Mike's commentary · The Way Toward Health, Chapter 2

The "Introduction" and "Chapter Highlights" in 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 centers on "biologically valid thoughts, attitudes, and beliefs," pointing out that at birth a person comes with positive beliefs such as optimism, self-approval, and being supported by the universe, and that these influence the body and healing just as genes do. Seth lists six inborn beliefs and explains that the way toward health is extremely easy, that one should live in the present and trust the body. At the same time, using Jane's hospitalization as an example, he points out that negative beliefs such as hiding one's talents, false modesty, and fearing standing out can hinder healing, and he emphasizes self-approval and relaxation.

Key Points of This Chapter

• A person is born with positive beliefs such as optimism, self-approval, and being supported by the universe, not as a blank slate.
• These innate beliefs, like genes and chromosomes, are necessary conditions for maintaining health and healing.
• The way toward health is extremely easy: one should live in the present, trust the body, and not worry about the future or the past.
• The sense of self-approval is a natural characteristic of all living beings; adults should not overturn a child's self-approval through misguided education.
• Negative beliefs such as hiding one's talents, false modesty, and fearing to stand out will hinder the body's healing and lead to illness.

Main Text

Let us continue sharing the first part of Chapter 2 of the Seth book The Way Toward Health.

The title of Chapter 2 is "Biologically Valid Thoughts, Attitudes, and Beliefs." What does "biologically valid" mean? It refers to those thoughts, attitudes, and beliefs that genuinely have an effect on our bodies, materially and biologically speaking. We all know that beliefs influence our reality and create our bodies, but how exactly do they do so? That is the theme of this chapter.

Thursday, January 26, 1984

Thursday, January 26, 1984, 4:08 p.m.

Rob said that when he left the house for Room 330, the temperature was about 33 degrees Fahrenheit. Jane had the window in her room completely open, so the temperature was clearly not low -- probably a few degrees above freezing. The hospital room still had heat, and it was so warm that Rob began taking off his clothes one piece after another.

Rob told Jane about his dream from last night: in the dream, Rob was in his own writing room and heard their optometrist, Jim Baker, talking in his studio. Jim Baker occasionally used a curse word in a rather humorous way. Rob heard his voice clearly and knew that Jane was somewhere in the room. Jane had no problem walking at all, and Jim had come to see Jane rather than Rob. Rob did not mind, nor was he jealous.

Before lunch was brought in, while Rob and Jane were chatting, Jane shed a few tears. She wanted to get up, wanted to get out of bed, wanted to start walking, and did not want to have to wait -- she wanted to recover right away.

Rob said that as Jane began to speak, he gained some insights: the body heals itself at a speed determined by its own particular condition, and if it is not obstructed, it can actually heal itself very quickly. Therefore, in a hospital full of negative suggestions, those suggestions can telepathically and at the same time visibly slow down the healing. That is to say, the speed of the body's recovery will proceed at its own rhythm and can be very fast; but in a place like a hospital, which is full of negative suggestions, the speed of healing will be slowed down. This was the insight Rob gained while Jane was speaking. When Rob responded to some of the things Jane said and asked her why the healing was taking so long, it was hard to say that an original insight had suddenly jumped into his mind.

After a very good lunch, Jane told Rob about her long and complicated dream from last night: she was with President Reagan and one of his daughters. Jane persuaded Reagan to give up his nuclear weapons policy and to give up those thoughts of the "devil" and "evil." In the dream she felt very happy about the success, and she also said there was more that she could not fully grasp.

Then they discussed it for a while. When Reagan came to power, he launched an extremely intense arms race with the Soviet Union of that time, including the space race and the nuclear arms race -- both were carried out frantically in the late Cold War period. These two factors also ultimately led to the Soviet Union's later collapse because its economic strength could not keep up¹. After the Soviet Union collapsed, it became the Russia of today. There are many root causes, and one of them is related to Reagan's all-out arms race.

Then they discussed some articles Rob had read in the latest issue of Free Inquiry magazine², whose authors expressed deep skepticism about anything related to the paranormal.

At 3:30, the nurse took Jane's temperature: 98.6 degrees, absolutely perfect. Jane had just begun reading yesterday's session, and at 3:40 she was doing quite well, while Rob was handling correspondence. At 3:58, at Jane's request, Rob rubbed her right temple. When Rob finally looked at his fingers, he got a very good response. Jane said, "I feel so light, it's wonderful! I can even feel it in the bend of my elbow -- there must be a nerve there." She said she wanted to have a session.

Then Seth came through and said:

I bid you good afternoon again.

The two of them said good afternoon to Seth.

And we will begin Chapter Two, titled "Biologically Valid Thoughts, Attitudes, and Beliefs."

Then there was a long pause.

When you are born, you possess an attitude toward your own life, toward yourself and life. These attitudes allow you to grow into childhood with the greatest possible impetus, and they are also very important in every period of your life. You can see their consequences in life all around you.

That is to say, when you are born, you already possess a whole set of attitudes toward your own life -- you are not a blank slate. These attitudes are important in every period of life, and you can see their consequences in your life -- you cannot see these beliefs and these innate attitudes, although in animals and plants these are experienced as a kind of feeling, rather than, for example, as thoughts and attitudes in the case of human beings. In the animal and plant kingdoms, they are feelings; in human beings, they are thoughts and attitudes, present from birth.

If I told you that in order to be healthy, it is not enough to have the actual sun, and that you must also have the "idea of sunshine," this might sound very simplistic, but the idea of sunshine is as biologically necessary to your health and well-being as the rays of the sun shining in the sky.

When we do many exercises in our offline courses, one of the exercises is connecting with the sun. Very often this kind of exercise is a felt connection with the sun, and in the later stages, whether or not there is a sun, you can do it at home. Many people at the time could not understand this, saying, "Doesn't connecting with the sun require an actual sun? How can you connect without a sun?" Also, in meditation exercises, when everyone was asked to use imagination to enter certain environments and scenes, many people wondered whether these things were useful.

Here, Seth points it out sharply: not only are they useful, they are necessary. Having a sun in your heart and having a sun in this world are equally important -- relative to your health and happiness. In other words, if the sun in this world still exists, but your heart no longer has a sun and is filled with gloom and darkness, then the sun outside still cannot shine into your heart.

Here we must pay attention: Seth gives a very intuitive example -- the sunshine in your heart is not one bit less than the sunshine outside; it is equally important to your health. So many people can understand why the sun connection and many other exercises are so important, and why they are so important to your health and recovery. Many people, while doing the exercises, found that many of their symptoms got better on their own, without doing anything special. I hope this passage from Seth can help you truly understand their importance.

Even as an infant, then, you naturally have a propensity toward certain feelings, thoughts, and attitudes. They are meant to protect you and see that you survive healthily into adulthood. Actually, these are composed of psychological information with which you are born, and they are just as necessary and important to your life as the information transmitted through your genes and your chromosomes.

That is to say, even as an infant, you have a propensity toward certain thoughts, feelings, and attitudes -- you are not a blank slate. Each person's initial set of beliefs, thoughts, ideas, and attitudes is different, and each has a certain inclination. These inclined thoughts and attitudes are what allow you to grow healthily into adulthood. Chromosomes, genes, and DNA are vital to your life, and these innate thoughts, ideas, and attitudes are just as important as DNA and genes. If you are to faithfully follow the information carried by your genes and chromosomes, then these innate inner psychological tendencies are also extremely important.

If human beings say that our reproduction depends entirely on the continuation of DNA and genes, then Seth emphasizes here that the innate inner psychological tendencies are also just as extremely important as genes. These are our natural, innate inner psychological tendencies -- this is what he specifically emphasizes.

At 4:17, Seth said:

It is very difficult for me to translate this biological and psychological data into the words of any language, even though these innate psychological necessities form a language of their own.

That is to say, it is impossible to turn these innate beliefs, attitudes, and thoughts into language. Even though they also form a language of their own, Seth still cannot summarize or express them in words.

But what is amazing is that in the next session he will give the language of these contents.

It is a language that promotes growth, that is, these innate inner psychological tendencies -- it is a language that promotes growth, exuberance, and accomplishment, and that stimulates the entire bodily organism.

He says this language is one that can stimulate the organism of your body, sending out the signals for the appropriate responses required for health and growth.

We will discuss the opposite feelings, the opposite thoughts and emotions later in this book. I will use the word "belief" in place of "emotion."

When he says this word, we will explain it again later: he will use the word "belief" to uniformly represent these three things -- feelings, thoughts, and emotions -- because saying all three every time is too cumbersome, so he will use one word, "belief," as a substitute.

Again, the innate things mentioned earlier have a positive effect on your body, and I have already told you this. Later in this book I will tell you that when they operate in the opposite way, what threats and effects they will pose to your health -- they will greatly diminish the natural processes of health and vitality. But here, we will mainly discuss those inner tendencies that encourage life and vitality. When these inner tendencies are affected, your health, healing, or recovery process is slowed down, is decelerated.

Seth's Comments

Okay, next Seth directly says "comments." Generally these comments are an affirmation of Jane's current state of physical recovery, or a very constructive suggestion hoping she will improve.

Jane has been feeling the surging of the heart of desire -- a strong surging of desire for normal healthy action, energy, and strength. Those feelings should have served as a driving force, guiding him in an appropriate direction, so those desires were indeed realized.

That is to say, Jane has been feeling a strong surge of desire, wanting to recover, wanting to move, wanting to have energy, wanting to have strength. This kind of desire is an inner driving force.

He must understand them in this way, so that in and of themselves, they can open up additional energy and vitality, and accelerate his sense of purpose.

This kind of desire is very good. As long as you understand them and make use of them, they will open up additional energy and vitality, and accelerate his goal -- the state of restored health.

Once again, he says to have Jane imagine herself, as nearly as possible, in a nonchalant manner, behaving normally in the future.

This point is very important. Everyone, please be sure to remember this sentence. For anyone who is ill, this is the best psychological suggestion for healing: imagine yourself, as nearly as possible, in a nonchalant manner, behaving normally in the future.

Why does he say nonchalant? It means completely ignoring the facts before your eyes. No matter how seriously ill you are right now, just think that you are already completely well. This is very difficult for many patients to do. They will emphasize the current situation and facts they are in: no, my body is like this right now; the doctor said it will take several months to get better; this illness has to get better step by step, this part has to get better first and then that part can get better, and only after this indicator changes to a certain level will that indicator follow and change.

After many patients get sick, they will frantically research the so-called illness they have, searching all over the internet. The current development of the internet is not necessarily a good thing for some people. He does a great deal of research and learns about the normal recovery process and stages of this illness -- an average process for most people -- and then he applies it to himself, so his recovery also follows a slow process just like most people.

But the correct approach is to completely disregard these so-called medical, physical, objective facts of existence, and also ignore those so-called experts telling you how recovery should proceed as a process. You only need to nonchalantly think of yourself as completely recovered, in a state of complete recovery. This point is of utmost importance: ignore all the facts of your current physical condition, and directly imagine yourself as already completely normal.

This will be a new future, brought about by healthier, wiser, more positive attitudes and beliefs. He must understand that the future he feared no longer exists, because it was composed of beliefs that Jane no longer holds.

What this passage means is, why should you nonchalantly imagine yourself as completely recovered? Because that new future is not brought about by changing the current state of this old reality.

Many people will say, if I really want to recover, I have to go through such a long recovery process -- because some organ of mine is already damaged, some part has already necrosed. This is how he thinks about the problem: the necrosed part has to recover its health, right? It has to get better little by little. But the core key here is that the restoration of health does not work that way. The restoration of health is this: when your beliefs, intentions, or your underlying emotions and inner psychological tendencies change, you will link up with or resonate at the same frequency with another completely healthy you. You will directly switch over to the state of that body which has never been sick -- it is not that you recover from your current already unwell body to a well body, but rather that you directly switch from your current life to a healthy life in which there is no illness and you have never been ill. This is a kind of conversion or switching.

In this process, you do not need to think at all about how your body got better. There is no "process of getting better" at all. It does not need to go from bad to good the way you imagine. Because when you switch over to that you in the probable reality, you are completely healthy and have never been damaged. This is the point Seth wants to tell you.

And the future that many people imagine for themselves -- one that is bad, where the illness worsens, or where recovery is even impossible -- is created by your existing old beliefs. When your beliefs change, that so-called bad future you anticipated will not appear. What connects with you is a very good future.

This passage is very important for all people who are ill. Besides conveying the content of the course itself, this book The Way Toward Health also contains very specific content from Seth about Jane's recovery, and this content is very practical and ready to use for those of us readers who are currently ill or whose health has had some problems -- it is not purely theoretical. So this passage can be used as an exercise by all people whose bodies are still uncomfortable: that is, nonchalantly imagine yourself as completely normal in the future.

At 4:29 there was a long pause. Jane's eyes were still half closed. Seth said the above passage was extremely important.

About the Planning of the Book

Seth continued:

The first chapter of the book can simply be called the purpose of the book, along with some important comments on exuberance and health.

It was also within this session that Seth gave the titles for Chapter One and Chapter Two.

I may or may not return, again following those rhythms I spoke of. Know that I am here and can be approached. I want to give you the material for the book, and that is why I have not commented on your dreams.

Rob was also very persistent; he really wanted to ask about the dreams. Seth had to say:

Then please wait for us a moment.

Why did he always say "wait a moment" whenever this came up? Because at that point Seth had to go and retrieve the content of their dreams—he had to enter last night's time and space, using the ability to shuttle and shift through the conscious space of thought, to enter into Rob's and Jane's dream states, and only then could he comment on their dreams.

Jane's Dream and Rob's Dream

Seth began analyzing Jane's dream:

In Jane's dream, he was fully educating the part of himself that he had once regarded as an authority.

Jane was educating the part of herself that acted as an authority. Which part was that? It was the part holding old beliefs about good and evil, self-destruction and Catholicism, the existence of the devil—those long-outdated notions of good and evil, devils and angels, existence and destruction, and so on. These things were still regarded as authoritative in some part of Jane's body.

Speaking of this, I want to share something with you all. Based on our observations, and on the questions people usually ask, and on the situations and feedback in their lives, many people have been studying Seth with us for three years now. Beliefs about good and evil should have been broken through long ago, yet our observation is that beliefs about good and evil remain firmly authoritative in many people's belief systems even today. They have it completely backwards—that is, in their logical mind, they think there is no good or evil, that good and evil are not important. That is what they tell themselves in their heads. But in their instinctive reactions, in their underlying beliefs, there is a part they cannot see at all that still firmly believes good and evil, right and wrong, are the most important things in the world.

So you see, what he has learned, what he truly believes, and what actually influences his life are completely different things. Jane was the same way. Over more than twenty years of transmitting the Seth material, good and evil should have been the first thing to break through, but she just could not break through it. Even today she is still struggling with her own thoughts of good and evil.

In the dream, Jane educated Reagan not to pursue nuclear weapons, not to engage in an arms race. Reagan and these things actually represented the stubborn part of Jane—the part holding strong views of good and evil, Cold War thinking, a dualistic worldview, and so on. Reagan was the representative of that part. Why did it become Reagan? Because a president represents a kind of authority, and in the dream Jane persuaded the authoritative self—whose incarnation was President Reagan. She persuaded that part of herself, and in the dream Reagan also accepted her persuasion and education. As a result, that inner part of herself had been persuaded by another part of herself, and her attachment and obsession with good and evil was no longer so strong.

Seth's analysis of the dream is extremely subtle. But the most important issue in our spiritual study is this: do not worry about other people, do not worry about Jane. Think about yourself. In your old beliefs, is there still good and evil, still right and wrong? If there still is, and you say, no matter how much I study Seth, I still cannot let go of good and evil, right and wrong—well, that is your choice. I just hope you can cross that point as soon as possible. The later you cross it, the more your body may be affected. For Jane, that was exactly the case.

Regarding this dream, I hope it brings you real inspiration and change, not just a story you listen to and then forget. Is there still this kind of "authority" in your inner beliefs? If there is, go immediately and overcome or change those beliefs. Change them into what? Into the belief that this world is entirely good, that there is no evil, no distinction between good and evil. What you call evil, from a larger perspective or from a higher level, is also a kind of good, or another manifestation of a greater good—it is just that within your cognition and your world, it appears to be a kind of evil, but it is not truly evil.

Then Seth began discussing Rob's dream. Did not Rob dream that his optometrist came to his house? Jane's body was completely healthy, walking around, and the optometrist had come to see Jane, not Rob.

Your dream—Rob's dream—represented Jane's healthier state regarding his eyes and vision. He represented Jane's growing confidence in her own inner vision, and thus he returned to his natural rhythm and movement.

In that dream, Jane's physical condition was good. Rob's dream hinted at his growing confidence in his own inner vision—indicating very strong confidence. Jane's eyes at this point were actually already very deteriorated by ordinary standards. She often could not see things clearly, but she could also often see very well, very clearly. In fact, this part of her ability was her inner vision, and this inner vision could bring about a transformation and improvement in her physical eyes, and she herself was becoming more and more confident about this.

At 4:37, Rob said:

I'm very glad I asked about the dreams.

Then Seth said they were both very good, and that this should enhance and strengthen Jane's improving state of mind—these two dreams were both part of reinforcing Jane's beliefs, reinforcing her belief that she would get better and better.

Jane said:

I have a feeling this book will be called The Way Toward Health.

At this point the title of the book had not yet been decided. Rob told Jane that Seth had given the opening of Chapter Two, about possessing at birth a set of attitudes toward the self and toward life.

This viewpoint directly clashes with established doctrine—existing science holds that a newborn is like a blank slate, upon which things will be imprinted through teaching and experience. Behaviorists in particular hold this view. Behaviorists believe a child is a blank slate, and only later learns things through the influence of social environment and education. This is the traditional scientific view, especially the behaviorist view.

And here Seth points out: no. At birth, a person already has some of the most primitive, earliest, initial beliefs, including thoughts, ideas, and feelings. Rob was very pleased about this, because he also did not think what existing science said was correct.

This part—scientists have long studied where human personality comes from—this is a result of scientific research. Fifty-five percent of a person's personality comes from who knows where³, neither from the father's nor the mother's genetics. So scientists also admit that a large part of a person comes from an unknown source—and it is far more than just a large part! We have already covered this earlier quite clearly, so we will not expand on it further.

I hope everyone can apply what Seth says in daily life, especially those of you who still have difficulties in physical recovery. I hope you can truly apply the exercises and insights Seth gives in your own recovery process, and truly practice this way toward health.

The Way Toward Health, Chapter 2, Episode 2: January 27, 1984

The Day's Trivia

This day was a Friday, 4:08 in the afternoon. The weather was even warmer than the day before. Rob said that when he backed the car out of the garage, the temperature was an unbelievable 45 degrees Fahrenheit, roughly around ten-something degrees. When he was lowering the garage door, the spring mechanism that controlled the door going up and down broke, so that he couldn't fully close the garage. So as soon as he got to Room 330, the first thing he did was call the Gaumans' company -- a garage repair service -- and ask them, if possible, to send someone this afternoon to check the garage door. He gave instructions and told them to send him the bill. He hoped they would come fix it today, since it was Friday.

Jane ate a very good lunch. During the meal, Rob told her several times: he had a feeling of anticipation, as if there were some things he wanted to tell her but couldn't remember. Only he hadn't forgotten anything; this feeling was at times quite strong. Rob said: "I think there's something I want to tell you, but I can't remember it right now -- but I'm telling you, this thing won't be forgotten, it won't slip away, I'll definitely tell you." Very interesting.

From 2:30 to 3:00 they watched the television series The Search. This exploration program reminded Rob of several questions he had pondered at various different times. That program was about the explosion of the atomic bomb at Hiroshima, the bombing, and its aftereffects -- for example, people getting cancer because of the radiation.

Rob's question was: about the consciousness that necessarily inhabits or composes radiation. The chief culprit causing the aftereffects of the atomic bomb explosion was this radiation, this radioactivity. And this radiation, according to Seth, must also be composed of consciousness, or generated by consciousness. Rob's point was: why is that kind of consciousness so vicious that it makes humans contract such severe illnesses that we humans cannot endure them? Once exposed to the consciousness of this radiation for even a short time, a person would get cancer, and in severe cases would die right then and there. Yet in ordinary terms, we once created it -- they created the radiation, we created the radiation. What Rob was asking was: why is there so much of this consciousness with which we created radiation? He told Jane: it's the same with an illness like cancer. When we cannot endure many of its circumstances, why do we create them?

This was Rob's question: how were things that are so greatly harmful to people created? According to Seth, you say the world is good, and people are born with this inclination toward goodness, toward health -- then why do such poisonous things still exist?

Actually, from this you can tell that Rob was still somewhat skeptical of many of Seth's viewpoints; he couldn't fully convince himself.

Rob continued telling Jane his thoughts: rheumatism, for example, spans all of history, all gaps and cultures -- it exists everywhere around the world, because Jane herself had rheumatism -- and what is its source? It lies in the reaction to an individual's fear of movement for various reasons. Rheumatism is rheumatoid arthritis. Its inner, underlying belief is that she doesn't want to move, she is afraid to move. This fear of movement is her foundation, and the symptom reflected outward is rheumatoid arthritis. And Jane herself was a victim of this illness.

Jane seemed somewhat surprised by this idea, because it touched on Jane herself. Rob said: "For quite a while now -- meaning for several years -- I have felt this is true." Rob had in fact hit the nail on the head regarding Jane's problem, but Jane felt very surprised: "How could I have the idea of not wanting to move or being afraid to move?" Rob said he had thought this way for many years; he felt that Jane's rheumatoid arthritis was caused precisely by her not wanting to move. Rob also said: I hope that in the book, Seth will one day talk about this kind of issue.

At 3:00, Jane began reading yesterday's session. She was by no means in her best state, but with a little help from Rob, she managed to finish reading, ending at 3:20, and she did comparatively better toward the end. Rob continued sorting through correspondence -- you see, Rob's daily work was actually very busy, but every day he set aside part of the afternoon to reply to readers' letters.

Jane told Rob she was a bit surprised that this Wade Caldwell hadn't replied to the letter from two weeks ago. Jane said she was a bit surprised there was no reply, but Rob said: I think things would actually run just as all of us imagine them to be. At this point Rob said, don't think about these things, just imagine that the outcome is the best possible. In any case, Rob had not given this man named Wade their phone number. By all rights, since the man had donated so much money to them, and there were still many tax-related questions between them, he should have left a phone number for convenient communication -- because always writing letters back and forth was too inefficient; telephones had long since become widespread by then. But Rob said: "I also didn't give them our phone number, although I had planned to give it to him, I had intended to give it to him, and we kept a distance from him and the other people who offered help."

This was how Rob and Jane were toward the people who had helped them, including this Wade -- they both had a sense of distance. This was a characteristic of the two of them -- I don't know how to describe it, but they were very afraid of forming overly close connections with others, or afraid that others would disturb their private life. They basically didn't leave their phone number; if you had something, you could write a letter to find them.

Rob said something very apt: "If we act that way, deliberately keeping a distance from others, it's hard to expect others not to treat us the same way." Others would also keep a distance from them; people could sense it. Clearly, just writing down a phone number would let many things be resolved with a phone call, yet they insisted on writing a letter to explain, and the other person would write a letter back -- and writing letters required typing or handwriting, plus putting on a stamp and mailing it. How could that be as simple as resolving the issue with one phone call? But they just wouldn't do it.

By 3:55, Carla had already taken Jane's temperature: 98 degrees Fahrenheit, and Shang-En measured her blood pressure and pulse. Still quite early on, Lynn came in to put eye drops in Jane's eyes. Afterward Jane's wife said -- it should be Rob who said -- she was ready to teach a session.

Then Seth came. Seth said: Once again I wish you a good afternoon.

Six Innate Beliefs

This session is not long, very short, but the content is extremely important. Why did I make it a separate section? Because its content is very important. Why? Because Seth took the part from the previous session that was very difficult to translate into language -- those innate tendencies and attitudes -- and Seth, who knows how many methods he tried, finally turned it into something our human language can understand. That is, the following items he stated: one, two, three, four, five -- all of which every human being possesses or carries at birth, the most initial, most primitive attitudes, thoughts, and emotions he spoke of in the previous session, or collectively some kind of belief; it can also be called an inner psychological tendency. In the previous session, he also called it an inner psychological tendency. And this part he said in the previous session was very difficult to express in words, but in this session he immediately contradicted his own statement and expressed it to us in words. I think Seth must have made a great deal of effort in between.

The first item, the most primitive attitude we are born with, that every person has at birth -- regardless of the fact that there was no language yet, no human thoughts yet -- the most primitive, he said:

I am an excellent creature, a valuable part of the universe in which I exist.

This is a thought every person has at birth.

The second item:

My existence exuberates all parts of life, just as my own existence is exuberated by other creations.

What this sentence means is: my existence is helpful to all things, just as my existence is exuberant because of the help of all things. In other words, this is a concrete expression of value fulfillment -- in the most ordinary words, "I am for everyone, and everyone is for me." And all of this happens automatically; you do not need to think about how to be for everyone. You exist, you merely exist, and you are for everyone. At the same time, the existence of others, the existence of other species, is also for you to exist better. So merely existing is beneficial to all things, and the existence of all other things is also beneficial to you. And this recognition, every person knows at birth.

The third item:

For me, growing, developing, and using my abilities is good, natural, and safe; and in so doing, I also exuberate all other parts of life.

What does the third item say? Growing, developing, and using my abilities is beneficial to all people, not only beneficial to oneself, but also natural, safe, and good. This is very important.

The fourth item:

I am forever supported by the universe of which I am a part.

That is, I am a part of the universe, and this universe supports me, and supports me forever, forever graced. The word "supported" is used very well, and "graced" is used well. And I exist in this way merely because I exist, regardless of whether that existence is expressed in physical form. This sentence has very far-reaching meaning: whether or not you have a physical body, you are supported by the universe of which you are a part. Even after death, or before you were born, you are likewise supported by the universe. So this is the most fundamental belief a person has at birth.

So those who are born with fear, worrying about black magic, about monsters, about who will harm us, that the universe will harm us, that aliens will harm us, that there exists some evil force in the universe that will harm us -- these thoughts simply do not exist, are simply unnecessary, and are not needed. These are all caused by some deviations in our own cognition later on, and we are not born with these things. Seth has essentially decrypted the most primitive beliefs a person has at birth, and here he has summarized several of them. This is the fourth item: we are forever graced and supported by the universe, no matter what state we are in, whether we have a physical body or not.

The fifth item:

I am innately a good and worthy creature, and all elements and parts of life also possess good intent.

This is what our ancient Chinese called "at birth, human nature is fundamentally good⁴." So this sentence is not some chicken soup for the soul or some life philosophy -- no, the world is originally like this. So this sentence "at birth, human nature is fundamentally good⁴" is correct. Innately a good and worthy creature -- this is what he wants to tell you. And as for the rest, you might say, "Am I the only one who is good and worthy? Are others not good?" No, others are the same as you; all elements and parts of life also possess good intent. Other biological species are the same as you, possessing innate goodwill.

The sixth item:

All my imperfections, and the imperfections of all other creatures, are redeemed within the greater plan of the universe in which I exist.

This sentence is also very important. Our lives and our world are not filled with perfection; there is also imperfection. But this sentence gives many of us psychological comfort: one's own imperfections, and the imperfections of other people, within the greater plan of this universe, will all be redeemed, can all be accepted, can all be forgiven, can all be embraced. This is what a universe should be like, rather than saying the universe only accepts what is good, and for what is bad it will punish them, deal with them. No, whether your imperfections or others', they will all be accepted, embraced, and allowed. This is a belief a person has at birth.

The six items stated above are the attitudes a person has at birth. These attitudes are all innate, in the smallest and most refined parts of the body, in every atom, every cell, every organ of the body. And they are used to stimulate all bodily responses that promote growth and fulfillment.

Infants are not born afraid of their surroundings or of other creatures. This is indeed true -- we all say a newborn calf is not afraid of a tiger; children will play with scorpions, venomous snakes, and so on; they are not afraid of them at all, innately unafraid.

On the contrary, these infants are immersed in feelings of happiness, vitality, and exuberance. They are born this way; you see all children are like this, always laughing happily. You see that smile after they are full, after they are comfortable -- that smile comes from the heart. Vitality goes without saying; children's vitality is extremely vigorous, full of exuberance, as you all know.

They take all of this for granted: needs will be met, and the universe is well-disposed toward them. Their needs will all be met -- met by whom? Met by the universe. Because the universe is well-disposed toward them. They feel they are a part of their environment -- infants feel they are a part of the environment, and will surely be supported by this environment. He is a part of the environment, so how could the environment harm him? Just as how could your body harm a part of your own body? By the same reasoning, you are a part of the universe, so how could the universe harm you?

They are not born with feelings of rage or anger; children are not born raging and angry. Basically they do not experience doubt and fear -- children are even less likely to have doubt and fear. Those are all learned later.

Birth is expressed in terms of self-discovery, that is, for self-discovery and self-exploration you are born into this world, and it includes confidence. The secret heart of the universe rises and blooms gently -- said as beautifully as poetry. What are we born to do? To discover and experience our confidence, that is, to discover the self and experience confidence. This is one purpose or meaning of our coming into this world, of being born into this physical world. And where does this confidence bloom from? From the secret heart of the universe, rising and blooming gently. Seth has actually pointed out where each of our confidence comes from -- from the secret heart of the universe, gently rising and blooming. And the blooming of this confidence brings about the birth of our life, and then we begin to explore ourselves, explore the self, explore confidence.

Birth Is Not a Trauma

In the last paragraph, the elevator door fire alarm bell outside Jane's room went off. That strange ringing was very distracting, and Rob thought it would never stop. Yet Jane remained in trance, and after several pauses continued with her content. Seth said:

On the contrary, many people believe that birth is a trauma, even a moment of rage.

Many people say that when a person is born they are very angry, but actually that is not so. Why would they be angry? When the infant leaves the mother's womb, birth is the most precious natural process of life, the most natural of processes, not a trauma at all, and there is no anger whatsoever.

Even in births that are considered abnormal -- there are some births, such as cesarean sections or even induced labor, which are abnormal -- many people say that a child born by cesarean section will also be angry, because you took him out of the womb and so on. But even so:

There is still a sense of discovery and joy on the infant's part.

What is said here is that even in a cesarean birth, the infant is the same as an infant in a natural birth -- both come into this world with a sense of discovery and joy, not with the anger, the rage, the trauma that scientists tell you about.

Later in this book, we will have more to say about the process of birth.

For now I only want to point out that in the most basic terms, human birth is as orderly and spontaneous as that of any natural creature.

That is, human birth is as orderly as the birth of other species in the natural world, as orderly as flowers blooming and withering, and just as spontaneous. Spontaneity plays a key role here. Spontaneity is one of the basic laws of the universe. In our three-dimensional world, it becomes a law of growth.

And a child opens its confidence just as a flower opens its petals. That is, a child opening its confidence is as natural as a flower opening its petals. The blossoming of each person's confidence is so natural that it requires nothing extra -- no need for you to cultivate yourself to some realm, no need to meditate to some state, no need to unlock any supernatural powers or abilities -- none of that is needed at all. Your existence itself is a miracle, and you yourself are the supernatural power. Just like a flower blooming, like a blossom unfolding, you naturally bloom into your confidence. It is that simple. This is like what Huineng, the Sixth Patriarch, often said: How wondrous is the self-nature, originally complete in itself⁵, and so on and so forth. It is that simple, it is that natural.

These Tendencies Should Sustain You Throughout Your Life

We have been discussing the innate tendencies and attitudes that, ideally speaking, should be with you for your entire life. These are the tendencies and attitudes you are born with. Ideally speaking, if they are not affected by the later external environment, not affected by what you later receive as so-called education, not affected by that kind of scientific education that we consider meaningful, then these innate attitudes and tendencies should stay with you for your whole life, always with you. They will guide you to realize and express your abilities, and as your knowledge expands through experience, they will find their fulfillment. Remember here, ideally speaking.

These same feelings and beliefs should also help you face death with an attitude of safety, support, and assurance. These innate tendencies and attitudes present at birth will also sustain you at the moment of death, letting you feel that death is also something safe, supported, protected, and assured, so that most people will not have that kind of fear, that kind of worry, when dying or approaching death. This state is the most ideal normal state for a person, carried from birth all the way to your death, sustaining you throughout this life. These innate tendencies and attitudes -- that is, your inner psychological inclinations -- will sustain you for your entire life.

Although these inborn psychological supports will never entirely leave you, they will not completely leave you, they are often diminished, reduced, by the beliefs encountered later in life, beliefs that undermine the individual's sense of safety and well-being. Many of the beliefs you later accept from adults, or beliefs society tells you, or the things you learn, undermine the sense of safety and well-being that you should inherently have. And through our study, we want to take back this innate sense of safety and well-being -- this is the meaning and purpose of our study. This is something we should originally have, something we are born with.

Commentary: Accelerating the Healing Process

Seth began his commentary: Once again, I have accelerated some of the coordinates, the key points, of those intentional healing processes -- telling Jane to read the material related to him in yesterday's session. What material? It was about letting her nonchalantly imagine what she would be like after she had fully recovered. And this part is meaningful for all people.

I may or may not return, again following the rhythms I spoke of. But know that I am here, and that I can be approached.

He was about to leave, and then Rob quickly said, "May I ask a question?" Seth again said yes. Rob said:

"It's about the consciousnesses in radiation that we talked about earlier today -- the consciousnesses that are so powerful to us, or the consciousnesses in cancer..."

He hadn't finished; he wanted to say, "How can these consciousnesses be so vicious, why do they need to exist?" But before he could finish, Seth interrupted him. Seth said:

All of that material, and similar material, will be discussed in this book, it will all be covered. But you may write these questions down, and when they arise naturally, you may ask me.

That is to say, when I naturally come to discuss these questions, then you may ask me. Don't suddenly throw out a question like this, at a time when it has nothing to do with anything. I have no way of setting it aside for you separately -- just now I was talking about the innate tendencies a person has at birth, and now you're asking me why such vicious ideas exist. At this moment there is completely no way to merge this with what I am currently presenting.

So through these small incidents, you can see that Seth was not someone who simply complied with every request, not someone who responded to every need Rob and Jane had in every respect. Regarding these points -- certain beliefs, certain ideas that arose in them after watching some television program -- Seth very often did not respond. Seth would speak according to his own rhythm, according to the natural flow of the content. But Seth told him: rest assured, these questions will be discussed, but they will be discussed naturally, and he would not abruptly jump out and ask such a question, because this question was completely out of place with the topic we were discussing today.

At 4:30, Jane drank some ginger ale, smoked a cigarette, and said goodbye. Seth said he would discuss those questions in this book. Rob told Jane that the consciousness involved in radiation -- this kind of radiation, the consciousness involved in emission -- and things like cancer, should be fascinating, unique things. Rob had an intuition that they should be fascinating and unique, rather than as evil and vicious as people think. And Rob thought: I must start writing a list of questions, and recently carry it with me in my jacket at all times, so that I don't let them slip away. Rob was being overly cautious here -- he would think, what if I forget later? If you forget, then it was not a topic that should be discussed. And normally, Seth would naturally include these contents in the later material. Whether you bring it up or not, it would be included. But he might present that content, and for Rob, he might not realize that the content was answering his question -- that was a possibility. Actually, Seth understood that these questions would certainly all be covered within it.

After dinner, Rob read to Jane the passage from yesterday's session that Seth had mentioned -- the passage about letting Jane nonchalantly imagine herself fully recovered, ignoring the facts before her eyes and imagining -- that is, the passage from the previous session, the final commentary passage.

That passage -- I hope that if any of you have physical illness, or still have some health problems, you can copy it down and look at it often. For those without illness, without problems, you can take the six points we summarized earlier in this session -- the psychological tendencies, attitudes, or beliefs that Seth told us every person is born with and should carry -- write them down, copy them down. These should accompany us throughout our lives. If we have forgotten them, or if we have been overturned by other beliefs -- these beliefs that we should have been born with -- now overturn it back again, now go find them again.

So regarding the six points above, I hope that if possible, you will write them down, read them once every day, look at them once every morning when you get up. These six points are beliefs that every human being should maintain every day. They should be our core beliefs, our foundational beliefs. Only those beliefs can allow us to bring out each person's potential, realize each person's value fulfillment, achieve our personal value and accomplishments, and at the same time keep your body healthy all along. This is also the meaning of The Way Toward Health -- the hope that you will do this.

Rob was also quite clearly -- because of his comments on the current psychological dogma that "infants are born without any innate drives" -- Seth began discussing those attributes, and Rob was actually deeply bothered by that dogma. Rob did not believe that infants were born with nothing, so Seth's viewpoint happened to echo his own, and he was very excited. He said: "Tonight when I got home, my expectations were all fulfilled." There was a letter from this Wade Cardwell -- they had been worried about why he hadn't replied in two weeks -- and the garage door had also been fixed. Both of these things arrived as expected, just as Rob had anticipated.

Alright, let us first conclude our introduction to this session's content here. Although it was very short, it was extremely important. If in this lifetime you have studied the Seth material and remember nothing else, but can read or look at these six points once every morning -- this one thing alone can keep you from ever falling ill in your life. Therefore, the importance of this session -- I want to single it out separately.

Session on January 28, 1984

Today's portion begins on Saturday, January 28, 1984, at 3:54 p.m. Rob said that when he left the house to go to Room 330, the weather had gotten much cooler, only 29 degrees Fahrenheit. He brought Maude's letter for Jane to read. Jane came back from the hydrotherapy room quite late. Rob asked her what had happened, and Jane said, "You wouldn't want to hear about it. Why so late?" When talking about it, Jane said she sounded as though she were always complaining, but it was all right now. Jane said she had not eaten much at lunch; the hamburger she ordered was overcooked and quite tough. Neither of them had dreams to mention.

