The "Reading Guide" 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 discusses how contradictory beliefs lead to mental and emotional problems. Seth points out that in order to rationalize their environment, individuals may construct imaginary supermen, devils, or persecutory institutions that issue commands, so as to escape choice and responsibility. He gives examples of auditory hallucinations, persecutory delusions, split personality, and other phenomena, and points out that treatment should help the client see the errors in their beliefs, rather than deny the reality of their experience. This chapter also discusses the dangerous belief that "the end justifies the means," and that the origins of religion often involve schizophrenic episodes.
Key Points of This Chapter
- Contradictory beliefs can lead to mental and emotional dilemmas, and the individual will try to rationalize the environment.
- Some people will construct imaginary supermen, devils, or persecutory institutions to give orders, thereby escaping choice and responsibility.
- Treatment should help the client see the errors in their beliefs, rather than denying the reality of their hallucinatory voices or fantasy experiences.
- "The end justifies the means" is a dangerous belief, and many destructive behaviors stem from it.
- Many religious origins involve schizophrenic episodes, and the god-makers drive believers with fear, yet they are still followed even after prophecies fail.
Main Text
Chapter 13: "Messages" from Gods, Heroes, and Other Famous Figures -- or, More Contradictory Beliefs
The title of this chapter is "'Messages' from Gods, Heroes, and Other Famous Figures," and the subtitle is "or, More Contradictory Beliefs."
We begin with the first section, which is Wednesday, June 20, 19841, at 3:50 in the afternoon. Today is Rob's 65th birthday.
But clearly I do not feel he is 65. I guess he assumed it would be a milestone in life, but I had no plans to retire, resign, or give up creative work. In America, generally at 67 you can retire completely, or at 62 you can also retire2. He felt he was far better than before. This is key -- not only did he not retire, he felt his state was actually better than before.
The hospital staff did give me a birthday party. And although I knew what they were up to, considering their obvious kindness and encouragement, including cards, food -- more than we (at least Jane and I) could eat -- they prepared a lot of food, it was still a pleasant surprise.
The head nurse Mary made a chocolate cake with chocolate icing, and Rob showed them his fancy underwear. He presented it as a joke, and received appropriate laughter and boos. Even some strangers in the hallway outside Room 330 saw his fancy underwear and laughed.
I blew out all the candles on the cake in one breath, maybe 25 of them. I guess the staff did not expect he could do that. By about 2:30 I had a distinct feeling of fullness, and they still had food left over. Throughout the day I nibbled at the food, until I felt I had better stop.
Many people stopped by to wish me a happy birthday. Before I left Jane, Margaret Bumbalo called to invite me to dinner, but by that time I was already completely full. I stopped at their house, picking up his dinner for tomorrow night. Joe's son said Joe had gone bald from chemotherapy and was very weak. They also gave me a pack of books. John mixed me a whiskey and soda, like the one I had there one evening, and I almost immediately began to feel its effect. By that time I was in fact already half drunk, so I did not begin typing until 9:50.
Seth said, "Good afternoon." They replied good afternoon to Seth. He said we will continue the dictation.
Before we continue, I remind the reader that among any of these other issues we have discussed, there may be a period of depression, or a feeling that there is no solution at all to one's own problems.
We sometimes have this kind of feeling. Human experience always has its ups and downs, and there is always a period of being in a depressed state. Seth said whenever this happens, one should follow the steps I gave before. What kind of steps? In short, immediately refuse to worry about the future and the past. Seth's way of resolving such periods of depression is to immediately cut off both the past and the future. Tell yourself: if you want, you can worry at another time. If you still say, "I cannot suppress this worry and anxiety about the future and the past," then Seth said fine, then you had better tell yourself: I will be anxious at another time, not now. But for the moment you will not concern yourself with the past and the future.
Remind yourself that, over time, but according to everything you may have read, heard, or generalized, clearly not all unfortunate situations inevitably take the darkest tone.
Not all misfortunes take the darkest tone. On the contrary, the opposite is true. What is the opposite? It is not a dark tone; it is a bright tone. Why? Because if you thought all misfortunes took the darkest tone, then the whole world and all life would already have been destroyed long ago by disaster or great calamity. It is not the way you think -- if the world were this dark, humanity and the world would have been destroyed long ago. So this simply does not hold up; it is only that you feel it is this way. So it gives you a point to think about in reverse.
Concentrate upon the present moment -- but more important, concentrate upon the most pleasant aspects of that present moment.
You say, "I am concentrating on the present, but my present at home is suffering." Seth said you should concentrate on the pleasant side of the present, not on the painful side of the present.
If that moment has distracting, uncomfortable, unpleasant aspects, then resolutely bring into your mind whatever pleasant or comfortable influences that moment may have.
Bring the good into your mind. These may be very simple, very plain. For example, think of the scent of violets, or try to hear the clear singing sound of snow, or try to visualize an ocean or a lake. All of these can bring peace to your body and mind, and increase the effect of your reserves -- that is, store up energy for yourself.
When you are feeling low -- very depressed -- these methods above are an excellent policy to possibly follow. You can always proceed in this way, because wherever you are, you can begin the above. It will at least temporarily relieve your fear or doubt, so that afterward you can then grasp the whole situation more fully.
