They wanted distinctiveness, they wanted to be seen.

So they have many outward expressions, such as the rainbow form to represent the distinctiveness of their LGBT, transgender community. They have vivid distinctiveness, unique abilities, and vivid characteristics.

Driving them forward, and yet too often frustrated by the ignorance and misunderstanding surrounding them.

They wanted to move forward, but were frustrated by much misunderstanding and ignorance -- most of the people around them were misunderstanding and ignorant of these groups -- and because these people were more numerous, it led to the frustration of these minorities.

The result was something like a kind of psychological infection. As the people involved struggled to fight against the prejudice against them, they began to feel even more depressed.

When they fought and struggled against mainstream society, they often became even more depressed.

Many almost hated themselves. For all their seeming bravado, they were afraid that they were indeed unnatural members of the human species.

Some people instead began to believe that maybe they really were the kind that most people hated -- why am I so special? Why am I in this minority? Maybe we really are wrong. Maybe we really are the unnatural part of humanity. Maybe heterosexuality really is the natural human condition, and we homosexuals really are some kind of aberration. On the one hand, they firmly rejected this -- because they understood themselves very well -- but on the other hand, they began to waver a little, to feel a little dazed. So in such circumstances, these people are very anxious. This is also the reason why AIDS most easily spreads among them.

Seth is digging out the source and root of AIDS in these people from the level of foundational beliefs. On the one hand, they want to bravely express themselves; on the other hand, they have some doubt; when fighting against the mainstream, they have some doubt.

These beliefs undermined the immune system, and brought about the symptoms so connected with the disease.

The symptoms of AIDS are extremely miserable, with no immunity at all -- acquired immune deficiency, no immunity whatsoever. To that degree, AIDS is a social phenomenon. It is not a biological or physiological phenomenon; it is a social phenomenon. When should we think about this? It is when society does not recognize, does not accept, and excludes the homosexual community, combined with their constant struggle and striving, that it becomes a social phenomenon. Remember, AIDS is a social phenomenon.

It expressed deep dissatisfaction, doubt, and anger at a discriminatory social environment.

It is a social expression -- of dissatisfaction, doubt, and anger at a discriminatory social environment. Homosexuals have not offended anyone. It is just that their own interests and preferences are not quite the same as those of the so-called majority. This is their personal choice and their own business, and should not be subject to any condemnation, judgment, or even discrimination. But in reality, it is exactly the opposite. Even today, when our society is already so inclusive and accepting, for most people there is still discrimination in their hearts.

This discrimination, or the dissatisfaction of homosexuals at not being able to express themselves, or even self-doubt, or even being doubted by others -- being doubted by others is bad, but self-doubt is even more frightening -- the comprehensive manifestation of all this as a social phenomenon is AIDS.

Whatever physical changes occur, they happen because the will to live has been weakened.

No matter what immune deficiencies occur in your body because of AIDS, they all happen because your will to live has been weakened.

AIDS is a biological protest. It is as if it symbolically says: You might as well kill us. We might be better off than the way you treat us now.

These people with AIDS seem to be saying: We are now in a state worse than death, and we are certainly doomed. The mortality rate of AIDS is very high, and in the process the body suffers greatly, because the person has no immune ability at all. So you might as well kill us. Because you cannot accept us -- "you" refers to the mainstream of society, those heterosexuals. Their lack of understanding, suspicion, or discrimination toward homosexuals will make these homosexuals produce this kind of angry thought: You might as well kill us. You let us get this disease, which is worse than killing us.

It seems like a suicide drama -- like a kind of suicide drama being performed.

It is slow suicide. The entire AIDS community is like performing a suicide drama for the whole of society. What is the message in it? Look at what kind of result your behavior has led us to -- look at what serious consequences you mainstream heterosexuals, this so-called majority group, have caused for us homosexuals. It is precisely because of your non-acceptance, non-inclusiveness, non-recognition, and your discrimination that you have caused us such serious consequences.

Then Seth said again:

I am not saying that AIDS victims are all suicides.

I did not say that. It is just that:

In many instances, the will to live is so weakened, and such an intense depression is begun, in which such people see no room for their own further growth and development in the future, and finally acquiesce to their own death.