Rob read Maude's letter to Jane, as well as the article she had published in the journal Reality Change⁶. Rob said they had to make a response, and they had to figure out how to handle any money received until the hospital and insurance issues were resolved. He planned to call the lawyer Monday morning to ask for advice, and he intended to open a separate bank account for the fund. He also told Jane that he hoped Seth would say a few words, so that Maude could send them to her donors.

By 3:40, Carla and Denise had finished taking Jane's vital signs; her temperature was 97.6 degrees Fahrenheit. Jane said she was ready for the session much earlier than usual. Then Seth came through and said, "Once again I wish you a good afternoon." They said, "Good afternoon, Seth."

Seth then went on to say that for many of you, all this talk about exuberance, health, and vitality may seem quite irrelevant—you may feel it has little to do with you. And yet the opposite is true. The world may seem filled with unhappiness and illness. Seth acknowledged that things do appear to be that way; it does seem that illness and unhappiness are more prevalent. When he tells readers that basically there is no such thing as disease, it may come as a great shock to them—there is no such thing as disease at all. Quite the contrary, what you think of as disease is instead the result of an exaggeration or overextension of a completely normal bodily process.

What this sentence means is that illness is simply a state within a very normal process of the body. Do not treat it as a failure or an accident, or as something that needs to be repaired or corrected. It is just a process. For example, you are not attacked by viruses, because all kinds of viruses normally exist within the body.

This is a very subtle point. Take, for instance, the global COVID pandemic that lasted for three years, so swift and fierce that it brought the global economy to a halt and stalled social development. But where did this virus come from? Was it not originally in the natural world? Was it not in this universe? Was it not even within our own bodies? Then why did it enter our bodies? And why can it no longer cause us greater harm now? Although it seems some people still get infected, everyone now knows that it has become like something that never happened three years ago—an optional state in our lives. We no longer pay attention to it or worry about it. Three years later, the virus seems to have returned to its starting point. So why did it appear so severe and so important during those three years? This is a process. If you treat those three years as a process, you can understand what Seth means in this passage. If we overextend and overinterpret it, if we over-amplify it, we will treat this process as a serious disease, and then it becomes a global plague.

There are no killer viruses. Is there any virus that in itself kills people? You say the novel coronavirus had a high mortality rate in its early stages, at the end of 2019 and the beginning of 2020. Yes, that is what you believe. But why can it no longer kill people now? The same virus—you say it has mutated. These are all interpretations of our science. In essence, does a virus actually kill people? How many years have viruses coexisted with us within our bodies? Their benefits to our bodies are beyond doubt. But under specific premises and conditions, guided by your thoughts, in the process of growth your body undergoes, you may need to experience certain processes. These processes may look as though you have fallen ill, as though you have been attacked by a virus, and so on. But in fact, none of that is true. The virus did not attack you. The virus did not try to kill anyone. The virus only did what a virus itself is supposed to do, and you experienced the process you had to experience.

There will be more to say on this kind of topic later in this book. Seth wished to show you that certain feelings and beliefs do indeed promote health, and some thoughts and ideas promote health; while others promote an unfortunate extension and exaggeration of completely normal bodily processes or viral activity. What does this mean? It means how your beliefs and thoughts interpret a normal bodily process as an unfortunate extension and exaggeration of viral activity. Of course, this also means that you do not become the victim of a disease. This is crucial—there is no perpetrator, and there is no victim. Do not feel that you have been harmed, or that you have been infected with a virus. But for one reason or another, your own feelings, thoughts, and beliefs lead you to seek out illness. That is how it is. Your beliefs, feelings, and thoughts determine all of this.

Let me give an example. In late December 2022, from the 18th all the way to January 1, 2023, we organized a full 21-day in-person course at Xiangshui Bay in Hainan. It happened to coincide with the national policy change on December 7, when the virus prevention and control measures shifted to an open approach. At that time, everyone was getting infected one after another with the Omicron variant of the virus. The actual phenomenon was that during our course in Hainan, many people basically got infected one after another. Some became quite ill, some had very mild symptoms, some got over it in a day or two, some may have only had a fever for one night; some people went back and forth—they got better, then a day later became worse again, perhaps because the virus had not fully cleared; then after two days they got better, and then two days later they became worse again. This was a very interesting phenomenon.

And throughout this entire process, everyone could see that during those 21 days, I was teaching from beginning to end. All around me were friends infected with the virus. They came to me every day to talk and chat, and some even wanted to express their gratitude with hugs and other close contact. Many people reminded me not to get sick, saying that if I got sick there would be no one to teach, and it would affect the progress of the course. But from beginning to end, from the very start of the pandemic to its end, I never got vaccinated, and I never experienced any sensations related to COVID. During those 21 days, I saw how they looked when they were sick. Some friends truly had no fear, but some indeed had not changed their beliefs and were in great pain. We also took some measures to help, such as having staff deliver meals to their rooms every day, and so on.

What do I want to tell you with this example? It is that your beliefs, or your thoughts, really do change your body's reactions and feelings. There is nothing magical or supernatural or miraculous about this control over illness. If you say these things are special or rare, then the underlying essence is still more a result of beliefs and thoughts. We will discuss many more topics about viruses later in this book, and we will talk about them in detail then.

This kind of concept will sound like medical heresy to many readers. If a person has not been studying and experiencing along with us, has not seen and witnessed the changes in themselves and in the friends around them, and just suddenly hears these theories, they will think this is all nonsense. They will say, how can there be no disease in this world? Disease has existed since ancient times—how can there be none? It is normal that they cannot understand or accept it at first. But whether you believe it or not, the more you begin to look at health and illness from this new perspective, the healthier and happier you will become. When you truly look at health and illness with new ideas, your body will become healthier and happier. This is a change you can feel. Let us not first debate or argue with medical experts or scientists on a theoretical or scientific level; there is no point. Would it not be enough for you to simply be healthy and happy? If you win the debate but end up sick, what is the point of winning? If you do not debate, or if you lose the debate, but your body is happy and healthy, what does losing matter? So what I mean is, do not try to convince or influence anyone on this theoretical level. Living healthily and happily is the best evidence and the best explanation. You do not need anything else beyond that as proof.

It is not that you are one thing and disease is another, because your thoughts and emotions are the trigger points that bring about one round of illness after another—this is the trigger. There is no relationship in which you and disease are separate; you are one. In other words, there is no such thing as disease; you and disease itself are also one. It is you who decides when to be sick, or when to have the symptoms of an illness. It is your thoughts and emotions that decide. Wanting to be sick for a while is decided by your thoughts and emotions. This may be different from what most people accept. Do not treat disease or viruses or bacteria as some external objective existence outside your body. They are a part of your body, a manifestation of your emotions and thoughts; they are internal to you. Once you understand this, you can begin to take steps that promote exuberance and vitality, rather than fear, doubt, and illness. You will positively use the innate life force and exuberance that you are inherently endowed with. But if you do not understand this, you do exactly the opposite—you are in fear, because you feel that disease may strike you at any time without your knowing; you are in doubt, doubting that everything around you harbors viruses and bacteria; you even doubt that a certain disease is an objective existence growing inside your body.

You will find that so-called diseases perform certain services. They accomplish purposes for you that you may believe you cannot achieve in any other way. Why do you get sick? It is because you believe or think that only through such a means can you achieve a certain purpose. For example, to get someone's attention, to make someone value you more or love you more; or you want to escape from certain things and want to use illness to escape; or for some special reasons—each person's particular situation is different. In your subconscious or in your conscious mind, you want to achieve a certain purpose through being sick.

The reasons for such illness are not buried deep in the subconscious, as you might think. They are much closer to your conscious mind. We usually think that the underlying causes of illness are deep in our subconscious, beyond the reach of conscious understanding, and that is why we become sick. Seth says no. The thought or idea of your being sick is not in the deep unconscious. On the contrary, it is in your conscious mind—what is the conscious mind? It is a state that straddles our consciousness on one side and our subconscious on the other, in between consciousness and the subconscious. In other words, to put it more bluntly, the thought and idea of your being sick is very closely related to your conscious beliefs, and it is not caused by some underlying reasons deep in the subconscious that have nothing to do with beliefs. It is not something you are born with. No. It is more connected to your belief system, at the level of the conscious mind, closer and easier for us to grasp, feel, or change. But when it reaches the very deep subconscious level, sometimes you are powerless to do anything about it.

And it often includes a series of seemingly harmless decisions that you have often made over many years. This points it out sharply: the thoughts that lead you to make yourself sick are often the result of decisions you made over many years that seemed to have no harm—the little decisions in daily life that ultimately led to your illness. Many people who get cancer do so because they have some unhealthy thoughts—they see everything as unfair, they feel uncomfortable about everything, they cannot always maintain a cheerful and optimistic attitude toward the world or toward their surroundings, and they are always willing to complain about this or that. Some say it out loud, some say it in their hearts, and some do not say it at all; or they suppress themselves for years, not daring to express themselves truthfully. These habits, which seem ordinary and not very harmful, which seem to have no serious consequences, when accumulated over a long period will lead to the occurrence of a serious illness.

Of course, some other illnesses may be acute, coming on suddenly. That is a reaction to a special event in your life, a bodily reaction to that special event. Some people get acute illnesses, not because of long-term incorrect thinking. What is the cause of that? It is a reaction to a special event.

People are taught that their bodies are a battleground, and that they must remain in a state of readiness for war, otherwise they will be invaded by unfamiliar bacteria, viruses, or diseases. This is our human misperception, thinking that the body is a battleground. We now teach our children and students the same thing from a young age—we depict the immune system, white blood cells, T cells, and immune cells as a war defense system. We call it the immune system or the defense system, and that is how we teach it to children. It seems as though we are very clever, using a vivid metaphor to help them understand the body's immune system, but in fact we plant a very unhealthy belief in children's minds: that our bodies are battlegrounds, always ready to deal with external invasions and enemies, always ready to fight them. And this belief is completely wrong. We coexist with viruses, and we coexist with these bacteria as well. They have no intention of harming us. What truly makes us sick is not them; it is our own beliefs and thoughts. It is those seemingly harmless decisions and thoughts accumulated over many years that lead to our illness. These bacteria and viruses have no direct relationship to it. They only show themselves in the way they are supposed to when you need them to. So let us no longer use this viewpoint to indoctrinate children.

Soon we will begin discussing other negative beliefs that cause poor health. But for now, we will focus on the forces that constantly improve our well-being, or the sense of accomplishment, and the innate positive attitudes, feelings, and beliefs. At this point I will quickly tell you which negative beliefs lead to physical unhealthiness, but for now let us first talk about which ones are positive, the ones that can bring you health and a sense of accomplishment.

This is also Seth's consistent attitude, and it is the consistent attitude of our spiritual family when doing what society calls "healing." We do not believe there is such a thing as healing. But the general public widely believes this, feeling that they need to be healed. Yet we know in our hearts that no one in this world needs to be healed. Healing implies that you are sick, that your body or spirit needs to be healed. Such a viewpoint already implies that you need to be healed and helped. But just like our approach, we first give you positive thoughts. We focus on positive things, and we do not concentrate our energy on the phenomena of your so-called illness or on solving those specific problems. We come with a positive intention. When you make decisions for a happy and joyful life, those so-called unhappinesses automatically disappear. In other words, the best way to dispel darkness is not to use something to drive it away or clean it up, or to find the root of the darkness. None of these are the best methods. We all know that the simplest and best way to clear away darkness is to light a lamp, and the darkness immediately vanishes without a trace. The same principle applies to your body, health, and illness. When you light a lamp of positive belief, when you think about and handle problems from a correct angle, those negative things naturally dissolve. You do not need to eliminate them separately, and you certainly do not need to clean them up one by one. That workload is both ineffective and useless, and it reinforces the existence of that darkness. Darkness is only a phenomenon that exists before light arrives; there is nothing worth cleaning up or dealing with. When light comes, darkness naturally ceases to be. It is that simple a principle. Here Seth is also first giving you a spark of light, so that this spark is forever planted in your heart, and at that point those so-called negative beliefs will no longer exist. But later, for the needs of teaching, or for the needs of helping certain people, so that they can see which negative beliefs they carry and then change them, we will discuss which specific negative beliefs lead to which health problems. But this is not our starting point for solving problems.

Then at 4:15, Seth immediately responded to the question they had discussed yesterday—about why the phenomenon of radiation and radioactivity is so powerful, and the part we cannot tolerate, such as the consciousness related to cancer, which we also cannot tolerate most of the time. Rob noticed this and asked Seth to discuss the issue. But Seth continued at 4:26, with a bit of humor, and did not discuss that issue. He said that now there was a reply letter, a letter to be written to those readers who had donated to Maude. Because those readers donated to help Jane. You see how meticulous Seth is—he actually put this first.

I wish to write to you, because of your assistance to Ruburt and Joseph, and I return with such blessings as I can give you. We are presently writing a book called The Way Toward Health, and I hope that the material in that book will personally benefit you in your own way.

Here in the first few sentences he explicitly confirmed the name of the book as The Way Toward Health. Although Jane had already guessed the name of the book, this was the first time Seth explicitly stated that the book was called The Way Toward Health.

And allow you to experience the exuberance, the joyful strength, and the good health that are your original assets.

These are originally yours—the exuberance you were born with, the joy, the sense of strength, and the good health that are inherently yours, all obtainable without effort.

Obviously I do not meet you in physical terms, yet I am indeed aware of the circumstances of your existence and your kind intentions. At this time, on behalf of the three of us, I thank you again for your sincerity, and offer my most heartfelt regards. I will simply sign my name, Seth.

This was a very short letter he wrote to those donors. You must understand that even if we have learned a great deal of spiritual knowledge, even if we are as wise as Seth, he still needs to handle these so-called three-dimensional worldly courtesies and social obligations. When others donated money to Jane, he still had to write a reply letter on her behalf.

I may or may not return, again according to the rhythms I have spoken of. But know that I am here, and approachable.

Then Seth said, "I hope you approve of the connection in my letter." Rob said, "Yes, thank you very much," but inwardly felt that it might be a little too short. Seth said you could add "My dear friend" at the beginning.

By 4:31, Jane said we really did get the name of the book. Rob immediately read back to her the reply letter Seth had just written to the readers, and then also took down Jane's own letter to the donors. Seth's letter had touched Jane, and Jane dictated this letter just as easily as Seth had dictated his own. A few minutes later, Jane dictated this reply to the donors:

Dear friends, thank you for reaching out to help in my time of need. I must admit I am both moved and uneasy—this is my true feeling. Because Rob and I have always been self-sufficient. Until today, it has always been easier for me to give than to receive.

This is Jane's true feeling, but this is also the underlying belief in her that needs to change. Even today she still has not changed—she is more willing to give than to receive the gifts of the universe and nature. She regards the help and gifts from her readers as being helped by others, as though it should not happen, as though she should be self-sufficient. She actually overlooks one point: these readers are also part of the universe, also part of the natural world. Their gifts to you are also another form of the universe's gifts to you. And Jane felt uneasy in her heart. This uneasiness reveals a lack of self-acceptance in her underlying beliefs, an uncertainty about the world, or an inability to accept the essential grace and support of this world toward us. This is her underlying thought.

Now I am learning to accept with grace and gratitude.

Jane also recognized that this was a lesson. Her original English wording may have been less inclined to call it a lesson, but in fact this was indeed a problem Jane faced. Her contact with the people around her and with the whole environment was not that extensive, and this was also an unhealthy underlying belief of hers. Her relationships with people were quite distant or detached. In the early days when she still had the ESP class, there were classes once or twice a week, and she would spend time with the friends there every day, studying together, discussing together, feeling together. But after the ESP class was discontinued, her life was basically isolated from the outside world. This detachment in her relationships with people, from a certain perspective, also represents a detachment in her relationship with the world, or with nature and the environment. This is a hint or a symbol. She was closing herself off more and more. She felt that writing books was a good form of release, a flow of emotional energy, but in fact it was not. This separation from people, from society, and from the environment would lead to some of her later unhealthy phenomena. One of the underlying beliefs was her unwillingness to communicate with more people.

Sick or not, I am truly still full of life.

Whether or not I am sick, I still have life, I still have vitality. She then added, "at least symbolically"—this sentence should not have been added. What she meant was that although her body could not move, her inner self was still full of vitality and life. That is correct. This is what Seth had always wanted her to hold: my body cannot move for the time being, but that does not affect my inner exuberance and vitality, and they will naturally bring me a healed and healthy body. But Jane seemed to emphasize that although she had inner vitality, it was only a symbol—and "symbolic" means it is not real, it is only a surface symbol. In just these few short sentences, you can see that Jane had many entanglements and many stuck points in her underlying beliefs, fully revealed. But she herself did not realize it. She wanted to connect with readers in a self-deprecating or lighthearted way, but the underlying beliefs of this approach exposed some of her negative emotions or negative beliefs.

"Thank you very much, with love, Jane"—this was her new closing.

January 29, 1984

Let us look at the next session, Sunday, January 29, 1984, at 4:18 p.m. Yesterday after Rob left, he went shopping at Eckermann's, got home around 8:30, and had dinner an hour later. He was typing when Carla called at 10 o'clock to help with the phone. This morning Rob wrote a short note to Maude, promising to write more later himself and through the lawyer. Tomorrow morning they will consult with the lawyer about tax and donation matters, as well as what kind of bank account to open for the hospital money.

Jane told Rob that he had to insert a new catheter at 3:30. The procedure went fairly well, although when Rob arrived at Room 330, he was quite uncomfortable -- not from the catheter, but his whole body was uncomfortable. He ate a good lunch, and Rob brought the scraps back to their cats, Billy and Mitzi. Jane lamented that she could not see those lovely little animals.

At 2:35, Jane put on lipstick and briefly looked in the mirror. Since Seth suggested it to her, I think she has not missed a single time. Every time she follows Seth's instructions to put on lipstick, do simple makeup, and look in the mirror. At 2:40 Jane began reading yesterday's session, but found it hard to proceed; her bladder was having some spasms. Finally she set that session aside, smoked a cigarette, while Rob handled the mail. At 2:56 she went back to that session and read a little better, finishing at 3:09. From 3:20 to 3:55, someone named Morty emptied Jane's urine bag, Torres took her blood pressure and pulse, and Carla took her temperature at 98.2. Rob wrote some more letters until Jane said she was ready for the session. The hospital was very quiet today; most of the time they were not disturbed. Jane's Seth voice was somewhat stronger than usual.

Then Seth came through and said:

All elements of life are optimistic.

This is the core idea of this session: all parts of life are optimistic.

Seth gave an example:

The fetus is terrifyingly optimistic. Within himself he carries the entire miniature version of the human adult -- within a single fetal body he carries the miniature version of the entire human adult. He is still just a fetus, yet all the possibilities of all adult human beings are contained within him. He takes it for granted that conditions will be strong enough to allow the entire pattern of normal life to be completed, regardless of any obstacles or adverse conditions.

To put it simply and plainly, what is the state of a fetus inside the mother's body? He is terrifyingly optimistic. Because within his body is contained the entire pattern of the adult human being -- a pattern of life that he must fully live out and manifest after birth. And where does the fetus's optimistic experience lie at this point? He firmly believes that although he has not yet been born and does not know what the external environment is like, he is filled with extreme optimism about that external environment. He believes that this environment will certainly be conducive to the unfolding of his entire life course, beneficial to him. No matter what obstacles and adverse conditions he encounters, it is so.

This expectation of growth and prosperity dwells within every atom, cell, and organ.

This expectation of his -- the expectation of growth and prosperity -- dwells within every cell, every atom, every organ. All parts of life contain this optimistic expectation, and are endowed with the ability to carry out this promise, or pledge, of growing to maturity. To put it simply, your life is meant to unfold completely, and both your external environment and internal conditions fully support it. And you are filled with optimistic expectation about this part -- it is innate.

Unfortunately, later on, through learning knowledge, through social education, and through the transmission of erroneous information by parents, we human beings cause our children to believe that merely living in this world, or being alive in this world, will become a difficult task. This underlying distrust -- the distrust of whether one can live well in this world -- leads to the later life indeed being as difficult and troubled as he expected. We are not born this way; we are born full of optimism about future growth. And somehow we have turned into pessimists. So here he tells us: we are naturally optimistic, and every cell, every part, every atom of us is full of optimism and expectation for the future.

Children spontaneously take it for granted. They know it is a given that their actions will lead to the most favorable circumstances, and that any given situation will have a good final outcome. This attitude also pervades the animal kingdom. It is inscribed in the lives of insects, fish, and birds, and is the command that provides life with its purpose, direction, and impetus. No organism spontaneously expects to find starvation, disappointment, or a harmful environment. Yet even when such environments are encountered, they do not in the least affect the magnificent optimism of life.

Whether human or animal, it is the same: our beautiful expectation for the future is what provides the impetus, the driving force, and the command of our lives. What does "command" mean? It tells us what we should do, and we must firmly believe in its command. Whatever we do, it will bring us the most beneficial result for our life's growth. To put it plainly, everything is the best arrangement, and everything is conducive to the development of your life, no matter what difficulties you may temporarily appear to encounter. Animals are always oriented toward this life force; it is a positive viewpoint, a good expectation. No organism ever expects, "Will I go hungry?" "Do I expect to encounter starvation, illness, and a harmful environment?" They never have such expectations; they are born optimists. But even without such expectations, once they do encounter such difficulties and obstacles, he says you must believe that this is still a normal experience in your life, and its goal and final outcome will certainly be optimistic. This will not affect your magnificent optimism; it should not affect you.

Even if a biological failure occurs, there is no real failure. For example, if a stillborn infant is delivered, biologically this is a complete failure; or a deformed infant, we would consider it a biological failure. Yet the inner consciousness involved does not give up. And even if it ends in death, the consciousness will try again under different conditions.

On the surface, it appears to be a biological failure, but on the level of inner consciousness, it still does not give up. This time the incarnation is a stillborn infant; the consciousness will once again change conditions, incarnate again, and come again. So this does not affect the consciousness's own beautiful expectation for the future. Even if this incarnation is deformed, it will not affect its expectation for a good life and future; it will still live optimistically and face the difficulties and challenges. Reality tells us the same thing: many people born with physical disabilities often live more optimistically, more proactively, and more positively than those so-called healthy people. On the contrary, those without any physical disabilities often are not as positive and optimistic as they are.

In such cases, death is not experienced by the organism as a failure. You consider it a failure, but the organism does not consider it a failure, nor a biological mistake.

You think deformity is a biological mistake, an abnormal occurrence, an erroneous result. But it only feels that this is an experience, a discovery. Death and so-called biological disability, in its view, are both experiences. For example, it can only go this far and can go no further. For instance, if an accident occurs at eight months of pregnancy and the heartbeat stops, requiring induced labor, many people consider this a very tragic biological failure. But the fetus does not feel this is a failure. Some fetuses are born with disabilities, and they also do not feel this is a failure; they feel it is a different experience. But this matter in no way hinders the vitality and strength of the consciousness involved. In its dictionary, the word "failure" does not exist.

Then Seth said:

Once again, you must reread the portion of the session concerning Ruburt's condition, and remind him to accept impatience as a friend, meaning that it will guide him toward the fulfillment of his desires.

Seth told Rob to pay attention and reread the portion of the previous two sessions about Jane's body. He should remind Jane not to have that feeling of impatience, but to treat impatience as a good friend, not to reject it. Do not think, "Why am I so impatient?" and then hate your own impatience, or be impatient with your impatience -- this is not conducive to the body's recovery. This impatience -- the impatience about the slowness or lack of progress in the body's recovery -- is actually an inner driving force that can help fulfill his desires. Seth already said this in the previous two sessions: you want to get better quickly, but the body has not yet recovered as quickly as you wish, because biologically it has its own rhythm. The impatience you display is actually a kind of motivation, a desire, a driving force. Do not be afraid of it, and do not hate it; it is good.

At 4:35, Jane's delivery was very good. Rob told her this session was excellent. Jane drank ginger ale and smoked a cigarette. Jane said, "I really did have feelings while delivering this material. I was wondering whether I could express it in the best way." While delivering, Jane was thinking about how to better express Seth's intent. For example, the idea of the fetus not regarding death as a failure is indeed stunning material, difficult for most people to understand. Jane said that while delivering the material she knew what she was saying, and was also thinking and pondering how to express it in a better way. Rob said they must learn to think in new ways, but they could do it. At that time, for them, this new way would seem far more reasonable than thinking in the old way.

After reading the prayer together, a few minutes before Rob prepared to leave, Jane said she wanted to talk. It turned out she felt more impatient -- she used to be even more impatient than now. Jane wanted to sit up, for example in a reclining chair. It was just that her curled legs would prevent her from assuming any position except lying in bed. She could only maintain that posture lying in bed. She even thought of asking the doctors for help, although she stayed as far away from those doctors as possible -- she said with a half-smile. Jane meant that she even wanted to say to the doctor, "Do surgery on my legs," so that she could sit up. Because her legs were in a very strange curled position, she could not sit up. This pain is truly difficult; a person lying in bed long-term, and in such an uncomfortable position at that.

Rob said he had been waiting for Jane's legs to begin moving, so that she could move more, get out of bed, and sit in a chair or something like that. But since that had not happened yet, there was nothing they could do. Before this, Rob had expected leg movement, but he had to wait.

It was not until Rob got home that he remembered he had forgotten to read that session to Jane. But he remembered that Seth had said, "Make friends with impatience." Although he had not read that session to Jane, Jane remembered that in that session Seth had told her to make friends with impatience. But without a doubt, Jane's impatience was still growing. And if this impatience continued, Rob was certain it would bring about, even force, changes in Jane's behavior and attitude. Rob knew that the changes brought about by this impatience were coming. He hoped that when those changes finally arrived, Jane's body would already be prepared for the changes in daily routine and movement. By then, the effects brought by that negative impatience would be offset, or even not occur. But he also knew that if Jane was not prepared with positive beliefs, the consequences brought by that impatience would also be very serious.

What Rob meant was that Jane seemed unable to get rid of this impatience, unable to change this mindset. Rob said that since she could not change this mindset, he could sense it would bring bad results. But Rob hoped that before the positive beliefs were adjusted, if this impatience accumulated to a certain degree, its impact on Jane would lessen -- because when Jane's positive beliefs about the body's daily functioning were prepared, when her mindset was adjusted, those negative effects would diminish.

So through these small details we can also see that Jane actually encountered many challenges in her physical recovery. Although what Seth said was actually all meant for Jane -- for example, that every part of the body is optimistic -- it was really hoping that Jane could become optimistic, not be defeated by the reality before her eyes, not be anxious and impatient because her body temporarily could not move.

These two sessions make up the third part of Chapter 2.

January 30, 1984, 4:35 p.m.⁷ Rob came in and said that this morning he called the lawyer and obtained the necessary confirmation on several matters, such as the $10,000 tax deduction for the donation. The lawyer agreed with his idea of opening a separate account for the fund checks, and also asked him for copies of the ten amended items to copy into the files. Rob also added a copy of Maude's letter. This morning he worked on the book Dreams, "Evolution," and Value Fulfillment⁸, and quickly typed up a letter to send to the people who donated money to us. He got quite a lot done in the morning.

When he left home for Room 330, the temperature was about 32 degrees Fahrenheit⁹. Jane's room had become very cold; there was no heat. Jane said a staff member had already notified maintenance. She ate a good lunch. Snow was forecast, and it began at 2:30. There was a fairly large snowstorm to the south of us. He hoped the snowstorm would not become too big by dinnertime.

At 3:00, Jane put on lipstick and then briefly looked in the mirror. Rob was handling the mail. A maintenance person came, could not figure out what was wrong with the heat, and went to get his tools. While he was in the room, Jane had to be covered up, but today for a while Rob did not hear Jane complain about this. Sean took Jane's temperature, 98.3, and pulse¹⁰. At 3:55 Jane began reading yesterday's session and did passably well. At 4:05 she was interrupted by Diana, who took her blood pressure, 102 over 64¹¹, quite good. She finished reading five minutes later, doing better at the end. At 4:15, Lynn put eye drops in Jane's eyes.

Ten minutes later Jane began the session, saying that before she started, we were treated to a rather strong and delicious smell of garlic and onions, coming from the basement kitchen through the elevator shaft, across the corridor, and through our door. Food smells often drifted to us in that way.

Short Sessions Help Reinforce the Healing Effects

After Seth came through, he said good afternoon, and then said:

No matter how short a session is, it helps reinforce the healing effects.

Then Seth said:

Inner progress is occurring, progress that has not yet shown itself in actual physical movements, but that is indeed quickly beginning to display itself in easier motions.

Jane's inner changes are taking place, and although they are not visible on the surface, they will show themselves through easier movements. Once again, it is very important that Ruburt understands that his impatience is now a natural mental and physical aspect of the healing process. This point is crucial. Jane used to be impatient with how slowly her body was recovering, and she used to greatly dislike this impatience in herself. Since Seth told her in the previous few sessions about the idea of making friends with impatience, Jane has begun to let go of her prejudice and attachment regarding impatience. Here Seth again emphasizes that this impatience is actually a natural aspect of Jane's body, and it is a very important part of the process, so there is no need to reject it, complain about it, or even become angry about it.

Ruburt's overall improvement has led him to anticipate even greater changes. Of course, this is mixed with a very powerful, surging desire, and the release of that desire is extremely important. What surging desire? It is the surging desire for the body to recover. Because now Jane truly wants to walk normally again, and this desire is extremely strong, and she is willing to give up any fears and doubts that have stood in her way in the past. She has truly made up her mind, and not just made up her mind, she is determined to thoroughly remove all the old beliefs that have blocked her path forward in the past, mainly fear and doubt.

That is why I emphasized a new beginning, because from now on he will structure his life from that standpoint.

He had previously been structuring his life using his remaining old beliefs. Then Seth said here:

I may or may not return, again according to the rhythms I spoke of, but know that I am here and approachable.

This is what Seth says at the end of every session.

At 4:41, Rob said that although this session was very short, he considered it a very important one. Why? Because it was a signal of the beginning of a new kind of life. They took this Seth session as a signal of the beginning of a new life.

Very interestingly, it reminded Rob of something Seth had said many years earlier: when Jane fervently casts off the symptoms, she will succeed. Rob never forgot that concept, that as long as Jane had a strong enough desire to cast off that condition, she could cast it off. I think today's session shows that Jane has reached the peak of that fervent desire, or is very close to it.

Rob also added that their dear friends Bill Peggy and Gallagher came to see Jane quite late last night and brought a bottle of wine, and the three of them proceeded to finish the bottle together. Jane was both surprised and moved. Rob should also add that Sue, one of the nurse's aides they had become familiar with, showed us photos of her two young sons. For many reasons, those lovely children touched me. Partly because of the Seth material, and partly because I think at my age of 65, Rob was already 65 at this point, I am beginning to appreciate more and more the truly creative act of being a parent. Rob told Sue from the bottom of his heart that her children were wonderful, and Jane felt the same way. If someday Seth comments on my own evolving views on parenthood, Rob would be very pleased, because Rob and Jane had no children. At the age of 65, he suddenly felt a fondness for children that he had never had in his younger years.

There is something very interesting here, which is that Rob was touched by those lovely children partly because of the Seth material. This is very interesting. Much of it was because of the children themselves, and some of it was because of the Seth material. Why because of the Seth material? Seth will continue to introduce this topic later.

That afternoon about two or three inches of snow fell. Rob might have to shovel the driveway for a while, but driving home was no problem. This session ended, very short, but it hinted that Jane was about to begin a completely new kind of life.

Rob's Dream: The Red Car and the Family

Monday, January 31, 1984, 4:30 p.m. Jane did not call last night. Jane said Debbie Harris went to see him. Last night, after Rob finished typing yesterday's session, he shoveled snow off the driveway for a long time, because the snow was heavy. It was the first time in a long while, he had not shoveled snow for a long time, and he felt the old panic come back. This was very interesting. At the age of 65, while shoveling snow continuously -- shoveling snow is a very tiring process -- his panic about the old feeling came back, and he felt his body was aging. By the time he got to bed, the panic had already faded, but it left him with a realization of how hard it is to root out old ideas and beliefs. Rob said this old panic and these old ideas are not so easily eradicated.

This morning, he shoveled part of the driveway area and felt much better, no longer having the fear of aging, although a faint feeling in his throat came back for a moment. What was that feeling in his throat? It was that when he shoveled snow, his breathing required a lot of oxygen. Shoveling snow on a cold winter morning, the cold air irritated his throat, giving him a kind of sweet sensation in his throat, and that sensation made him feel as if his body was not quite strong enough, so that old feeling came back for a moment. But he was much better than last night.

Last night Rob had a rather vivid dream, which he described to Jane before today's session began:

I dreamed I bought a new red sedan that looked like a sports car at a car dealer's. The dealer was not friendly or likable, younger than me, and he often cursed. I believe I reproached him once or twice. After picking out the car I wanted, I left to get the money, and when I came back, I saw a family of five, parents and three children, sitting in the car ready to drive off. The obnoxious dealer told me he was going to sell it to that family, and had left an identical green car for me. I was really angry at him and reproached him in plain words. I believe I threatened to sue him if I did not get the car he had promised me. I got the car, and I saw the family with the children standing to one side, waiting quietly, wearing hats, coats, and so on. They seemed like pleasant ordinary people. I got into my red car, and the dream ended.

Rob skipped lunch because Lin had arranged a surprise birthday party for a nurse and invited him to share the food. He arrived at Room 330 at 12:40, but the menu still did not come until 1:30. The food was very tasty, and Jane and Rob shared it, though the strawberry cake was unbelievably sweet and rich. When Rob walked into Room 330, Jane was singing softly to herself. Jane asked Rob to turn him over right away, because after coming back from hydrotherapy earlier, he had been lying on his side since 10:30. He said he had a whole batch of old songs he could sing to himself, not Sumari -- Sumari was another kind he sang -- but old standard songs, and he knew many of the tunes but rarely knew the words or the names. He ate a good lunch, and so did Rob. Jane gave Rob a bag of unshelled peanuts to take home for the squirrels.

At 2:30, Jane smoked a cigarette, and by 3:00 he began reading yesterday's session, pausing a few times, and did fairly well. Rob was handling correspondence, while Jane finished at 3:14. Rob told him that yesterday he had received a box of 64 letters from the publisher, letters from readers. At 3:55, after smoking another cigarette, Jane read the January 29 session once more, and this time did much better than he had earlier today, finishing smoothly at 4:13.

As they were talking, Rob suddenly began to understand last night's dream. The car represented the psyche he had traveled through, and the red car represented his psyche. The family represented mainstream America and everyday beliefs, which Rob rejected. Rob rejected the mainstream values of ordinary America. By demanding the red car I wanted, I insisted on going my own way, and going my own way in my own manner -- driving a red car at his age was certainly not a go-along-with-the-crowd act, and it showed his independence. The dealer was probably himself, voicing his own doubts and conflicts about society. Because the dealer did not want to sell the red car to the Rob in the dream, it actually represented the dealer's non-acceptance of this independent way that did not conform to mainstream social values. So Rob said the dealer was actually a symbol and embodiment of himself, because of his own acceptance of mainstream society, and his non-acceptance of the idea of an old man driving a red car.

Jane thought Rob was right. Incidentally, in recent months he seemed to have had much better results interpreting his own dreams, and now he made intuitive connections, whereas in the years before he seemed unable to see through his own dreams. But in recent months he suddenly had intuition and inspiration, and his dream interpretation was entirely intuitive.

Seth's voice was very good, the same as yesterday. For some mysterious reason, the heat in Room 330 was working again, because Jane said no one had come to check on it yesterday, and no one had come to check on it today either, and yesterday the maintenance man had not been able to get the heat working again. The window was open a full foot, but the room was still very hot. The heat had miraculously fixed itself, so no one knew why.

Innate Optimism and Biological Trust

Then Seth came through and said:

Now I wish you both a good afternoon again.

He said, a brief dictation. He said:

This optimism is also reflected in many other areas of life.

In the previous few sessions he had talked about optimism being the keynote of our lives, our underlying tone, and that it is reflected in every aspect of life. He went on to say that the same holds true in other areas as well, and here he gave several examples:

Many birds display a startling optimism in their marvelous migrations.

Birds possess an astonishing optimism, traveling thousands of miles to distant shores, in fact almost literally flying on faith, ignoring all dangers, untroubled by doubt, without hesitation, simply flying steadily onward. Birds fly thousands of miles relying on faith alone. They ignore all difficulties, they do not even think about them, they simply fly steadily onward. Along the way they will encounter changes in weather; they do not know what the future holds, whether there will be a blizzard tomorrow, nor do they worry about the dangers along the route. If you are interested in bird migration and flight, there is a film called Spread Your Wings¹², a French film, exceptionally good. I hope that families with children will have the parents take their children to see this film. We already watched it together with everyone in our film Shang Xi.

The bird does not question whether the weather is favorable, whether the wind is with it or against it; it simply flies toward its destination. Even if some birds do fall or die, this in no way hinders or overturns the faith of the others.

This is the greatest faith. He is pointing out that this optimism manifests in concrete migratory action as this kind of behavior. When we do many things, it is the same: do we let our faith be shaken because we encounter obstacles? Do we let our faith be shaken because we meet with difficulties? What kind of attitude do we hold toward faith? Including when our traveling companions fall behind, when our traveling companions encounter difficulties, can we remain unaffected and firmly hold to our faith that the mission must be accomplished? This is something all of us who do things in real life should consider. And this optimism ignores the difficulties and facts right in front of it. In the process of building our spiritual home, we too will encounter many difficulties, setbacks, and challenges, but we never waver in our faith. Together with hundreds and even thousands of co-builders around the world, we witness this entire process of building the spiritual home. This process will certainly not be smooth sailing; it will definitely encounter all kinds of opportunities and challenges, and we treat all of these as especially abundant gifts for our growth. Because every challenge, every difficulty, can promote our growth. Any difficulty that cannot defeat us will surely help us grow. So this point is emphasized again here. And this kind of optimism, this persistence and affirmation of faith and purpose, comes from within; it is an expression of the optimism that every living being is born with, an incurable optimism, optimistic no matter what.