Temporary relief is also very useful.
Then at 4:02, I heard the medicine carts in the hallway, a young nurse bringing Jane's medicine. Now everything in the hospital was quiet. At 4:13 we continued, and then again said we will begin the next chapter.
The title is as mentioned before, the so-called "messages" from gods and heroes in your mind, and so on. Contradictory beliefs about the nature of reality can bring about almost any form of dilemma. Your contradictory beliefs about the nature of reality can bring about any form of dilemma. So do not have this kind of contradictory belief, otherwise the problem will become very complicated, and it will turn into all sorts of changing forms.
In this session Seth began to point out a new form.
Because the individual always tries to rationalize his environment, and at least attempts to begin to find a consistent whole for the world.
Because everyone wants to rationalize their own experience, rationalize their own life, rationalize the world they experience. And he himself is a contradiction, his beliefs are contradictory, so how can he rationalize it? He will have all sorts of methods to rationalize it; he does not admit that he is a contradiction.
Some of the most complicated situations in which attempts are made to put contradictory beliefs together are often mental or emotional methods. A person feels that the world is inconsistent, and the more he now attempts to restore the world to its original state, the more effort he will expend.
The more he feels the world is inconsistent, the more energy he spends trying to make the world appear more consistent, at least in his own feeling.
Some people have beliefs so opposite that they are forced into the most complicated mental and emotional strategies. Their difficulties will seem so great that only some interference from outside can give these people a sense of wholeness and soundness.
This difficulty is too great; it must be through some external means that he can feel these things have a wholeness. What does this mean?
A person may become so frightened of the power of his own choices and actions that he creates a superhuman framework, a person who seems to be beyond the ordinary, who will give orders to this person who is powerless in action.
That is, when this kind of person is a very powerless person in life, he conjures up a superhuman to command himself.
Pause at 4:25. Once again, let us use a hypothetical example, this time a man named Donald. Donald may be so afraid of making decisions, so indecisive, that he constructs an imaginary superhuman, and then this superhuman orders Donald to do this or that. For example, if a decision comes up at work, then this superhuman will order Donald to take a certain course, to carry out a certain course. Donald has given up accepting responsibility for his actions. It is not that he gave up responsibility; he thinks the superhuman ordered him to do things. Because he cannot choose for himself, he has decision paralysis, he is indecisive, so he conjures up a superhuman to make decisions for him.
This imagined person may say he is God, or a famous hero or great figure of the present or the past, or Christ Jesus, or Muhammad, or Guanyin Bodhisattva, or the Buddha, or the Jade Emperor, and so on. And the personality involved is quite real. That is how it is. I have also experienced many such things -- many people say, "I can connect with Guanyin Bodhisattva," and many people say, "I can connect with this one," and still others say, "I can connect with Seth, I can speak for Seth to you all." Very interesting.
For example, Donald may have auditory hallucinations; he may hallucinate the voices of gods and heroes. To him all of this is real.
That is, he hallucinates some voices, that God is giving him orders. In any case, it is all from those he has been in contact with -- those he considers the most powerful people in his mind are giving him orders.
The voices may be so frequent that they become very distracting, or they may appear only at times of excessive stress.
Either at distracting times, or at times of excessive stress, auditory hallucinations appear.
Once again, let us begin with a fairly simple picture. Our friend may be convinced that he himself is evil, worthless, even the most depraved and vile of people.
In this case, a person may construct an artificial devil or demon, who constantly tries to annoy this person, and even gives orders for destructive behavior. That is, this person feels he is useless, very evil and bad, and at this time he conjures up an even more evil devil to command him to do even worse things. This person, like Donald, has also given up his own choices, no longer takes responsibility, and feels he cannot be held responsible for any impossible destructive behavior. He says, "This was not me; the devil made me do it." He no longer takes responsibility.
The two kinds of people mentioned -- one is indecisive, the other feels he is evil -- one conjures up a positive figure like God, the other conjures up a negative figure like the devil -- both are possible.
It may also begin, he may begin to feel persecuted by some external agency.
He will feel persecuted by something external, hunted or harassed by these secret organizations.
Of course among the agencies chosen, the most common are the FBI, the CIA, the Soviet secret police, the KGB, and the Ku Klux Klan, or whatever other controversial groups engaged in violent behavior for any reason.
He will conjure up this kind of thing. I have also seen such cases: a person fantasized that the police were after him, chasing him everywhere, and he ran around frantically, hiding here and there. At the worst, I saw a person running frantically in the street get directly hit by a bus, and the bus crushed his thigh -- he was male, and his male reproductive organs were completely crushed. In the end he was in the hospital, his entire thigh and pelvis crushed. Once he got to the hospital he was fine, he stopped running, and the matter ended. But before this, for several years he had always felt someone was after him, that the police were pursuing him, and he lived this kind of life of a frightened bird, hiding here and there. This is a very typical example.
There are many such examples abroad, where he feels the FBI or CIA is after him everywhere, or some foreign intelligence agency is after him. Sometimes this delusion can last for a very long time, for years; but it is also possible that it lasts only a few days and then disappears. Both are possible; it spontaneously clarifies. But perhaps years later it will appear again. This phenomenon is uncertain.