For example, if they want to live together with a same-sex partner, in the mainstream of this society, in this country, it is still not recognized and accepted. For example, they cannot get married, cannot adopt a child, or cannot have a child of their own through artificial reproductive means. They want to live a normal life, like ordinary people, two people living together, but society cannot accept or allow it. They cannot see hope for the future. They want the most ordinary, most basic kind of good life that ordinary people have, and even the most ordinary, most basic request cannot be satisfied. Therefore, in this situation, they would rather choose death, because they cannot obtain the most ordinary and most basic things they want.

Even the attitudes of doctors and nurses in dealing with such patients show all too clearly not only their own fear of the disease itself, but also their fear of homosexuality. Homosexuality is considered evil and forbidden by many religions.

When doctors and nurses deal with these AIDS patients, they are also extremely worried, afraid of being infected and contaminated. This fear and worry is revealed without exception in all their expressions, and their patients can also receive it -- and this undoubtedly aggravates the condition of these AIDS patients.

Many religions forbid homosexuality, considering it evil and against human nature. And there are not many countries where homosexuality is legal -- many European countries, including more of the Nordic countries, and even the United States and some other countries, are relatively inclusive and very accepting, and people can marry just like normal people.

Emotions run at top speed, and AIDS patients are often cast out by human society.

In such cases, emotions are running at top speed. Imagine how intense their emotions are. And AIDS patients are pushed out and excluded by the whole of human society. Often their friends will also abandon them -- anyone who has a friend with AIDS will probably avoid them like the plague.

AIDS may, however, be acquired by those who are not homosexuals but who have similar problems.

Some people are not homosexual but still get AIDS, for example through blood transfusions, or people who sell blood and get AIDS, or people who get AIDS through drug use rather than homosexuality. Whether they are drug users, or people living at the bottom who sell blood, or people who get AIDS by accident, at the bottom -- not all, we are just talking about the majority -- at the foundational level of their beliefs, they all have thoughts and beliefs similar to those of homosexuals.

What kind of beliefs? That is, they are not accepted by mainstream society, not recognized by society, and they also want to express themselves and struggle, but in the end there is no way. The outside does not allow it, and the inside cannot allow or accept it either. The part that cannot allow or accept it is the feeling that it is useless. They feel they cannot win the struggle, so they do not express or struggle anymore.

It is a great mistake to isolate some people, like some modern leper colonies.

The way people now deal with leprosy is isolation. They even give them leprosy villages, dig trenches around the village so they cannot come out, and spread lime, disinfectants, and sterilizers inside the trenches, letting them fend for themselves. This method is extremely wrong. This includes many isolation measures for AIDS patients, and isolation measures for infectious diseases and epidemics. We have not solved the problem at its root; we have adopted this kind of isolation measure. We think this is effective, but in fact it is very unfair to those who are sick, and it is not conducive to their recovery and restoration.

Fortunately, when social conditions change, when man's inhumanity to man becomes clear even to the most prejudiced, the disease will naturally disappear.

When will AIDS disappear? Seth gives the answer: when man's inhumanity to man -- the inhumanity between people, the inhumanity toward AIDS patients -- becomes clear even to the most prejudiced, that is, when you can accept even those who are most prejudiced and whom society is least able to tolerate, then the disease will naturally disappear. It is very simple. It is a social disease.

Then Seth said to take a break. From 3:47 to 4:00 he took a break. Then he continued:

Homosexuals can benefit from the concepts in this book.

If you are homosexual, you can benefit from the preceding discussion.

Especially if small groups gather together, examine their own beliefs, and strengthen their will to live, their right to live, and the basic integrity of existence.

He suggests that these AIDS patients, or these homosexual groups, gather together in small groups, jointly express their will, and live in their own communities one by one, which will be more conducive to their existence and their health.

And indeed this is how it is done now. Many homosexuals gather together and live in one community. In America there are many communities that are homosexual communities. In Chicago, there is a whole street that is entirely homosexual¹⁴, with rainbow flags flying all along the street. In many cities there are such areas. They band together for warmth, they gather together, and in this way they can gain a greater sense of strength, including the integrity of existence.