Then he went on to say:

The monarch butterfly is a particularly large butterfly.

You can see, it is probably the largest butterfly in the world, exceptionally beautiful. In their remarkable migration—a butterfly migrating, just think about it, such fragile wings, even though it is relatively large among butterflies, it is still very weak—it has to fly such a long migration, I do not know exactly how far, you can look it up. The migration distance of this butterfly is also very long, hundreds to over a thousand kilometers. It often flies to places it has never seen before, and yet it arrives at its destination. It has never been there, but it can fly there, without knowing how it manages to fly there. In all such examples, there are very many, there is an innate biological faith.

If you have seen the great migration of wildebeests in Africa, they often have to cross rivers¹³, and in these rivers there are many crocodiles waiting there, specifically to eat the wildebeests crossing the river. There is a documentary filmed exceptionally well, a documentary on the great African wildebeest migration¹⁴. When the wildebeests cross the river, which wildebeest gives them this faith? They can see the crocodiles, they can sense the smell of death in the water—not the fear of the river water, but the fact that in the river water there are many crocodiles waiting for them, just waiting for them to jump into the water. But in the end these wildebeests still overcome their fear; they still charge across the river like a troop of warriors, fearless, rushing across this river. Although many wildebeests will be eaten by crocodiles, swallowed by crocodiles, the falling of their companions does not hinder the entire herd from crossing this rushing river in unison, charging toward the opposite bank. This is a scene from another documentary. I hope that if you are interested in the animal world and animal migrations, you can see many, many such examples, including the return migration of fish, including the salmon in Canada swimming upstream from the ocean into freshwater rivers, swimming upstream the whole way—you can see many, many spectacular scenes, red fish in wave after wave.

There are very, very many such examples, all of them an innate biological faith, and we humans have it too. In ancient times, humans migrated from one place to another, whether in ancient times or in modern times, we all have it. The most typical example is the story we all know so well, Xuanzang's journey to the west to obtain the scriptures¹⁵. One man, under the premise that the state did not permit leaving the country, smuggled himself across the border, facing a vast and unknown future, not knowing what the road ahead would be like. How could he, facing language barriers, no resources, and not knowing the purpose and direction, manage to fulfill his wish of ultimately bringing the true scriptures back to the great Tang in the east? He was full of faith, without the slightest doubt. That is the innate courage and vitality, that biological optimism, and it works the same way in humans.

It activates the necessary physical responses, and only when that optimism is severely interfered with does the bodily mechanism go wrong.

Remember here one of the reasons our bodies become ill: we have an innate optimism, but when this optimism is interfered with by your beliefs or by your own interference, when this innate optimism cannot arise, then your body goes wrong. As long as this faith and optimism remain, your body will not go wrong.

Even then, however, all creatures are upheld by that inborn gift.

That inner sense of safety not only propels creatures toward life, but also safely directs them through physical life and through the doorway of death. Not only while you are alive can it let you live healthily and well; when you face death, this kind of optimism and faith can also help you pass through that threshold you fear so much.

Then Seth said:

You did very well with your own interpretation of your dream.

He said to Rob:

Your faith is not diminished by the conventional beliefs that pervade your society.

Seth affirmed that Rob's interpretation of his own dream was quite correct.

Then Rob said, thank you, Seth. 4:43 p.m. As I read this session to Jane, I said I had forgotten to ask Seth to comment on my feelings these days about parenthood—that is, the feeling of the responsibility of being a parent—especially what I had felt yesterday when I saw the photograph of the child of Sue, his nurse's aide. Then I told him about the article I had clipped from Science News¹⁶, about the ability of animals, birds, and bees to carry maps of their territories in their heads, which was very interesting. I also remembered reading an article not long ago about the migration of monarch butterflies, but I doubted I could easily find it.

During the prayer period, as Rob was preparing to leave, Jane and Rob talked about the movements of his legs and so on. Jane then said that she had received something from Seth, meaning that every day we should live as free of worry as possible, and let the future take care of itself. Here, Rob may not have quoted him completely or correctly, because Rob did not write down what Jane told him. After Jane read this session, if necessary, she could add some material, and Rob would put it into yesterday's session. Rob was curious about what he had said. That is, every day we should live as free of worry as possible, and let the future take care of itself. He felt that there might be a more precise way of expressing this, but this very colloquial way of saying it is actually also very easy for us to understand.

The Way Toward Health Is Extremely Easy

Wednesday, February 1, 1984, 4:10 p.m. session. Jane did not call last night. When Rob got up, the temperature was only 42 degrees. He ate the neighbor's breakfast, put the trash can outside for the cats so the garbage company could pick it up, and gave dry cat food to the two dogs -- Crushy and the black dog -- both of which belonged to the neighbor.

When Rob arrived at Room 330, Jane asked Rob to help him turn over right away, because he had been lying on his side since coming back from hydrotherapy at 11 o'clock. Rob was late because he had stopped at the post office for a while. Jane was lying on his side, very frightened. He lay there with pain in his side, afraid something serious was wrong. But when Rob let him lie on his back, he began to feel better, and thought the pain might just be gas. However, his mood lasted until after lunch, which, by the way, he ate very little of. When Rob asked him if he was up to his old tricks again, Jane said, I know what I am doing, but that does not mean I cannot mess around once in a while. This is quite interesting -- just being willful for a bit, not eating, not eating properly.

At 2:45, Jane put on lipstick and quickly looked in the mirror. Afterward, while he smoked a cigarette and Rob handled the mail, he remained very quiet. At 3:30, he began reading yesterday's session, which was doing pretty well considering his mood. He was interrupted by Carla taking his temperature: 98.3. After finishing the session at 4 o'clock, Jane told Rob that he had also been very depressed last night, and this morning he was really frightened by the pain in his side, imagining all sorts of things. Thinking of his own panicked reaction yesterday while Rob was shoveling snow, Rob could not say much either, but Rob did say that they had slipped back into their old ways of handling things. Their beliefs had returned to the past, and they began to have fears about old age and the body. And at this time the two of them had an inexplicable psychological simultaneity: Rob was having fears about old age, while Jane was frightened by the pain in the morning, and at night he was also very depressed.

Now Jane corrected the sentence received from Seth last night when he was leaving -- the sentence recalled from the official career. Jane said the sentence should be like this:

The way toward health is extremely easy. You may make plans for the future, but do not worry about the future. Live each day. I quote him here, not only because it is very good advice, but also because it triggered the opening of today's session.

This sentence actually explains what many people ask: do I still need to make plans for the future? Of course you need to make plans for the future. There is no problem with making plans for the future, but do not worry about the results of the plans. Live each day. It is not that once we have studied this Seth material we do nothing at all, living every day in this so-called going-with-the-flow manner of idleness. That is not a correct attitude. Seth has always encouraged us to rise up and challenge, never to be content with mediocrity. There is no contradiction in this. Many people regard it as a pair of contradictions, but it is not. Here Seth again explains this sentence: have plans, but do not worry about the plans. Live each day well, and live every day without worry or anxiety.

Seth came through and said:

Once again, good afternoon to you both.

After a pause of some length, Seth continued with the sentence Jane had said to Rob before the previous session began. He went on to say:

The way toward health is extremely easy.

This sentence served as a summary:

It is the natural, easiest way to do things. Yet this natural mental behavior is often difficult for the intellect to understand, because the intellect tends to prefer complexity, play, and problem-solving.

The way toward health is the simplest, easiest thing to do. It is not complicated. It is especially simple, and anyone can do it. But because it is too simple, this natural mental behavior cannot be understood through the intellect. And the biggest problem for us humans is that when the intellect cannot understand something, we do not believe it. We cannot even convince ourselves, and we cannot even generate firm confidence. We always want to work it out logically, but precisely this part cannot be worked out. Because it cannot be worked out, because it cannot be understood through the intellect, many people remain skeptical and distrustful of this matter. They will surely say: if you have the ability, explain it clearly; if you have the ability, explain it to me; if you have the ability, convince me. Sorry, no one has that ability. I do not have that ability, Seth does not have that ability, no one has that ability. If you believe it, you believe it; if you do not believe it, you do not believe it. There is no way around it. If you believe it, you live one kind of life; if you do not believe it, you live another kind of life. These two kinds of life are entirely your choice.

So to the intellect, it seems ridiculous to imagine that the answer to a problem lies within the problem itself.

From the perspective of intuition and inspiration, when you ask a question, the answer is already contained within it. But from the perspective of logic, from the perspective of the intellect, this sentence is very naive and laughable: I ask a question precisely because I do not know the answer, so I ask. Now you are telling me the answer is inside the question -- are you not just playing with me? If the answer were inside the question, why would I ask any question at all? This is a very laughable sentence. But today, when artificial intelligence -- ChatGPT released its new version 4.0 yesterday or the day before¹⁷, including 3.5 -- when artificial intelligence comes rushing at us, our understanding of this sentence has advanced another step. Under the powerful computational engine of artificial intelligence, we really do not need to know the answers to questions. We only need to know how to ask good questions. In other words, as long as you ask the question, you will definitely get an answer. Using this kind of artificial intelligence engine invented by humans, we have from another angle unlocked or verified that this sentence can also be proven from the perspective of the intellect. Previously this sentence was very hard to prove; it could only be explained to everyone from the spiritual angle. But artificial intelligence has solved this problem. You do not need to know the answer; you only need to know how to ask the question. The engine of artificial intelligence is extremely powerful, and it will give you a very comprehensive and objective answer. If you have not tried it, you can go and try it.

All of nature displays an almost miraculous simplicity.

The most miraculous thing is that it is too simple. This magical approach, this way toward health, is too simple. For example, plants, animals, and all aspects of life are taken utterly for granted. All aspects of life are taken for granted. Look at all things in the world: their reproduction and their living are all very simple and effortless. They do not need to expend great effort. Everything is completely natural. Whether animal or plant, the blossoming and growth of life force is a natural thing, and nothing needs to be done.

The sun will shine, and the rain will fall, in the way most helpful to all living things. Nature helps them.

Animals obviously do not worry about tomorrow's weather conditions. Since they do not plant seeds or gather harvests, perhaps they really do not need to know tomorrow's weather.

Seth made a joke, saying animals do not need to know the weather because they do not plant crops and they do not harvest crops, so they do not worry about the weather. But then he turned it around, saying that even though humans plant crops, even though humans harvest crops, perhaps you really do not need to know tomorrow's weather. What he means is that nature will give you the best arrangement, so do not worry about these things. But in reality it is not like that. Our worry about the weather is very serious. Many people I know watch it every day without fail -- now it may be a bit better, with all kinds of tools available, but before, when there were none -- the thing they watched every day without fail was the national weather forecast after the 7:30 evening news¹⁸. Every day they sat there waiting, not missing a second, just to catch a glimpse of the weather forecast. You could say that many people who pay close attention to the weather forecast are precisely those who do not go out. They do not need to go out to work, and they do not need to do outdoor or outside work, but they pay special attention to the weather forecast. Meanwhile, those workers who truly work outside all year round, doing outdoor work, are not that attached to the weather forecast. Of course, out of work necessity, they do have equipment and devices that notify them when extreme weather changes occur. But apart from that, what I have seen is that they really do not care about the weather, they do not mind it. They are very natural about it -- whatever the weather is, it is what it is. And those people who never sweep outdoors, who when they go outside carry an umbrella, put on sunscreen, and wear UV-protective jackets -- these people pay attention to the weather every day. You do not even go out, so why are you paying attention to the weather? It is quite interesting.

Making plans for the future is completely fine. However, each individual should live day by day, focusing only on the present, without worrying about the results of those plans.

We should make plans, but we should not worry too much about the final results. We should enjoy the present life day by day. The body can only respond in the present moment. Worrying about future events, or constantly thinking about unfavorable past conditions, only confuses the body's mechanisms and overturns their precise activity in the present. What this means is that your body only responds to the present environment, but you insist on bringing possible, imagined dangers of the future into the present, making your body respond to fears of the future, and then you also make your body respond to the sufferings or pains it has experienced in the past. Your body becomes confused. Because your body is designed to respond only to present things, yet you insist on making it respond to fears of the past and the future -- two things it can neither change nor influence -- so the body becomes confused. The result of the body's confusion is that you begin to enter the potential influence of an unhealthy state. Accumulated day after day, this careless behavior will ultimately lead to your body developing some kind of unhealthy restrictive state.

Again, I am not saying that anyone should pretend that unfavorable conditions do not sometimes exist, or that they will not be encountered in the past, present, or future. However, it is also true that favorable events occur with far greater frequency than negative ones. Otherwise, the world as you know it would not exist at all. It would have long ago disappeared in the painful struggles of destruction or disaster.

This sentence means: I am not telling you to be like Ah Q, not telling you to be like an ostrich with your head buried in the sand, not thinking about the future or ignoring these difficulties or disadvantages, pretending not to see them -- no difficulties, no problems, everything is the best arrangement -- it is not like that. It is about seeing these things, but still believing that better things will happen. What is happening now has happened, but that does not mean there will not be better things happening in the future. Seth repeatedly emphasizes this point: do not worry, but that does not mean pretending to be blind to the difficulties in front of you. The existence of difficulties is objective; it is the fact before our eyes. Your body will respond to it, but what you need to do is firmly believe that there will be better things in the future. The probability of good things happening is far, far greater than that of bad things. That is the mainstream.

To contemplate a dire future in a basic way is contrary to the purpose of nature, because all of nature cooperates under the premise that the future is guaranteed.

Thinking about the future is completely contrary to the way of nature. Contemplating a dire future is a particularly laughable behavior. We all know the idiom "the man of Qi who worried that the sky would fall"¹⁹. How many of us modern people are doing exactly what that man of Qi did? Seth brings this up again, but what is the inner reason he gives us? It is because the future is cooperated with under the premise of being guaranteed. All things in the universe cooperate. Cooperate toward what? Toward a guarantee about the future. It is as if the universe and nature have promised us an optimistic result for the future, and this is guaranteed. The more you believe this, the more beautiful your future will be.

Everywhere in nature there is promise. Not just the promise of survival, but the promise of beauty and achievement.

This passage is especially beautiful. It is not just letting you survive; there is also beauty and achievement. For example, the simplest example: in the documentary The Amazing Earth²⁰, the oxygen in our atmosphere has always been maintained at 20.95%²¹ -- not a bit more, not a bit less. Too much oxygen would cause spontaneous combustion of forest fires, because when the oxygen content in a gas is too high, it will combust automatically. If an excessively high oxygen content caused an excessively high frequency of spontaneous combustion, the earth would be filled with forest fires everywhere. If the oxygen concentration were too low, humans would feel uncomfortable, below the point required by human needs. So this 20.95% oxygen content is precisely maintained at such a ratio, and human scientists cannot figure out no matter how hard they try: how exactly is this done? This concentration is neither too high nor too low, precise to two decimal places. If you look at it from the perspective of nature's promise, you can understand it. Including many, many other things -- if you have watched the documentary The Amazing Earth²² -- we once led everyone through reading or interpreting this documentary -- you can understand how miraculous this world is. That we humans live on this blue earth is such a miraculous thing, with a probability lower than winning the lottery ten times in a row. Yet all this miraculousness has happened just like that. We can only sigh that this is nature's promise, this is nature's grace, this is nature's protection. Otherwise, our world could not possibly exist. If you firmly believe this, then what is there left to worry about regarding the future?

Again, that deep sense of promise is innately present in every part of the body.

You do not need to cultivate it after birth. You only need to remove those unnecessary fears and worries, and then you will be able to feel this sense of promise.

It activates the genes and chromosomes to carry out their proper activities, and promotes feelings of optimism, exuberance, and strength.

In every part of your body, this innate promise of nature's cooperation with humanity and the future, this optimistic promise for the future, can be perceived by every part of your body. Even your chromosomes and your genes can feel it. They will together carry out proper activities, and then jointly promote a feeling of optimism, exuberance, and strength arising within you. All of this happens completely naturally. Many people who have studied the Seth material with us will generate a very strong sense of power within themselves. Many of the friends who have participated in our offline classes -- you can see their sharing -- without exception they have found that inner sense of strength. They have become more confident, more joyful, and more powerful. And all of this happens so naturally and simply.

Again, before long we will discuss the conditions that overturn this beautiful and creative state.

That is, when a person is unhealthy, how did you overturn this beautiful creativity, and then your body begins to enter an unhealthy state, and you are deviating from the way toward health. This is also Seth explaining it to us from the negative side, but not now. Seth's approach is to first implant a positive belief in you, and then discuss which of your negative beliefs will cause these built-in things in your body -- these things that can automatically restore your body to health -- to go wrong.

In the meantime, however, live each day as fully and joyfully as possible, imagining the best possible results of any plans or proposals.

The most important thing is not to focus on unfavorable events in the past or the future. Whether past or future, do not give too much attention to those bad events. Only focus on the good things, only focus on how to live each day as fully and joyfully as possible. This is the state of mind we should maintain.

Trusting the Body's Wisdom

Then Seth commented again:

Your own slight panic and Ruburt's depression and fear are both the participants of old habits. As you both understand, you can and must trust the body's activity, which naturally seeks satisfaction, vitality, and the fullest possible expression.

This statement is very firm. For us it is especially simple: just believe in yourself, believe in your body, completely entrust yourself to your body's consciousness, let it take care of itself, completely trust it, and no matter what happens to it, you just experience and feel it. Never worry about its symptoms and conditions. You have to trust that some of them are things it must necessarily go through, some are things it needs to experience, some are a process of the body, and you have no need to amplify, intensify, or fear these bodily feelings and experiences. They are just feelings, just experiences. You only need to trust that the body can take care of itself. Just holding to this one point is enough.

Then he continued:

A most important observation. Ruburt had a dream with an excellent meaning. In it, he saw a lovely old house with beautiful woodwork and spacious rooms, and decided to move into that house. Even though it was in an area that had previously been almost abandoned.

He pointed out that Ruburt had indeed risen from the beliefs he had renounced into a larger and more spacious area of expression. Then Rob said, Jane hadn't told me about this dream last night. You see, Jane hadn't mentioned it, yet Seth already knew what dream Jane had had the day before. In the dream, Jane found an old house in a deserted place, surrounded by ruins, and it was a very beautiful old house with lovely woodwork and spacious rooms, and Jane decided to move in. What does that mean? It means that from such an abandoned, renounced environment, Jane once again had the feeling of a home to live in, the concept of living there for a long time. That is to say, Jane had already abandoned her old underlying belief that she had no hope for her future life. You can see from this dream that no matter what Jane said outwardly, in her heart she had actually already given up on the future. In Seth's words, she had "renounced" it: she did not believe she could walk out of the hospital, she did not believe her body could recover, she did not believe she could live like a normal person. That was her underlying belief. And why did Seth bring up this dream on his own initiative when Jane had not mentioned it? Seth wanted to use this dream to strengthen Jane's surface belief: you can already stand upon the ruins of your old beliefs, establish a brand-new belief, and begin a completely new life. Even if this new belief, like this house, is built upon a field of ruins, it is still a beautiful house, and you do not care at all whether it is built upon ruins.

Rob noted that when Jane had this dream, he had read an article in the Star-Gazette²³ saying that the houses near downtown Elmira, including the apartment at 458 West Water Street where they had once lived, had been designated by New York State as a historic preservation district²⁴. Rob had meant to keep the article but forgot. I think that area was a square district bounded by Water Street, Warner Street, West Second Street, and Church Street, extending back toward downtown. Rob said that when Jane had this dream about the old house, he saw a news report saying that the area where they had lived, that old house, had been designated by New York State as a historic preservation district. So even today, if you follow this address to the city of Elmira and find 458 West Water Street, you can still see that apartment building standing there. That was the place where Jane and Rob once lived, about sixty years ago. That apartment, I do not know whether it still, whether that place has become a museum or something. When I go back to the United States I will go take a look at that place. We will go visit it in person and see what kind of environment it is now. Yes, that was the place where Jane and Rob once lived.

Seth said:

I may or may not return, again according to those rhythms I spoke of, but know that I am here and approachable.

Thank you again, 4:35. Then Rob said, would you like to say something about my recent feelings about parenthood? That is, Rob said, could you comment on why I have recently been so fond of children, why I keep having a parental feeling? Seth said:

Let us take a break.

Then Jane drank some juice and soda and took a few puffs of a cigarette. Jane said that if you had not asked, he would also have said something about your parenthood issue. Rob said how strange, no one had come to take his blood pressure and pulse yet, and if they did not, it was no big deal. 4:40, they continued, and no one interrupted them.

Parents of the Psyche

Then Seth talks about why Rob has the feelings of a father. Seth says:

If you examine your general feelings about this fatherly feeling of yours, you will see that they bear a striking resemblance to the feelings you hold toward your painting, and toward the work we are currently doing, that is, the feelings you hold toward the transmission of the Seth material.

When Rob sees other people's children, he gets a feeling of being a father, that tenderness and fondness, and that feeling is very similar to his work in painting and to the Seth material that is being transmitted. It is just that the focal points are different: one is toward a child, one is toward a painting, and one is toward the Seth material being transmitted.

You two are indeed the parents of an amazing body of work, and in a certain sense, you are the parents of a work. You have not given birth to children, but you have given birth to many works, and you are the parents of the psyches of countless people across all different ages.

Here Seth directly perceives the influence this Seth material will have on later generations, including its far-reaching impact on the future development of human civilization. He says here that you are the parents of the psyches of countless people across different ages, and this statement is very apt. The Seth material is like a parent to the psyches of many people; it has nurtured one new psyche after another.

You have, however, set aside the idea of a traditional family.

That is, you did not think about forming a traditional family with children, as symbolized by your car dream the other night -- that car dream, an American family, three children, five people, a typical American family, a traditional family. And you cast aside, you set aside this traditional family, and you went on to produce many works that will be passed down through the ages, and these are also your children. You actually exchanged one kind of family for another kind of family, replacing the family that gives birth to children with the family that gives birth to works.

But that also involves the same kind of parenthood.

Parenthood, this word refers to the experience of being a parent, the feeling and experience of what in English is called parents.

It is, however, a parenthood of the psyche rather than of the physical.

You are parents of the psyche, not parents of the physical.

The letters you receive are often like letters that children write to their parents.

This statement from Seth is truly very moving. He says you published books, you have comforted the psyches of countless people, and the letters these readers write to you are like letters that children write to their parents after they have grown up.

Then Jane said, hmm, I guessed that was the case. Jane paused for a moment and said, that is, the Seth material has been transmitted, all right, thank you. At 4:45, Rob read this session to Jane, and Rob told her that this session was truly so wonderful -- especially this last passage. Rob said he would make a copy and put it in his writing room, and at 6:55 he read it to Jane once more. You can see how excited he was; he read it to Jane twice in a row. Ever since the session ended, he had been thinking about this content.

Rob said, we must follow Seth, we absolutely must let go of everything and trust our bodies, nothing else has meaning anymore, this is the key to our future. It is like the saying we often use: rather than predict the future, it is better to create the future. Rather than worry about the future of your body, you might as well start creating a healthy body from now on. Of course, Jane agreed with his view, and he said that tomorrow he would begin the first day of a completely new life, and from that day onward, trust his own body, not dwell in the past, and keep an open attitude toward the future. Rob told him that this is easy, but we must be consistent and never forget it again -- they had forgotten it before. Well, an occasional slip does not matter, but our success depends in part on always keeping this simple goal in mind and before our eyes. What they meant was, if you want to succeed, there is only one way, and that is to do well the simple goals and simple things Seth just mentioned, keep them before your eyes, remind yourself every day and every moment, and practice according to Seth's suggestions. This was the only thing they could put into practice at present, this was their only way, and this was a resolution the two of them made.

So, although these recent sessions have all been very short, they have been very powerful. They directly inspired Jane and Rob's confidence in their future life, and also made them resolve firmly to make a clean break with the old beliefs of the past. The two of them had made sufficient resolution.

Rob said that tonight Jane, with Carla's help, would call at 9:45, and it was extremely cold outside, but none of that mattered anymore.

Regarding this part of the content, I think it may deeply touch some people. I hope you will copy down what Seth said -- although it is all very short -- truly comprehend the profound meaning behind these words, and truly take them as the principles by which you live and practice them, rather than treating them as some kind of famous quote or chicken soup for the soul that you just leave sitting there. You must truly believe it, just as you believe in your own life; you must truly believe it, just as you believe the sun will rise from the east every day as usual. If you can do this, you will begin a completely different life. If you currently have any health problems, and if you follow this method, you will obtain magical and inconceivable results.

Chapter 2, Part 5 of The Way Toward Health begins on Thursday, February 2, 1984, at 4:02 p.m. Jane reminded us that this was the first day -- this statement is very crucial. Yesterday Jane made a resolution that from the next day she would live a new life, make a break with the past, and begin a completely new life with completely new beliefs. This was Jane's decision, and this decision, made while she was so seriously ill, was extremely important to her recovery.

There is a lot to say about this point. For example, when we studied Liao Fan's Four Lessons, on the first day Yuan Liaofan changed his fate, under the instruction of Master Yungu²⁵, he gradually came to understand that the reason he had his current state of life was caused by his underlying beliefs. He also reflected on those beliefs -- why he should not have a son, why he would not become a high official, and so on -- and he made deep reflections, recognizing that his old beliefs had led to his old life. If he wanted to change his fate, the first thing he had to do was make a clean break with the old things. This is also what I want to tell everyone today: whether you are in an extremely difficult physical condition, or your life, relationships, or existence is in extreme difficulty, when you want to change all of this, when you use this Seth material and these ideas, you must make a very clear action -- make a clean break with your past, cut it off.

What Liaofan said at the time was: from now on I am a completely new person, I have changed my name, previously I was called Xuehai, now I am called Liaofan²⁶. He even changed his name to show his determination. What he wanted to say was: the old me has already died, and from now on a completely new me begins life with a new name. This "completely new" refers to the renewal of his belief system; only by living with a completely new belief system can new reality or change be brought about.

This point is extremely important for all of us readers. Many of us have studied a lot of material, a lot of knowledge, including some methods and tools, but in life they often do not work. One of the fundamental reasons is this: he is unwilling, reluctant, or afraid to make a cut and a break with his past self. If this action is not taken, and you want to change on the original foundation, it is very difficult. Because that past self will constantly pull at you, dragging you back to your previous state. You have already lived in that previous state for decades, and there is very strong inertia -- inertia of thought, inertia of behavioral patterns, inertia of emotion, inertia of dependence, all of this inertia exists. If you do not make a cut, it will automatically pull you back to the past. Then you do some internal-consuming work, fighting against a force that you do not need to expend energy against at all -- that is, the old self of the past.

If you want to begin a new life, this action is necessary. You must tell yourself: I am going to begin a completely new life, the me of the past is already completely different from me, I have made the cut. To put it more bluntly and harshly: I have buried the me of the past. No matter what achievements he made, no matter what kind of life he has brought me to today, no matter what merits he has, no matter what aspects are worth learning from and relying on, we must do a thorough clearing and cutting. At this time, you set out with a light and completely new belief system, and your new life will unfold more easily and lightly. Otherwise you will be pulled back and forth for a long time, and there is a high probability that you will be pulled back by him, rather than you transforming the old you into a new you. Because that old you -- that little self, that ego -- knows you better than you do, he knows how to deal with you, knows how to maneuver around you, knows how to pull you back step by step. This change you want to make, from the perspective of that old self, is equivalent to abandoning it, throwing it away, and even, from a certain angle, killing that old self. That old self will not give up easily; he is a living self-consciousness, he will protect himself, and will use all kinds of methods -- detours, disguises, pretending to agree, humility, temptation -- to escape your strangling of him. In fact, you do want to strangle him, because you are dissatisfied with your past life, you want to begin a new life, and live with a completely new self. And that old self will not easily give up.

So I just said a little more about this. I hope everyone has this awareness: if you want to begin a new life, you must have the courage to cut yourself off from the past, otherwise the difficulty will increase greatly, and it will be unnecessary internal consumption.

Rob's Account and Two Questions

Jane was fine, and again returned from hydrotherapy at 11 o'clock. Rob recorded: When I got up this morning, the temperature was only 37 degrees Fahrenheit; by the time I left home for Room 330 it had risen to 57 degrees, already quite warm. Yesterday I received the paperback edition of The Nature of the Psyche -- the publisher was Bear Chicken Screen or some such imprint, I'm not quite sure -- I brought a copy for Jane to see, and she, like me, found it dreadful. Why dreadful? Because its cover was cheap and "shan se xin" -- "shan se xin" is a Taiwanese expression meaning pornographic, very yellow, very violent, too offensive to look at. So the book's cover was in exactly that kind of color.

Rob said: I told Jane I wasn't even angry. Regarding yesterday's discussion of living in the present -- Rob wanted to ask Seth to talk about what reaction he should have, or might have. Because in yesterday's session, Seth specifically and mainly talked about living in the present -- that was the session on Wednesday, February 1st, a very important one. Rob's thought was: since Seth has already spoken about living in the present, then I'd like to ask Seth whether, regarding this book, I should voice my opinion and raise objections, or accept that the present moment is the best arrangement and just go with the flow? What exactly should I do?

This is a question many people often ask after studying these spiritual materials: since everything is the best arrangement, should I then not strive for anything, not resist anything, not demand anything, and become a complete "lying flat" passivist? No. You have simply misunderstood this. Living in the present does not mean doing nothing, not changing anything, or not daring to express your true wishes, or even not daring to express your own preferences -- that is not what it means. Living in the present means: do not pass judgment on what is happening in your present moment. It does not mean doing nothing, or doing no proactive work at all, being completely passive, completely going with the flow, as if doing nothing were the only way to live in the present or to be in a state of flow -- no. Rising up to meet the challenge, never being content with mediocrity, that is your attitude toward life. So when you have an opinion about this book, you may voice it, no problem at all. But do not over-interpret or over-judge; just live directly in the feeling of the present moment. I want to emphasize this point to everyone as well: many people do not know how to live in the present, because they feel it conflicts too much with their actual lives.

While Rob was preparing an ordinary lunch for Jane, he said: I also have two questions to ask Seth. The first is how the staff we see every day view us -- how these hospital employees view them; the other is Seth's comments on a very vivid, long dream I had last night.

Rob's Dream

Rob began describing his dream: the whole dream was brilliantly colorful. In the dream, I combined many elements—he described it to Jane in much more detail than here.

First we moved back to 458 West Water Street, and I seem to have dreams like that several times a week. And I saw the window of my old studio, and when I looked out from the window of my old studio, I saw my father on the driveway in front of the garage, cutting hair like a barber. I invited him to come in and take over my place as a barbershop, and he looked younger than his age, and he laughed and did so. Then I was working for Jack Lubin, who was my old boss at the art card company, the art director there, and I left that company in 1972 to devote myself to helping Jane with the Seth material. In the dream, I was writing two-foot-tall oval-shaped letters in black ink, but because my hand was shaking, I worried whether I could do it well. Then I discovered that I could cut some letters out of cardboard or similar thin boards, and dye them with ink. That way the letters would be more regular, and would not be uneven because of the trembling of my hand. Then Jack and I were walking along the street of a town, on our way to see Jane's mother. On the way, Jack left me, saying I could walk there by myself from that point. When I walked into that room, I knew that Marie, who was Jane's mother, was lying on that bed, crippled by rheumatism. I heard Jane and her mother inside, and they were talking and laughing and crying at the same time. I walked in and saw the two of them, neatly dressed, on a double bed, their arms around each other, forgiving each other.

This was a scene of reconciliation between mother and daughter. The tense relationship between Jane and her mother had lasted from childhood all the way to the present. Both of them looked younger than their actual ages, and both had shining black hair. Marie was bedridden, but Jane was completely healthy, and had come to forgive her mother or to make peace with her. The scene was quite moving.

Rob told Jane: I don't think I understand much of that dream, except that it seems I was reconstructing the past. In it, all the people except Jane seemed to be authority figures from the past—his father was his authority figure, his old boss was his authority figure, and Jane's mother had also been an authority figure for Jane. In this dream, everyone except Jane was an authority figure for either Rob or Jane—whether a leader, a superior, or a parent. Rob said: I also feel that the concept of authority has something to do with my trembling right hand. And since no aspect of this dream was discussed today, I hope Seth will comment on it tomorrow—if he holds a session tomorrow. And the famous pendulum person seemed to recall that Rob's mother was connected with the trembling hand, although she was not in today's session. Stella Butts died in 1973; she was Rob's mother, and she was 81 years old²⁷, and it had been 11 years since her death.

At 3 p.m., Jane began reading yesterday's session. Rob thought it was an excellent session, but Jane simply could not read it. She gave up at 3:12 and took a puff of a cigarette. Meanwhile, Rob was handling the mail. Jane tried again at 3:20, only slightly better than before. While Rob was looking at the letters, he heard Jane trying to read it, and he kept thinking about that session. Finally at 3:29, Rob read the remaining part to her. At 3:36, Jennifer arrived and emptied Jane's urine bag. The other hospital staff members were very busy. Rob raised three questions for Seth: first, how the hospital staff viewed us; second, how we should respond to the cover of the Bear Chicken Screen; third, his dream.

Jane said that Seth would no longer answer all three questions. Jane said that his Seth voice had become very good again. What Jane meant was that Seth would not answer that many questions anymore, because considering Jane's physical condition and their special situation in the hospital, every session after Jane connected with Seth was very short in content.

Well, now Seth said: I wish you a good afternoon. Rob said good evening, Seth; good afternoon, Seth. Just as Seth began to speak, Lin came in to put drops in Jane's eyes. Rob told him, I already did that myself an hour ago. Then Seth said "dictation"—Seth in his own mind, that is, Jane Ruburt in her own mind. Ruburt called these ideas "the new way," the new way.

They began to live in this new way. These ideas were the new way—of course, the idea itself was quite ancient.

They have been expressed by many cultures and religious secret societies and sects of the past, and continue to the present. However, their power, vitality, and value have all been greatly distorted, misinterpreted, overturned by negative thoughts, and by some outright nonsense.

What Seth meant was that Jane was about to begin a new life, and this new life necessarily involved accepting some new ideas and new beliefs, and these new ideas and beliefs were what Jane called "the new way." This was Jane's general term for these new ideas of hers—living in a new way, meaning that she would begin the first day of her life according to the new way.

Then Seth made a supplementary explanation of this new way: these ideas are not a new way; they cannot be called "new." From a certain angle, they are quite ancient. That is to say, from ancient times, from ancient civilizations onward, people have always had this kind of thought. Hearing about it for the first time today, you might think it is very new. If you understand the history of the past, and turn to documents from thousands of years ago, you will see that many, many of the viewpoints we read today are so remarkably compatible and consistent with the wisdom of the ancients from thousands of years ago. If you have listened to my interpretation of the simplified version of Laozi's Tao Te Ching, you will find that thousands of years ago, more than 2,500 years ago, Laozi's expressions about the birth of the universe, about the development of humanity, about the Tao, about consciousness, about how people should practice the Tao in their lives—these expressions are so remarkably compatible and consistent with many, many things in today's Seth material from 2,500 years later. The time spanning between them seems as if it does not exist, which is truly miraculous.

This is what Seth wanted to express: the so-called new wisdom, new methods, New Age movement—all of it actually comes from this very ancient past. But they have been expressed by many cultures, religions, secret societies, and sects of the past, trapped within various eras and religions, groups and sects, and they continue to the present, and still exist today. It is just that their vitality, power, and value—the power, value, and vitality contained in these ancient cultures—have all been greatly distorted, and then overturned by these negative thoughts and some outright nonsense.

This is indeed a problem that exists widely today: much ancient wisdom has been distorted by later generations, overturned by negativity or nonsense. To give an example of nonsense: I have previously given the example of the first three sentences of the Analects. If these three sentences are interpreted the way people interpret them today, they are all nonsense—"to have friends come from afar" and so on and so forth, "to learn and then review" and so on and so forth—this is all nonsense. Why? Because the wisdom within them has not been understood at all. And distortion is even more common—that is, a person thinks he understands, but he actually does not, and then he widely propagates what he thinks he understands. If this person had a certain degree of fame in his own time, then his distortion would cause very serious consequences, and would make later generations understand the wisdom of these ancients as being just that. But it is not.

Negative thoughts mean this: in that past historical period, most mainstream thought was negative, a mainstream worldview formed on the basis of fear. And this mainstream worldview also produced a very subversive perception of these ancient wisdoms. What does subversive mean? It means completely turned upside down—the ancient wisdom says you should do it this way, and then someone interprets it for you as doing it in the completely opposite way. That is called inversion. To put it bluntly, our understanding and interpretation of ancient wisdom today, in terms of mainstream interpretations on the market, is basically all reversed. Do not assume that these mainstream interpretations represent authority or represent the opinions of the majority—in fact, it is exactly the opposite. Seth also wanted to emphasize this point here.

Ancient Classics and Higher-Dimensional Wisdom

For example. In ancient times, these scriptures all required people with deep understanding, or people who had reached a certain level of attainment, to interpret them. For instance, back in the time of the ancient Huangdi Neijing, there was a specialized acupuncture method called the Nine Needles -- a presentation and exposition of nine needling techniques. Later, because a highly accomplished person did the interpretation, he took these Nine Needles -- each chapter discusses the application method of one needle -- and again broke them down, or interpreted them, into nine parts each, finally becoming nine times nine is eighty-one, eighty-one chapters. And the people who wanted to interpret these scriptures had to have extremely high attainment and cognition themselves. So the writing style of many ancient scriptures was very concise, but the content within them existed in the form of a very high consciousness. Only people who could reach the same frequency of consciousness as him could interpret them completely. If you only interpret them from the literal surface, then you have completely distorted his meaning. This is the reason why many scriptures needed high-level great masters to interpret them -- because ordinary people can only see the literal meaning, while only these high-level great masters can see the things within the inside.