The root is still that -- his inner contradictory beliefs. Seth is just showing you this matter as many possible phenomena and pointing them out to us.
Then the dictation ended. He said:
Once again, I automatically promote those coordinates of your mental and physical peace, and accelerate the healing process.
Then he said thank you.
At 4:41, Jane said, "I have a feeling that whenever Seth gives exercises like this, it is at a time when I and the readers need him most. Of the things he advocates, some I do very well, some I do not do well."
Seth gave many exercises and suggestions, that is, how these problems should be resolved. And here Jane finally said something honest -- "Some I do very well, some I do not do well." Indeed it is so, and it is the same for everyone. This is a self-reflection by Jane. It made me think, "How right." I also often feel that Seth's material and Jane's own condition are parallel -- the material Seth gives is often exactly what Jane or the readers need most.
We often encounter this kind of situation in daily life. Many readers or listeners have given me feedback: I have been teaching Seth material for about three or four years, with a great deal of content, thousands of hours of material. Many people just tap on one at any time and listen; they do not know what it is about, they just listen. But they find that the part they are listening to happens to match exactly the problem they are facing at the moment, or exactly matches their current situation. This kind of magical synchronicity is very interesting.
We will not discuss synchronicity here. The psychologist Jung also wrote a book about synchronicity3. Because Jung once treated the famous physicist Pauli -- Pauli of the famous Pauli exclusion principle4 -- Pauli had some psychological problems for a period of time, and Jung treated him as a psychotherapist, and the two became good friends5. Pauli also gave Jung many of the latest scientific ideas and insights from physics, including quantum mechanics, and these ideas and insights actually prompted Jung to think about these issues in psychology. Then he wrote a book about synchronicity.
Because in his life, he found a great deal of this kind of synchronicity. For example, in one day he found that in eight different scenes, different people and things all mentioned fish6 -- completely unrelated people all mentioned fish. He made some very relevant records, and even in dreams this so-called synchronicity would appear. That is, one theme appears in different times and spaces, so seemingly coincidental and accidental, yet so obvious that you feel it cannot be coincidence and accident. All of this is called synchronicity.
This synchronicity can help many people understand why, when you read Seth material, the content happens to match your present needs. We will not elaborate here on the causes and principles of synchronicity. If you can understand quantum mechanics, understand the entanglement of this information -- quantum entanglement -- you can well understand the underlying causes of this synchronicity.
So Seth material and Jane's condition are basically parallel. What "parallel" means is that when Jane has a certain condition, the content Seth material speaks of happens to be related to it. Whatever it may be at that moment. I think this is especially true for this book. Most of it is material Seth spoke for Jane. For this book, The Way Toward Health, it is indeed true that Seth wrote many things so that Jane could recover as soon as possible; whatever he spoke about, it was in fact related to Jane's condition.
Alright, then let us look at the next section. This is June 21, 1984, the day after Rob's birthday, Thursday7, at 4:03 in the afternoon.
This morning we had just finished sorting yesterday's mail, and today another smaller batch of mail arrived from the publisher to Rob. But reading these letters is rewarding, because among the various letters, I found checks totaling 375 dollars. We were both moved and grateful.
Now when a batch of letters arrives, I must open them immediately to see if there is money, otherwise the letters might lie there for a long time before I generally process them. I used to not open them until I intended to write replies.
A California resident called Maude Cardwell in Texas, telling her he had our permission to sell the ESP-like tapes that were ending in 1975. We never gave anyone permission to do that, so I need to investigate this whole matter.
Then Seth said, "Good afternoon." They said good afternoon to Seth. Seth came again, and we continued the dictation.
Some people may appear to behave completely normally, completely normal ordinarily, with no visible problem. Unless in the course of a conversation -- perhaps during a chat -- a certain topic comes up, or some stimulus in the environment awakens them, or some topic stimulates them -- they will suddenly have an episode.
For example, an individual may be chatting normally, speaking very well, when he hears a distant siren and police car, and this person immediately jumps up, convinced that it is evidence that the FBI or some other agency has sent people to pursue him. He was chatting normally, and suddenly hearing a police car outside, this person jumps up at once, extremely panicked, feeling that the police car, the FBI, has sent people to arrest him. The vehicle with the siren may disappear into the distance after a moment, and it did not come to arrest him -- there was no sign of coming to arrest him at all.
The startled attitude and behavior, however, may very likely immediately make their companions realize that something has gone wrong.
Although the police car passed, his friend knows that this companion must have some mental problem, or some psychological problem.
The psychologically disturbed person may immediately begin a very lengthy, intense speech.
He will immediately begin an intense speech to prove that his judgments are correct -- that the FBI really did come to arrest him. He describes previous episodes, other times when there were clues, how he moved from one city to another to evade pursuit.
There may be further complications, in which the person insists that his telephone is tapped, his mail is opened, and his private life is constantly being invaded.
This kind of persecution delusion is a very common symptom. For this person's partner, this is the first signal that something is wrong -- previously his partner did not know that this person's psychology might have problems, until after a similar event occurred, they truly realized that he really was different from usual.