Any anger and hostility, however, should also be expressed, while not being overly concentrated upon.

These homosexuals' dissatisfaction, anger, protest, and hostility toward society should also be expressed. They often have such marches and demonstrations -- gay pride parades, every year there are many, whether in America or Canada, and in other countries too, and in Europe there are also such gay pride parades. We should express, but do not overly concentrate on this anger and expression.

Many other diseases that seem to be spread by viruses and contagion are in the same way connected with social problems.

The same is true of other problems. Infectious diseases, epidemics, and diseases caused by viruses are all connected with social problems.

And when those conditions are corrected, the diseases themselves largely disappear.

Basically they are social phenomena. This is explained very thoroughly in The Individual and the Nature of Mass Events, so we will not repeat it here.

It should be remembered that the effectiveness of any medical procedure, technique, or medication depends largely upon the patient's beliefs and feelings.

The methods of so-called modern medicine depend entirely on the patient's beliefs and feelings. It is very interesting. It is not that a very strong medicine will necessarily work. If the person's beliefs have not changed, the effect of this medicine will be minimal.

Unfortunately, the entire picture surrounding health and disease is largely negative. In it, even so-called preventive medicine can have serious drawbacks, since it often suggests medications or medical techniques to attack a problem not just before the problem emerges, but in case the problem might emerge.

He said, these doctors do not solve problems before they appear; instead, after the symptoms show up, they use drugs or medical methods to attack such a problem, to solve such a problem. This is the worst aspect of modern medicine. This is very similar to the viewpoint of traditional Chinese medicine, which says treat the not-yet-ill -- treat before illness arises; the superior healer treats the not-yet-ill -- only further down do they begin to treat the already-ill, treating only after one has fallen ill, and this is the worst outcome. Moreover, it stands in opposition to the illness and attacks it.

Many public-health promotions bizarrely publicize the specific symptoms of various diseases, almost as if drawing a map of illness for medical consumers to swallow.

He tells you what the symptoms of each illness are, as if doing some beneficial popular science, but actually he wants to draw out the illness so that those medical consumers are forced to swallow these so-called public-interest promotions. Spending the money of these public-interest organizations or the state on these public-interest advertisements often produces the opposite of the intended result.

Besides conventional medicine, there are many other techniques. Acupuncture, for example, helpers, or the work of perhaps recognized healers.

Seth says that besides medicine there are many other methods that can play a supporting role in a person's health, such as the acupuncture, tuina, and massage of traditional Chinese medicine, and also these so-called helpers -- I do not know what he means by helpers -- and also these other psychological and spiritual healers, healers of the psyche, all of them can be of tremendous help to your health. It is not that going to the hospital for treatment, taking medicine, getting injections, and having surgery is the only method.

The body's own healing processes are forever active, however.

Besides the conventional medicine mentioned above and these traditional Chinese medicine practices, and also these healings of the psyche, your own inner healing process is always present; it never stops and can never be replaced.

That is why I so strongly urge you to rely upon them, along with whatever medical help seems appropriate.

Rely on your inner healing ability, and at the same time also use those external medical measures that seem useful. But what is more important is that you must trust your own inner healing ability; the external ones are only auxiliary means. But this does not mean that these auxiliary means are bad, or wrong, or should not be used. No, they are like your helpers, your assistants, your tools; you should use them. But your main force, your core, lies in your inner self-healing. You must not give up the self-healing part of yourself and turn entirely outward, relying on external medical and pharmaceutical measures and methods; that would be wrong. So use these external measures when they should be used, but you must have this belief in your inner self-healing.

But the individual, even as a patient, must always have a choice, and the right to refuse any suggested treatment.

Whether as an individual or as a patient, everyone has a right: I may refuse any treatment you suggest. A patient has the right not to be treated, and the right to choose for himself what method to use to treat himself; this is the most basic right of a person or a patient. And this one is often poorly implemented. Many people say that once you are ill you must listen to the doctor, and you no longer have any rights; you are sick, so what rights do you have, just listen to the doctor, do whatever the doctor tells you. Here again it is emphasized that every person has this right.

The main unity, however, is always the individual's belief system, and the vital importance of the sense of worth he places upon his body and mind.