There is a legend that Laozi's Dao De Jing is more than 5,000 characters. We also know that the excavated version is more than 2,000 characters, and according to the received version it is more than 5,000 characters, some say 5,047 characters and so on²⁸ -- let's just say 5,000 characters. But some other people say that it actually contains nearly 100,000 characters' worth of content. The words Laozi spoke contain 100,000 characters' worth of information within them. Ordinary people reading the surface only read 5,000 characters, interpreting it literally, but its information content is far greater than that. Whether we say 5,000 or 100,000, it is only a figurative comparison, a comparison in terms of quantity.

In other words, whether it is the Dao De Jing, or the traditional culture of our ancient times -- whether the I Ching or the Huangdi Neijing -- they are all a condensation and manifestation of higher-dimensional wisdom in the three-dimensional world. Just like the Seth material you are reading today, it is also a line of sight of higher-dimensional wisdom in our three-dimensional world. If you take the written version of these higher-dimensional consciousnesses in the three-dimensional world, or the written line of sight, as all of their content, then you have truly distorted them. They are by no means just the literal meaning. So this requires some highly accomplished people to interpret them, and in ancient times it was indeed like this.

The Tianhui Medical Manuscripts and Bian Que

Here is an example. In 2012, while building a subway in Chengdu, workers excavated a Han dynasty tomb. When the archaeologists arrived and took a look, they found a wooden figure covered in lacquer, with many meridians and acupoints painted on it²⁹. The archaeologists were shocked and extremely excited, because this wooden figure had a full 57 meridians on its body³⁰. Yet modern Chinese medicine, with its so-called twelve regular meridians and the eight extraordinary vessels all added together, only recognizes 37 meridians in the human body³¹. This wooden figure had a full 57, twenty more meridians. Many acupoints and meridians recorded in ancient medical books and classical Chinese medical texts are no longer known to modern people.

Then they discovered a large number of bamboo slips, over 1,000 in total, containing more than 25,000 characters³². After sorting through them, they found that these bamboo slips were the long-lost medical writings of Bian Que. We all know Bian Que; he was a legendary physician. From the earliest Bian Que of the time of the Yellow Emperor -- who in legend and ancient myth was said to be a divine physician with a human head and a bird's body -- down to the Han dynasty, people came to call all such excellent physicians Bian Que. And in that period there really was such a person named Bian Que, called Qin Yueren³³. The name "Qin Yueren" also seems to have been a general designation, because his surname was Qin and he was a man of Yue; it may have been a collective title of that sort. But we all know Bian Que was a legendary physician. Some of his medical knowledge was passed down, but much of it was lost.

What was lost most completely was Bian Que's approach to diagnosis and pulse examination. When we go to a Chinese medicine hospital today, the doctor takes our pulse by feeling it. But in Bian Que's time, he did not rely on feeling the pulse; he looked with his eyes, and he could see the five colors. He observed the five-colored pulse manifestations, and based on the proportions of the five colors and their distribution on the body, he knew what illnesses a person had. Do you remember the story of Bian Que? We all studied it in elementary school -- Bian Que visits Duke Huan of Cai. After meeting Duke Huan, he said: your illness is in the skin, in the texture of the flesh; then a few days later he said the illness had reached the blood vessels; and finally he said you are already gravely ill beyond cure, turned around, and fled. In that passage, Bian Que was actually using this five-color pulse method, this method of diagnosis. But this five-color diagnostic method was later lost. Later generations did not know how to diagnose by pulse in that way; no one passed it down. This archaeological excavation brought the five-color diagnostic method back to light, and people finally understood how diagnosis was done in that period. It was only later that pulse-taking by feeling, by pressing the fingers on the pulse, came into being.

To make a long story short, this book has now been published. Many years passed from its excavation until now, and it has finally been published. The book is called Tianhui Yijian³⁴ -- tian as in heaven and earth, hui as in return, yi as in medicine, jian as in bamboo slips. It was published by the Cultural Relics Publishing House of China³⁵. You can pre-order it now; it costs around 1,400 or 1,500 yuan. The list price is 1,980³⁶, and the current online pre-order price is 1,500. The first batch sold out completely at the end of last year -- the initial print run was small because it was so expensive -- and the second printing is now available.

What do I want to say? Regarding these classical texts, they contain a great many quotations from and explanations of ancient medical classics. There is a great deal in them -- I will not go into detail -- including 106 long-lost ancient prescriptions³⁷; there is material on acupuncture needling techniques, and the core methods of needle insertion in acupuncture are extremely refined, and here Bian Que has a section specifically devoted to acupuncture needling techniques; and most importantly, there is the section on his pulse diagnosis, which is divided into two parts, upper and lower. So his entire medical system was very complete -- in terms of the vessels, meaning our meridian vessels; in terms of acupuncture; in terms of herbal decoctions; it was a complete medical system. If you truly want to study ancient Chinese medicine, to study its most fundamental and purest form, you can buy a copy of this book and study it, but you need a certain foundation in Chinese medicine; if you do not have one, you will need someone to teach and guide you.

That was a digression. We also want to make this part of the curriculum in the future Wisdom School of the Spiritual Home, for older children or for children who aspire to study Chinese medicine. We will teach them this Han dynasty knowledge from the root up. And this knowledge all came from places farther away, or from higher and more distant places.

For example, where did Bian Que's medical skill come from? Legend says he worked as a servant in an inn, where many travelers came and went from north to south. One old gentleman took a liking to Bian Que and said: I can see you are suited to studying medicine; let me teach you some medical arts³⁸. Bian Que gladly agreed, because at that time studying medicine was a highly respected profession. Physicians of that time were called langzhong -- you know that langzhong was a kind of official title in ancient times, so a langzhong was a person of quite high status, and the income was also very good. Of course he was willing; he had been a young servant at an inn. Then this old man gave him a kind of medicine to take, for about ten days or a month, I do not remember exactly -- after taking it, he could see through walls and see the people on the other side, and he could also directly see a person's internal organs and the movement of their qi and blood through the meridians. He had acquired the functions of a CT scan and X-ray vision. That is the legend about Bian Que. After gaining this ability, when he treated people, combined with the personal instruction the old gentleman gave him, he became a legendary physician of his generation. So the transmission of his writings played an extremely important role in the development of Chinese medicine as a whole. That is why in Chinese medicine circles, everyone is eagerly awaiting a more precise or deeper interpretation of these medical writings of Bian Que.

Speaking of the decoction that the mysterious old gentleman gave Bian Que to drink, the core point was actually that it opened Bian Que's third eye. We now know it is very simple: it opened the third eye, just using a somewhat intensified method, using some herbal decoction -- in fact, it stimulated his pineal gland, activated his pineal gland. Of course, the old gentleman may also have seen that Bian Que's pineal gland was not sealed shut to begin with, that it was already very active, and with the stimulation of the decoction, his pineal gland was activated, and he opened the third-eye function that so many of us know about. When the third eye is opened, he could of course see a person's internal organs and the movement of qi and blood through the meridians. This is the ancient Chinese medical art of our legends.

All right, after this long detour, what I actually want to tell you is this: many of our ancient classics have been understood backwards by later generations. The reason they have been understood backwards comes down to three causes: distortion, being led by negative thoughts, and a lot of nonsense. That is why the Spiritual Home is doing a great deal of work, and one part of that work is to restore these ancient treasures of Chinese civilization's wisdom to the state they should be in, to return them to their original wise intent. So we have also done a great deal of work in interpreting traditional cultural classics. What we are currently working on are attempts and explorations in several areas: the Tao Te Ching, Liaofan's Four Lessons, Xingming Guizhi, and Xingming Guizhi³⁹. Later we will also do other work on reinterpreting and re-understanding traditional Chinese culture. We also hope that people of insight around the world, people willing to join in this kind of work, will join us and do this work together. This is not something one person or one organization can complete; it is a grand project -- restoring the true meaning of these ancient civilizations and ancient wisdoms, bringing them back to light, and letting that higher-dimensional wisdom shine again today with the radiance it should have.

Seth continues:

These concepts, so natural to all of creation, have not been put into practice by humanity in anything resembling their pure form.

What Seth is saying here is this: the wisdom transmitted by these ancient civilizations is so natural, so simple. But in the practice of modern humanity, it has not been put into practice in the natural and unadorned way it was transmitted, or in the way it should have been. Instead, it has become extremely cumbersome and mysterious in its modes of transmission -- secret teachings passed down within sects, secret manuals, esoteric practices, training exercises, and so on. And none of these are the original intent of these ancient civilizations. What these ancient wisdoms transmitted to us are all such natural concepts.

Remember what Seth says here; it is exactly the same as what Laozi said. Laozi said: my Way is so simple that you do not even want to practice it, because you think it is too simple. You would rather believe in those so-called mystical schools, this lineage and that lineage, this master and that master -- "I am the so-and-so generation successor of such-and-such a school, I have a secret method, I have an esoteric practice, I do this and that" -- you must first train for so many years, then train for so many more years, then do this and that. All of this has already departed from the simple and natural viewpoint of these ancient wisdoms, and has completely betrayed that thought. Seth points this out. So the things that humanity has learned today are not being practiced in this way at all. In other words, none of it has received the true transmission and essence -- either through distorted, clumsy, complicated methods, or through useless methods and nonsense, practicing things that do not work at all.

Seth says:

To that extent, they do represent a new way.

That is to say, the traditional things have already been distorted to that degree, so the so-called new ways and new knowledge that Jane has received today can indeed be called a new way compared with those old traditional things. Because the Seth material seeks to restore the original face of these ancient wisdoms, more simply and more directly. If you have read Seth's The Magical Approach, although he says a great deal of theory earlier on, at the very end he says one line: "The magical approach is the natural approach." From Seth's viewpoint -- the magical approach is the natural approach -- you can see how closely it aligns with our ancient wisdoms.

The Reversal of Worldviews

All right, let us continue with the next part.

As far as the mainstream of world culture is concerned, they are directly and completely opposite to your accepted knowledge and contemporary thought.

Does this sentence sound familiar? Is this not completely consistent with Laozi's viewpoint? Do you remember how Laozi repeatedly emphasized: "Reversal is the movement of the Dao; weakness is the function of the Dao⁴⁰" -- Laozi stressed this again and again in the Dao De Jing. Why does this "reversal" tell us right here: the understanding of the Dao is completely opposite. That is to say, the knowledge of our mainstream society -- what Seth is talking about here, not just China, but as far as the mainstream of world culture is concerned -- the thought of the Dao, that is, the wisdom of these ancient civilizations, is completely opposite to our mainstream knowledge, opposite to both our knowledge and our thought. This is exactly the same as what Laozi said. "Reversal is the movement of the Dao; weakness is the function of the Dao⁴⁰." As long as it moves, as long as it functions, it is completely opposite to our viewpoints. This is also the same as what the Buddhist scriptures call "inverted dreams and illusions": you people of the world live in an inverted world; what you think is right is actually wrong, and what you think is wrong is actually right. This kind of cognitive viewpoint is completely subversive.

So we need to understand that the Seth material we are spreading today, the things we are talking about today, are in many mainstream cultures and mainstream schools of thought all over the world, opposite to their understanding. This is a normal phenomenon. So Laozi's work is the same; later generations have basically misinterpreted it. If you want to know Laozi's true thought and ideas, I suggest you go read my reinterpretation of Laozi's bamboo-slip version of the Dao De Jing -- that is, the bamboo-slip Dao De Jing of only a little over 2,000 characters in 30 chapters, which has not been excessively interfered with or misled by later generations⁴¹. In it you can see this wisdom from higher dimensions that Laozi could not conceal.

Fanaticism, Superstition, and Expediency

Seth continued:

As for the places where these concepts were put into practice, they were again and again contaminated by fanaticism, superstition, and expediency.

Seth had just been talking about the theory of these ideas, and now he was saying that when these ideas were put into actual practice, they were often taken up by religious fanatics -- some sect or other, to give a random example -- and turned into a kind of fanatical pursuit: I have obtained a secret method that can make me an immortal, I want to cultivate immortality, I want to cultivate supreme martial arts, I want to cultivate this and I want to cultivate that. These are all characteristics of fanaticism. By superstition: originally these were abilities that every person inherently possesses, but he instead believes that only certain great gods or high immortals have such abilities, so he begins to worship and be superstitious about these people, worship their methods, worship their sects, and enters into a state of superstition. Expediency: that is, people begin to fish in troubled waters, distorting things, taking things out of context, using some of the content here as a tool, applying it in their own lives -- whatever works, I will take it and use it. You say opening the third eye is useful? Then I will open the celestial eye, and for what? To use it as a tool in my daily life.

How many of us who study mind-body-spirit teachings, or who study the Seth material, are using it as a tool? As long as you use it as a tool, that is called expediency. Then you might ask, if I should not use it as a tool, what should I use it as? It should be used as the guide for your life. It is not a tool; it is the ultimate guiding principle of your life. You should live according to the ideas in here, rather than treating it as a tool to improve your life. This is a fundamental difference. If you always treat these things as tools, then you are using them in the wrong way. When you use them to improve your life, you are assuming that your original life had no problems, and that it merely needed to be enhanced and improved. But in fact, your original life was completely backwards. You should make a thorough break with your original life, and only then can you begin a brand-new life, only then can you begin to live like a true human being as described by Seth, or as described by the ancient sages. Your current state of living is one of wearing a role, wearing labels, wearing a mask, wearing a costume -- it is not the real you who is living.

Seth said in there that these ancient wisdoms were again contaminated by fanaticism, superstition, and expediency. You see, this is exactly the phenomenon we see today.

Seth said:

The point I want to make is that this new way is the most ideal and easiest complement to the innate soundness of nature itself.

Seth said: After saying all this, what do I actually want to tell you? It is that this so-called new way of Jane's -- this new idea or understanding -- is the most ideal and easiest complement to the innate soundness of nature itself. We are originally sound, originally complete in ourselves, lacking nothing. Living according to this theory can greatly bring forth that which is innate in us, that which is originally complete in ourselves. And this theory is a guide, a direction, and a complement for bringing forth your own self. In other words, only if you live according to this theory will you activate those things that are originally complete in yourself. The innate soundness is original completeness in oneself. Here he specifically refers to health -- because this book mainly discusses the issue of health -- but it is not limited to health; all of your content is the various aspects and facets of original completeness in oneself. He will activate these things for you.

At 4:12, the nurse came up to take Jane's vital signs; her temperature was 98.6 degrees. By 4:17, Jane had a cigarette. When Rob went to get the juice soda, he read aloud to Jane what he had said up to that point. He returned at 4:21. This interruption shortened the dictation -- originally Seth should have continued speaking a bit more, but he did not. Seth said: Now for the commentary. Actually, what Seth needed to say had already been said; there was not much more to add. If you can accept it, accept it; if you cannot accept it, that is all right too.

Seth's Comments on Rob's Dream

Seth said: For now, yesterday's session -- that is, the session of February 1 -- should be read three or four times a day. What was yesterday's session about? It was about how you should live in the present, without worrying about the past and the future, without regretting the past or being anxious about the future. Just live in the present. Your body only responds to your present. You have no need to bring worries about the future to your present body. You should read that content two or three times a day.

Seth comments on Rob's dream:

Your dream was indeed about changing the past and past beliefs. So it was about inserting a new present and a new future.

This is about the question of a new present and a new future. Seth says:

Hair is often a symbol of power, but in this case it represented the power of old beliefs. And your father was the one who cut off those old beliefs -- the barber cut off your old beliefs. Conversely, in the past he adhered to quite a number of negative beliefs and ideas.

His father used to be the one who held fast to these negative beliefs, and now he has begun to cut off these negative beliefs -- that is, his father has also changed. In his dream, Seth says:

Jack also represented your own beliefs about work in general. And as far as work goes, he could only go this far.

That Jack represented Rob's belief about work. That work could only accompany Rob up to a certain point, and the rest of the road you have to walk yourself -- what he means is, work can only accompany you up to here, it cannot go any farther, you cannot expect work to keep accompanying you. Seth also says:

You correctly interpreted the matter between Ruburt and his mother.

That is, they are reconciling -- incidentally, this is an excellent omen.

About the Cover

Now Seth transmitted a sentence that Rob thought was incorrect -- actually it was a problem with Rob's understanding; in fact, it was not incorrect:

Despite your natural objections to it, the cover in its own way made the most positive presentation.

The most positive presentation -- of course he was hinting at this most unfortunate garish color. The color of this cover indeed symbolized that kind of erotic, very yellow and very violent coloring. Yet Seth said:

For that reason the people attracted to it are precisely the people it should attract.

Remember this sentence. Those who like that erotic, ambiguous, very yellow and very violent colored cover, those who are attracted by this color, are precisely the people it should attract. Seth continued:

The concepts within the body of the book will considerably alter their usual negative and intense ideas about psychic activity.

Translated, this means: although this cover is very vulgar and very low-class, the vulgar and low-class people it draws in are also precisely the people it should draw in. Those people hold very intense and negative ideas about these psychic or spiritual developments, because they only like these lowbrow erotic things, and they are utterly opposed to spiritual pursuits. Precisely because of this, after they buy the book and take it home -- they bought it because of this lowbrow coloring -- when they see the contents inside, they will instead be changed. And Seth said: the people we want to change may be exactly these people.

This viewpoint was completely different from Rob and Jane's. They hoped that their books, especially the Seth books, should have covers that were more elevated, that should be plain or elegant, or pure, or shining with the light of wisdom, and should not be associated with lowbrow eroticism. So Rob thought Seth had misspoken. In fact, Seth had not misspoken at all. As a representative of higher-dimensional wisdom, Seth had long since transcended dualistic opposition and the analysis of things. His viewpoint was still far removed from Rob and Jane's. Rob and Jane were still far from having transcended these things. So Seth said: it does not matter, this kind of cover has its own reason for existing, and it will bring forth more positive value. You see it as negative, lowbrow, and vulgar; Seth said what I see is its positive side. Remember this sentence -- he said "the most positive presentation." Right, you see this cover as negative, but Seth saw it as positive. This is the difference in judging a thing, in judging a person.

Seth said:

That does not mean that you should not write a clear letter stating your own objections to the cover, if you choose to do so, that is all right too.

This sentence is also what I often say when answering questions for everyone: although we will give you a correct or higher cognitive angle from which to consider the matter, we also completely tolerate and accept you handling the matter in your own way. In other words, if at present you still cannot see the positive meaning of this lowbrow cover, then you can write to the publisher and say you do not like this cover. There is no need to force yourself by saying: what I clearly see is lowbrow, yet I still have to pretend I can see its positive meaning. If you can see its positive meaning, of course that is even better; if you cannot see it, you can also make the choice available to you at present, and you can ask the publisher to change the cover. These are some of Seth's viewpoints about the book cover.

Seth said that discussing the staff's opinions of the two of them would require some time, so he suggested leaving it for another time of their choosing.

I may or may not return, again according to those rhythms of which I have spoken, but know that I am here and approachable.

Rob said thank you, Seth. Then Seth continued:

I want to check again the first sentence about the Bear material, I made a mistake, or something went wrong somewhere.

At Seth's request, Rob read that sentence aloud twice. Then Seth said: no, there is an error somewhere. What was this error? Seth said the correct way to state this sentence should be:

Despite your obvious dissatisfaction, the Bear cover in a positive way helps our work.

What Seth wanted to express was: although you are obviously dissatisfied with this cover, this cover in a positive way helps our work. He had changed to another way of phrasing it. The meaning had not changed, the meaning had not changed, and in fact there had been no error. He just felt that as transmitted it might be misunderstood by Rob and Jane. Because you know how these two people felt about such a cover -- when the Seth material they themselves had transmitted was published by the publisher with such a cover -- their inner emotion was enormous, not ordinary emotion. You can imagine: you worked hard writing a book for several months, or wrote a book for a year, and when the publisher published it, they put a softcore porn starlet on the cover. What you wrote about was a matter of spiritual growth, and the book was called The Nature of the Psyche, discussing androgyny and the nature of the psyche. Of course, the first half of it talked a great deal about people being both male and female in one body, and the publisher may have understood it in that way and arranged a relatively erotic, lowbrow image for it. You can imagine, if you had studied the Seth material for so long, and suppose this book had been written by you, and the publisher put such a cover on it, what kind of mood would you be in. Rob and Jane were in exactly that mood. So Seth was also very cautious in his interpretation regarding this cover, because he was afraid of touching or provoking the two of them. But fortunately Seth still expressed a very balanced and objective viewpoint: an erotic and lowbrow cover can still play its positive and constructive role, and you should not be too troubled by this matter, even though you are dissatisfied.

Once again, at Seth's request, Rob read back to Seth the sentence he had just spoken. Seth said: you are clear, you know what I mean. At 4:32, Rob told Jane: I do not know whether to get involved in the controversy over the Bear cover, I do not even want to spend time thinking about it. You see Rob's state now -- I do not even want to think about this problem. Especially from the standpoint of yesterday's session, of living in the present, I even less want to consider this problem; whatever happens, happens, I will just accept the present arrangement, I will just live in the present.

Rob relayed word for word these words involving Seth's correction of the sentence he had given. Because as far as Rob could remember, this was the first time such a thing had happened -- that is, Seth on his own initiative said, did I transmit this sentence somewhat incorrectly, I want you to read it back to me, and I will correct it again. Right, this was the first time such a thing had happened in the twenty-one years of Seth transmitting the material.

So here I will explain to everyone why this happened. The reason is what I said earlier: because the two of them had such great aversion to this cover, such great emotion, at this time Seth was worried that carelessness in his wording and phrasing about this matter would cause Jane and Rob to have a strong backlash, would stir up even greater emotion in them. From the judgment of this cover, you can immediately feel the gap in consciousness and realm between Rob and Jane on the one hand and Seth on the other. This is a point that ordinary people find very hard to reach. And Seth here spoke from both sides: it is fine for you to write to the publisher, it is fine if you do not accept it, but I am telling you, it has its positive meaning. There is nothing improper about doing it this way either. This is Seth's viewpoint.

About Dreams, Evolution, and Value Fulfillment

This part begins on Friday, February 3, 1984, at 4:03 p.m.

Rob came up and said Jane had not called last night. By the time he left the house for Room 330, the temperature had already reached 44 degrees Fahrenheit. Jane was lying on her back, and when they had not arrived by 12:30, she refused to go for hydrotherapy. Rob told her he had brought Session 903 of Dreams, "Evolution," and Value Fulfillment and planned to ask her a few questions, and she said okay.

Jane ate half of her lunch, and afterward she had trouble reading Session 903, while Rob tried to read parts of the session aloud to her. However, Rob did not think their conversation about mammals, animals, and the six realms of reincarnation went very well. Jane said she felt irritated by those questions, and Rob ended up feeling the same way, though Rob figured out a way to handle the notes for those sessions and decided to forget the other problems he had begun to struggle with. He already regretted the time he had spent writing notes for Dreams, "Evolution," and Value Fulfillment.

What point does this illustrate? It shows that Rob began to regret having spent too much time writing notes for Dreams, "Evolution," and Value Fulfillment. As we all know, this is a book we have discussed before, and it contains a great deal of content and notes. Rob spent a lot of time annotating certain points and certain content in it, but these notes sometimes really gave Rob a headache, because the breadth and depth of the knowledge involved had actually already exceeded Rob's scope of knowledge and his level of understanding. He had no choice but to go research a lot of material, and unlike us today, who can go to a library or find things with a quick online search, back then he had to go dig through materials in a library, and he did not even know which materials to look through. For him, it really was a very troublesome matter. Today we have internet search, and we also have artificial intelligence and software like ChatGPT, so you can just ask it directly. But back then, finding the answer to a single question might have cost him several days.

Then Jane said, what I actually meant was to settle for second best, and not get so hung up on those specific questions. Rob agreed, adding that if he was ever going to finish that book, just glossing over it to get it done would not be helpful. What Rob meant was that if he wanted to finish the book sooner, spending too much time on the notes would not be helpful. The important thing was to get this work done so that he could move on to other things. Rob added that he was trying to avoid projecting any trouble with Dreams, "Evolution," and Value Fulfillment into the future, although he was also aware that some of the things he said contradicted certain elements of the inner sessions, but he would resolve them. He really wanted to get that book finished as soon as possible, and in the foreseeable future he would not get himself into the same kind of trouble again.

So you can see that in the later part of Dreams, "Evolution," and Value Fulfillment, his notes really were much fewer than before. In some of his earlier books — I remember it was either The "Unknown" Reality or The Individual and the Nature of Mass Events — the notes were especially extensive. This is understandable, because Rob, as the first person to organize the Seth material, was deeply prompted to think by much of the Seth material, and then he would supplement other materials for us from his own perspective. This is very helpful for our understanding of the Seth material, but this workload sometimes exceeded what Rob himself was capable of, so he wanted to say, from now on I will write fewer notes, finish it as quickly as possible, and get back to the content itself.

At 3:15 p.m., Jane began reading yesterday's session. She did not do well, but while Rob wrote notes, she continued intermittently. As she went on, she did better, and finished at 3:42. Two minutes later, Carla took her temperature: 102 degrees. Carla said, "You really are running a fever." Jane seemed confused, because she felt fine. Carla took Jane's blood pressure and pulse and said Jane had a bit of a fever. After they left, Jane said, "I don't have any damn fever."

Jane asked Rob to note that this was the second day of the new attitude toward life she had established based on the February 1 session. Rob did think that session was very good, and he had also made a very good copy to use at home — which was to live only in the present, to let them live only in the present.

And here, in the midst of Rob's worries about the book Dreams, "Evolution," and Value Fulfillment, he also did not practice very well what Seth had said in that passage. Then Seth came through at this point and said, "I wish you a good afternoon again." They said good afternoon to Seth. Then Seth came through and immediately commented on Rob's dream — the one they had the day before, in which Rob's hand was trembling in the dream, writing, writing very large characters about two feet tall, and the hand was shaking.

Seth said that the trembling represented the values and ideas that came from your mother, that it came from your mother. The trembling was mainly about work — about the beliefs you got from your mother regarding work. You have always felt it to be an unstable belief. That is, in this work of his, Rob was a painter, and in this line of work he could actually have found a stable job, but for various reasons, he was actually not stable. His attitude about work was a shaky, trembling, unstable state.

But in the dream, you managed to bypass their effects — you used other methods, such as cutting characters out of cardboard and then writing the large characters, so the trembling of the hand would not affect them. That is, you bypassed their influence on you.

In the ordinary waking state, the trembling still represents residual instability and uncertainty, and whenever any strong disturbance occurs, it becomes more obvious.

In the dream you bypassed this trembling, but in the ordinary waking state, your hand still trembles. This represents that you still have some residual unstable, uncertain beliefs inside. Although these residual beliefs are no longer as strong, when a strong disturbance occurs, they become more obvious. These beliefs must be cleaned out; if you do not clean them out, they will flare up again under certain conditions.

As far as the passages in the book are concerned, it is truly very difficult to write about complex things in simple language.

What he meant was about the matter of the six realms of reincarnation — they had been discussing the question of the six realms. Of course, this is something we try to do: we try to use words that carry an overall meaning that ordinary readers all have, and then make any necessary distinctions to ensure that the passage is correct.

Again, what he meant was, regarding the content of this book, I do not want to say too much. I want to explain its content to ordinary readers, and in fact I have done a great deal of popularization, simplification, and science-popularization. I try as much as possible to use words that readers can all understand to describe it, and these words are not necessarily the most precise or the most accurate, because I have to take into account the public's ability to accept and to understand. If I were to express it in extremely precise language, then the vast majority of people would not be able to understand what we are saying. So you do not need to get hung up on those details.

Your question about the six realms of reincarnation was an excellent question at the time of Session 903 of Dreams, "Evolution," and Value Fulfillment, and it did indeed make the issue clearer. Sometimes there is a temptation to use more clearly scientific terminology, but this would be just as confusing as the various definitions and classifications you read in a dictionary. So overall, we try to create a happy medium — happy medium, but with more humor. This word "medium" also means a psychic medium, so this is a pun; ordinarily it also carries the meaning of a medium or media.

Seth's words were very humorous. He said, your way of putting the question about the six realms of reincarnation, or the notes you wrote, did indeed make the issue clearer. Seth said, when I express things, I am also often tempted to use clearer scientific terms to explain or structure the Seth material, but Seth clearly resisted that temptation. The reason he did so is that if you fill it with a great many terms or concepts, or an encyclopedia-like explanation, it falls back into the predicament of dealing with the traditional logic and linguistic structures of names, concepts, definitions, connotations, and extensions. But what we truly need to know is something beyond language, and yet we still must rely on language, and this is a very complex problem.

When we use language to express something that language cannot express, or something whose meaning lies far beyond what language can convey, language itself can sometimes become an obstacle to understanding it, becoming a limitation and a framework. So Seth said, here I try my best to restrain myself and not use terms, concepts, systematized, structured things to explain it to you. This is also why many people who study the Seth material do not come away with a deep impression — this is something Seth deliberately does. He tries as much as possible to avoid letting his knowledge system become fixed, rigid, structured, terminological, or systematized. So the result you get, and the feeling you have when reading the Seth material, is: I know a lot, or I understand a lot, but I cannot say it, because it is above language. This lets you understand that he bypassed the limitations of language, and it also lets you know — this is also one of the most admirable aspects of his wisdom and skill.

But ordinary so-called science or knowledge systems, or that kind of fixed knowledge system, all do the opposite: first define terms and concepts, set up some conditions, and then begin to explain and elaborate the relationships between these terms and concepts, and then use reasoning and logic to arrive at new understandings and new concepts. This is the method traditional science uses, and Seth tries as much as possible to avoid this method. He said we would do best to achieve a happy medium, and that is enough. Here he used two puns, both intended to tell you that the "happy" — that happiness — is also one of the main meanings he wants to convey behind it. That is, when transmitting any knowledge, ordinary people may focus on the knowledge itself, but Seth is more concerned with whether, in the process of transmitting that knowledge, you are in a happy state, whether you are in a joyful state, and this is just as important as the knowledge itself. So he tells you, just regard us as a happy medium, and do not be so serious about it.

His words, conversely, were telling Rob not to study the Seth material in an academic research manner, not to think about being so serious that every question or every hard-to-explain term had to be annotated, or cited to show where this saying came from, where this allusion came from, which views in the Buddhist sutras this six realms of reincarnation came from, and so on. What he meant was to let the two of them relax, not to do those things, not to be so serious, and just to spread it joyfully.

You should reread Wednesday's session at length, and designating the first day and so forth is a good idea.

That is, the session about living in the present. Saying today is the first day, today is the second day, is very good; it gives you a very clear division from the past. When each of you tries to treat it as a new beginning, and to live only one day at a time, that is all very good — that is, to live each day honestly, to live each day truthfully, to live only this day, to live only in the present, not thinking about what tomorrow will be like, and not regretting what you did yesterday. If you can do this, it is a very, very good attitude toward life. So Seth asked everyone to reread the session from February 1.

Now I may or may not come through again, according to the rhythms I mentioned, but know that I am here and accessible.

Then Seth said thank you, and they said thank you to Seth. 4:14 p.m. So Seth confirmed Rob's own pendulum responses — that is, regarding the beliefs about his mother, and his reactions to them, which were related to the trembling in his right hand. Rob noted at the end that it did indeed confirm the results he had obtained using the pendulum.

All right, this session was very short; Seth only said two or three sentences, basically two passages. But although there were only two passages, the significance is very far-reaching. He tells us how Seth views his own material, and how Seth hopes others will understand his material.

Rob's Dream: Escaping from the Prison of Negative Beliefs

Let's look at the next session, February 4, 1984, Saturday, 4:26 p.m.

Jane called last night with Carla's help. Before that, their friend Debbie Harris went to see her. Elizabeth was also there at the same time. Elizabeth left some yellow primroses, very beautiful, and a table mat made by a German lady. Elizabeth, being German, had written to request it for them -- by that time they had already started having contact with some readers in Germany. It was actually a small gift for Jane, to help lift her spirits.

It was warm again today. When Rob left the house for Room 330, it was 42 degrees Fahrenheit. When he got there, Jane had just had her bandages changed. She had gone down for hydrotherapy at 10:30, and it took all that time to get through the routine procedures. Rob told her that if she thought she would have to wait a long time, she could refuse to go, but he guessed he wouldn't see her do that. It's just that every time Jane did hydrotherapy, she had to go through certain routine procedures, and these procedures were very time-consuming, and she had to wait -- it was really annoying. Rob said if you don't want to go, then don't go, but Jane still wanted to do the hydrotherapy. Because for someone who has been bedridden for a long time, being able to stretch her body in the water, or partially stretch her body, because the buoyancy of the water gives her a temporary sense of floating, and this floating sensation is very important to her.

Remember, whether it's physical floating or floating of consciousness, both are tremendously helpful to a person. That's why when we were in Huizhou, during the summer classes we would take everyone into the ocean to do floating exercises -- letting your consciousness empty out, letting your body empty out, in a state of complete relaxation, floating face-up in the sea. Many of us held hands to form a very large circle, and in that state, many people reached a state of complete relaxation that they normally couldn't achieve in meditation.

Today is the third day that Jane has been following the new routine since the session on February 1. So I hope that if you listened to that day's class, or listened to the class about Jane starting her first day of activity the next day, if you also wrote in your calendar or in your diary "the first day of rebirth" or "the first day of a new life," you can also try it out -- recording each day of your new life every day -- just like a baby coming into a new world, recording each day of your new world -- it's very interesting.

Jane said she kept catching herself going off track. What does that mean? It means that when she was living according to the new belief system, some of her old behavior patterns would still pop up, old thinking habits would still pop up, but she had already decided to live in this new way -- in the original English, "the new way." When living in the new way, when those old things pop up, you can catch them, you can see them, and at that point you have to correct them, saying: "My old beliefs have come back again, but I want to change them." Then try to remind yourself of the healthier new goals -- that is, no longer focusing on those old beliefs, only focusing on the new goals. What goals? Living in the present, positive thinking, and so on -- these are her new life goals and new life principles.

Jane ate an ordinary lunch. Rob described his very vivid dream from last night, an uplifting dream:

I dreamed I was jogging along a country road by the Selkirk Gate river, a road similar to the old river road we were used to driving on. I was wearing shorts and a sweatshirt, and I had white hair. As I ran, I was both surprised and delighted at how smooth and effortless my body's performance was.

He felt his youthfulness, especially for someone of my age. Running in the sun-drenched summer air, he really loved the freedom and power of that movement, very comfortable.

I knew I had been imprisoned, and now I was free.

In the dream he knew he had just been released, just let out of prison, and not far behind him, a police car was driving along with several policemen inside, watching him, observing him from time to time. They would occasionally come a bit closer, but they didn't interfere with him -- because he had been released, he was already free. This feeling of freedom from being out of prison made him especially happy and completely at ease. Although the police were approaching him, he wasn't afraid at all, because he was already free, and they didn't interfere with him.

And at a place across the river, he saw a large group of men resting or working on the riverbank, and he thought they were still imprisoned. Those men still in prison were probably working on the opposite bank of the river. As he ran past them, as he ran off in the opposite direction, he waved to them -- he said: "I've already left, I've already gotten out first, you all keep laboring inside." To these companions he might have once labored with, he waved to them: I'm leaving, I've been released.

Rob told Jane that he thought the police in the dream meant that he had already left his old beliefs behind. He now began to interpret his own dream: those police in the dream represented the old beliefs he had already left behind, and now he was running freely, free of those beliefs. At the same time, the group of people on the opposite bank represented the old beliefs he had discarded, and he waved goodbye to them. These old beliefs had made him feel like he was living in a prison, so that was how he felt in the dream.

He added that if he had time, he would now like to start jogging, since he had the ability and the love for running. Rob was an excellent athlete in one of his reincarnations, so in this life he still has the potential and aptitude for running. He said if that's the case, then I'll start -- in this real life, not in the dream, I'm going to start my jogging activity, because in the dream he experienced the wonderful feeling that jogging brought.

Jane's condition wasn't very good. They took her temperature this morning, and it was still 101 degrees. Rob asked her why the temperature had gone up again, but she didn't know. When her temperature was high, they had to take it every shift. Rob rang the bell for some ginger ale and ice, because the young lady who had promised to bring it an hour ago hadn't shown up.

At 2:40, while Rob read letters, Jane read yesterday's session, and read it quite well, much better than she had yesterday. At 2:55, she began reading the important session from February 1, again reading very well. After that, they seemed to let time slip away from them -- they watched a little TV, Rob dealt with some letters, they read part of a long letter from Sue Watkins, but Jane couldn't read it. Rob could see she was a bit discouraged, but he himself wasn't in the best state either. Jane spent a lot of time waiting for someone to take her vital signs, but ultimately decided to have a session.

Seth came through and didn't waste any words, commenting directly: "Your dream is indeed an excellent sign. You are escaping from the prison of negative beliefs, and once you are released, you greatly enjoy the new ease of your body's movements."

Many of our friends who have participated in our offline classes, offline salons, offline workshops, and offline experience classes have had this feeling -- whether they participated in a half-day activity, or just a weekend experience activity, or other activities, they all had a particularly relaxed feeling, a feeling of physical relaxation. And this relaxed feeling is like the feeling of regaining freedom. Once you've tasted that feeling of freedom, that physical relaxation and physical ease and freedom brought by the freedom of the soul and consciousness, once you've tasted that feeling, you can never go back. This is why many people are willing to participate in our offline activities and practices.