In most such instances, this lengthy, intense speech may last for a little while, while in originally less serious episodes, conversely he may immediately jump to such disordered and chaotic thoughts about pursuit.
Both possibilities exist: one is that he makes an intense speech, and after a period the speech ends and it passes; the other possibility is that it triggers more intense mental confusion and disorder.
Or conversely, the person may begin a fairly intense discussion of police power, making some intense comments about police enforcement, about this kind of excessive enforcement.
This seems relatively more normal, while that mental confusion is more serious. He is referring to these different phenomena.
In fact, in some cases people are often so afraid of the use of power.
In reality he is very afraid of the use of this kind of force or power. The idea that he is constantly under surveillance actually gives them a sense of being protected. They are actually afraid of force, afraid of power, and then he instead conjures up the fantasy, the auditory hallucination, that he is being watched, pursued, and arrested by such power institutions. In this case, he actually lacks power internally, lacks a sense of strength, and his own sense of power has not emerged; instead he feels that under the pursuit of these powerful institutions, he somehow obtains a strange sense of security. Very strange; these people are usually not what we think. Everyone must not assume it is not so, because in his world these things are real -- in this real, that is, in that world of auditory hallucination and fantasy, there really is a group of police pursuing him.
The point is that in this situation, the person will try to use evidence from the outside to prove that he is indeed being pursued.
External evidence, such as sirens, police. In the same way, the practice of hallucinating God or hallucinating the devil is indeed a concept for maintaining mental normality in their own minds. For them, they want to maintain the unity and consistency of their own world, want to rationalize their own life experience, so they conjure up the so-called God or devil, or police pursuing them. What you consider a kind of mental disorder, or psychological disorder, is to them the rationalization.
The underlying cause is his contradictory beliefs.
As long as he believes that a deity or a god or a demon is involved, then the person can consider the entire matter -- the extremely extraordinary, absolutely different from ordinary experience -- as indeed valid.
He then lets this god or demon take responsibility for the matter. No matter how extraordinary, how incredible it is, he no longer has to take responsibility. That is, he needs this kind of extraordinary experience that exceeds ordinary people, that is different from ordinary people, and he feels that although this experience is unusual, it is nevertheless real and valid.
If a therapist tries to convince such a person that the imagined person does not exist -- God does not exist, the devil does not exist, the pursuers do not exist -- then this threatens the person's belief in his own mental normality.
If a therapist speaks to him this way, this will actually threaten this person's own beliefs, threaten his own normal beliefs. So this kind of treatment often does not work well for him.
Then the dictation ended. Once again, I initiated those coordinates that promote your mental and physical peace, and accelerated the healing process.
This part of the content mainly discussed how many people experience auditory hallucinations, fantasies, and persecution delusions, the symptoms and phenomena of these people, and also pointed out their underlying roots. It is all one thing -- all caused by conflicting beliefs, whether physical, or the psychological, emotional, or mental problems he has recently discussed.
We begin this part of the content from June 22, 1984. This day was Friday, at 3:07 in the afternoon, and Seth came through and directly said three times, "I once again wish you a good afternoon," and also said "Good afternoon," then continued the dictation.
Any treatment is to try to convince the client that although the superhuman is self-created, and the voice is an auditory hallucination, this does not mean the client is insane.
When we treat such cases, we must tell him that what he is doing is not insane; do not feel that this is mental illness, that it is madness, because in his world, all of this is real.
An effort should be made to help the client understand that the errors of mental beliefs are responsible for that drama, that situation.
That is, the problems of belief, the conflicts of belief, the errors of mental beliefs are responsible. Removing those erroneous beliefs can alleviate the situation -- the root is the conflict of beliefs and erroneous beliefs; changing these will do.
The therapist should make it clear that he understands -- in ordinary terms, the client is not lying.
This must be confirmed. I have experienced many such cases, and in these cases, the client is not lying.
When he reports hearing the voice of the devil, he is not lying.
In terms of this particular case, the therapist should then point out the errors of the thinking and beliefs involved.
The therapist must be able to help the client find where the errors in his thinking and beliefs are, and try to explain that it is more or less a habitual pattern -- that is, tell him that this is a way the client has become accustomed to.
First of all, the ideas must be disentangled.
This viewpoint -- whether his personal worldview or outlook on life -- these beliefs must be disentangled.
Then the habitual behavior begins to disintegrate.
His beliefs must change first, and then that habitual behavior will disintegrate.
The therapist should also assure the client that on many subjects or topics of thought and conversation, the client is functioning quite well.
Consider his feelings, encourage him -- although he is going through these extraordinary experiences, also tell him he is handling it very well.
Of course, this subject in itself is so broad that one could easily write a whole book about it, so it is impossible here to cover all the issues involved.
Because each person's situation is somewhat different, but Seth says he will not expand on this matter here.
Some errors relate to a misunderstanding of practical experience in physical reality.
And this person is convinced that he is being pursued by something mysterious.
Once again, he may hear the siren of a very real police car.
The error lies in assuming that the car is pursuing that person, rather than someone else.
The therapist can help the client learn to question their personal interpretation of such events.