The main basis is always the individual's belief system, and the sense of worth he places upon his body and mind -- the sense of worth of being recognized, of being accepted.

We have been dealing with quite violent diseases, but in other areas the same ideas also apply.

What he said earlier, whether suicide, cancer, or AIDS, these are all stubborn diseases that humanity currently cannot handle either psychologically or physiologically. And Seth does not avoid them at all; he starts from these most difficult problems, these most difficult diseases. He says the same is true for those other areas, other diseases, and other psychological problems.

For example:

Some people experience a series of highly unsatisfactory relationships.

That is, their intimate relationships are very unsatisfactory: divorce, marriage, divorce again, marriage again.

Another person, meanwhile, may experience a series of repeated illnesses at the same time.

Some people have very stable marriages, but illnesses keep recurring.

In spite of all such problems, in each individual life the life-force continues to operate, and can bring about the most profound beneficial changes at any time.

The life-force operates continuously in every person's life, and at any time it can bring about the most profound and most beneficial changes. Do not say it is already too late, my illness is already very serious, what I do now may be useless -- no, even in the last minute of your life, it can turn things around. Never give up; it is always useful, always beneficial.

The main point is to clear the mind as much as possible of those beliefs that hamper the wonderful smooth functioning of the life-force.

The life-force itself operates wonderfully and smoothly; it does not encounter difficulty or strain, and a person's health should be easy and effortless. And you must clear away those beliefs that obstruct it.

And to actively encourage those developmental beliefs and attitudes that promote health and all aspects of the healing experience.

You must develop this belief and attitude of healing, of promoting development and healing; that is the most crucial thing.

Then the dictation ended:

Once again, I activate those coordinates that promote peace and well-being of our own bodies and minds, and quicken the healing processes, and I wish you a good afternoon.

Then Seth said good afternoon. At 4:26, no one appeared in Jane's hospital room to take Jane's vital signs, which meant the staff was running behind. In fact, for the rest of the time I was there until 7:10, no one appeared to take vital signs. For a change, we did not pray together today. Recently he has wanted to pray after lunch, and when you were ready to leave, I became too gloomy to want to do it again at that time.

Carla usually called me for Jane very late at night. The nurse's aide had gone on vacation, and this afternoon we were guessing that he should be coming back. Perhaps when Jane calls me again, he will feel a little better.

The content of this chapter ends here. From this, everyone can see that Seth used an example like AIDS to carry out an in-depth discussion for everyone. And in the earlier session, he prepared four small exercises for everyone, to help everyone carry out healing and recovery on all levels -- not only on the level of health -- and even to do exercises of connecting with one's inner self, the subconscious part, or the unconscious part.

All right, the content on these matters ends here. Finally, I wish everyone a magical and wonderful day.

注释与核实

1. 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) ↩

2. Source: American Psychological Association (APA), "The mental price of affluence, with Suniya Luthar, PhD (Speaking of Psychology podcast)" (https://www.apa.org/news/podcasts/speaking-of-psychology/affluence) ↩

3. This claim could not be verified. ↩

4. This claim could not be verified. ↩

5. Source: Wikipedia, "Back to 1942" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back_to_1942) ↩

6. This claim could not be verified. ↩

7. This claim could not be verified. ↩

8. This claim could not be verified. ↩

9. Source: Wikipedia, "Hoʻoponopono" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ho%CA%BBoponopono) ↩

10. Source: Laozi, "Tao Te Ching, Chapter 25" (https://www.econ.sdu.edu.cn/jrtzx/info/1361/25554.htm) ↩

11. This claim could not be verified. ↩

12. In the United States, the full retirement age for Social Security benefits depends on the year of birth. For those born in 1960 or later, the full retirement age is 67. ↩

13. If you claim Social Security retirement benefits at age 62, you receive a reduced benefit. The reduction depends on your full retirement age; for someone with a full retirement age of 67, claiming at 62 results in a 30% reduction, meaning you receive 70% of your full benefit, not 85% or 90%. ↩

14. This likely refers to the Boystown neighborhood in Chicago, centered on North Halsted Street, which is known for its large LGBT population and rainbow flags. ↩