Of course, the feeling of well-being is a pleasant sensation experienced by all children.

For example, children love it when adults lift them up, spin them around, lift them high -- why? Because there's a floating sensation. And the meaning of that dream is to remind you of that inner and outer well-being and freedom -- inner and outer well-being and freedom, which is to have as much of a floating sensation as possible. This floating sensation is something that will be a key focus of our future study and practice, just like the floating of consciousness I mentioned earlier. See, he said just that one sentence and that was it.

4:30 p.m. Rob didn't expect the session to end so quickly -- just one sentence. Because Rob thought Jane still had some fairly important topics to discuss, such as the reason for her elevated temperature, but she didn't show any sign of wanting to, so he didn't push her. On his way home at 7:10, he wished he had pressed her, and he found that at a rather obvious moment of distress, he hadn't been of much help to her. That is, when she had a fever, Rob wasn't much help to her. When Rob was massaging her, she began to talk about her high fever, but Rob was distracted by the tense state her body was holding and interrupted her. Perhaps tomorrow we can do better.

At 4:33, a girl took Jane's temperature -- 100 degrees again. Oh, for heaven's sake, Jane muttered. But she said nothing else, only that she didn't want antibiotics. Rob was quite sure this temperature had something to do with the February 1 session that told him to live in the present, although he couldn't say why.

On the way home, Rob did think of a few questions: What is the reincarnational background of Jane's illness? And why, so long after her knees had broken, did she still keep her left leg curled so tightly against her abdomen? These were some of Rob's thoughts.

Doctors' Negative Judgments, and Seth's Positive Perspective

Because this session is very short, we'll move on to the next one. February 5, 1984, Sunday, 4:06 p.m. This is the fourth day of Jane's new activity.

Jane didn't call last night. This morning Rob spent time on letters to Jane, Seth, and the contributors, and he also wrote a letter to himself. He didn't do any work on Dreams, "Evolution," and Value Fulfillment. Today it was about 34 degrees. When he got to Room 330, Jane told him that last night had gone relatively smoothly. She'd been admitted to the intensive care unit because of chest pain, but all the tests came back negative. Jane said that this morning she heard one of the nurses say to herself: we're sometimes sicker than the patients, and yet we still come to work sick. Jane didn't go to hydrotherapy; she only let someone wash her face. Yesterday no one took her blood pressure at all. She had a lot to tell him, and she seemed much better than yesterday. Rob also felt a lot better — yesterday was just a day of emotional ups and downs for them, with no real emotion at all. So you can also sense that when Jane's emotional state wasn't good, Seth wouldn't transmit much content either. He just came in, said one sentence, and left, because he could feel that Jane's and Rob's emotions weren't good. But today, both of them were in much better shape than before.

Last night, after Rob left, they took her temperature, and they took it again this morning: 99 degrees and 97.8 degrees — both times it had come down. And after he left, Jane said: "I gave myself a good talking-to." Jane was educating herself — she gave herself a lecture about trusting her body and so on, and this helped her recovery a great deal. You see, her self-education brought her fever down.

Jane's doctor, Jeff Karder, came to see her this morning, and he was very pleased with Jane's progress. Jane said it's hard to get a doctor to praise a patient by saying "very good" — for a doctor, being happy to see a patient make such great progress is already not easy. The doctor said: "I keep getting good reports about you." He also asked Jane about their insurance troubles, and she explained as best she could, as well as about the hospital matters — that is, the hospital's hydrotherapy and such issues.

Then Jane asked the doctor why her right leg was shorter than her left. Jeff explained that the injury had healed, but the bone hadn't been aligned — Jane had been hospitalized because of a fracture, and because the bone wasn't aligned, it was shorter. He said that to restore that leg would require major surgery, to make it the same length, and it wouldn't be easy, and it wouldn't necessarily succeed. When Jane said she wanted to sit up, he said a minor operation could fix the leg to the point where she could sit up.

Rob added, regarding yesterday's session, that one of the questions he wanted to ask Seth today was about her right leg — why she hadn't straightened it out. That he wanted to ask Seth this question — it's hard to call it a coincidence. The negative part of Jeff's news — that Jane would have to wait at least until her leg was repaired to a certain extent before she could sit up — Rob had been anticipating this diagnosis for a while. Bah! Jane said: "If my body could recover the way it did before, then it can also repair this leg." Jane actually wasn't accepting the doctor's negative viewpoint.

Rob believed that this morning Jane really handled the doctor's visit very well, and he congratulated her for it. In any case, Rob wanted to ask Seth about this whole matter, since Seth had said several times that Jane would be able to walk normally and with some confidence. Jane went on to say that Jeff was clearly surprised by her progress, but at the same time he judged that she would have to stay in bed. Rob said that from a doctor's perspective, it was hard for him to do anything else — because a doctor only sees things within the scope of his own understanding; he couldn't possibly imagine that Jane could fully recover without surgery.

Jane ate better at lunch today, and she was clearly relieved that her temperature had dropped. At 3:15, she began reading yesterday's session, and she read it very well — the best in recent days. She said she tried to explain to Jeff how uncomfortable and impatient she was in the hydrotherapy room, but it had no effect at all — she could see that Jeff had no idea what she was talking about, so in the end she gave up. She was very annoyed by the hydrotherapy room's system, its red tape.

Rob showed Jane the list of questions he had prepared, at Seth's own suggestion. He told her that one of them was about the insurance matter — for example, he didn't want to ask their lawyer to take action and mess it up. Six weeks ago Seth had said that issue would be resolved, to Rob's satisfaction, and their lawyer said not to worry — that was the last they heard from the lawyer. Rob added that he couldn't imagine the hospital not demanding action before this — meaning demanding that they pay. And their money, on the tax side, wasn't fully sorted out yet — although the money was there, the taxes weren't straightened out. However, the hospital hadn't come asking them for money either. Seth had said this issue wouldn't have to wait long before it was clarified.

At 3:40, at Rob's suggestion, Jane began writing with Rob's pen. She placed a clipboard — that is, a kind of pad with one side glued so pages can be torn off one by one — on her right knee, and it hurt when it touched, because her right knee had split open, so she couldn't write anything. She even held the pen in her right hand. Tomorrow Rob would bring some writing boards, and he was quite sure she would make progress with this — possibly enough to free her up to write some poetry, for example at night when she was alone.

Rob explained to Jane that in his mind he said to his mother: "Sorry, Mom, I no longer have time to deal with your unstable beliefs and thoughts." That sentence was something Rob said to his mother in his mind. Because in the last session, Seth's comment about the reason for the trembling in my right hand — that suggestion was quite effective, and Rob thought it was quite humorous and original.

This sentence, actually, is something many of us could say to our own parents. In many cases, our parents' influence on us may be greater than we imagine, and at such times doing a mental separation from them is also very effective. What Rob meant was: I'm no longer going to deal with your unstable beliefs and thoughts. Think whatever you want, do whatever you want — I'm no longer paying attention to yours. I'll just focus on myself. Your beliefs are your business, your thoughts are your business. This was the separation Rob wanted to make from his mother, to solve the problem of his trembling hand. He felt this was a very original idea, one that might have a cumulative effect, and he wanted Seth to comment on it.

Near 4 o'clock, Jane's eye drops were administered. Jeff also told Jane that her eyes looked better. Jane wanted to start the session, and she felt this might be a longer session than usual, so Rob told her not to wait for someone to come take her vital signs.

The Core Beliefs Underneath: Hidden Gifts and False Modesty

Seth came through, and once again said, "Good afternoon." What Seth says next is extremely important, something worth deep thought and reflection for every person, a topic everyone should consider. He points it out directly, and without any politeness, he calls out some problems in the core beliefs underlying Rob and Jane.

Seth begins with a comment:

You are each surrounded by some most unfortunate beliefs, at least partially paranoid in nature, but unfortunate in any case. They are beliefs about ability, talent, and genius.

What kind of paranoid, even unfortunate beliefs are these? Why call them unfortunate? He will explain later.

These are distorted offshoots connected with a misunderstanding of the concept of equality as it is linked with a democratic government.

What he means is that, according to the constitution of a democratic country like the United States, or the spirit of that nation, all people are created equal. And a distortion or twisting of this concept of equality leads to the unfortunate, stubborn, paranoid belief that Seth says everyone has. Because we have a distorted understanding of equality, we think equality means everyone should be more or less the same.

These same ideas are also connected with psychology, dealing with the concepts of the norm and the ordinary person.

In other words, what is this? We think we are all ordinary people, and we think we should not have special abilities or talents that go beyond the ordinary. What if we do have them? People try as much as possible to hide from their neighbors their eccentricities, their failures, and even the talents and abilities that might set them apart from their peers. The result is a chain of beliefs such as the following.

People often hide some of their eccentricities from their neighbors and friends. They think these things are eccentricities -- for example, a fetish, or an obsession with something, or a love of collecting certain things. They think it is an eccentricity and should not be known to others. Then there are their failures, which they also think should not be known to others, should not be talked about, and are their secrets. Even their special talents and abilities cannot be talked about, because when they display abilities that go beyond ordinary people, they feel it will distance them from their neighbors, peers, or friends. -- Because their abilities are different from others, and surpass ordinary abilities, it makes them feel estranged from others, like the feeling of being too refined for the common crowd, or of being lonely at the top.

But such thoughts and beliefs lead to the following beliefs:

If you are highly talented in any area, play down that talent, or be extremely modest in its performance and expression, because others will be jealous of you, or afraid of you, or try to pull you down to their own level.

This is a false belief, but many people have it. People hide their talents and abilities, feeling they must be modest, must blend in with the crowd, and deliberately say things to cater to others -- for example, if they want to play mahjong, you have to play mahjong with them too; if they want to go shopping, even if you do not want to go, you are willing to go along with them; they talk about neighborhood gossip and everyday trivialities, and even though you do not want to participate, you still do. You want to discuss the universe with them, discuss life, discuss the meaning of life and value fulfillment, but no one is interested, and at that point you no longer dare to discuss it. You feel that others are afraid of you or jealous of you, so you feel you must pretend to be at their level, lower yourself to their level, and only then do you feel safer, only then can you fit into that circle.

This is a false belief. You might say, well, there is nothing wrong with doing that -- it just shows I am worldly-wise and easygoing. But just look at what he says later -- the harm this causes is enormous.

Seth paused for a moment, then continued:

The more unusual your talent, and the more unique and original it is, the more you must protect yourself from the distrust of others.

What he is saying here are all false beliefs, that is, based on that earlier false belief, people develop different viewpoints. That is, the more you feel your talent is different from others -- for example, if you suddenly develop the ability of telepathy, you quickly feel you must not tell anyone, and quickly hide it; if you develop the ability to foresee the future -- actually, everyone has this ability, but you suddenly feel you have it, and that it is something extraordinary, so you quickly hide it. In fact, this kind of behavior makes people in society or in the world who have special or unusual abilities afraid to reveal themselves, and it makes everyone think -- if he does not even dare to reveal himself, there must be something wrong inside him, or he himself is not even sure about this matter, making him feel like a freak. This only intensifies the phenomenon.

Conversely, every one of us who has special abilities should openly go public, start livestreams, make videos, and introduce these special abilities to everyone, letting these special abilities bloom in all their variety and compete freely. Over time, people will no longer find these miraculous things miraculous, and it can also stimulate the latent potentials in other people that have not yet been awakened. When they discover that others also have these abilities, they gain a kind of confidence -- I have them too. And this is a positive meaning that they need to act on. But in daily life, everyone does the opposite, hiding their superpowers -- and by superpowers I do not mean only those; for example, ability in mathematics is also a kind of superpower, and so are other abilities in finance, in all kinds of interpersonal relationships, including some special abilities -- all of these are superpowers. People want to hide all of them, every single one.

If you continue to indulge this belief, the belief continues as follows: If your talents are extreme, unique, and original, it may be safer to deny them altogether.

You go even further, and you even deny that you have this ability -- for example, if you have the ability of precognition, you quickly deny it: "I don't have it, I don't have it." You deny it even to yourself.

Adopt some disability or handicap to reduce the jealousy and envy of others, who otherwise might capture you.

In English this means disability, that is, physical disability. They might seize you, they might lock you up, they might even destroy you, precisely because your ability is so unique, because only you have it, and perhaps in the whole world only you have it. Once you have this ability, you actually become afraid. You deny that you have it, and you do not even dare to admit it, because you fear that if you admit you have this ability, others will seize you out of jealousy and envy. These views are all wrong.

You say this hiding of one's own ability even reaches the point of causing oneself to display a state of disability, so that others will not resent you or envy you. Through this matter you can understand why so many geniuses carry some disability or some defect in their abilities. Seth has uncovered the underlying logic for you -- it is because these geniuses are afraid of standing out too much, of being too outstanding, of arousing the jealousy and envy of the whole society, so they make themselves carry some disability, so that you will not need to envy me: look, although I am very smart, my body is disabled.

The most typical example here is Stephen Hawking, a classic example. We all know he was physically disabled but strong in spirit, with an extremely brilliant mind, and became a famous cosmologist. For example, he wrote A Brief History of Time⁴², a very, very good popular science book. Although many of its viewpoints are outdated or no longer match the latest experiments and discoveries, his thinking, and the crucial role he played in his era in popularizing science and cosmology, were extremely important. But the underlying fear deep inside him was very serious. You can see it just from his views and understanding of extraterrestrials -- it is enough to reveal a glimpse: he was extremely afraid of aliens, and this inner fear also showed itself in some ways in his scientific research and thinking, but I will not go into that here. On the other hand, he also considered himself a very intelligent person, and believed his IQ was very high, and then his subconscious or unconscious made him carry a certain disability in his body. As he became smarter and smarter, his disability became more and more severe. This is something even Hawking himself would not have acknowledged or even been aware of. If he had seen this passage or this content from Seth early on, perhaps his inner relaxation and release would have allowed his body to recover and heal miraculously, but unfortunately he did not. You can see that the condition he had, called ALS, gradually caused him to lose function after function, until in the end only one eyeball could move. So you can see what serious consequences people's beliefs can cause.

I am saying that you are both filled with such beliefs.

Seth turned and said, Jane and Rob, you are both filled with such beliefs.

Ruburt because of her poetry and writing.

She felt this ability was very special, so she was somewhat afraid that others would be jealous of her.

And you, because of your painting. You went into commercial work earlier, where your love of painting could be hidden beneath the general love of money.

What this sentence means is that Rob had very, very great confidence in his own painting -- that is, Rob believed he was extremely gifted in painting, but in order to hide his gift, he went into commercial art. He did not do artistic creation; he went into commercialization. He did not become a fine artist; instead he painted cards, painted art cards, painted illustrations, and did interior design for books. He went and did that. Why? Seth is pointing out Rob's underlying belief -- Rob was afraid that his talent in painting would arouse others' jealousy, so he deliberately hid it. He became a commercial artist, saying: "I paint well because people like these beautiful things, because commercial art is related to money." In other words, he wanted to tell others: I paint because I want to make money, not because I have a talent for painting, but because I want to make money. He was hiding his true ability.

Seth said:

You obviously became a painter to earn a living, which is just another version of the traditional American male role.

He is saying you deliberately did this -- in order to fulfill the duty of an ordinary American man, to earn money and support the family, to sell your paintings to make a living, rather than being like a true artist, treating painting as your artistic work, as part of your life. He did not do that; instead he went to make money. Seth is also hitting the nail on the head. He had never said this to the two of them before. This was the first time he essentially exposed the core beliefs underlying both of them, and without any mercy. Why? Because their -- especially Jane's -- body had already become more and more seriously ill. If these underlying beliefs were not exposed, it would truly be very difficult for her to recover completely.

But I do not know how Jane felt inside after hearing these words from Seth, or whether she could undergo a thorough change. In order to avoid singling out Jane alone, Seth also included Rob, so that Jane would not feel so bad. Actually, Rob's symptoms were much milder than Jane's, but in order to balance things out, he addressed both of them as a couple. You can see how meticulous his thinking was -- in order to talk about one person, he had to include the other. This is part of his emotional intelligence and the warm love we can feel in him.

Ruburt, as a young woman, you felt that writers were on the outskirts of society.

We will skip the middle part. You felt that a young woman -- a young female writer, a beautiful female writer, a beautiful female poet, a young female poet -- the very name "female poet" or "female writer" itself carries a certain meaning of being on the outskirts of society. We still talk this way now, right? We say "artsy young woman," tilting her head up at a 45-degree angle to gaze at the starry sky. What this phrase means is this viewpoint in our society -- that they do not fit in. Artsy young women are people who do not fit in, who are on the outskirts of society.

Seth said that Ruburt's beliefs about poets were contaminated by --

The concept of the poet as being too sensitive, too vulnerable to the experience of life.

But how did Jane view poets? If she was going to be a poet, she should just be a poet properly, express her feelings directly, and express her true emotions. Yet Jane also truly felt that, as a poet, one's experience and feeling of life were overly sensitive and fragile -- you can see she had a contradictory belief, saying that this sensitivity brought vulnerability rather than strength.

And true artists and poets for that reason had tragic endings.

Look at how Jane's belief system judged things. Jane believed: writers are on the outskirts of society; female poets and female writers are overly sensitive and fragile; and because they are overly sensitive and fragile, and because they are on the outskirts of society, they often do not have good endings -- they all have tragic endings. And she herself was a female poet and female writer. You can imagine: she had already concluded that these two roles would not have good endings, that they would all have tragic endings. What was the reason? One was being too fragile, one was being excluded to the outskirts of the mainstream, and one was being overly sensitive and fragile, all leading to tragic endings.

You see, even though Jane was not actually sensitive, and not that fragile -- she was a very normal woman -- this belief of hers caused her to become truly overly sensitive and overly fragile. So you can see how great an influence a person's beliefs have on them.

Through Jane's channeling and all these years of our understanding of Jane from discussing the Seth material, we can know that she was not that kind of person. She could wear the same pair of jeans for a week without changing them, including her underwear, and she often did not bathe much. She neither liked traveling, nor liked eating good food -- not that she did not like eating, but she was too lazy to bother preparing those foods. You could say her life had nothing to do with being artsy or refined. She was not that kind of sensitive woman or girl. She was a carefree, rough-and-ready person, and she both smoked and drank. In her childhood she was also extremely rebellious. During her adolescence, she did everything a rebellious teenage girl could do -- skipping school, cutting class, hanging out with boys, smoking, drinking, perming her hair. She did all of it. She was that kind of girl. But precisely because she later came to believe that female writers and female poets were all like that, she deliberately cultivated her own sensitivity and fragility, and then deliberately presupposed that these people would not have good endings.

You can see how terrifying Jane's underlying beliefs were, and Seth had no choice but to expose her completely.

To some extent you both held other personal beliefs, with the usual cultural connotations, that stressed a false modesty rather than a proper, natural pride in your abilities.

Seth's words here really hit the nail on the head. You are falsely modest -- you do not accept interviews, you isolate yourselves from the world, you do not communicate or socialize with very many friends. This is false modesty. What you truly should do is be truly proud -- of your abilities, of your writing ability, your poetic ability, your painting ability. You should truly let them bloom, be proud of them, and tell others, "Look at the poems I write, the paintings I paint, the novels I write." Neither of them was that kind of person. So he pointed out that this false modesty is useless.

With the usual cultural connotations.

That is, the viewpoint of ordinary people -- we should be modest, we should keep a low profile. This is completely unnecessary. In my commentary on The Nature of Personal Reality, or in my commentary on the Tao Te Ching, I have given very deep analysis of the word "modesty," which is completely different from our ordinary understanding. In our ordinary society we all think we should be modest, but actually it is unnecessary. You do not need special modesty. You only need to be yourself, to let your true abilities bloom, to live yourself out, to let your life force, the true essence of your life, bloom forth. That is enough. Excessive modesty, or any extra modesty beyond that, is all hypocrisy and falseness.

Seth points this out directly here:

Such beliefs are often given to children, obviously in that fashion.

For example, "You must never be an arrogant person" -- we often teach children not to be arrogant, not to think too much of themselves; "Don't be a show-off" -- our parents all educate children this way, thinking it is very good. Look how good our parents are, we teach our children not to be arrogant, not to show off, so that from childhood they have this virtue of modesty. This is a false belief. Remember, do not educate your children this way anymore. This is a false belief. If you yourself received it, let it stop with you, and do not pass it on to your children. Do not keep saying, "Don't be arrogant, don't show off, don't be proud, don't think you are good at everything. Actually you are nothing, you are just an ordinary kid." Never say that.

Followed by dire warnings that your fellow human beings distrust any neighbor who is different, or who displays any superior ability.

Then you further frighten your child, saying that this is a characteristic of us humans: anyone with outstanding ability will be pushed aside, will be taken down, will be shot down as the bird that sticks its neck out. When we were young, we were often instilled with such ideas by our parents or by society: "The nail that sticks out gets hammered down" -- meaning you should not seek fame; "The bird that sticks its neck out gets shot" -- you cannot stick your neck out. This kind of cultural or group belief is passed down to our children generation after generation.

And then we also hope our children will have an innovative spirit, and become people like Musk, Tesla, Jobs, Bill Gates, and so on. How is that possible? When they were little, you already shot down the bird that stuck its neck out. It no longer even has a head, and now you want it to stick its neck out? How can it stick its neck out when you have already shot its head off? So this kind of educational model is extremely frightening and extremely dangerous.

So what we need to do is to completely change this. We are now planning the school for our Qilin Homeland. This school is a wisdom-based school, developed entirely according to the way of wise education that a normal human being should receive. The children we cultivate will in the future all be people like Musk, like Tesla, like Jobs, like Altman, the current founder of OpenAI -- people with a pioneering and innovative spirit, who can truly do something to change the world. We are not cultivating them just to go out and find a job, learn a skill, get into a prestigious school, land a very good position, and earn a very high salary. We are cultivating world-class leaders, people who lead the development of the world. We will not cultivate people who learn special skills just for survival or for a better life. So from this you can see that differences in educational philosophy will bring about future impacts.

This entire belief system was harmful enough when you were devoted to writing and painting.

He is saying that your earlier belief system -- not wanting to stand out, fearing the jealousy and envy of others, and so on -- was already harmful when you were painters, poets, and writers. It was already very harmful.

But when Ruburt's psychic abilities began to show themselves, those same beliefs made you both even more cautious than before, and more fearful of retaliation from others. In Ruburt's case, she was more fearful of criticism and blame.

The abilities you were engaged in before were already harmful enough, let alone later when Jane also opened up her psychic ability, that is, her ability to connect with Seth. But at that point you became even more afraid, because even fewer people possess this ability. With painting, poetry, and novels, there are still some people, at least a certain group of people engaged in such work, but work like channeling is extremely rare; there are almost no such people. And it has always occupied a negative role or position in society. Yet Jane had this ability, and a very strong one at that -- you can see that she channeled for a full 21 years, with such powerful ability. I can say that in the field of channeling, if she claimed to be second, no one would dare claim to be first. She steadily transmitted 21 years of material⁴³, and any single session of her material contains content that most channelers could not transmit in a lifetime -- I am not referring to the amount of content, but to its depth, which is extremely, extremely rare, let alone sustaining the output for 21 years, and still outputting while lying sick in bed. But not only did she not showcase this ability, she actually became afraid of it. She feared criticism and blame from others -- all kinds of "What is this stuff you are channeling?" and "You are a psychic," and so on. Traditional people do not understand this kind of profession or this kind of thing, and she was very afraid.

All of those beliefs existed along with many unfortunate beliefs about sexual roles, such as those that prescribe the traditional roles of man and wife, or man and woman.

The previous belief was already harmful enough. It was harmful starting from being a poet and writer, and became even worse after opening up her psychic ability. Under this belief system, there was yet another belief further on that Jane also could not overcome, and that tormented her for a long time -- that is, within the traditional social morality, she believed that a woman should not be stronger than a man, that the man should be the head of the family, should go out and earn money to support the family, or should be the one with the highest income. But later, in their family, Jane's income became the highest, because the books Jane published were all published under Jane's name. Although the three of them created them together -- Seth, Jane, and Rob -- they were indeed published under Jane's name, and all the royalties, publishing, and money earned from the books went under Jane's name. Although they knew this was a joint creation, the name written on the check was Jane's, and the money really did go to Jane.

And all of this made Jane not only not proud, not only not pleased with herself, but actually extremely uncomfortable. Later, every time she published a book, every time she received a sum of money, her body not only did not improve, but each time it worsened a little, became a little worse. As more and more books were published and more and more money was earned, it instead became a negative belief that worsened her body. You can imagine the influence of a person's beliefs on the body -- clearly this was a good thing: as a woman, I earned a lot of money, so Rob does not have such great pressure to make a living, and moreover, the key point is that this was created by all of us together. Whether I earned it or you earned it, it is our shared wealth, so we should use this money to enjoy life properly, to enjoy pleasure, to be happy and joyful. But instead, this became a major psychological pressure she could not get past, a psychological hurdle.

Ruburt had some feelings of guilt about expressing psychic abilities in such a prominent manner.

You see, she had feelings of guilt. Not only did she not appreciate and praise herself -- "My psychic ability is so strong that it is rare in the world" -- she actually felt it was a kind of sin.

When it seemed that the man in the relationship should be the most talented, and show the most financial success, she felt even more guilty.

She felt that she had used some improper ability to obtain some improper wealth, putting herself in a state where her husband could not hold his head up in the family relationship. She felt guilty. And their marital relationship was also not harmonious; Rob did indeed have the problem of impotence. This phenomenon is actually very easy to understand from a psychological analysis -- when the woman is too dominant, and I mean financially or psychologically, or in the family relationship, when the woman is too strong, the incidence of male impotence is very high, and Rob was clearly affected by this. So you can imagine that Jane felt even more guilty about this.

You see, clearly this was a very wonderful thing -- being able to channel, to write books, to publish -- you would think these are all good things. But at the very beginning, you can see in the earlier sessions, how much they longed for the book to be published, how much they longed for the book to be published and earn some money to supplement their household. But when it was actually published, it instead caused psychological distress.

So sometimes your roles in that fashion made you both unhappy.

Jane was unhappy, and Rob was unhappy too. You see, clearly something that should have been mutually beneficial became something that affected each other negatively, and made both of them uncomfortable. So you can see how these earlier core beliefs -- that is, the powerful underlying core beliefs Seth mentioned at the very beginning -- can influence so many layers of negative effects afterward.

For a while, Ruburt even feared that the psychologist in Oswego was right, that her psychic abilities were only an attempt to prove herself better than you.

That is, Ruburt even feared what this psychologist said. The psychologist told Jane: you developed your psychic abilities because you wanted to prove that you are better than your husband -- that is, to prove you are better than him, so you opened up your psychic abilities. And this made Jane blame herself even more.

These are all beliefs that you have both struggled with over the years.

He is saying these are all beliefs you have struggled with over the years. What I have just pointed out are all negative, limiting beliefs that you should change. But for all these years you have never thoroughly changed them; you have kept pulling back and forth with them, wrestling with them, entangled with them.

Then Seth shifted his tone and said:

Of course, you also have many excellent beliefs that accompany you, so you do indeed make use of your abilities, express your talents, and express your nature. And you enjoy your relationships with each other and with friends, and you do indeed enjoy some financial success.

Although you two felt unhappy -- Jane felt unhappy about earning money, and Rob felt unhappy, and Jane herself was unhappy too -- you did in fact earn money, you did achieve financial success, you enjoyed your relationships with each other and with friends, and you did express your own nature. You still made transmitting the Seth material the central focus of your lives. What Seth means here is the reverse -- a slap followed by a sweet date, so to speak, afraid that the two of them might get too discouraged, so he tells them: aside from those bad beliefs, you also have many good beliefs.

But Seth could not hold back, and after softening things a bit, he continued:

But those old negative beliefs have had a greater effect on Ruburt than on you.

Those bad beliefs have had a greater effect on Jane's body than on Rob. Because --

She apparently thought for a time that if she curtailed physical activity, people would not attack her for her psychic and mental activities.

You see, Seth once again hit the nail on the head and pointed out Jane's underlying belief: Jane said, "If my physical activity is restricted" -- just like the example of Hawking I mentioned earlier -- "then you will no longer attack me, because I have a physical disability, my physical activity is restricted. Although my mental activity is very rich, I can channel, I can connect with higher dimensions of consciousness, but my physical body is instead incapable, I cannot even walk." Think about how terrifying a thing that is. It is precisely because Jane's underlying thinking was like this.

The curtailment of physical activity apparently happened gradually, not all at once, until she began to learn the truth --

Human beings were meant to express all of their abilities -- both mental and physical -- and life is a great stage for expression. In fact, life is expression.

I hope everyone can mark this passage as important. Our expression in this world is not only mental; physical expression is equally important. And Jane had a mistaken belief: she thought, "Since my mental expression is so good, then I should suppress my physical expression." That is not right! Life is expression, life is expression. To be alive is to be performing and expressing at every moment. We are performing at every moment on the great stage of life, and in this performance, your body, your physical movements and actions, including your body's shape and form, are all part of the performance. It is not that you perform your wisdom, your spirit, your psychological state on this stage while ignoring the body's issues -- the body is equally important.

Seth said that Jane finally came to understand this point:

But at one point, for just a little while, Jane neither wrote nor held sessions, and in addition could barely move physically.

There were some moments when Jane did nothing at all -- she did not write novels, did not channel Seth, did not hold sessions, did not do psychic work, and could not even move her body. In those moments when she could do nothing at all, Jane began to understand a principle. What principle? It was the deep meaning of the phrase she wanted everyone to say: "Life is expression." That is -- you must take care of your body, your life. Your being alive in this world is itself the best expression. You are alive, your life force blooms within your body, and this in itself is the best expression. You do not need anything extra. This is already the best expression. If you have more, then all the better; if you do not, there is no need to force it.

Furthermore, while you are blooming spiritually, while you are growing psychically, you must still pay attention to your physical creativity and your physical abilities. Just as with your mental abilities -- you have transmitted the Seth material for so many years, and you feel it is safe -- your physical abilities are equally safe. You cannot say, "I have opened up one ability, so I must suppress another ability," just so that others will not think you are good at everything, as if you need to show weakness and tell others that you have a vulnerability. There is no need for that.

It is safe for her to use her psychic abilities, her creativity, and her mental and physical abilities to the fullest.

Mental abilities are safe, and physical abilities are equally safe.

At 4:48, the nurse brought the menu and forgot to close the door, and there was still noise in the hallway, but Jane continued nonetheless. Seth continued:

This session will serve, however, as a reminder to you both, and will help sweep away any remnants of old lingering beliefs.

To help you clear away those stubborn remnants that never seem to get fully cleaned out.

Earlier Ruburt was afraid to trust her body, afraid to let her body heal her.

You see, she did not even want her body to heal herself, for fear of being attacked by others. What a terrifying thought that is.

You both also believed that you had to protect your special abilities with all your might. But you can see the contradictory path that was constructed in such a way.

You both understood that you needed to protect this special ability so that more of the Seth material could be transmitted, but you adopted a completely opposite and contradictory method -- protecting this ability by restricting your own physical activity. This was not only unnecessary, but it also worked against your own wishes. It truly worked against your wishes. Later on, because of Jane's passing, the Seth material was no longer transmitted, and it came to an abrupt halt.

Jane was only in her fifties then. A person in her fifties is still in the prime of life, and transmitting for several more decades would have been no problem at all. We cannot imagine what exciting and thrilling higher-dimensional consciousness and wisdom about this world would have been transmitted if Seth's words had brought about a change in Jane, and Jane had continued to live and transmit the material for several more decades. So from a certain angle, Seth was also somewhat anxious at this time, and he hoped Jane could recover sooner.

Your starting point was good -- you wanted to protect this psychic ability -- but you used a completely opposite, contradictory method to solve this problem. I am aware of Card's visit, and of your conversation about Ruburt's walking, and so forth. And I wanted to answer your questions, but I wanted to give you the preceding material as a necessary preparation. I am also aware of the limitations of time.

Besides, regarding the questions you wanted to ask me, I do not have time to answer them now. I will first pour out everything I wanted to say and needed to say. Because every time Jane's condition was poor, the material that could be transmitted was very limited, so Seth seized every possible opportunity to say everything they needed to know in one burst. So in this session Seth spoke rather freely, basically turning over all of their underlying beliefs until nothing could be hidden -- when it has been said to this extent, where else could anything hide? As for the questions they wanted to ask Seth, Seth was in no hurry; there would be plenty of time later.

I may say that I generally agree with your decisions, and with Ruburt's interpretation of Card's visit. The material I have just given will help Ruburt find greater release.

He said that what I just said can allow Ruburt to release herself more, to relax herself, and to let her body heal her -- you only need to allow her to do so.

I hope this session will help drain away any lingering doubts and contradictions.

I hope this session can drain away all the remnants of your doubts and contradictions, so that they no longer remain. So that you will truly allow -- especially Jane -- allow her own body to heal her. The implication is that Jane actually did not allow her body to heal herself. Why? As he already said earlier, her underlying belief was exactly this.

Remind me tomorrow of the additional questions, and we will continue. I may or may not return, again, according to those rhythms I mentioned, but know that I am here and approachable.

He said, Seth, thank you very much.

At 4:57, while Jane smoked a cigarette, Rob read the session to her. Then he said there was a lot to think about. "That was a very powerful session," Jane said. Indeed, while Rob was reading, Jane alternately sighed, sobbed, and made sounds. Rob thought this would be very helpful. That is, while Rob was reading the session to Jane, Jane's reactions were very obvious. Those of us who have studied spiritual energy for a long time know that Jane's reactions -- sighing, sobbing, hiccuping, making sounds -- these instinctive bodily reactions were actually signs that the places where her body's energy was stuck were beginning to clear and ease. This is a normal symptom and phenomenon of clearing. Some people clear these energy blockages through a runny nose, sneezing, vomiting, hiccuping, and all sorts of other ways. Jane was the same; from these bodily reactions one could tell that these were indeed the points where the energy was stuck in her body.

At 10 p.m., Jane called, but none of that matters now.

Humanity's Universal Underlying Beliefs

The content of this session is extremely, extremely crucial, and it is crucial for every person. Because this is a universal underlying belief of humanity: not wanting to stand out, not wanting to display one's unique abilities, not daring, even fearing, the envy of our fellow human beings and even the harm they might cause us. The more we want to protect this ability of ours, the more we do the exact opposite — not daring to display it, instead hiding it, denying it, even using physical disability or some physical limitations, some illnesses, to please our fellow human beings, saying, "Look, although I am strong in this area, I am also not well in other physical aspects." This is entirely caused by erroneous beliefs, entirely unnecessary.

And these underlying beliefs, in fact, every one of us has them. This is very, very frightening. Every one of us is more or less influenced by them, yet we have not faced them squarely. While Seth is discussing the issues of Rob and Jane, each of us should also dig into ourselves: do you have this kind of belief at your foundation? Have you ever not dared to express your true self, not dared to express your true abilities, not dared to tell others how outstanding you are? Has excessive modesty, false modesty, surrounded you and become the mainstream of your life, become the dominant color of your life, even made you disguise yourself, even made you cripple yourself? Have you? If so, change immediately.

Change immediately. Loudly tell others what special abilities you have, what abilities you have that are different from others. Post it on your social media, or when chatting and communicating with others, that is fine too — you must announce it outwardly, boldly announce and tell others: I am just this unique, I am just this different from others, I do have some abilities that you do not have. Do not be afraid of being too high-profile, do not be afraid that this behavior of yours will make others treat you as an oddity.

Just as Seth said, you must always remember: your life is expression, or life is performance. You must bloom yourself — not only the blooming of spiritual elevation, but also in the physical body, in the body, you must bloom as well. On the stage you must perform, you must display the most graceful, most beautiful, most healthy, most vital side of your body, not the sickly, limited side.

This point can serve as a test, or a check, of whether your beliefs have been cleared.

Everyone, sort through your own beliefs, make an adjustment and a change, flip this belief over, and your life will be completely different from then on. Otherwise, you have also seen Jane's outcome — the harm is enormous. It is not a matter of whether you change or not being equally acceptable. In other words: the stronger your energy, the stronger your uniqueness, the stronger your extraordinary abilities, the greater the harm you do to yourself. Conversely, some mediocre people do not do as much harm to themselves, because they do not have anything unique that they think they need to hide in the first place.

Here, everyone must remember to change your beliefs and begin a brand-new life. Just like Jane, the first day, the second day, the third day of a new life. So from which day does your new life begin? Do you have a record, like a diary, recording every day of your new life? Do you dare to share every day of your new life with others? If you can do this, your life has truly begun anew. If you still hesitate, worrying about how others will see you, then I am sorry, you are still drifting and struggling in the old pattern, which means you have learned it but have not applied it in your life.

Illness Rates Among Hospital Staff

This part begins with the session from February 6, 1984, Monday afternoon at 4:33.

At the start, they listed many of the hospital staff members they had come into contact with during their stay in the hospital, and these were people who already had physical conditions, symptoms, or illnesses. For example, Georgia had a herniated disc, stomach ulcers, surgeries, and so on; Shirley also had a herniated disc and surgery; Susie had knee surgery; Sean had chest pain; Bernie had coronary artery problems; Julie had back pain; Rhonda had surgery; Steve from the hydrotherapy department had stomach ulcers; Debbie had heel problems; Tom had leg problems; Mike had shoulder problems.

The above is a partial list of hospital staff members we knew to have serious medical problems since Jane entered the hospital on April 20 of last year. These are the people we came into contact with fairly regularly within our own small circle, and if we multiplied their number proportionally by the roughly one thousand employees in the hospital, we would arrive at that kind of percentage of ill employees, which I think would be a very high percentage.

What Rob is trying to say here is that the hospital staff have a higher rate of illness than normal people. Because they are in this hospital environment, they believe in the existence of illness, and they believe that illness can cause this kind of harm to the human body. They come into contact with this every day, and in their belief system this is the most real and normal phenomenon, which leads to their illness rate being higher than that of normal people.