This is something he must understand -- that hearing the siren is real to him. The error lies in assuming that the car is chasing that person, rather than someone else, that is, assuming it later turns out the car was not chasing him, but chasing someone else. The therapist can help the client question their own mistaken personal interpretation of such events, that is, the client's feeling that the car is coming after him. If the therapist can help the client see that his judgment can actually be questioned -- because the car was not coming after him, it was chasing someone else -- then slowly this will be helpful to the treatment. Previously this client had no doubt about his own judgment; he believed all of it was real, and he never doubted his own judgment.
All such cases have their own peculiar complications.
That is, there are also some other symptoms.
Personality and Secondary Personality
In such cases, the primary personality -- usually meaning the main operating part of the activity -- may be male, displaying all the usual masculine traits.
But the secondary personality may seem to be female, even speaking in a woman's voice, or the reverse may be true.
He said, in such cases, generally the primary personality appears with a male voice, and the secondary personality appears with a female voice; but it is also entirely possible for it to be the other way around. It is also possible that the person goes out wearing male clothing, while the secondary personality wears female clothing, and the reverse is likewise the same.
But the characteristics of the period of seeming amnesia in which our main subject is involved are usually involuntary, and often there is no transition at all, except perhaps for a slight headache.
This person involved in this process of seeming amnesia sometimes actually does not know what has happened. In this process, it is not something he wanted to happen, not something he was willing to have happen -- it is involuntary, it happens suddenly, and there is no transition at all; it is not a gradual progression into a state of complete amnesia. None of that -- he suddenly loses his memory.
In this particular case, I am not referring to someone like Ruburt. He speaks for another personality with an easy, peaceful feeling, and the resulting information is excellent knowledge, proving beneficial both to himself and to others.
He said, for someone like Ruburt, it is somewhat different. Ruburt also often speaks for another personality. For example, he often speaks for -- there is one called the "sinful self" -- he also sometimes speaks for another personality of his own. For someone like Ruburt, who in a very peaceful manner uses his present personality to speak about another personality or to speak on behalf of another personality, this kind of thing is very meaningful, because the knowledge and information he conveys is helpful to himself and to others, and is of the greatest help.
This, then, is the obvious product of an uncommon common sense.
This kind of thing is not common. Most people unconsciously switch from one personality to another; for them, one personality is forgotten, while another takes over the present. If a personality can very peacefully, without losing its present cognition or awareness, still speak on behalf of another personality, this is indeed not a particularly common occurrence, but its results are very beneficial and helpful.
Behind all of the examples we have been discussing, however, there is still the need for value fulfillment, blocked by beliefs that were largely contradictory or even opposite.
In other words, these personalities need to express themselves in such a manner. Each personality is one aspect of the person involved, and each personality has its own need for value fulfillment and its own existence. Although at the bottom level their beliefs are blocked or contradictory, he said, at the bottom level there is still the significance of value fulfillment.
At 3:31, there was a very long pause.
Then he said:
However unbelievable it may seem to some readers, it is nevertheless true. Even the most destructive events are built upon a misunderstanding of reality, upon opposing beliefs, and upon an inability to accept or express love.
He said, these things are true; you may find them hard to believe -- that is, at the bottom level they all want to express love, but they lack the ability to accept and express love, so they adopt another way of misunderstanding reality, and adopt an extremely destructive practice. But you must be able to see that at the bottom level they want to accept love and express love; they have simply used the wrong means to do so.
That fury, in fact, is the mark of a perfectionist who has fallen under the control of a world that seems not merely imperfect, but evil.
That kind of fury can be understood as the rage of a perfectionist who has fallen into a world that is not only imperfect, but also carries evil. He himself is a perfectionist, and he discovers that this world is not perfect -- not only not perfect, but also evil -- so as a perfectionist, he is extremely angry, furious. But at the bottom level he wants this world to be good; he wants this world to be perfect. This is what he wants to tell the readers.
All right, let us take a break.
At 3:34, Jane's vital signs had been measured, and Rob wrote a letter or two until she was ready to continue. Rob read the last line back to her, and at 4:10 they continued.
"The End Justifies the Means": The Most Dangerous Belief
Then, Seth says:
This brings us to another of the most dangerous beliefs.
What kind of belief?
The end can make the means normal, justified.
This is a very dangerous and mistaken belief. When a perfectionist falls into what he believes is an imperfect and evil world, he will adopt destructive behavior, a kind of fury and rage. He wants to destroy this world, because he feels the world is imperfect, and it would be better to smash it, better to destroy it. That is what these people think. Seth says this is a very, very dangerous kind of belief, and in The Individual and the Nature of Mass Events, what he emphasizes is precisely this.
There is this kind of person who is himself a perfectionist, but who turns into a fanatic and begins to destroy society. His underlying belief is this: he believes his purpose is to bring about a perfect world, and the means do not matter -- in order to bring about this perfect world, he can smash the present old world and commit violent acts; or, even if his conduct is improper, it does not matter. As long as my goal is proper and my ideal is lofty, my specific actions need not be constrained, and doing some bad things is also permissible.
The vast majority of destructive behavior is carried out in accordance with that belief; at the bottom of it all is this belief.
It leads to an over-rigidity of discipline, and gradually narrows the range of human expression.
It leads to an excessive rigidity of discipline, making people's expression narrower and narrower, and what they can express smaller and smaller, the range narrower and narrower.
In fact, you should be able to see that the issue we are discussing begins first of all with limiting the choices available, thereby narrowing the range of expression.
He says, the theme we are discussing is that, starting from the choices available, since they are the choices available, that in itself already limits the range of his expression. But this limitation of the range of expression will lead this person to produce some extreme behavior.
The individual will try to express himself as best he can, and therefore each individual then begins a wholehearted, focused effort.
If you do not let him express himself, he insists on expressing himself well, and at this point he will focus even more on his own expression, searching for those paths of expression that still remain open. That is, he will look for places where he can express himself, and at this time he will often adopt some very extreme and violent means.
All the constructive beliefs mentioned throughout this book should be applied to all the examples in this chapter.
That is, some of the very constructive solutions discussed earlier, he says, can all be applied to these recently mentioned examples.
The individual must feel safe enough and protected enough to pursue his own development and help others to fulfill theirs.
Every person certainly must feel safe and protected in order to pursue his own development and to help other people. When he lacks a sense of safety and does not feel protected, he cannot do this. And the people in the examples given earlier clearly cannot do this, because they have no sense of safety; they feel they are constantly being hunted, constantly being watched, constantly being monitored -- because of the monitoring, they do not dare speak freely, and the range of their expression becomes narrower and narrower, and so on and so forth. So the way to solve these people's problems is to make them feel that they are safe, that they can freely express their true thoughts. Under that premise, some of their symptoms will gradually be alleviated.
The dictation is over. Seth says again:
I once again wish you a good afternoon, and I activate those coordinates of your own physical and mental peace, and accelerate the healing process.
June 23, 1984 Session
Let us look at the next session. June 23, 1984, Saturday, 3:28 p.m.
After breakfast yesterday, Jane took the tests, but we have not heard any results yet. At noon today, Rob ran into Jane's attending physician Jeff Karder in the emergency room8. Just when Rob was thinking of him, he ran into him. The doctor said he was concerned about the reports he had received that Jane was not as comfortable as before. Rob said this period seemed to be cyclical -- the mood would be good for a while, then bad for a while -- and Rob would keep an eye on Jane, but if he thought something had gone wrong, he would call someone. Jane agreed with the description of "cyclical."
Then Seth again said, "I once again wish you a good afternoon," and also said, "Good afternoon," and we will continue the dictation.
In schizophrenic behavior, the rarest and most special development that is most likely to occur is the construction of a superman who seems to possess tremendous power -- a person who can convince others of his divinity.
There is such a case, a very rare case, where this person seems to possess tremendous power, and can convince others of his own divinity -- that is, he deifies himself. This is very rare, but it does exist. In schizophrenia, he himself believes he is a god, he begins to deify himself, and he convinces others to believe that he is a god.
Historically, most examples have involved a male who claimed he had clairvoyance, that he had the ability to prophesy, and this ability of omnipotence.
Then obviously the affected person, when he gives orders or guidance, is considered to be speaking for God.
What we are talking about is creating a god or creating a religion -- creating a religion is all like this. There are some schizophrenic people who become like this, who will say, "I am speaking for God," "I am the spokesperson of God," and so on. This is also a very rare symptom, but it does exist.
In almost all such cases, the driving force is handed over to the followers through the arousal of fear.
In such cases, he deifies himself, he founds his own religion, and then he will establish very strict discipline, telling his followers they cannot do this, they cannot do that. To put it very loosely, he will say, "You must love God, otherwise he will destroy you" -- for example, such teachings are unbelievable in their aspect, and it seems as though they should make them very easy to see through.
This kind of fear and this kind of intimidation is very easy to see through, and fundamentally cannot hold up. If God loved all people in the world, then he would not say so narrowly, "If you believe in me, I will let you go to heaven; if you do not believe in me, I will destroy you." This is even less than a person, so how could that become a god? Even a person would not do this, right? As a parent, if your child does not listen to you, would you destroy him? If your child does not listen to you, at most you would just stop paying attention to him -- how could you ever think of destroying your child? This is something even a person would not do, so how could a god do it? This clearly does not conform to common sense at all. This kind of lie that is easiest to expose, yet no one questions it.
Yet in many cases, the more absurd the legend and the teaching, the easier it becomes to accept.
In some strange way --
It is precisely because the stories are not true that the believers believe they are true.
This is very strange. The more unbelievable the matter, the more the believers feel it is true. The more you describe this person as having such miraculous abilities, which we all find absurd when we hear it, the believers say, "Yes, this is what is true"; the more you describe him as a normal person, the less the believers believe him. What they believe is precisely a bizarre, inconceivable thing.
The emergence of almost all religions, the beginning of all religions, has in some way involved this kind of schizophrenic episode.
Seth points out sharply that almost all religions had this phenomenon at their beginning, all had this kind of schizophrenic little episode.
A person so involved in the foregoing was necessarily psychologically abnormal in the extreme from the very beginning, fully prepared to fight against the issues of society, the state, or religion, and therefore able to become the focus of countless other people affected in the same way.