Jane's State and Self-Approval

Today when I arrived at Room 330, Jane was singing to herself. Last night when I finished typing, she had called. This morning I dreamed, planning work related to value fulfillment, and on the way to the hospital at noon I mailed our letter to Maude. Today the temperature was just above freezing.

This morning Jane went to hydrotherapy, and she said that while waiting there she also sang to herself, and a nursing staff member came in and asked if she had a problem, since she was making sounds.

After lunch at 2:45, Jane put on lipstick and looked in the mirror. She said her right thumb had gained some extra movement and freedom. Her temperature today was 98.3 degrees Fahrenheit, down again. She had had a fever the previous two days.

At 3:36, Jane began reading yesterday's session, and did very well. At 3:45, Dana came in, pointed at Jane, and said, "You're a celebrity." Dana had found an article about Jane in a book on the history of Chemung County and Elmira, with a photograph. I had forgotten about this, but a few years ago, an older retired person had contacted Jane about such a project. Neither of us could remember his name; I believe it was someone connected with the Star-Gazette.

At 3:56, Jane continued reading, and read very well. She finished at 4:10, and while I was handling correspondence, she smoked a cigarette. As the time grew late, she suggested a short session.

Seth came through and said:

Now I wish you both a good afternoon again.

Seth came through and went straight to the conclusion. There is one point in particular worth mentioning, which is the key point Seth wanted to make -- self-approval, this self approval, the part about self-approval and self-affirmation.

In yesterday's session we discussed many contradictory or negative beliefs, all of which lead to self-disapproval, that is, self disapprove, self-disapproval. These beliefs are so contradictory that to put any one of them into practice, you actually seem to negate the other things you also believe. Therefore no matter what you do, you will have a strong feeling of self-disapproval.

This statement has a real tongue-twister quality to it. What he means is that each person should originally have only self-approval, but many people have emotions or beliefs of self-disapproval. Once you have this belief of self-disapproval, a very strange thing occurs: one part of you is self-approving, and one part is self-disapproving. No matter which belief you hold between these two parts, in a given state you hold a certain belief -- you say self-approval, but actually you still have a part that is self-disapproving; and at that moment you negate the existence of that self-disapproving part.

Can you understand the logic in this? When you are self-approving, because you still have the belief of self-disapproval that has not been cleared away, you negate the existence of that self-disapproving part, which means you are still self-disapproving. Although you negate the self-disapproval, you are still self-disapproving, because you do not acknowledge the existence of that part. This is telling you again that logically you are fighting with yourself.

When you are in the self-disapproving part, then you are already self-disapproving, so that is even more self-disapproval. Therefore when you have this belief system of self-disapproval, whether you are in a state where you feel good about yourself or a state where you feel bad about yourself, you are always self-disapproving.

Do you realize how terrifying this is? Why is it that many people's physical conditions cannot improve? Even if you have the slightest trace, even if you still have a little bit of self-disapproval that has not been completely cleared away. You think, I really am not that good yet, I really am not that perfect, I have a little self-disapproval -- isn't this a very humble or good virtue? Or don't you think this is a very objective fact? My figure is not good enough, my looks are not good enough, my brain is not smart enough, and so on and so forth. Even if you have the slightest trace of what you consider a bit of so-called objective self-disapproval, it will cause you to fall into an infinitely looping logic of self-disapproval. Ultimately a very, very small self-disapproval will spiral and amplify into a complete self-disapproval.

Why is that? It is because of what is said here: although you make a very small negation, when you are strongly self-approving, you negate that part of self-disapproval. This is what we tell everyone in our usual studies -- why beliefs must be thoroughly cleared away. The subtle key of "thoroughly" lies right here. We ordinarily think we can only proceed step by step, and cannot say we will resolve things thoroughly, but you should know that the consequences of not being thorough are very serious.

It is not that you have already mostly moved beyond that kind of reaction... basically you have not had that reaction most of the time, yet occasionally it still comes back.

When you worry that you have not done as well as you should have, or when you briefly catch yourself acting in the old ways, you are self-disapproving. When you feel you have not done something satisfactorily, or when you discover that the old patterns are starting to operate again, you are self-disapproving.

To have any true sense of well-being, a sense of self-approval is absolutely necessary.

To attain true happiness, self-approval and self-affirmation are absolutely necessary; otherwise you can never achieve true happiness.

Whenever you berate or punish yourself for behavior that you do not feel is your best, it is never a virtue.

It is very important to remember this premise he stated, and I hope you will copy it down: whenever you berate or punish yourself for behavior that you do not feel is your best, it is never a virtue.

That is, no matter what the circumstances, do not punish or belittle yourself because you did not do well enough. Very few of us can do this. When we do well, we affirm and praise ourselves, but the moment we do something slightly imperfect or something we are not satisfied with, we begin to belittle or punish ourselves. We think this is a kind of demand on ourselves, or a kind of motivation, or a kind of positive incentive, but in fact it is not.

Although this session is very short, we must learn one thing from it, and apply it in time: under no circumstances should you belittle or punish yourself because you did not do well enough. Remember, under no circumstances should you do this. This is an extremely crucial point, and it is also a key secret, or a little trick, for attaining true happiness. It sounds simple to say, but it is indeed very difficult to put into practice in time.

But really watch out for that kind of reaction, that natural negation and belittlement of yourself, so that you can stop them in the bud. You need a kind of awareness: the moment this tendency appears, immediately strangle it, and do not let this behavior of self-disapproval and self-belittlement emerge.

Seth told Ruburt that the energy that healed or repaired his right knee could also straighten it. Jane's right knee joint had broken and has now healed; this is the result of her self-healing. Seth said three times -- you can heal this knee, and you can also straighten it; it is now in a bent state, and it is the same energy. In that regard, the mental exercises he has been doing are excellent.

Do not worry about the insurance matter; it is being resolved, and in a way that is favorable to you.

The method for resolving this problem, including this approach to your own health and illness, is this: try your best to remember to playfully imagine your worries floating away, or bursting apart, or whatever.

That is, when I have troubles and worries, you can imagine, playfully imagine, that this thing floats away, dissipates, dissolves, evaporates, explodes, shatters, and so on -- all kinds of imaginative forms can help you find relief. That is, when your worries come, when you face the pressures of life and physical difficulties -- including financial pressure and emotional crises -- you should use this method to let your worries dissipate. This is one of the methods you must use.

You may surprise yourself, finding yourself as happy as a child with a new toy.

You may surprise yourself, being as happy as a child with a new toy. You will be very happy, because you have eliminated and cleared away your worries.

I may or may not return, again according to those rhythms I spoke of, but know that I am here and approachable.

Then Jane came back, and Jane said it was me. She said thank you, only -- it was already finished.

This passage is very short, but remember he made two points: first, no matter when, do not belittle or blame yourself; second, when you really have worries, you should playfully imagine them dissipating, or dissolving, or evaporating -- any of these is fine. Remember that this is an action you must take, an action you must take in your mind. If you do not do it, it will be very difficult for you to completely eliminate the anxiety and worry you already have.

At 4:45, Rob forgot to tell Jane about a dream he had last night, not very detailed. He dreamed of visiting some friends, believed to be a couple, and they had several cats of their own in the house. Their Billy was also there, and when it was time for him to leave, he was supposed to take Billy with him, so he began looking everywhere for Billy. Each time he picked up a cat, he found it was not Billy -- each cat's coloring was more or less similar, but different enough in color and markings that when he found Billy, he would know it was not Billy. A very interesting dream.

All living beings are naturally endowed with a sense of self-approval

Let's look at the next session, February 7, 1984, Tuesday, 4:04 p.m.

Jane called last night. It was very cold today; when I left the house to go to Ward 330 it was 22 degrees Fahrenheit, below freezing. I stopped at the bank to get a money order to pay bills. This morning no one came to take Jane's temperature, because it had already returned to the normal range.

After lunch Jane told me that Steve and Tracy had sent him a telegram Sunday night, saying that for various reasons they would not be able to come over. Jane forgot to tell me. This was the sixth day of Jane changing his own thinking and new activities.

At 3:02 p.m., after lunch, Jane began reading yesterday's session, and he read it quite well. At 3:15 p.m. Jane finished reading that session, and did quite well. At 3:55 p.m., a student took his blood pressure, and it was very good. Jane said a little earlier that he was ready for the session, and he decided not to wait for someone to come take his temperature. The room was very warm, and I turned off the heat and opened the window. Sometimes the traffic noise could be disturbing, and that effect reminded me of how often that kind of clamor caused problems when we held sessions at 458 West Water Street.

At that time they lived in an apartment, where the noise was even louder, and it was in a downtown location, next to a bridge. If you have lived in America, you know that whenever there is any traffic accident, the sound of sirens echoes through the night. Many people do not quite understand why there are not so many sirens in China. In America, a normal traffic accident usually brings many vehicles to the scene. As long as there is a traffic accident and someone calls the police, first the fire trucks will come. American fire trucks also handle rescue work -- they are not only for fires; firefighting and emergency rescue are often combined, and if the ambulance has not arrived yet, the firefighters will be the first to carry out rescue. Generally speaking, the fire department arrives first; they are always the fastest.

Depending on the severity of the accident, sometimes one fire truck comes, sometimes two, and when it is serious, three or four are possible. Just imagine how loud the sirens are when those enormous fire trucks come roaring in. Then the second department is the police; the police certainly have to come to the scene, and the police usually do not come in just one car either -- sometimes two, sometimes three. At the same time, the hospital ambulance will also come if it is a serious traffic accident or if there is a risk of injury. The fire trucks come because they fear the car might explode and cause secondary disasters, and also because they fear someone might be trapped inside the car and unable to get out; the fire trucks will use various tools to get that person out of the car. The vehicles of these three departments -- fire, ambulance, and police -- all sound their sirens. So for just one traffic accident, vehicles from three departments, many of them with sirens blaring, arrive at the scene. You can imagine how in a city at night, the sirens echo through the night sky, especially near the downtown areas of big cities like New York or Chicago, where they almost never stop, so that noise is extremely bothersome.

Then Seth came through:

Once again I wish you a good afternoon.

Then came the dictation for the book:

Now all creatures are also born with a deep sense of self-approval.

Remember, it is all creatures, an innate sense of self-approval -- that is the self approval mentioned earlier.

Each creature is born proud of itself and loves itself. That kind of self-approval is also experienced in many different ways, not only by creatures as you think of them, but also by atoms, molecules, and all levels of species.

Anything you consider alive and anything you consider not alive -- they are all equally proud of themselves and love themselves. We humans should be even more so. If other species can do it, why can we humans not do it? Why can we not proudly love ourselves?

Ruburt once wrote a poem about a nail in the curtain.

He endowed that nail with consciousness and self-awareness, and said that each nail indeed responds to itself in its own way, to its own actions and reactions.

A nail cannot possibly choose to jump down from the curtain and dance around the room -- that is impossible. A nail's response to stimuli would not go so far as to jump down from the window by itself and run around the room dancing. But a nail does indeed have awareness of the room and of the curtain, and it is aware of the temperature on both sides of the window; it can feel the difference between the temperature inside and outside the house. The atoms and molecules that make up the nail possess their own lively consciousness; they are not lifeless.

The motion of these atoms and molecules is directed by electrons.

Here again it is mentioned that electrons are very crucial. Once you have studied basic physics, especially later quantum mechanics, you will be able to understand how important a role electrons play in the middle of it all -- one could even say they determine the composition and constituents of the atom. We will not expand on this here; later, when we talk about quantum mechanics and how protons and neutrons convert into each other, sometimes having one more proton and sometimes one less, and how these things come about, and when we discuss the relationships among the several strong and weak interaction forces inside the atom, we will talk about why electrons have such an important role at the atomic level.

Therefore within himself, within the atoms of the nail, the nail actually experiences constant activity.

Because the atoms that make up the nail are influenced by electrons, they are constantly active. If you observe the activity of electrons, you will find that they really do seem to be dancing. Why is it in a symmetrical way? If you have observed the orbits of electrons, you will find that electron orbits have a certain regularity and rhythm, and there are transitions between orbits. Electrons exist in the form of electron clouds; their motion is not what we imagine. It follows certain rules, conforms to certain formulas of motion, and moves according to a certain pattern of orbital energy transitions. It is very graceful, very beautiful; the form of the electron cloud is very lovely to look at, so Seth calls it symmetry and rhythm.

Indeed it is a remarkable symmetry and rhythm performing a dance... So the nail is indeed filled with its own sense of self-approval.

Again, I mention this only to emphasize the fact that self-delight and self-approval are natural characteristics.

What Seth wants to emphasize is that self-delight and self-approval -- self-enjoyment -- are natural facts.

Characteristics that actually make your entire physical world and world of experience possible.

This is a fact. It is precisely because of these two attributes, self-delight and self-approval, that our physical world and our world of experience can exist at all. If these two basic facts were missing, our physical world would not exist, our world of experience would not exist, and our world of sensation would not exist either. In other words, the reason our world exists -- whether the physical world we think of or the world of our feelings -- depends on these two basic conditions. All things are engaged in self-delight and self-approval; be sure to remember, these are two basic conditions.

So it is most unfortunate when adults inadvertently undermine a child's sense of self-approval.

That child originally had self-approval, but an adult broke it, destroyed a child's sense of self-approval.

A small boy, for example, might be caught in a lie, and therefore be labeled a liar by an adult in the most furious terms.

He was caught lying, and was labeled a liar by an adult in the most furious terms. At this point the impact on the child is a very terrible subversion of self-approval. It is a fact that he lied; there is no question that he did something wrong. But the fact that he did something wrong cannot be used to negate this boy's existence or his self-approval. It is only one thing he did wrong; it cannot be used to negate the boy because of this one thing.

If you say to a child, because he lied, "You are a liar, I will never trust you again," that is a destruction of the child's self-approval. He originally had self-approval, but after being scolded in such fury -- "You liar, a liar child, lying from childhood," and so on and so forth -- many children who develop problems only begin to give up on themselves after their sense of self-approval has been destroyed by adults.

So as adults, we must always remember not to destroy a child's self-approval, self-affirmation, and self-praise. A child who is pleased with himself, self-satisfied, full of joy, and happy every day is more important than anything else. This is the foundation of the world's existence, so we must pay attention to this in education.

Instead, the child made an error -- he told a lie, for example -- but he himself is not the error or the lie. He can then change his behavior while still retaining his self-respect.

We need to make a distinction: the fact that he lied is indeed wrong, but we must tell him that the fact that he lied cannot define him as a liar. That this matter was wrong does not prove that the whole person is wrong; these are two completely different concepts.

Good Intentions and the Importance of Self-Approval

Paused at 4:16. Seth said:

All creatures basically have good intentions.

Speaking of preserving self-esteem here, this is a point we must pay attention to in education. We have been talking about this new style of education, or a new-age education suited to the future development of humanity. We are also preparing, this autumn, that is, after the summer vacation, to start our own curriculum system on wisdom education, aimed at all of our children, and their parents may also participate. Here you can see that many of Seth's ideas about education are different from many of our traditional ideas. The most important difference among them is that he points out what a profound impact it will have on children if we educate them according to wrong educational ideas. Previously we did not know the harm of doing this; now he no longer fails to point out this harm to us.

Even when they commit the most questionable acts, these are often caused by a misguided good intent.

Even when they commit very questionable acts, we should believe that at the bottom they are caused by a good intent, not that they are born wanting to do bad things.

In fact, many criminals are motivated by distorted versions of righteousness.

We should remember this point. Many teenagers get into fights and commit crimes, and at that time, in their beliefs, they think they are acting for justice, or for loyalty among friends, or for friendship, stepping in to help friends solve problems. How many teenagers have committed crimes with this kind of belief — they have twisted a righteous idea into "going through fire and water for a friend." Is their underlying belief evil in any way? No. They think they are the same as those knights-errant in martial arts novels who step in to right wrongs and help others. In fact, it is not the same; that is a distorted version, but they cannot recognize this.

On this point, we will have more to say later in this book. But for now I want to emphasize the importance of self-approval in relation to exuberance, health, and happiness.

Then he said the dictation was over:

I may or may not return, again, according to the rhythm I spoke of, but know that I am here and approachable.

But I have indeed accelerated those coordinates of Ruburt's healing process.

I also remind you to read the previous day's session whenever possible. The session from the day before yesterday was about the contradiction and tug-of-war between self-affirmation and self-denial, emphasizing the point of why one must practice self-affirmation; and it also emphasized how, when worry exists, one can use a playful imaginative approach to dissolve them. These two points were both highlighted in the previous day's session.

Then at 4:21, Jane told Rob that Mary, who had changed his bandages yesterday, cherished him and said that his other bedsores were healing very well. At 4:45, Torres took Jane's temperature: 99.3 degrees. After he left, Jane said: "See, I do not believe my body, I do not trust it, and instead I get angry at it because my temperature has gone up like that again."

You see, he does not believe his body, and then as soon as his body temperature rises, he gets angry at his own body. 99 degrees is already close to the level of a low-grade fever. And Jane did not read the session from the day before yesterday; this morning Rob read it at home.

Rob's Phone Call with a Reader

Let's look at the next session, February 8, 1984, Wednesday, 4:24 p.m.

Rob said that this morning he was dreaming, Dreams, "Evolution," and Value Fulfillment. The weather was very cold; when he left the house at 12:30 to go to Room 330, it was about 22 degrees Fahrenheit. When the phone rang, he had just kicked off the needle and turned over. It was a man named Danny O'Shea, calling from a small town in Missouri. He had sent some homemade fruit and vegetable preserves at Christmas, and last year he had also written a long string of letters, signed "me," meaning that Rob was unable to write back to thank him for all those things. He had sent the same kind of thing the Christmas before last as well.

In an earlier letter, he had sent some photos of himself and asked Rob to return them. Rob did so, and after that he no longer wrote his address on his letters. Rob had also put his address in a storage room downstairs, along with many other addresses in other boxes, and had not yet taken the time to look for it so he could write back. Another one of those troublesome letter matters that kept happening.

In the process of replying to letters, Rob often encountered many very simple but very tedious things. For example, this person often wrote letters asking for things he had previously sent to be returned, which for Rob was a very large workload. Think about it: from dozens of reader letters every day, he had to find the contents of a certain letter from several years ago or last year—for example, if someone sent a few photos, you had to find them and send them back. And if this person often did not write a return address on his letters, you would not even know where to send them. Some of his letters had addresses, some did not, which made it very troublesome.

Today this person learned from someone in the Carolinas that Jane was hospitalized, so he called every hospital in his city asking whether there was a patient named Jane Roberts, until he found out which hospital Jane was in. A simple procedure.

And Rob said he hoped others would not follow his example, not to go around checking which hospital Jane was in and calling. He did not think he would call back—he hoped this person would only call this once and not again, although it was very possible he would call again.

As it turned out, they had a rather sharp conversation. Rob wanted to keep a distance from him, not letting him feel that they were as familiar as friends, because then he might call often like a friend, and Rob did not want that. In this he hoped to distance him to the point that he would no longer bother Rob and Jane.

Rob could feel that this person's energy was vigorous, but as far as he could see, it seemed contradictory in many ways. Rob contradicted him on several points. This person seemed to agree with the Seth material so much that he said he had now stopped reading anything else—he felt the Seth material was too good. Yet when Rob said he should not do that, he then went on to say that he read widely in other materials. He first said he read nothing but the Seth material, and when Rob objected, he then said he actually read a lot of other materials too.

Rob said it could be judged that he did not understand what it meant to be a creative leader, one who did not follow others but was independent and autonomous. While they were talking, at least he knew that his overestimation of himself had been undermined. What Rob meant was that this person, as a reader, should not treat Jane or Rob as idols, should believe in himself more, and should not blindly follow others. Clearly this person had some imagined picture of Rob as the producer of the Seth material; he imagined that when Rob heard him say he only read the Seth material and nothing else, Rob should have been approving and happy. He did not expect Rob to instead advise him that he should read more of other materials. For this reader, there might be a kind of disillusionment: look, you are the writer of the Seth material, I said I only read the Seth material, and you are not even happy about it.

Then Rob said that he ended up with that familiar feeling again—that even if Jane and he could never live up to the fantasy pictures others might build of them. All idols face this problem: they live in their own world, and will not live in the picture their fans or followers expect them to live in. That is their fantasy, not what the person himself wishes.

When the half-hour conversation ended, Rob said he also became aware of the contradictions in his own behavior. Where was the contradiction? We put our work out on a stage where everyone can see it, and hope they will pay enough attention to it, yet when they do so, sometimes it disappoints us. We publish books, we hope the Seth material will be taken seriously by people, but when people really do that, we are instead a little disappointed—saying you cannot just read the Seth material, you should read more of other materials. See how contradictory we are too. Do you want people to read it or not? You write books, don't you hope more readers will spend more energy reading them? When people do that, why are you unhappy?

Rob said that people's reactions were so varied that he could not expect them to act the way we do. Rob said to this person, "You cannot just read the Seth material, you should read more of other things"—this was because of a feeling and intuition Rob had about this person. To different people, I would say different things—to those whose egos are balanced, who will not get stuck in a rut, I would suggest they read more of the Seth material, even spend a lot of time and energy reading it; to those who are themselves prone to getting stuck in a rut, whose energy is overly vigorous, overly extreme, overly single-minded, I would suggest they read more of other materials. What Rob meant here is that we have no way to demand how readers should act, how to achieve the kind of balance we hope for.

Here I also want to reiterate to everyone once again: if you are a self-balanced person—by balance I mean you can balance your cognition very well—then I suggest you read more of the Seth material. Conversely, if you are especially prone to superstition, for example when you studied Buddhism you single-mindedly studied only Buddhism, when you studied a certain philosophical thought you single-mindedly studied only that philosophical thought—for this type of person, I suggest that while studying the Seth material you should also study more of other materials. These are two different types of characteristic behavior patterns, and our suggestions are also different.

Then on the phone Danny said to Rob: Rob, can you not always be so guarded, can you open up to me the way I open up to you? He sensed that Rob was deliberately distancing and keeping his distance. Rob said he was very unhappy when Danny loudly said, "Damn it, Rob, I want you to be as open with me as I am with you." Because Danny completely forgot that he should not project his own feelings onto someone who was very likely different. Danny hoped others would open up completely, open up fully, the way he did, but you cannot project that onto others, demanding that others act the way you do.

As I drove home, I could not help wondering what people did before they encountered the Seth material or my own ideas. Before they read the Seth material, who were they imitating? Who were they following? How did they fill their lives? Which hero or national hero became an idol in their lives?

One thing is certain: they did not write books, or develop their own original philosophy; they were quite content to leap about on other people's works, and get angry at them because they (including Jane and me) did not react the way we were supposed to react. For most people, they leap about among different ideas—different schools, different philosophies—and they rarely develop their own set of philosophy and logic. In the process of leaping about, they are sometimes angry, sometimes ecstatic: when they agree with a certain viewpoint, they are very ecstatic; when that viewpoint pricks them, or they do not approve of it, they get very angry, and write letters to argue with the author, or call to question them. If they approve, they also write letters of praise, expressing how much they agree. In the internet age it is even more convenient—they directly leave comments, reply, or like, expressing their emotions in all kinds of ways.

Rob had a profound analysis, because after all he had his own insights from writing the Seth material for so many years. People should follow their own true thoughts, rather than leaping about on other people's ideas, without deeply thinking about how they should think about their own lives, how to live their own lives, rather than living their lives by looking at other people's textbooks. No matter how beneficial or valuable someone else's guidance is, you must turn it into your own life principles, fitting your own self, rather than "so-and-so said such-and-such"—it should be your own thinking.

He was afraid people would misunderstand, saying that he and Jane had the same problem. He said they forgot or did not understand that it was because they were the kind of people they were that they created the kind of work they did; if they were not different people, the work might have been different or might not exist at all. The work is not just the Seth material; it is because Rob and Jane's personalities were as they were that they created this material. If it had been two other people, the content of the material might have been different. For example, we can imagine that if it had been two sunnier, more optimistic, more cheerful people, the Seth material might have had more humor and delight in it; if it had been two more melancholic people, they might have turned Seth into the image of a bodhisattva. It is precisely these two people who let us see the Seth material as it is today, with this kind of flavor or feeling. If it were not for the two of them, the Seth material might not exist at all.

What he meant was that the two of us, Rob and Jane, will not live according to you readers' wishes, or live within your expectations according to what you expect—absolutely not. We will only live in our own way; if you are willing to accept it, accept it; if not, we will not live in your imagination just to please you or cater to you. It is precisely because he is this way that the Seth material came to exist. And he in turn wanted to tell readers: you should also be this way, you should also live in your own world, like Jane and me, unaffected by you. Do not follow a certain sect or school, echoing what others say, losing your own thinking and judgment, losing your own life—today following this one, tomorrow following that one, constantly on the road of following various masters, with all kinds of emotions along the way, sometimes liking, sometimes attacking.

Donations and Awareness

Rob also thought that phone call might force him to change what he had told the correspondent, and on the other hand, with the information he had provided to Maude for the book The Changed Reality about them, what did his reaction to the New Year mean? Because they had left contact information in Maude's book, the fact that Jane was hospitalized and needed everyone's help and donations might even have left a way to be contacted.

A reader called in, and he felt it was a kind of harassment -- fanatical fans poking around asking which hospital Jane was staying in, calling in, and this actually made Rob very annoyed. But Rob said: Since I am so annoyed about this matter, then why did I write about our current situation and circumstances in that book, hoping everyone would help? Isn't that very split of me? It is as if I have already made my affairs public, that our Jane is hospitalized and needs everyone's help, and when a reader really calls in out of concern for Jane, I am unhappy again -- so what is the point of my anger?

He said they no longer had many secrets left. Obviously, the idea of people giving them money might have a negative side, but I cannot say I did not know that. What Rob meant was, as long as we openly accept donations, we have almost no secrets left. This is the negative side of our accepting everyone's donations. Rob said: I certainly knew this, but I still did it, so I have to be prepared to accept the fact that the two of us, as public figures, do not have many secrets left.

While he was on the phone, you see how interesting synchronicity is. The nursing staff gave them a letter from Sue Watkins, and when Rob opened it he found a check for one thousand dollars signed by Helen Granger Parker. In that era, the early 1980s, one thousand dollars was a very large sum of money. Rob asked Jane what this Miss Borman was giving us money for. He was confused, because his art teacher at Sayre High School was named Helen Borman, and he mixed up that Helen with the other Helen. Later she got married, and they still called her Helen Borman Parker. So the two people differed only in the middle name -- his teacher was called Helen Borman Parker, and the person who donated money to him was called Helen Granger Parker. If the middle name was not mentioned, since Americans rarely write their middle names, then both of them would be called Helen Parker. So Rob thought it was his high school art teacher who had sent him one thousand dollars.

As it turned out, the person who wrote the check was Helen Granger Parker, who had read Maude's article in The Changed Reality and sent the check to Sue, who forwarded it to them to ensure the check was received safely. This Helen Parker lived in Austin, Texas.

You see, he had just been worrying about this matter above, deliberately keeping his distance from Danny the reader, not wanting people to call in again. This attitude of deliberately keeping distance made Danny very annoyed. Yet at the same time, after the book in which they sought help was published, readers began sending them checks, which exactly echoed what he had just said before.

He might call this donor and Sue tonight. Rob told Jane he did not know whether to attach importance to the significance of these two Helen Parkers -- he did not understand why two Helen Parkers had appeared in his life, and both of them were involved with money. The earlier one, his teacher, had lent him money to go to art school in New York City; Rob's tuition for the New York art school was given by his art teacher. You see how generous she was to her student. Although during World War II, while Rob was serving three years in the military, he paid the money back to her, now decades later, another person named Helen Parker sent him a one-thousand-dollar check to help him and Jane.

Last night at 8:30, Jane said he had a very vivid, quite real experience, in which for a few seconds he found himself leaping in very clear and shallow water, feeling truly free and enjoying it immensely; he could see the small round pebbles at the bottom of the water and so on. Afterward he slept very well.

No temperature was taken last night or this morning; he went for hydrotherapy at around 10 o'clock, and it turned out he was back by 11.

I should add that when Rob realized the significance of the thousand-dollar check, at first he had a strange sense of guilt and rebelliousness. Accepting gifts from others made him feel he was in a vulnerable position, even though the money helped with hospital expenses. Their financial situation was not very good -- Jane had been hospitalized since April 1983, and now it was February 1984, nearly ten months in the hospital, and they had no health insurance, because both of them were freelancers. Basically, during Jane's hospitalization, the money they had earned over the previous years had almost all been spent. So even though the money helped pay the medical bills, Rob still felt very vulnerable. He was a bit rebellious, did not want the money, did not want to be in this rather vulnerable position; he felt somewhat resistant, somewhat guilty, somewhat ashamed.

He also believed that although Helen said in her letter that the donation came with no conditions attached, there must still be some form of condition. For example, it is natural for there to be conditions. The only solution he could think of at the moment was this: the gift, and the personal contact it implied, constituted the condition. Although the donor said no conditions were needed, it still meant you certainly had to write back or call back, or send a small gift, which meant they would definitely have to have more personal contact with him.

He said: I now think there will be some form of condition, and I am not being cynical in observing this. Rob was not a cynical person; he was simply stating a fact. Indeed, Rob's awareness was also very strong. He first became aware that it was his own problem; he felt that he himself had an incorrect and overblown reaction to this matter, and he had not seen that what was involved here was an emotional exchange and flow.

In other words, because Rob and Jane deliberately maintained a sense of distance from their readers, he did not let this love flow, and he did not receive more of the readers' heartfelt, soul-to-soul spiritual exchange and nourishment. How many readers have had their lives changed by the Seth material? For those readers, it was an earth-shaking change in their lives; one could say, from a certain angle, it could be described as being reborn. Yesterday we happened to meet a young friend from England, two young friends from Hong Kong, and several young friends from all over the country; we had dinner together, and their feeling was that the Seth material had indeed changed their lives. Merely because the Seth material, in the course of our unintentional dissemination, changed their lives, our exchange with them is actually a kind of nourishment for us. Especially with Jane in such a poor physical condition, this spiritual nourishment coming from the depths of the other person's heart is very beneficial to Jane's recovery.

Because Jane had a great deal of judgment about herself regarding this matter of channeling. Her incomplete acceptance and recognition needed readers to nourish her with their hearts, not merely through a few letters, with the kind of polite, straightforward thanks on the surface. And when Danny said to Rob, "You should open up like me," although Danny's request had a somewhat imposing quality to it, he also hit the nail on the head in pointing out Rob's problem: Rob and Jane never opened their hearts to their readers; they deliberately wanted to maintain a private space for the two of them, to maintain this sense of distance.

This point is also very subtle. If the two of them were not a married couple, if it were one person, for example someone single or divorced, they would be more willing to maintain an open exchange with readers. Because the exchange between the two of them was already enough to account for 90 percent or more of their communication; their intimate exchange as a couple actually meant they did not need to communicate much with many other people, and this in itself was disadvantageous.

Of course, everyone has the right to choose their own way of life and mode of living; we are not here to judge or criticize the way Jane and Rob handled things. They chose this way for their own purposes and meanings, and they also reduced a lot of unnecessary disturbance, allowing them to focus on what they wanted to do. But I am only pointing out that when they did this, they should have opened their hearts more, and maintained broader and deeper exchanges with readers. Although inwardly they knew the necessity of doing this, which is why they spent a lot of time replying to readers and communicating, they only did the form, without truly doing it from within.

In other words, we have the same kind of thing in many areas of our lives: we know what we should do in form. For example, they knew they should reply to readers, but their replies to readers were more like those of a writer -- readers write letters, and then they reply. He overlooked one point: because the Seth material they published is different from ordinary novels, its impact on people is enormous. At such times they should have been more receptive to the feedback from these readers, letting love flow, rather than closing it off at their end, turning it into a small world of the two of them plus Seth. He should have completely opened up the world of the three of them, opening it to all the public, to all these readers, making it a bigger world, rather than communicating with everyone only through these brief, polite, or formal replies.

I just hope everyone can learn from this matter about Rob and Jane's own reflection and their own process. You see, in this matter Rob and Jane had a great deal of inner conflict -- they both needed everyone's help, and at the same time felt guilt and vulnerability about everyone's help.

Fever Is a Signal of Healing

At 4 o'clock, a new woman took Jane's blood pressure, normal. At 4:05, a student took Jane's temperature and it had risen to 101 degrees, Jane was running a fever again. Jane began reading yesterday's session at 4:06, doing a so-so job, sometimes Rob helped her. Rob started sorting the mail, and when Jane finally finished reading, he said he wanted to have a short session.

Seth said:

Now once again I wish you a good afternoon.

I speak to assure Ruburt that his temperature is a signal of healing, for when the body throws off what it does not need, he will run a fever.

Seth came precisely to tell Jane that having a fever is a good thing. When the body casts off what it does not need, it will run a fever. Many people have had this experience, especially children in the process of growing up: each time they ran a fever when they were very young, the child seemed to have grown a bit more and become a bit smarter.

Please sincerely remind him that he sneezed, and to trust in his body and its processes, including the matter of the fever.

You two can be of great help to each other, when one or the other is worried or uneasy, just comfort each other. When one lacks confidence, the other should have confidence and encourage him.

The reverse is also true. Trust your body, trust that the body automatically accelerates all healing processes. The body does accelerate on its own, and this session can put Ruburt at ease; he only needs to focus on my words -- your body is healing you, trust all the processes in the middle of that healing, including what you consider to be bad.

I have indeed truly accelerated the coordinates that aid the healing process.

Seth really is helping them with things.

I may or may not return, again, according to the rhythms I have spoken of, but know that I am here and approachable.

Then at 4:27, after the session Jane seemed to feel somewhat better. The significance of Seth's coming this time was also to tell Jane to trust her own body. When Sam Biderson came to visit, Rob was just about to leave. He was much better and would go home tomorrow; he seemed to have no heart trouble -- at home he had to wear a vest 24 hours a day to detect any abnormality of the heart, a kind of monitoring device that records the electrical activity of the heart.

Rob went to the supermarket to buy groceries, ate a dinner later than usual, and called Helen Parker in Austin, the one who had sent them a check today. He answered on the second ring, and they had a pleasant conversation. He was surprised to receive the call; Rob thanked him for his donation. The connection was rather weak, but clear enough.

Then Rob called Sue in Dundee, Scotland, the person who had forwarded the check, to thank her for forwarding it. They talked for at least half an hour. The result of all this activity was that he got to the typing late, and by the time he finished typing this session it was already 11:20. Finally he said Jane slept well.

Conclusion

For this seventh part of Chapter Two, we have used these three sessions to string everything together. Although Seth's content in the middle is not extensive, it is very concise and powerful, yet every bit of it is important. And there is a core point here, which is Jane and Rob's reactions, and the trivial matters of their daily lives, which actually hold more reference value for us in our everyday lives.

Seth, as a point of wholly high-dimensional conscious energy, sees things from a perspective different from those of us still drifting through the ups and downs of worldly life. We need to look at the reactions and changes in Jane and Rob, and these may be more down-to-earth and more useful for us than Seth's words themselves. This is also the unique charm of the Seth material. It is not like a Bible or a scripture that never mentions any trivial matters of life, speaking only of great principles, only of truth, only of justice. It is filled with too many trivial matters of ordinary people's lives, including some vexations and distressing matters, and these are the more down-to-earth, more life-oriented, more loving parts, allowing many of us to feel from within them the sigh-worthy experiences of normal human life.

February 9, Thursday

Thursday, February 9, 1984, the session began at 4:16 p.m. First, last night, Debbie Harris came to visit Jane. Jane was not very comfortable while Debbie was there. During her visit, a nurse's aide took Jane's temperature, and at 8:30 it was normal. My wife's temperature was taken again at 11 o'clock, and it was 101 degrees Fahrenheit, which is about 39 to 40 degrees Celsius for us⁴⁴. The next time, after 3 a.m., it was 102 degrees.

But this morning after breakfast, Jane's temperature dropped to 95.5 degrees -- they had given her a pill to artificially lower her temperature, that is, a fever reducer. I don't know the name of the medicine. During the night Jane coughed up phlegm at least three times. She did this while lying on her side, and the phlegm all went onto the bed. And when she pressed the call bell, no one came to help. The staff had to change all her bedding in the middle of the night. Jane had to call out loudly for help. She said her lower dentures were not put back in, because they had all gotten dirty.

You see, Jane had a rather miserable night. When she vomited, she wet the bed, but at three in the morning no one came to help her change the bedding. She had to call out loudly before anyone came to help her.

Then Jane said, Seth was right, he told me the body is trying to get rid of what it doesn't want. She sounded weaker than usual. Also during the night, her feet began to show mottled red patches, similar to how they looked when her feet were very swollen before, except now there was no swelling. The red blotches looked like changes in circulation. When I arrived at Room 330, I noticed it right away.

Jane said they didn't hurt, except for some discomfort on the right heel and that side of the right foot. This morning in the hydrotherapy room, the sole of her right foot stung in the same way again. She had been drinking ginger ale all night, and Jane decided not to do that anymore today, switching to cold boiled water instead. Ginger ale is a carbonated beverage, one type of soda, just with a ginger flavor, but it is still a carbonated drink.

So you see, Jane was coughing, vomiting, and had very thick phlegm, and on top of that she was still drinking this ginger ale.

No one knows why the foot became somewhat spotted. Although I think we know. Jane said that if others hadn't told her, she wouldn't have known what was happening to her -- she couldn't see the problem on her foot.

Last night she tried to call me twice, but apparently that was when I was on the phone with Helen Parker and Sue Watkins. While she was eating a light lunch, I told her that our lawyer's assistant had called this morning, and I stopped on the way to pick up our tax forms. Unbelievably, even though they have so many medical expenses, they still owe $26,000 in taxes this year. I told Jane I couldn't believe that now we owe money instead of getting a refund. She had hoped that this year the IRS would still refund her some money, but not only was there no refund, she had to pay another $26,000 in taxes. I'm in no hurry to pay the bill. I had hoped to at least break even. Because she has had a huge amount of medical expenses since last April, but according to the tax bureau's calculation method, she still needs to pay taxes, because her income is still quite substantial.

By three o'clock, Jane put on the lipstick I had bought her two days ago, and then looked in the mirror. At 3:25, she explained that her right foot was bothering her, and then she remembered she had the same sensation this morning in the hydrotherapy room. I dealt with some letters -- the mail was threatening to defeat me again, meaning the letters were piling up more and more.

At 3:30, Jane began reading yesterday's session, and she read it very well. She finished it in one go at 3:45. She said, Bumb, I think my eyes are better than they've been all this time -- her eyes had never been this good. That really surprised me, because although she was doing quite well, I didn't know the extent of her improvement. Wonderful.

At 3:50, the hospital staff began coming in to check Jane's vital signs. I had put eye drops in for her an hour earlier. Jane's blood pressure was normal, her temperature was 97 degrees, and her pulse was good. She let me know when she was ready to have the session. This was the eighth day of her new regimen, that is, the eighth day of her new life.

When she spoke for Seth, her voice was not as loud, and at the beginning she only said a few words at a time, then paused for quite a while. As the session progressed, this effect mostly disappeared.

Then Seth said:

Now I bid you a good afternoon again.

The high fever did indeed rush through the entire circulatory system -- again, that high fever rushed through the entire circulatory system, and it also helped eliminate the excess fluid.

In the middle of the night, the fever occurred in the middle of the night. Ruburt's attitude was very good, especially since the hospital assistants themselves were so depressed, giving negative suggestions.

The assistants themselves gave a lot of negative suggestions, but Ruburt's attitude was very good, and he was not influenced by them.

The high temperature was also, so to speak, the result of stoking the body's furnace. Once again, getting rid of any remaining toxins.

That is how it is.

Fever is a very common phenomenon. To this day, scientists' understanding and knowledge of fever is not completely thorough, but at least they have now made one thing clear: when the human body has a fever, for every degree the body temperature rises, the activity of our immune system increases fourfold, while the activity of viruses or bacteria decreases fourfold⁴⁵. In other words, fever is your body using the rise in temperature to help you eliminate these harmful substances, these viruses and bacteria. Now we all know this principle, so an appropriate fever helps the body cleanse itself. As long as it doesn't get too high, normally a fever has a certain promoting effect on your body.

The improvement in the feet shows changes in the circulatory system, changes occurring within the circulation, with some red spots appearing. When that system cleanses itself, such changes occur -- an uneven flow of circulation, because at the beginning of change it is not yet stable.

Today's improvement in the eyes is partly the result of those processes -- her eyes were especially good today. The sinuses, that is, the area of her sinuses and so on, were flushed clean, which loosened the muscles of the eyes and also eliminated some excess fluid in that area. That is, the fluid and muscles around the eyes were both relaxed and drained, which is why her eyesight was especially good.

When Ruburt began the first day of his new life, he began the process of initially cleansing the body.

That is, he was cleansing the body. But along with the extremely high frequency of negative hospital suggestions -- because living in the hospital there are a great many negative suggestions, with doctors saying this is wrong and that is wrong -- although his body had already begun to cleanse itself. When Jane made up her mind and said, "I am starting my new life, I am making a clean break with the old life," his body had actually already begun to respond, to do a positive cleansing, to say goodbye to the old body. But because he was living in the hospital, the doctors didn't see it that way. The doctors thought the fever was a very serious problem, and thought all the conditions were getting worse. Actually his body was getting better, but the hospital told him his body was getting worse. And such negative beliefs in the hospital -- every day this person says something, that nurse says something, that doctor says something, constantly talking -- makes it impossible for you to fight against it. They will produce a lot of evidence to prove that your body is not getting better but getting worse.

And the general erroneous beliefs connected with fever.

That is, when they see him with a fever, they think it is wrong, they just think this person is sick. Actually fever is part of the body's self-healing process, but modern medicine considers fever to be a very abnormal phenomenon that needs to be brought down.

The beneficial aspects must indeed largely be sustained by faith, as they are.

Yes, those beneficial aspects -- that is, the thoughts and ideas of feeling that one is getting better -- must mostly be sustained by Jane's own faith. Why? Because neither the hospital nor the doctors gave him any positive information; they gave him only negative information. So at this time it depended on Jane's own faith to sustain it. "As they are" -- they are in that beneficial aspect, that is what he meant.

So the obvious improvement in the eyes is a demonstration of what the rest of the body will show, and the improvement in the rest of the body will also prove the turn for the better. The eyes have just shown it first.

I may or may not return, again according to those rhythms I spoke of, but know that I am here and accessible.

Then Seth said thank you, and left again. At 4:26, I poured some cold water for Jane. "Wow, that tastes so good, just enough." She no longer drank ginger ale; she began drinking cold water, ice water. She had been sipping this liquid all day -- no wonder her body needed it, after the fever and so on. In the past few days, her sinuses had been stuffed up, causing her to constantly sniffle and blow her nose.

At 4:32, Jane was ready to turn over earlier than usual, which was very unusual. She wanted her right foot massaged with Olay oil. By 5 o'clock, she began to doze, and Rob also began to doze at the same time -- Rob's schedule was to take a short nap at 5 o'clock.

But ten minutes later, Jeff Kard -- that is, her doctor -- came in. The doctor wanted her to have a blood test tomorrow: "I'm not sure of the cause of the fever, we'll keep an eye on that foot." Then I told him that since I had been there today, the swelling had already gone down. That is, the swelling in that foot had already gone down. Jeff didn't want Jane to become dehydrated. He seemed generally satisfied, although he said Jane's urine was too concentrated. I asked him to see whether the new brand of liquid vitamins my wife had recently been taking could be switched back to her old brand, because she strongly disliked the new one. He said he would try.

Jane didn't eat much dinner. She told me to take some of it home, so no one would know how much she ate. But I told her that no one checks the meal trays -- first, there is no name on them, and second, I did indeed bring some good stuff home for her cats, Billy and Mitzi. These days Mitzi is going through one of her affectionate phases.

February 10, Friday

Let's look at the next session. The material coming through in these sessions is all very short, because Jane had a fever, things at the hospital were very tense, and she was undergoing continuous treatment.

The next session is Friday, February 10, 1984, at 4:12 p.m. Today is the ninth day of Jane's new health regimen. Last night, as I drove up the hill on Coleman Street, I noticed a strange vibration, a vibrating noise, underneath the car. So far, it has been more noticeable in reverse. I thought it might be snow; I couldn't see anything wrong. In the mail, I found a letter from Maude, along with checks totaling about $1,100, which surprised me quite a bit. I called the two people whose names were on the checks, one of whom had donated $1,000, and both were quite surprised to get my call. It felt good to talk with them and thank them.

After breakfast this morning, I drove the car to Ron Favre's garage. But by then, the noise I had heard when starting the car had disappeared. Ron and I couldn't find anything wrong; in fact, the car seemed to run better than it usually did. He told me to contact him if any problems came up. I hoped that meant one less thing to worry about.

Last night, Jane's temperature went up again. It was 101 degrees at around 10:30, and about the same at three, meaning she still had a high fever. They drew her blood before breakfast, but we don't have the results yet. I also collected some urine samples. While Jane was eating a light lunch, the nurse, Lynn, came in and took another urine sample. It was going to be cultured; we didn't know why. Then, while she was still eating, two lab technicians came in and took more of Jane's blood. They said they would culture it for a week, that the doctor had ordered the test. We thought they meant Dr. Jeff Karder.

Actually, Jane felt a little cold at times, and she asked me to turn up the heat. The heating was working well. Her mottled feet looked much better--I noticed as soon as I got there. She said Jeff had come by that morning and seen that her feet were better. He said, "Your temperature has gone up, and we have to keep a close watch on it." Jane said she had slept wonderfully last night. She wasn't worried about her temperature, especially after yesterday's session, when she heard Seth say that the rise in temperature actually helped her body cleanse itself and recover. She had her own way of creating her own reality. She went to hydrotherapy at a fairly reasonable time this morning and was back by 11.

This morning, Georgia S…eth made a brief visit. She looked well and had had nothing to do for at least two months. A nurse came in and told me that the staff would be having a Valentine's Day party at noon next Tuesday, and told me not to eat lunch at home--she meant to include Rob in the lunch.

At 3:09, Jane began reading yesterday's session. She had great difficulty, perhaps because of the rise in temperature--it affected her sinuses, which in turn affected her eyes. As I was sorting letters, she was reading so poorly that she gave up at 3:13. When Judy brought ginger ale, Jane decided to stop drinking carbonated beverages. Yesterday and today, she drank much, much, much more water. The staff said her urine looked much better because of it.

Then came the blow. At 3:20, a nurse came in and put a heparin lock in Jane's right forearm. The lock was for administering medication. It's what we generally call an indwelling catheter--because you are receiving infusions over a long period, they leave a fixed opening into a blood vessel, so they don't have to insert a needle each time. They just connect the infusion directly to that tube. Jane was going to be given antibiotics.

We had only just found that out when one of the two nursing assistants came back to draw more blood. Jane swore: "They want everything they can get."

By this point, Jane's state of mind was already poor. There were several reasons: one was that they had put in an indwelling catheter, and another was that they were going to give her antibiotics. Within their system, their understanding, she believed that antibiotics were unnecessary and had many undesirable side effects. Jane wasn't the only one with this view. Throughout the Western world, the approach over the past few decades has been to use antibiotics cautiously, sparingly, or even not at all. This is very apparent. Think about it: Jane had already had a fever continuously for two or three days, but they only started giving her antibiotics on the third or fourth day. That actually wasn't very early. Even so, Jane still didn't like it. Most Westerners don't like antibiotics very much.

She said, "I'd refuse the antibiotics," Jane said, if it wouldn't cause such a big argument--but how could it not? There would certainly be an argument. So she was only saying it. As long as she was staying in the hospital, many of the treatments were beyond her control.

I didn't know how to respond. Rob said he didn't know what to say. According to Seth, it seemed that the body's natural defense system was being interfered with again, because antibiotics interfere with your own defenses. Yet why had we come here in the first place? This was his own reflection--why come to the hospital, then? Once you come to the hospital, you have to accept its treatment. "I don't want to think about it. I trust my body far more than I trust those antibiotics," Jane said.

Judy came in and told us that Jeff hadn't started the antibiotics; his wife, Olivia--the doctor--had prescribed them. In other words, Jeff's wife was also a doctor, and she had prescribed antibiotics for Jane.

At 3:36, after the nurse had inserted the heparin lock, Jane went back to reading the session. While we waited for the antibiotics, she read much better. I felt depressed, and her head was congested again--neither of them was doing very well.

At 3:50, Judy came in to take a urine sample. Jane finished reading that session at 3:55, and she smoked a cigarette. "Well, if nobody comes in, I'm going to start the session anyway. I suppose they'll start taking my temperature and blood pressure all over again." Then she began to speak--as soon as Seth came through, a student nurse came in and took her temperature: 101.2 degrees. She still had a high fever, after four in the afternoon. Jane said, "Shit." Dolores came in and took her blood pressure and pulse. After they left at 4:18, Jane said, "We might as well start our session over again."

Then, at this point, Seth came through and said:

A good afternoon to you both. I am speaking simply to reassure you both. Your body is indeed cleansing itself, stoking its furnace.

A concept quite unfamiliar to the medical establishment--hospitals don't really understand the idea that the body's raising its temperature is like stoking the furnace within it. But from the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine, it is very easy to understand. Traditional Chinese medicine often uses this concept of a furnace, of the temperature rising as circulation takes place in the body. Of course, their answer is certainly antibiotics.

As long as Ruburt's state of mind is good, the antibiotics will do no harm.

Remember that sentence. If your state of mind is good enough, you don't have to worry about antibiotics having any adverse effects on you. In other words, for someone who already has a very thorough understanding, there isn't that much difference between using antibiotics and not using them. Many people don't understand, and ask whether these people are afraid of using antibiotics, whether antibiotics really are that harmful. When you hold that view, antibiotics are indeed harmful. But at this point, if your state of mind is good enough, antibiotics won't harm you either. It's just that, if you can do without them, try to rely as much as possible on your own capacity for self-healing. But if you're in the hospital and have to submit to the doctors' decisions, as long as your state of mind is good enough, you don't have to worry about the harm antibiotics might do to you. That really is how it is.

And when that condition has cleared up, an explanation will be provided. Again, I will give you an explanation. But now, while the illness is in progress, I will not explain why.

Of course, it is unfortunate that Ruburt is in that situation, but this is also certainly a sign of his body's own healing process.

Yes, unfortunately, Ruburt has to take part in the whole process. She is right there in that situation.

Please reread the passages from the first and second days. They will help you both.

Once again, he emphasizes: please read the sessions from the first and second days--the session from the first day of the new life. So that you can both remind yourselves of those extremely important issues. Rereading those sessions can remind you of what matters most to you. Seth again recommended rereading that material, but neither of them did.

I have been adjusting those coordinates that accelerate the healing process. Remember that the body is a healer that heals itself.

The body is a natural self-healer, very natural.

I may or may not return. Again, follow those rhythms I spoke of, and know that I am here and accessible.

All right, thank you again. At 4:38, Jane was already ready for me to turn her over onto her side.

At 4:53, I had just finished massaging her with Oil of Olay when Linda, the registered nurse, arrived with the antibiotics. She said it was a broad-spectrum drug that could kill many bacteria. The drug was actually gentamicin⁴⁶. We use it very little now, but this kind of broad-spectrum antibacterial drug is still prescribed sometimes. Its blood concentration has to be carefully controlled, so blood levels need to be monitored during the infusion. It would therefore take about half an hour for Jane to receive the full infusion. Afterward, Jane would be given a small dose of heparin, which would keep the lock open for future medication. Jane was to receive an injection every hour.

Jane swore again. Linda said gently, "But you have a fever." She agreed that some people were sensitive to those drugs, and said there were always side effects--this drug did have side effects.

At 5:05, just as I began to nap, the dinner tray arrived. I got up at 5:40, and Jane had received all the antibiotics. Lynn came in while I was still standing there. After I turned Jane onto her back, she helped me pull Jane toward the head of the bed. Jane had no adverse reaction to the medication.

With Carla's help, Jane called at about 9:20 that evening. After I left, her temperature had been taken again, and it was still 101 degrees. The fever still hadn't come down. She said it was only a little lower than before. So the antibiotics hadn't had a noticeable effect on Jane.

February 11, Saturday

Okay, let us look at the next session. February 11, 1984, Saturday, 4:23 p.m. It was very warm today, 45 degrees Fahrenheit. When I left the house for Room 330, the car ran very well. When I got there Jane was in a bad mood, although her mottled feet looked much better. She did not go for hydrotherapy this morning because she had a fever again, and Jeff would not let her go. She slept poorly last night, and the hospital staff had their hands full just turning her over. But she did not know she had slept. When she might have been asleep, did they give her antibiotics? Certainly they did.

Last night she estimated her temperature was 101 degrees at 8 o'clock, 101 degrees at 11 o'clock, 101 degrees at 3 a.m., 99.3 at breakfast, and 102 again after lunch. "Not bad," said the male nurse's aide who took her temperature.

After lunch I had a hard time getting the above information from Jane, because she seemed several times to be on the verge of dozing off. She said she got angry at Jeff and Judy this morning because of their negative beliefs — Jeff said the spots on her feet might be an infection, and Judy said the drainage from every ulcer on her hip had increased. And Jane finally told them to shut up. Jeff said he would really like to know where Jane's fever was coming from. Jane began to resist; she did not want to hear any more negative information.

At 2:45, Jane remembered to tell me that last night two students had watched the nurse's aide check her catheter and urine bag. That in turn reminded her that this morning Jeff had also said she might have gotten an infection from the catheter, because people always do. She had heard nurses say the same thing. Because Jane has been bedridden for a long time, her catheter needs to stay in long-term, unlike normal hospitalized patients — after surgery many abdominal surgeries require a catheter, and many people may only have it in for a few days, but Jane's catheter is in long-term. So the doctors said, the doctors suspected that her fever was caused by a urinary tract infection from the long-term catheter.

At 3:10, Judy said that the cranberry juice blend Jane was drinking helped keep her urine acidic rather than alkaline⁴⁷ — why, I do not know. So here the doctors suspected that Jane had been drinking this kind of carbonated beverage long-term, because carbonated beverages themselves are weakly alkaline. Drinking carbonated beverages long-term caused her urine to possibly become weakly alkaline rather than acidic, and acidity can inhibit the reproduction of many bacteria, while weak alkalinity does not have that function. So that is what the doctors suspected, I am guessing. So they would not let Jane drink soda anymore, and switched her to water, and also had her drink some cranberry juice.

At 3:37, lipstick and looking in the mirror. At 3:45, Carla took Jane's temperature: 102.4 degrees, the highest so far, 102.4 Fahrenheit. Jane began to curse. She worried more about Jeff's reaction than about the temperature — she was not worried about the temperature going up; she was worried about her doctor's reaction when he saw the temperature go up, that he would give her more medicine. Then she drank a lot of the cranberry juice the nurses recommended.

At 3:50, while I was sorting the mail, Jane began to read yesterday's session, and she did very badly. Five minutes later, Linda came in and gave her some aspirin or something in ice cream — for the fever, they mixed aspirin into the ice cream — and then hooked up a new antibiotic for Jane, a new bag. It was supposed to be absorbed within half an hour. Jane went back to reading the session, and still could not do it. At 4:15, I finished reading yesterday's session aloud to Jane.

Then Seth came through again:

I wish you a good afternoon again. I can only repeat yesterday's session.

He really could only repeat yesterday's session, because I have nothing newer to tell you.

Ruburt is in no danger.

Again, Ruburt is in no danger whatsoever.

But we can use the situation as an educational tool.

What is the use of an educational tool? As was just said, so that Jane can transcend some unfortunate medical beliefs — to see whether Jane can really transcend them and no longer be affected by these negative medical beliefs. He said this is something that can be used as a tool to test Jane's beliefs.

Again, it is perfectly natural for the body to heal itself, for each cell, each organ, each portion of the body.

It is a very natural thing for every part of the body to heal itself.

In the same way, it is truly unnatural to distrust the body, to look at it with a suspicious eye.

Every part, every organ, every cell of every person's body will heal itself, and this self-healing is natural. But if you do not believe it can heal itself, that thought itself is unnatural.

In any case, at this point a nurse came in and interrupted him.

In any case, it is of course important that Jane's mind relax as much as possible. But doing so relaxes all other portions of the body, and allows the healing process to operate more easily and efficiently.

He said that the relaxation of Jane's mind is conducive to the relaxation of all parts of her body, and this is very important, and it makes the whole healing more efficient and easier. And Jane must not be tense. But it is easier said than done; many people who are ill cannot relax. They become extremely tense, constantly worrying about changes in their condition.

I may or may not return, again according to those rhythms I spoke of, but know that I am here and approachable.

Thank you, Seth. At 4:30, I read this session to Jane, and she smoked a cigarette. It was not until I was home tonight that I realized I had forgotten to exercise her right leg after massaging her. When she was lying on her side, I had already moved it back and forth 250 times, and she was moving it better and better. Before I could read the text to her, Carla, a student, and Torres came in to turn Jane over, so I left at 7 o'clock.

As I walked out through the corridor, I could not help noticing how lively all the wards were: discordant sounds, numerous visitors, patients, nurses, and nurse's aides. I thought I was on a busy downtown street, and the corridor itself was a small community accepted by everyone. Anyone who has been to a hospital has this feeling — the hospital corridors, the inpatient department, the outpatient department are all the same, very lively and noisy, just like a busy street. This was Jane and Rob's real feeling.

February 12, Sunday

Next session, February 12, 1984, Sunday, 4:20 p.m.

Last night Jane called and said her temperature had dropped to 99.7 degrees, breaking through the 100-degree barrier. Because among Westerners, 100 degrees Fahrenheit is roughly 39 degrees Celsius or so for us⁴⁸ -- I may not remember it exactly -- they consider any fever below 100 degrees to be acceptable, and generally no antibiotics are used; above 100 degrees, they consider it a fairly clear indicator, a parameter that calls for attention.

Today was warm again. When I left home for Room 330 it was 42 degrees Fahrenheit. Jane's feet looked much better, and she did not go for hydrotherapy. She said that after I left last night, she made up her mind to do what Seth had said. In any case, what we saw as a result was that every time she followed Seth's request and trusted her own body to heal, her body would show a major recovery and change -- for example, her fever would come down.

In any case, then Debbie Harris came to visit. Afterward, Linda said my wife's urine looked much better than any she had seen before. Jane was drinking quite a lot of water, Jane slept very well, and at 5:30 her temperature was 98 degrees. She had more blood drawn before breakfast, from her left foot; after breakfast more was drawn. Her temperature at 11:00 was 97.8 degrees -- the temperatures had all come down.

I found that Jane's menu for tomorrow had the calculated calories for each meal noted on it -- they wanted to track how much Jane ate, which meant I could not keep her tray, because I had to estimate how much of each meal she ate and how much of each item she ate, so that the dietary department could figure out how many calories were involved. Jane did not eat much of her lunch.

At 2:15, she tried to read yesterday's session, but simply could not manage it, and she put it down. When Judy came in to hook up another bag of medication for her, there was some confusion, because Judy told us it was the same medication. However, after she left, I found that the name on the plastic bag was different -- it was not the same medication. This medication was specifically for treating cystitis and this kind of urinary tract infection⁴⁹. At 2:45 Jane tried again to read that session, but could not, and at 3:10 I began reading it to her.

When Mary Jane came in to check the flow rate of the antibiotic, it turned out that Jane had been given a second medication without being told -- this was an antibiotic for treating cystitis. Mary Jane said that Jeff must have seen something in Jane's urine report this morning and prescribed this medication, and it was quite a strong one. Jane was very angry, and she said to Mary Jane: "For the record, I want to make a formal protest that I was not informed." Normally speaking, before giving a patient medication, a doctor should inform the patient what kind of medication they are about to give, but this time they were not told -- this counts as a small mistake in their medical process. Mary Jane said she would pass it on to the head nurse, but I guessed it would die there -- this report, this protest, would be of no use; it would be suppressed at the head nurse's level.

Compared to the half hour for gentamicin, this second medication took two and a half hours to flow into Jane's body. Right, it took two hours, because the medication was stronger, so it had to be infused more slowly. Then, at 3:20, I read yesterday's session to Jane and began sorting through the mail.

At 3:30, Carla took Jane's temperature, and it had risen again to 101.2 degrees. Judy came to check the flow rate and said that Jane was to receive this Bactrim every six hours, or four times a day. Combined with the gentamicin every eight hours, this meant Jane was receiving seven antibiotic infusions every 24 hours. Jane let everyone know that she was thoroughly disappointed.

"What's happening? It would be good just to know." I said when Jane expressed concern. Right, if she knew what was happening, that would be good. I said this, and she said she had already done everything she could do -- she had done everything she could do. I felt trapped in a whirlpool created by the medical profession, being pulled deeper and deeper, unable to get free. I wondered, why could the body not heal itself except through fever and inflammation? Could the body not heal itself without going through fever and inflammation? This struck me as very strange. So that is how it was. I said, and then went back to being rational -- that it had to go through fever and inflammation.

Then Seth came through:

Seth once again wishes you a good afternoon.

In every bystander, there are naturally bacteria. But when you collect them or isolate them, the doctors then call it inflammation.

Everyone's bladder has bacteria in it, but when you test and examine it, when bacteria are detected, they call it inflammation.

I repeat again, Jane is not in danger.

Jane's body is not in a dangerous situation.

But I also hope you will review some of the recent sessions for reinforcement.

But Seth still hoped they would review the most recent sessions for reinforcement, yet they had never done this. Seth had asked them to read every day that first-day process about believing in oneself -- Seth hoped they would use that to reinforce their beliefs, but they had not done it.

I again emphasize those coordinates that accelerate Jane's healing forces, and you both rest within my attention.

That is, I am watching over you.

Once again, trusting the body is extremely important, especially when the medical profession begins to doubt the body's natural processes.

When doctors tell you that you must rely on antibiotics to recover, at such times -- when these medical systems, these Western medical concepts, call into question your body's ability to heal itself -- at such times you especially need to believe that your own healing ability exists.

I may or may not return, again according to those rhythms I have spoken of, but know that I am here and accessible.

Thank you, Seth.

At 4:32, I read this session to Jane. Afterward, at 4:40, I turned her onto her side. Linda came in to hook up Jane's next dose of gentamicin. After turning Jane and doing the rest for her, at 6:50, just as I was preparing to leave, I found I could not find my glasses. I had not been wearing them very often anymore, but I thought I had at least worn them once in the afternoon; otherwise I must have left them at home -- something I had never done before. I finally found them in the bathroom. After reading the devotional material with Jane, I left at 7:25. The weather was still warm and comfortable. On the way up the hill to the hill house, there was fog on Coleman Street -- that is the street by their door.

Before leaving, I rubbed the sole of Jane's right foot. It had been itching for quite a while, and when I did this, her left foot moved in the same rhythm. She said she had recently noticed a good deal more sensation of movement within her, but she herself had not made any significant voluntary movement for a long time now.

February 13, Monday

Then the next session, February 13, 1984, Monday, the twelfth day of Jane's new life.

Jane called last night. Today I made two trips for nothing. I guess because it was a holiday, the bank was closed, so I couldn't pay the IRS. Although the dentist had made today's appointment with me three or four months ago, he wasn't there; he had left a note on his desk. I left at 1:20 — he made two wasted trips, one to the IRS, to that bank for nothing, the bank was closed; and another to the dentist, also for nothing.

By the time I got to Room 330 it was already late. Jane was lying on her side, and Susan helped me sit her up higher. She ate a little better than yesterday. I made marks on the menu so I could count the calories.

Jeff — her attending physician came again and said all the test results showed there was a blood infection, and said they were confident they could clear it up. They were using two drugs — this gentamicin and this Bactrim — to see which one was more effective, although I couldn't see how they could tell which one was more useful.

Peggy Gallagher came to visit at lunchtime. After lunch Jane couldn't read yesterday's session, so I read it to her. After that it was just a running account: lipstick and mirror, letters. Danny O'son's letter was thrown away as an insult — that was when he called Rob last time, and Rob wasn't very polite to him, just hoping he wouldn't disturb their lives. Then Danny told him he read nothing but the Seth material, and Rob was also opposed to that, saying you should read more material. Their conversation wasn't pleasant, so maybe Danny later wrote a letter about this matter, and they felt there was no need to read it.

At 4 o'clock, Linda took blood pressure and pulse. At 4:25, Carla took temperature, 98.7 degrees, the IV was still dripping. At 4:35, I rang the bell to call the nurse's aide. From 4:55 to 5:10, turned and massaged. From 5:15 to 5:45, nap. At 6 o'clock, dinner; at 6:20, cigarette, dessert, and teeth. At 7:05, cigarette and TV; at 7:13, prayers; at 7:20, left.

From this passage we can see that on this day they did not have a Seth session. And in this process, we can see that Rob was already very impatient. His mood over these one or two days was very bad; he didn't even keep any records, he only wrote a very brief running account. So from this matter, both of their moods were not particularly good. They believed in Seth's content, but at the same time they couldn't see the effects of Seth on her; what he still saw was this persistent high fever. They were now, because of these persistent physical symptoms, beginning to not fully believe what Seth was saying. Seth had asked them to study or review the content he had given them from the first day and the second day every day, but they never did it. Look at his records — over these consecutive days Seth mentioned it twice, but they still didn't do it.

The reason is very simple: they were no longer one hundred percent believing in what Seth said about the self's healing and recuperative abilities — in this matter, in the state of high fever, in the state of being in the hospital.

So this matter also gives us a very important hint and suggestion: in our lives, no matter how much Seth material you have studied, no matter how much of this spiritual content you have learned, if you cannot transform it in your life, or apply it in your life — if in life's trials, in illness, in the hospital, you can still hold firm to your beliefs — then its effect on you is indeed not as great as you imagine. In other words, only in real situations can you get training, can you test whether your beliefs are firm enough. When there is nothing going on, when the sky is clear and the breeze is gentle, in a scenic sanatorium, of course everyone can say "I study Seth, I believe what he says" — that doesn't count. What really counts is when you have difficulties, when you face the pressures of life's hardships, when you face everyone's opposition, when you face the entire medical system sneering at these views of yours — whether your inner belief is firm enough. This is the key to training in actual matters, to tempering yourself in actual matters.

Many people are fine when nothing is happening, but fall apart the moment something happens. Just like the story of Su Dongpo and his monk friend⁵⁰ — the moment something happened, "one fart sent him across the river." Normally he claimed his cultivation was such that the eight winds could not move him, yet a single word "fart" sent him across the Yangtze. This proves that the difference between cultivating in actual matters and not cultivating in actual matters is enormous. So whether we are discussing the Seth material or the Tao Te Ching⁵¹, many of our exercises are intended for everyone to gain improvement in life, in actual matters, rather than in theory, in the mind.

And this matter itself, as Seth said, is a very good example to test whether Jane's own belief system was wavering — that is, in this state of high fever, whether she still firmly believed that she had the ability to heal, that the self's healing ability is a natural phenomenon. So here, through what happened to Jane, we can reflect on ourselves: when we also have a fever for three or four days like she did, do we still have that kind of trust and belief?

Finally, I want to make a brief statement. In our lives, if you have a problem, if you believe in something, then go do it. If you believe in the medical system, then follow the medical system. We are only doing an interpretation of the Seth material; we do not represent any medical institution, and we are not professional doctors, so we cannot give you any professional medical advice. So you should still follow normal medical advice. But if you are willing to believe in the Seth material, that is your personal choice and decision, it is a process of whether your personal belief is firm enough, and not a suggestion we are giving you. Because this involves health and medicine, and involves the different requirements of laws and regulations in various countries, as a non-medical professional and a non-medical institution, we cannot give patients professional treatment advice of this kind. Regarding this, I just wanted to make a very brief statement, and I hope everyone can understand.

Rob's Notes: February 14, Valentine's Day

On Tuesday, February 14, 1984⁵², in the afternoon, the Seth material came through at 4:32 p.m. This was the 13th day of Jane's new activity, and Rob kept a daily record of this new activity of Jane's. Jane called last night and asked Rob to leave home and go to Room 330. When he went to the hospital, the weather had turned warm again, over 50 degrees Fahrenheit, and the ice and snow were all gone.

Rob stopped at the bank to get a check and paid a bill with a money order to the IRS. He told Jane that this morning he had written letters to two contributors and planned to open an account at the bank later that week to deposit those checks. He also told Jane that among a pile of temporarily misplaced letters from book fans, he had found a note from Babbitt, the dentist's secretary and nurse, changing his appointment from February 13 to the 23rd. Yesterday, on the day Rob had carefully chosen for the appointment, he sat alone in the clinic and no one showed up at all.

Rob wanted to leave a note for the dentist on his desk. He and the dentist really had something strange going on. He told Jane that if he had held the regular session in Room 330 yesterday, so that he had been busy typing last night, he would not have found Babbitt's note, because he would not have had extra time after dinner to go through the letters from book fans and clear out the paper bags he brought back from the hospital every day. So why was there no session yesterday, on the day he had the appointment with the dentist? Honestly, that was the first time in weeks that he had missed a Seth session -- indeed, they had been held every day.

Rob's point was, why did he find this note that very evening after missing the dentist? She had changed the appointment from the 13th to the 23rd. If he had held the session, he would have been busy typing and would not have had time to go through those old materials, and he would not have found the note. Today I called Babbitt from the hospital to check on the new appointment date. Of course, this experience followed the pattern of my previous appointment, which is on record: one of my teeth had a corner chipped off, and on the same day I went to the dentist's office to see if he could fix it, only to discover that I had an appointment at the same time on the same day that I had forgotten about. When I walked in, Babbitt thought I had arrived right on schedule.

Jane went to hydrotherapy this morning, her temperature was within the normal range, and the menu no longer had calorie-counting items. This morning she did not see Jeff, her attending physician. She was still on two antibiotics -- gentamicin and one for the bladder infection. The mottled condition on her feet had improved even more. Rob told her that her progress was remarkable, but Jane could not see it.

Jane ate most of her lunch, and afterward Rob gave her a Valentine's Day card and a box of a new kind of candy. Today Rob did not eat lunch, because a nurse had told him that the hospital staff was having a Valentine's Day party and told him to wait, that there would be cake for him. But no one showed up either, so Rob ate the things on Jane's tray that she did not eat -- for example, half a roast beef sandwich with mustard, which was very good.

Since there was no session from yesterday to read, Jane was trying to read the February 1 session -- the one from that first day that later led to the start of her new life. But she could not do it; she could not read it. So Rob read it aloud to her, that excellent session on how health is extremely simple, and then he read her the February 5 session as well, which was equally good.

Jane rarely asked to read past sessions; she rarely read past sessions. Rob thought that this was still the self-protective behavior at work, and it had been so for many years, not just recently. Even though Seth had recently emphasized again and suggested that she reread those materials, she still would not read the earlier material. To Rob, this situation had always been a clear demonstration that one part of her was still fighting against another part of her, and the self she feared was still in control. Although in these days, perhaps to a lesser degree, because they had all made progress.

From this passage one can see that Rob, as an observer, could see these inner activities of Jane's. Why was Jane unwilling to read her past sessions? Actually, she was resisting that part of herself, that is, the Seth material that came through channeling. She did not accept it one hundred percent; one part of herself resisted that other part of herself. Although Jane had changed somewhat and had begun to be more independent, it was still not enough.

Jane's temperature was normal, 98.3 degrees Fahrenheit. Frank Longwell visited at 3:45 p.m. Rob said he tried to write some letters but did not make much progress. Because of the warm weather, a window in Room 330 was opened a foot wide, and the heat had been turned off. Once again, when Jane was having the session, Rob became aware of the noise from Market Street.

Seth Comes Through: Good Medicine and Regret

Then Seth came through and said:

I wish you a good afternoon again.

Rob and Jane said good afternoon to Seth. Seth said that Ruburt needed to hear the precise material read to him by Rob. Rob's eyes might already be having more difficulty reading now, and since Jane could not read it herself, Rob would have to read it to her. Rob read it to her more accurately, whereas when Jane looked at it herself, because her eyes were not so good, she could not see it that clearly, and perhaps because she could not see clearly, there were deviations in the accuracy of the material, so it was not as helpful to Jane.

Seth said:

That material, those concepts are so beneficial that it would truly be unfortunate if you could not find a schedule to read that material at length.

Again he said, that material is especially helpful to Jane, especially good, but you just do not read it. It really, really is too regrettable.

Ruburt then said, he rarely asks me to read it to him. Rob said, it is not that I do not read it to her, she does not let me, she does not want to hear it.

Seth said:

That is only because in your present time, everything is scheduled in a certain way.

That is, your time now is all filled up, what you do at what hour, injections, medication, hydrotherapy, then watching television, then answering letters, and so on. Seth's meaning was that you do not even have time to read that short session, less than ten minutes, something so useful to you, especially to Jane's recovery, and Seth did not know how many times he had suggested that they reread that content, yet they still did not read it.

Seth said:

And indeed it could save a life.

This sentence from Seth actually already hinted at it -- he accidentally let it slip. He said this material is actually very effective, but he was too anxious, and actually said it could save a life. Rob and Jane at that time did not have that much acuity, and did not notice it. The meaning of Seth's sentence was that if you do not change your way of living, if you do not truly live within Framework 2, if you continue developing according to your present pattern, Seth had already seen that result -- Jane would lose her life. But that was only one possibility, and they could change that possibility at the point of power in the present. So Seth did not intend to say it that clearly, but this sentence actually revealed Seth's underlying knowledge -- he knew, he knew what the result would be if Jane continued like this.

Here, he accidentally let it slip: that is good medicine, and good medicine that can save a life. Conversely, what does that mean? If you do not take this medicine, then it is very likely your little life will be gone.

Seth emphasized again:

It is truly unfortunate that these beliefs so simple and effective in their manifestation in nature seem so mysterious to the usual conscious direction of awareness.

Such simple beliefs, like those that can be seen anytime and anywhere in nature. Health is natural and simple, something you can obtain without doing anything. Yet why is it so difficult for you humans to obtain it? As if it were something very mysterious, as if maintaining health were something mysterious, as if it were a secret manual. Every day we ask those centenarians what the secret of their longevity is -- what secret is there to longevity? Longevity is so simple and natural. Yet why do you humans insist on treating it as some mysterious, unattainable secret to be explored? This is Seth's constant, earnest urging.

He said:

Of course your accepted orientation does have its role.

The accepted orientation is the cognition of ordinary people. And again, in itself, it must remain isolated from the deep creative healing of the body consciousness. He was referring to the usual cognition of everyone, the mainstream viewpoint -- the scientific, medical viewpoints we consider valid. It must remain isolated from the deep creative healing function of the body consciousness. It is an external cause or external function, not as powerful as your inner body's self-healing ability. This mainstream viewpoint is external; your inner body consciousness and creative healing are the core, and everything else is peripheral. And if you have not established this core, the other functions are not of much use.

The accepted conscious direction is truly the worrier.

He is the one who worries, because he recognizes that he can only go so far, and he usually does not have enough education to recognize that he himself is nourished and supported.