This person who started the deification movement, who made himself a god, was often psychologically abnormal. He wanted to overthrow these institutions -- the ones he considered bad -- yet he himself wanted to become such a focus of universal attention. He was himself extremely contradictory and strange on this issue: on the one hand he said those others should be overthrown, that they were corrupt and wrong; on the other hand he wanted to establish a religion centered on himself. This in itself is self-contradictory.
He said that Adolf Hitler could barely be counted among this category of self-deifying people9, and his psychology was also abnormal.
Why say his psychology was abnormal? For example, after the Allies had already bombed Berlin continuously for a period of time10, and were about to occupy Berlin, Hitler was in the bunker planning the blueprints for the construction of a new Berlin11 -- he was thinking about how, after Berlin had been completely bombed to ruins, he would build a brand-new Berlin. In fact the whole war was already lost, the entire capital had been flattened by bombing, it was all gone, and he was thinking about how to build a new Berlin. That was Hitler in the bunker in his final days.
Although he lacked this characteristic of speaking like a superman, he did not speak for someone else.
This was because he constantly did it for his own -- treating himself as a superman.
He would not speak for someone else; he felt that he himself was the superman.
The problem is that although such religions can also inspire humanity to perform great acts of compassion, heroism, and understanding, their existence depends upon an extremely erroneous interpretation of the nature of reality.
These religions do have their positive significance; you cannot deny that everything about them is good, but their foundation is built upon an extremely erroneous interpretation of reality. Although their effects may bring some positive things, such as compassion, love, heroism, and so on.
If we have touched upon the major religions here, then from the beginning of history until today, there have also been countless very small fanatical sects and heretical doctrines, all bearing the simultaneous stamp of that remarkable psychological power and energy.
Seth says that it is not only the major religions that are like this; those small religions, or almost all of these religions and heretical doctrines, themselves all have this characteristic --
Along with an inborn tendency toward self-destruction and revenge.
They all carry a common characteristic: there is a tendency toward self-destruction, and a tendency toward revenge. This is very obvious on this point, for example, like Christ being burned to death and so on, this is a very typical case12, and other religions are also like this. Including in The Individual and the Nature of Mass Events, the entire Jonestown incident, the entire mass suicide of that fanatical cult13, and so on, that is self-destruction. But conversely, they sometimes take revenge, for example some extreme Islamic fundamentalists who have become terrorists, they frantically take revenge, destroy this world, and adopt extremely extreme actions, many of which are very typical examples.
To varying degrees, other less conspicuous individual cases also possess this same magic and mystery.
He says, from these several major religions known in the world, to these small religions, to each individual case, there are these underlying mysterious, mystical things in all of them.
Obviously there is no need to romanticize schizophrenic behavior.
We should not romanticize it.
Because its seemingly romantic elements have already been connected in an unfortunate manner in the minds of the masses.
It is a very unfortunate thing, and this unfortunate image has already been connected in the minds of the masses.
As if placing the madman and the genius in some kind of indefinable relationship.
Just like such statements -- this belief is very obvious, for example, "Madness is the other end of sanity," or "All geniuses touch upon madness." He says we should not romanticize these things; these are all romanticizing this kind of psychologically abnormal behavior. Do not romanticize it; we should see the underlying distortions and erroneous views of reality, and not romanticize it, as if all geniuses were madmen -- "Genius on the left, madman on the right," or similar such views. Do not do this kind of thing. Underneath this concept is a fear of the mind itself -- why say this? Because you do not understand it, you do not know it, you are afraid of it, so you turn it into the statement that "geniuses and madmen are the same type."
Believing that up to a certain point, its abilities are at their best, and are reliable.
But if it runs too far, then it is in trouble.
Within a limited range, it is normal, it is acceptable. This is where we must acknowledge its diversity, but if it reaches a limit, runs too far, and has already caused this person to exhibit mentally disordered and psychologically abnormal behavior, then it is no longer a meaningful thing.
In that context, what does running too far mean? Usually it means -- that knowledge itself is somehow dangerous, that is all.
That is, he completely resists, completely refuses to accept anything, completely takes the things imagined in his mind as primary, and no longer accepts all facts and objective reality or even knowledge; he denies all of these things.
In certain cases, however, the constructed superman can make astute comments upon the conditions of the nation, society, or religion.
But there are opposite examples. Some of these imagined supermen can offer very sharp insights into the international situation and current social phenomena, and even these insights are very thought-provoking, causing people to reflect, and have their value and significance. There is one type of person who completely resists, and there is one type of person who is very insightful; both are possible.
Most such people, however, begin by prophesying that the world is going to end.
These people all begin by prophesying a date for the end of the world, that the world is going to be destroyed. Including Christianity, it also prophesied that the world would have a great destruction14 -- there would be a final judgment, and when the world was destroyed, those who believed in God would go to heaven after judgment. This is also Christianity prophesying an ending of the world.
The chosen people, or his followers, whoever they are, will all be saved.
That is, those who support him will be saved when the world is destroyed; those who do not support him will be destroyed along with the world.
More than a few people have set a definite date for the end of the world.
Yes, they will say the world will be destroyed in 201215, and so on and so forth. The date came and went, and many people continued to follow those groups that seemed to have already proven themselves wrong --
These cults have already been proven wrong, because their prophecies have already failed, yet people are still following them. It is very strange; he will give a new date, and give a pile of explanations -- saying that the time came, the earth was not destroyed, because of such and such reasons -- and the next date is whenever. Those who believe in me shall have eternal life, those who do not believe in me shall go to hell, and a new round begins again. That person thinks of a newer excuse, then a newer date, and then the matter continues just as before, exactly as it did previously. This is a very typical example.
Again, however, even in the clearer cases, the constructed person often tends to make prophecies that, incidentally, do not come true.
These people certainly cannot do it; they are all talking nonsense.
And almost always giving orders and instructions that are obeyed without question.
That is, their prophecies are all wrong, but they still constantly issue orders, command their followers to do this and that, and those followers still believe them. It is a very laughable matter.
Beneath schizophrenic behavior, there are many other deep psychological connections, but since this book is also devoted to other topics, we will continue on.
There are also very deep psychological problems -- contradictory beliefs bring about mental and physical difficulties, and other ways, other symptoms, will all manifest. In this chapter, what he emphasizes is this kind of thing where schizophrenic people hear auditory hallucinations, believe they themselves are gods, or are transmitting God's will.
Then the dictation ended. Seth again said:
I once again wish you a good afternoon, and I activate those coordinates that promote your own peace of mind and body, and accelerate the healing process.
Then Seth said, "Thank you." When Jane spoke again, the staff interrupted him twice, and then this chapter came to an end.
The content of this chapter is actually very straightforward; Seth did not go too deep, but he pointed out many phenomena that are thought-provoking, and even pointed out that the origins of many religions also began from a schizophrenic phenomenon. These words of his actually offended all religions, and also offended all of these so-called sects and schools. Seth himself is indeed very courageous, sharply pointing out the core essence behind these phenomena.
Perhaps here he may have offended or violated or touched a nerve in many religions or many believers, but this was not Seth's original intention; he only wanted you to see clearly what the truth of this matter is. The core of the truth is this: we ourselves cannot achieve a consistency in our own beliefs; when our contradictory beliefs or conflicting beliefs are evenly matched, and cannot be reconciled within ourselves, and cannot be reasonably explained, we begin to rely on external things to make them rationalized and effectively explained -- for example, having a superman command him, and so on, to make his own world more reasonable and more effective. This is the root of the matter. As for the method of solving the matter, he also gave specific methods, which are the ones mentioned earlier; we will not repeat them here.
注释与核实
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Source: Jefferson Lab, "Calendar for June 1984" (https://prex.jlab.org/cgi-bin/DocDB/public/ShowCalendar?year=1984&month=6) ↩
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Source: U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA), "Benefits Planner: Retirement Age and Benefit Reduction" (https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/agereduction.html) ↩
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Source: Princeton University Press, "Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle" (1952) (https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691150505/synchronicity) ↩
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Source: Nobel Prize official website, "Wolfgang Pauli – Facts" (https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1945/pauli/facts/) ↩
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Source: C. G. Jung and Wolfgang Pauli, "Atom and Archetype: The Pauli/Jung Letters, 1932–1958" (https://www.routledge.com/Atom-and-Archetype-The-PauliJung-Letters-1932-1958/Meier/p/book/9780415120784) ↩
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This claim could not be verified. ↩
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Source: timeanddate.com, "Year 1984 Calendar – United States" (https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/?year=1984&country=1) ↩
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This claim could not be verified. ↩
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This claim could not be verified. ↩
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Source: Wikipedia, "Bombing of Berlin in World War II" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Berlin_in_World_War_II) ↩
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According to Mike's original words, "Hitler was in the bunker planning the construction blueprints of the new Berlin"; upon verification, it should be "In the final period in the Berlin Chancellery bunker, what Hitler stared at and repeatedly examined for long periods was the model of the reconstruction plan for his hometown Linz (a cultural district centered on the Führermuseum), not the blueprints of the new Berlin (Germania)—the model was transported to Berlin by architect Hermann Giesler and made available for his viewing from February 9, 1945." (Source: Wikipedia, "Führermuseum," https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%BChrermuseum) ↩
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According to Mike's original words, "like Christ being burned to death and so on, this is a very typical situation"; upon verification, it should be "Jesus Christ was crucified by order of the Roman governor Pontius Pilate, not burned to death." (Source: Encyclopædia Britannica, "Jesus | Facts, Teachings, Miracles, Death, & Doctrines," https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jesus) ↩
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Source: Encyclopædia Britannica, "Jonestown" (https://www.britannica.com/event/Jonestown) ↩
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Source: Encyclopædia Britannica, "Eschatology — Christianity" (https://www.britannica.com/topic/eschatology/Christianity) ↩
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According to Mike's original words, "the world will be destroyed in 2012"; upon verification, it should be "The world was not destroyed in 2012; on December 21, 2012, the Maya Long Count calendar merely ended a b'ak'tun cycle of about 5,125 years and moved into the next cycle. Classical Maya texts contain no doomsday prophecy; the apocalypse interpretation is a later misreading." (Source: Princeton University, "Untangling the myths and misconceptions behind the Maya 'apocalypse'," https://www.princeton.edu/news/2013/02/11/untangling-myths-and-misconceptions-behind-maya-apocalypse) ↩