This so-called "accepted cognition" is the so-called mainstream viewpoint. He is a worrier, because he sees that his own ability can only be so limited. For example, many doctors will tell you that the role of medicine is limited -- the more professional the doctor, the more they will tell you that it mainly depends on your own immunity, resistance, and self-healing function. The lower the level of the doctor, the more he will take everything upon himself and say that medicine can solve all problems; the more one has studied, the more professional the expert, the more they understand this principle. But because medicine is limited, it can only solve limited problems, so he is afraid: I can only treat this part, what do I do about the rest that I cannot cure? What he does not know is that the part further out is being cared for by the self's body consciousness.

So he is always worried. Logically, this is Western medicine feeling very powerful about itself in certain respects, but at the bottom level it has no confidence in itself. In the words of a professional doctor, we cannot even cure the common cold. Colds are basically cured by the patients themselves; not a single cold is cured by medicine. Medicine only relieves the symptoms of a cold; all cold medicines relieve cold symptoms rather than cure the cold, and the cold gets better on your own. Every doctor will tell you a harsh reality: even for the common cold, the smallest of all illnesses, humanity is helpless against it; no drug can treat it, and it can only be allowed to get better on its own through one's own immunity.

This is the limitation of Western medicine. They learned this knowledge from early on; they know this thing is limited, so although they appear very powerful on the surface, inwardly they are very fragile, and they know where their limitations lie. But because of this limitation, they have a kind of worry, because they know they are not omnipotent, nor that formidable. Whenever they treat patients, they do not have that much confidence in their hearts; they rely more on the patient's own self-recovery ability -- but they dare not say this out loud, because patients count on doctors, and all patients count on hospitals and doctors. So Seth brought out their underlying mentality: at the bottom, they are worriers, not a firm, assured existence.

And Seth said, he does not need to worry, he himself is nourished and supported. Because even without this external thing, the human body's self-healing ability is also extremely formidable.

The Platform and Coordinates of Healing

Then Seth said:

I will indeed accelerate those coordinates of Ruburt's healing process.

He said:

Of course, you are also within my attention.

He said to Rob, and these sessions that come through should also help you adjust your own body, and revive exuberance and the feeling of understanding -- that is, the ability of awareness will also increase. It helps Rob too.

Why would he say this? Actually, Ruburt had been taking care of Jane's illness for a long time -- look at his daily schedule, not a single day of rest, not a single day when he did not come to be with Jane. There may have been only one or two days in between, very, very few. That is to say, during the year and a half that Jane was hospitalized, from her hospitalization in April of '83 to her departure in October of '84, Rob was at the hospital almost every day. Think about it, he came every day to stay with her, and he also had to type, publish, answer letters, and help take care of the daily household matters -- taxes, all sorts of donations, and he also had to give Jane the Seth sessions, and read to her, and help heal her, and counsel her, and so on, and also give her massages, knead her legs, knead her feet. You can imagine, Rob at this time was already in his sixties. He was not a young fellow, nor was he a robust 34-year-old; by this time he was already in his sixties. Although in the Seth material there is no such thing as old or young, still, this kind of sustained physical and energetic drain was also a challenge for Rob.

Then Rob asked: May I ask you a question? Seth said yes. He said, when you say each time that "I will adjust those coordinates that accelerate Ruburt's healing process," what exactly do you mean by that?

Seth said:

Give us a moment, please.

Seth explained it to him. Seth said, when I am present -- that is, when Jane is connected with Seth, when Seth comes through to deliver the material -- this also places Ruburt within a different framework of relationship with himself. When Jane delivers the Seth material, she is in another state of consciousness. Very early on they had explained that Seth and Jane each had to extend a portion of their consciousness, meeting in the middle, on Jane's plane of return -- the plane of return means going out and still being able to come back, like a boomerang, this place. So in this state, Jane's state of consciousness is different from her previous state when she was not connected with Seth, so her relationship with herself is within a different framework.

To put it plainly, it pulled Jane out of the state of the ego. Within that, Jane's negativity -- most of it, the greater part of the negativity -- simply could not take effect. That is, Jane's negative thoughts, when she was delivering the Seth material, because the state she was in had already left the ego behind, and the negative beliefs of the ego were shielded from affecting Jane, they would not affect Jane, because the ego was no longer on duty. At this time Jane's "greater self" was on duty, or the "higher self" was on duty. At this time, although the ego's negative beliefs were many, they no longer had any effect. So Seth said, that is equivalent to reducing somewhat the negative influence of Jane's ego's negative beliefs upon Jane, and such a reduction would allow Jane's body's self-healing ability to increase, allowing her self-recovery to speed up, because she was no longer disturbed by the ego's negative beliefs.

Seth said:

It is as if you set up a small healing station, or a platform of healing, and from that position of power, the body can then use its healing abilities far more effectively.

It is as if Jane entered a healing station or a platform of healing. On that platform the main activity was delivering the Seth material, but on that platform, Jane's ego's negative beliefs could do her no harm, and in this process, her body's self-healing function would greatly help Jane heal quickly.

Through this detail, you can imagine how severe Jane's negative beliefs were, and how much harm she did to herself. Just in this short span of time, allowing her negative beliefs to do her no harm had such a good effect on her healing. If Jane could have changed her beliefs, and no longer allowed her own negative beliefs to harm herself, her illness would have been cured long ago. But she could not do it.

Then Seth said:

Now I may or may not return, again according to the rhythms I spoke of, but know that I am here, and approachable.

Then Jane came back from the out-of-body state. At 4:47, Jane vaguely remembered Seth's answer to Rob's question. Rob said, I had thought of asking him before, and I should have. I also wanted to ask another question, but Jane came out too quickly. Rob said, I read this session to her, and then explained that my next question was: when Seth is present, even if I am not present, and Seth does not speak, can he place himself in that state?

You see, every one of Rob's questions was related to Jane's health. What Rob meant was, if Rob was not there, not recording the content, and Seth came but did not speak, and Jane just stayed with Seth on that platform for a while, would that help her healing? He said, if you can do it once a day, why not do it twice? If you can deliver once a day, why not deliver twice or more? Rob asked her, just pretend I am in the bathroom, only you cannot see me, or I am in the hallway. What he meant was, he hoped that when Rob was not there, Jane could enter that state of connection with Seth, and then without having to hold a session, without having to record anything, just entering that state, would that not accelerate her healing?

Jane agreed to try. This was one of Rob's suggestions. When he heard Seth say this was good for Jane's healing, he immediately thought, could they use this method to increase her healing time? You can see Rob's reaction was very quick.

Then Rob also said:

I cannot believe we cannot take ten minutes a day to read the session of February 1st. Even if we have to give up watching some television, especially when it is a program we have seen before.

The two of them were still in the hospital room, bored, watching it again. We can hardly let a schedule interfere with these important activities. And Rob again felt that in this matter he had to take the lead. He said, reading the session of February 1st is very important, we cannot let daily trivial things like watching television interrupt it. He said, we cannot count on Jane for this, Jane never asks to read it, so I have to ask, I have to take the lead.

Then Rob said, tomorrow I can ask my second question -- that is, about Jane entering that state of communication with Seth by herself, but without communicating and without transmitting content, whether that would help Jane's healing.

February 15: Progress and Doubts

Now let us look at February 15, 1984, Wednesday⁵³, 4:32 p.m., the same time as yesterday. Because it rained nonstop all day yesterday, there was some water on the basement floor last night, so Rob mopped some of it up, but that old mop fell apart, so he had to buy a new one. It rained for half the night, and a little more this morning. When he left the house for Room 330, it was again a warm 42 degrees.

Jane was eating breakfast, and again had a lot of blood drawn. She slept well, had gone for hydrotherapy, her temperature was normal, but she was on only one antibiotic — Bactrim. She ate a fairly good lunch. Rita brought some medicine for Jane to take, along with vitamin C, apparently the result of a test. Rita crushed the medicine, and Jane tried to swallow it with Hawaiian punch; she did not like the taste of the juice or the medicine.

After lunch, Rob read her the same two sessions he had read yesterday, namely the sessions of February 1 and February 5. He told Jane that the question he wanted to ask Seth was: why did her fever happen after the very first day she began implementing the new program — there must be many connections. Rob wondered, why was it that after Jane decided "I am going to start my new life, replacing old beliefs with our new beliefs," she began to have fevers one after another, and kept having fevers for a long time? He did not understand.

Jane tried to read yesterday's session, but could not read it very well, so she set it aside and had a cigarette. She showed Rob how her entire left arm and left hand, especially the elbow, moved much better. Recently she had mentioned several times the changes in her hands. She was in fact recovering. She also showed Rob how her right hand and forearm could move more. She said both of her feet could move too, and felt much freer, and the sores on her feet had improved a great deal.

It seemed as though her body was generally showing many signs of change for the better, as if the body was changing, preparing itself for change. Seth had foretold this; he had said before that she would get better and better. Jane had not moved much at all for a long time, and now her body was much more flexible than before.

Before either of them noticed, it was already 4:20. Rob tried to sort through the mail, but made no progress at all. By 4:30, he rang for a nurse's aide, because the medicine bag on the pole by Jane's bed was empty. While they were waiting for the nurse, Jane decided to have the session first; she did not want to wait. She said, "I will try to speak quietly." The window had just been closed — when Rob tried to read to her, he had been disturbed by the traffic noise, so she felt the traffic noise affected her and closed the window. Jane's Seth voice was indeed quieter.

Styles of Thought and Modes of Thinking

Seth said:

Now I wish you a good afternoon.

Rob and Jane said good afternoon to Seth. Then Seth said:

Thoughts have their styles, just as clothes come in many varied styles.

Clothes also have styles. Every designer or every brand has a different style. Remember, this is style, not cut.

The accepted direction of consciousness, which is our mainstream viewpoint, is a mental state, a convention. When you were a child, you thought in a relatively freer way. But gradually, you were educated to think in a certain way. You found that when you thought and spoke in a particular way, your needs were quickly met, and you normally gained approval, more often gained approval, until finally it seemed to be the only natural mode of operation.

(It was specially interrupted in the middle, so I will not mention it here.)

What does this mean? He said something similar in a previous lesson, about how our beliefs come about. When we were very young, our thoughts were not subject to any restrictions, but gradually, under the influence of the surrounding environment, the home environment, and our parents, we gradually tended toward a fixed mode of thinking, because when we thought according to this mode, we received praise and encouragement. If you used another mode of thinking to consider problems and to handle your view of the world, you would receive criticism or scolding from everyone, who would tell you, how can you think like that? You can only think this way. Over time, by the time you were very young, you had already formed a mode of thinking and a fixed pattern of thought.

This is the same principle as the matrix described in The Matrix. We live within this matrix of language and culture—this matrix is also called the matrix, also called the mother body. We are born out of such a cultural mother body, out of a mother body of language or belief. We are not only born from our mother's body; we are also born from this cultural or social mother body.

Your entire civilization is constructed around this inner framework.

The entire civilization is built upon this collective—let us temporarily call it the "collective subconscious"—actually it is no longer subconscious; it is a culture, a social consensus. Our social civilization is built upon this consensus. Our ways of thinking are all similar, and when you communicate with others, it is all similar. So you say, we have so much in common, we can all think alike, and suddenly there is a feeling of mutual understanding—actually this is not a good thing. In life, if you very easily find like-minded people or people you can talk with, that is actually not a good thing.

On the contrary, if many of your current views are out of step with mainstream views, and even many of your friends cannot understand you, then for the development of humanity as a whole, you are the good thing. You are that kind of change, that kind of variation, providing diversity in human thought. Or rather, you are more like a small child, whose thoughts are unrestricted and uncontrolled, so your views do not agree with everyone else's. To put it bluntly, from a psychological perspective, everyone has a kind of herd mentality or a people-pleasing personality, which is a widespread phenomenon. We are willing to think using modes of thought that everyone accepts, willing to speak language and viewpoints that everyone can accept. We do not dare to be our true selves, do not dare to express our true selves. This is a very common phenomenon. But over time, this inner distortion will cause psychological or emotional suppression and change in oneself; in severe cases it can lead to illness, and in mild cases it will make one unhappy.

This way of thinking has become so automatic that it has become mentally invisible.

You can no longer see it; it has become automatic. What should you do at this point? The simplest method at this point is to change your mode of living or your social form, and you can immediately see those previously hidden patterns. This time, our second practical training course was not held domestically; we chose to go abroad. We will go to three countries: Pattaya in Thailand, Bali in Indonesia, and Palawan or the Sulu area in the Philippines. The main reason is to let everyone change countries, change cultures, change modes of thinking, change environments. Those belief systems that were previously invisible and built upon the original society and culture will automatically reveal themselves, because previously, within the old patterns or society, you could not see those beliefs.

This is also why many people experience a huge cultural impact, or shock, called culture shock, after going abroad. It is because in traditional society, in the original society, you had no conflict, because everyone thought the same way you did. When you change to another social form, you become out of step with others, and at this point your cultural uniqueness and difference become apparent.

However, in the case of creative people, there is always an intrusion of hints or clues from ways of thinking that apparently seem unfamiliar. And creative people use those hints and clues to construct a work of art, a piece of music, or whatever it may be. They sense a surging force beneath.

What does this mean? He says there are some creative people or creative talents who simply do not play by the usual rules. They use unfamiliar ways of thinking to intrude, or to capture such hints or clues. They can sense and seize the inspiration or intuition that suddenly pops up in their minds, and this inspiration and intuition are completely different from their previous modes of thinking. Ordinary people might just ignore it; we are more inclined to accept mainstream viewpoints. The biggest difference between those creative people and us is that they seize those points in their minds that are inconsistent with their own ordinary thoughts, that are conflicting, very unconventional, seemingly vastly different, or highly contrasting. They will seize them, and then use them to construct a work of art, a piece of music, or a film, a novel, a sculpture, a game—anything. In these whimsical and fantastic ideas, they will discover a continuous surging force behind them. As long as you seize this loose thread, seize this clue and do not let go, it will continuously bring you more content, more novel ideas, more creative things from behind. The force behind is endless, continuous, surging.

So this point tells us how to become a creative person, how to become an innovative person, how to avoid being content with mediocrity. It is very simple: seize that tiny thought or small clue in your mind that is different from the ordinary, seize those whimsical and fantastic ideas that are completely different from what you usually think, firmly seize them, and absolutely do not let go. Then hold on to them and do not let go, and you will discover a great energy behind—including creative energy, practical energy, and the energy to complete it—all of which will be pulled out by this loose thread.

So you see many artists always carry a pen and a notebook with them; they do this precisely to catch these loose threads. They have already tasted the benefit of this. They have found that if ordinary creation does not come from this kind of method, it is meaningless, and no good work will be created. So they would rather not create at all; they just wait for these fantastic ideas to appear in their minds. Their advantage, or the way they are better than us, is that they can seize it directly. We ordinary people just let it slip by and let it go. So you should know that the difference between you and an artist lies here.

Seth's Core: From Duality to Non-duality

Seth says:

You and Ruburt have had this feeling many times.

Rob and Jane are both artists. But Seth says:

What we want to do is switch from one mode of operation to another.

From an artist's perspective, you have all experienced this feeling -- whimsical ideas, flights of fancy. But Seth says, what I want to talk about now is not that. What I want to convey to you through Jane, this Seth material, is not whimsical ideas, nor is it inspiration or intuition. What is it that I am transmitting to you? It is to change your human mode of thinking from one mode to another mode.

To put it bluntly, to change your human mode of thinking from a dualistic, oppositional way of thinking -- good and bad, right and wrong, right and evil, these are all dualistic modes -- into a non-dual mode of thinking. The non-dual mode is: there is no difference between good and bad, right and wrong, ugly and beautiful -- it is the same as Laozi's thought, and the same as the Buddhist thought that "form is not emptiness, form does not differ from emptiness, emptiness does not differ from form." All these people are talking about the same principle, which is this non-dual thought. Seth's meaning is, I am not here to transmit certain inspirations to you; I am here to change the entire mode of human thinking. I am here to change you from this dualistic mode of thinking into a non-dual mode of thinking. This is what I want to do, and it is the core of the material I am transmitting.

Seth says:

And it will go on to construct great new blocks of inner meaning that will lead to the next epoch.

The next epoch does not mean the next decade or the next century. The next epoch means that human civilization will enter the next epoch, that we will enter a new epoch of civilization, that human civilization will rise to a higher level. We use the word "upgrade," although we do not really have the concept of upgrading or not upgrading, but this way it is easier for everyone to understand. That is, we will step into a new human civilization.

Seth says, my significance lies here. I will construct its inner meaning in great blocks. I am not here to transmit these small techniques to you -- how to make your life happier, how to keep you from suffering on the basis of what you already have. Of course, the Seth material can solve these problems, but that is not what it is here to solve. "It can solve them" and "it is not here to solve them" are two different concepts. But this does not prevent the Seth material from incidentally curing many people's depression, psychological illnesses, emotional problems, and the problem of not finding meaning in life -- all of these things can be cured. But that is not his purpose. His purpose is to truly bring humanity into the next stage of civilization.

Including what we are doing now in spreading the Seth material -- we are doing the same thing. Through your listening to me speak, without your even realizing it, we have already replaced many great blocks of your underlying foundational beliefs. Why do so many people undergo those earth-shaking changes? Why do they have such great courage to welcome a new life, to face the future and the unknown without any fear at all? It is because their foundational beliefs have been replaced, they have found their inner meaning, they no longer seek meaning from outside, they have found important meaning within.

A Brand-New Educational Process

There was a long pause, 4:44 -- three fours.

Seth said:

Of course, what you are involved in is actually a brand-new educational process.

Again, to emphasize, it is a brand-new educational process.

Therefore, you can at least distinguish one style of thinking from another style of thinking, and thus be able to choose more freely.

What are we actually doing? We are entering into a process of re-education for humanity that is entirely new for human beings. Although this word is not so good -- re-education -- that is its nature. What we are doing now is education, and what the Xiyu Home is doing is education. Educating in what? It is educating everyone to shift from a dualistic mode of thinking to a non-dual mode of thinking, from an oppositional mode of thinking to a unified mode of thinking, from a discriminating mode of thinking to the mode of thinking in which you and all things are one. This is in fact the necessary path for the evolution of human civilization, and this requires long-term guidance, and it requires patience in doing a great deal of educational work.

So our Xiyu Home is going to do education this summer. We are going to start with young children, awakening the child's underlying wisdom and their potential. We will combine artificial intelligence with the cultivation of spiritual awareness, gradually opening the child's inherent inner senses, so that in the future the child will become a true "god-man" with AI in one hand and spiritual growth and the development of supernormal abilities of the inner senses in the other.

When we human beings of today look at the human beings of the future, they will be the existence of god-men, people like gods: on the one hand supported by artificial intelligence, knowing everything and capable of everything, and on the other hand having developed the other enormous potentials of humanity -- that is, all those spiritual powers of the ancients that we spoke of before, he will possess them all. Of course, his purpose is not to develop spiritual powers; his purpose is to change our mode of thinking, and those spiritual powers will be obtained naturally. He does not need to pursue them; if you pursue them, you are finished. If you make the pursuit of spiritual powers your goal, then you will get nothing at all, and it will backfire.

Here Seth once again says it very clearly. We never advocate any pursuit of spiritual powers, or the pursuit of supernormal abilities. We even oppose any pursuit of such supernormal abilities and any specialized practice of them. On the contrary, what we value more and care about more is the elevation of your mode of thinking and your mode of cognition.

So Seth also brings this up here. He says that at the very least you must be able to distinguish the difference between this new mode of thinking and the old mode of thinking, and only then can you make a free choice. When you still want to live in the old era, then you use the old mode of thinking -- this dualistic, oppositional mode of thinking. When you want to enter the new era, when you want to lead humanity into a new stage, you must be able to distinguish whether they are thinking with the new mode of thinking, whether they are thinking with this non-dual mode of thinking, whether they are thinking with this mode of thinking of oneness.

He says, as for you and Rob and Jane, you must be able to distinguish this. The friends of our spiritual home must also be able to distinguish this. You must be able to judge immediately at what stage a person's mode of thinking is. Although we can all accept and all be tolerant, and we do not evaluate him or judge him, saying this is good and that is bad, still we cannot say -- just because we do not judge, we do not distinguish, and we are fools who know nothing -- no. We know everything. We know what mode you are using to think, and we also know where you are stuck. But we are not very willing to provide help to you at the place where you are stuck; we hope that you can change to another mode of thinking.

The place where you are supposedly stuck is not stuck at all; it is your mode of thinking that keeps you stuck there. You are free, you are unconstrained, and you are not stuck by anything at all. What is stuck is only your thoughts, only your cognition, only your beliefs, only your mode of thinking that keeps you stuck there, keeping you stuck there unable to move at all, unable to go up and unable to go down.

So it is only when we can see this that you can truly help everyone. Only then can you help everyone shift from one mode of thinking to another mode of thinking. If you cannot even distinguish them, how can you help everyone? This is the meaning of this passage from Seth.

The friends of our spiritual home will be the same when they go out in the future. First you must do well yourself. Do not worry about others yet; first look at which mode of thinking your own is. First be able to be aware in real time of which way you are thinking. When you discover that you are still thinking with the old mode, you must remind yourself: I am thinking with the old mode. Then in the future -- or right now, immediately -- think it through once more with the other mode of thinking, and see whether the conclusion you reach is the same. If the conclusion is different, we use the latter mode of thinking -- that is, this non-dual mode of thinking -- to make our decisions and give us guidance, and we no longer use any conclusion drawn from the first mode of thinking to guide our lives.

This is a resolution we need to make. This is also Seth's painstaking intention in wanting Jane to recover completely and improve: you already know the difference between these two modes of thinking and their great influence and significance for you, so why are you still using the conclusions drawn from the old mode of thinking to guide your life, instead of using the better or wiser decisions drawn from this new mode of thinking to guide your life? This is what Seth cannot understand.

Now let us not talk about Seth, nor about Rob and Jane; let us talk about ourselves. The most essential point in studying spiritual material is to bring yourself into it. Do not always talk about Jane's problems or Rob's problems. Think about whether you yourself have this kind of problem. I am talking about you right now; do not look at others. In your life, are you still using that small-self mode of thinking to make decisions? Can you make a resolution to yourself, swear to heaven: I, so-and-so, from today onward, will only use the decisions made by this new mode of thinking to guide my life? Do you dare to make such a vow -- that from now on I will never again use the old mode to guide my life?

I allow myself to still be able to use that mode of thinking; I do not blame myself, and I do not berate myself. I know that I cannot manage to think according to the new mode in everything; I admit that I still live in the three-dimensional world, and I will still be influenced by all kinds of external factors in the three-dimensional world. I know I still have judgments, fault-finding, and harshness -- none of that matters. But when you make important decisions, can you start changing from this point first, listening only to the conclusions and results produced for you by this non-dual, unified mode of thinking, and use them to guide your life? In small matters you do not need to do this in every single case; in small matters you can let them go for now. Change the big ones first. At the important decision points and turning points of your life, can you use this to make the big decisions, and gradually transition it down to the smaller places?

If you can change it all at once with a snap, whether big or small, and from now on make all decisions using this non-dual mode of thinking, then that is wonderful; you have entered the state of enlightenment all at once. I dare to tell you, I dare to guarantee you: if you think this way in every single matter, you are in a state of enlightenment. Many people do not know what the state of enlightenment is; I will tell you, this is what is called the state of enlightenment -- thinking in every matter with the second mode of thinking. That is called enlightenment. If you cannot do it in every matter, then you can only say that you have not yet become enlightened; you can only say that you know the method of enlightenment, that you understand the principle of enlightenment, that you understand this matter, but you have not done it.

What should you do to accomplish it? It is what is called the unity of knowledge and action. Make a great vow, set a great aspiration, and from then on life will be smooth and unobstructed, and you will live a life that is wide open.

All right, this is what I have to say about these two sentences -- two sentences that seem very ordinary -- the underlying thought within them. Seth's thinking is very far-reaching.

Platforms Versus Patterns

Then Seth continued:

I do want to give you this material, which will help you understand the platform of Ruburt's imagination, as well as the inner procedures needed for the session that was not held last time.

What did he mean by this? Last time Rob said that if Seth's appearance could speed up Jane's recovery and self-healing, then Rob's suggestion was this: when Jane is by herself, you just connect with Seth, you don't need to wait for me, and I don't need to take notes. When Seth comes, he doesn't speak and doesn't transmit material either, but because of the state of your connection with Seth -- in other words, you have entered into a platform of connection with Seth -- then wouldn't you be able to speed up the healing? That way, you wouldn't have to wait for just half an hour or ten-plus minutes of class each day to have such an accelerated healing process.

Then Seth said, I do want to give you this material. What did he mean? He meant that whether or not you enter this platform -- of course entering the platform is better, and it can have a healing effect -- but what is more important is the transformation of your thought patterns. Whether you get on this platform or not is less impactful on you than the change in your own thought patterns. This is the point Seth wanted to tell him. But he didn't get a chance to say it before the connection broke. Maybe he will talk about it later.

But what Seth said earlier is actually more meaningful. In other words, for all of us, don't go seeking externally for some platform or some particular state. To put it in the most down-to-earth terms for us, the transformation of your thought patterns is far greater than any transformation you might experience on some platform. So this is also what we hope everyone can pay attention to and improve upon in daily life at all times.

Then Seth left, "maybe he will return, maybe not" -- the same old line. 4:50. Jane said that Seth could have kept talking forever; he could go on and on without stopping. Rob regretted losing this opportunity, because it was interrupted in the middle -- the nurse came with the meal tray, and the timing was off too; it wasn't even 5 o'clock yet and they were already having dinner.

Jane said she had tried to reach the platform Seth described in the previous session -- just as Rob had suggested she do -- but with only limited success. However, she had achieved something, so it was worth continuing for a while. Rob also reminded Jane that regarding the question of why all the fevers and so on began immediately after she started the first-day, second-day, third-day regimen, Seth had not answered. Rob said, I will try again tomorrow.

Rob pressed the call bell again, and the nurse came right away to unhook Jane, injecting a dose of heparin into her heparin lock to keep it open, in preparation for the next subcutaneous injection. As Rob was preparing to leave, Jane had another excellent episode of increased activity in both arms, both hands, and her feet. Rob encouraged her, saying that even when you are alone you should keep it up, and if she called today, he would give her a report on the progress of her activity. Rob said, "Jane, I love you."

February 16: The Miracle of the Ulcers and the Fear of Determination

Looking at Thursday, February 16, 1984⁵⁴, 4:20 p.m. Jane did not call. When Rob left yesterday, she was enjoying the progress report on the new movement exercises, but she did not give Rob a report. However, as she demonstrated today, most of those movements were still there. She slept very well last night, because her body had relaxed a great deal, and many joints could now move through a large range of motion.

Jane had some other excellent news. When the therapist checked the ulcers on Jane's two thighs this morning, Jane gasped and said, "I don't believe this." The therapist told Jane that the ulcers had shrunk by at least half, and she went to get a measuring tool -- something like a micrometer -- to verify the extent of the reduction. However, another nurse had said a few days earlier that the drainage from these ulcers was getting worse -- a remark that Jane found very offensive, and Rob did too.

Jane's temperature was in the normal range, and no blood was drawn this morning. Jane ate a decent lunch. At 3:30, after Jane was unable to read yesterday's material, Rob read it to her. Rob's throat was hoarse, and after eating half a piece of the candy he had bought Jane for Valentine's Day, he started coughing and could hardly continue reading. This candy Rob bought was also the kind that comes in a Valentine's gift box, so it probably was not very good candy. Another thing is that American candy really is especially sweet, not just ordinarily sweet -- we could use the word "cloying" to describe it -- so most people probably cannot quite adapt to it.

At 3:45, Jeff arrived. He wanted Jane to continue the antibiotic injections for a few more days -- Jane had had a blood infection, which had now cleared up. Jeff wanted her to receive vitamin C injections to keep the blood acidic, because that would inhibit bacterial growth. At 3:55 Jane's temperature was 98.9 degrees Fahrenheit. Rob read her the sessions from February 1, 6, and 7. Jane said her eyes were really bothering her; they were very red. Rob suggested that if she wanted to have a session, she should do it soon, and not worry about whether her blood pressure still needed to be measured.

Once again, the window was open and the curtains were drawn, because the sunlight was very bright. This was the 15th day of Jane's new activity, and Rob had already reminded Jane of the question he wanted Seth to answer: why did this fear and infection break out after the first day? That is, why did she start running a fever after she began her new life?

Once again, Jane's Seth voice was rather quiet, and the pace of delivery was quite slow.

Seth said:

Now once again, I wish you both a good afternoon.

Rob and Jane said good afternoon to Seth.

Ruburt began this new program with determination and confidence.

Jane began her new life. At the start, did she not say, "Today is the first day of my new life" -- her determination and confidence were very strong. Seth said:

That determination and confidence also let him see how far he had drifted from healthy, normal behavior.

What does this mean? Before this, Ruburt had no awakening and no confidence. She was just drifting with the current, and she even thought she would never get better. But on that day when she suddenly made up her mind and said, "I want to recover, I want to start a new life," once she made that decision -- once her confidence in wanting to recover was set -- only then did she realize how far she had already slid.

It is like a person sliding down a hillside. At first he is in despair. He thinks he is done for, that he will surely fall off the cliff and surely not survive, so he does not resist, and he just keeps sliding down. When he is halfway down, he suddenly has a thought: No, I cannot die, I have to fight. The moment that thought arises, the moment he fights back -- he braces his foot against a rock or grabs hold of a branch, and he stops. And at that moment, when he looks up again at the top of the slope he has slid down, only then does he realize how far he has slid.

Now Seth is describing Jane's state of mind at that time. Jane had made a decision to recover, but the moment her decision was made, she realized how far she was from recovery, how far she had slid, how long she had given up on herself. He is describing the mindset of that person in the example. At this point, there was a kind of fear in her heart. She could perceive that distance, and she found that the distance was very great, because she had been sliding for a long time without realizing it, and she had reached the point where she could hardly move her whole body.

Seth said:

This did indeed arouse in him still greater determination and confidence.

But by that time the determination and confidence had already been set, and she had even greater determination and confidence. But what she had not encountered before -- she saw more: how long it had been since she had enjoyed anything like a normal life, a normal range of activity -- that is, the range of motion in her body's joints. Using the earlier example, this person suddenly realized how far he was from the top of the slope, and he also suddenly saw his own situation: climbing back up would certainly mean facing many difficulties, and the distance was very great.

And for Jane, she suddenly realized that she had been so restricted that she could barely move. Although the determination was there, it also made her see reality clearly. Why had she not had this awareness before? Before, she had given up. She had never thought it through carefully, and she had never thought that she could get better or fully recover. When she had not thought about fully recovering, then whatever state her body was in no longer mattered to her. But when she wanted to recover, she discovered: oh, I cannot move now, and I am still so far from that goal. That was the point of her pain.

Seth said:

Those feelings did indeed frighten him.

It did indeed frighten her. She discovered that she had slid so far, and this led to several bouts of depression. She really was depressed. Just imagine the example I gave earlier: this person suddenly does not want to fall into the abyss and wants to climb back up, and then discovers how far he has fallen. At that moment, when he sees his situation clearly, his first feeling really is a shock. Before, if he had just closed his eyes and waited for death, it would not have mattered -- it would not matter how far he slid, because in the end it was just death, and he could slide as far as he liked. But when you do not want to die and you want to climb back up, then how far you have slid really becomes very important to you, and at that point he gets a fright.

Seth said:

Those bouts, however, helped him throw off deeply buried feelings.

That is, this kind of depression -- seeing her present condition, yet having made up her mind to recover -- this tug-of-war could help her throw off those deeply buried feelings. What deeply buried feelings? The feeling of wanting to keep sliding down -- that old feeling of giving up. She threw off that feeling of giving up.

And his determination did indeed give the body's immune system a greater impetus.

That is, her determination -- "No matter what state I am in now, I will get better" -- although she was very afraid, although she knew it would be very difficult, the determination had already been made. Once that determination was made, it gave her immune system a greater impetus, and the immune system as a whole began to respond, transforming in a positive direction.

The progress of yesterday and today shows the body's abilities returning, and demonstrates his own intent toward greater motion and flexibility.

It shows that the body can do better, that you have this ability and this intent.

At 4:27 there was a pause. Seth said:

In the same fashion, Ruburt encountered the hospital environment from another angle. In a similar way, when he saw how different that environment was from a normal situation, that also frightened him.

Besides the fact that her body was so restricted she could barely move, which frightened her, the hospital environment also frightened her. She discovered that the hospital had so many things different from normal life, so many restrictions, so many interruptions, and so much negative information. You remember a few days ago, when she first decided on her new life, she already had positive beliefs, but the nurses around her did not. They kept telling her negative things: "Your condition is getting worse and worse, your body is getting worse and worse, this fever must be very serious, and we cannot find the cause," and so on. All this negative material deeply struck Jane, who already had positive thoughts and wanted to recover on her own.

Seth said:

Through all of this, however, the body is responding, and in running a fever he is indeed speeding up the healing process.

As I said before, fever is not a bad thing. In some cases it is the immune system at work, and fever can occur when the body is clearing out viruses or bacteria.

Again, it is an excellent idea that you reread those sessions.

This is a very good idea.

Now I may or may not return, again according to those rhythms I spoke of, but know that I am here and approachable.

Rob's Dream and Seth's Pun

Rob asked, may I ask a question? Then after a long pause, Jane was hesitating. And Rob felt that he had gotten her stuck in a state between half-trance and half-return — she later confirmed this. But she went back into the trance state, and she began to answer, saying:

You may.

It was Seth speaking, saying you may ask.

Rob said, I described a dream I had one day, which he had already told Jane about:

I was sitting on our couch with Jane and our neighbor Joe — Ben Barlow — Joe was staying with us, and the three of us were having dinner together while watching television. Joe's wife Margaret was not in the dream. During the dream, I wondered for a moment whether it hinted at something happening to them, that is, to Joe or Margaret. Of course, Joe had recovered from a serious heart condition.

Seth said:

And if you do not mind my saying so, that is the heart of the matter.

He said this had nothing to do with Joe, and nothing to do with Margaret. It was because Joe had once had a serious heart condition, and he later recovered. That was the point of your dream.

Here Seth was making a pun that cannot be translated — because "heart condition" and "the heart of the matter" are both related to the heart, both meaning the core and the key point. So Seth very cleverly used a pun: he said that in that dream, you saw Jane, recovering very well just like Joe. It was as if you were using your neighbor Joe as an example — Joe had also survived the hospital environment. In fact, the fact that Joe could pull through, and that in that dream Jane was also in a recovered state, was actually a very good hint: Jane could also recover from the hospital.

Rob said, thank you, Jane recovered completely.

4:33. Rob told Jane that in that dream she was also completely recovered, which made it quite a good little dream. Jane did remember that Rob had told her about this dream earlier in the week. Then Jane said, choking up:

Only after all this time did I one day really realize how far I had drifted from normal dynamics or from life. Now I so desperately want to go back, I have to use my life, and I have to use it.

She had not finished yet. That is, Jane said, I realize how far I have slipped away from normal life, and now I want to go back, now I want to recover, now I do not want to let myself go on like this. I cannot let my beliefs keep harming my body — actually it was all caused by the limitations of her beliefs. Jane said, I want to recover, I want to believe in my life.

Then Rob interrupted her, by reminding her that according to the aphorism from February 4 that he had read to her today — she did not need to do anything. She was not saying she had to do something with her mind or her life; she only needed to stop blocking her body's natural ability to heal itself. She only needed to stop "helping in a way that made things worse"; she only needed to stop interfering with it, and her body would heal naturally.

Rob said he was amazed that her body was still trying to right itself after all these years — he felt that even after the body had deteriorated over so many years, it had still completely changed and wanted to recover. And in fact these tragedies should have been avoidable long ago, but she had let them develop for so many years. Only when it reached the point where if she did not correct it, her life would be in danger, did Jane truly realize the seriousness of the problem and begin to change completely. But this "completely" should still be in quotation marks — she did not go all the way. Later you will be able to see this change in her thinking.

Many people do not quite understand why Jane could not heal herself. In every chapter and every session of The Way Toward Health, through the conversations between Jane and Rob as a couple, and with Seth's participation in the process, you can carefully discern Jane's underlying thoughts and beliefs — of course, sensed through Rob's record of it.

Body Consciousness and Free Will

Rob said that Jane really did want to come back at this point, even though she had let herself go for so many years -- I think about how cruel we can be to ourselves. This was actually Seth complaining a bit about Jane: how could you let yourself go like this, letting your beliefs harm you to this degree, for so many years.

This reminded Rob of an old question: why doesn't the body consciousness itself sometimes simply rebel and refuse to let erroneous beliefs strike at it so hard? In response to one of Rob's questions, Seth had touched on this point, but Rob said we needed more. Seth had also not yet addressed his question -- about the possibility of whatever reincarnational influences might be operating on Jane, which had nothing to do with reincarnation.

Rob had once asked Seth this question: since our body consciousness is so powerful and has self-healing functions, why can't it block out or avoid the harm that negative beliefs do to the body? Why doesn't it just reject it outright? Why does it allow one's own consciousness or one's own negative beliefs to harm one's body to such an extent? Can't your body consciousness take charge?

Seth had explained before that the body consciousness can repair and correct itself, but when your beliefs -- especially negative beliefs of this kind -- become strong enough, your body consciousness has no way to deal with you.

Why is that? This brings us back to human free will itself. When we created ourselves, or when the universe created us to come into this world to explore, there were many, many automatic functions -- just like the automatic functions of a robot, human beings are also equipped with many automatic functions, such as the self-repair and self-healing functions of the body consciousness. These functions are extremely powerful; as long as they are not interfered with, they will do their job very well. But there is an even higher-priority function, and that is human free will. This function is such that -- once the human self-will emerges, even though it arises later, and self-will is not innate but cultivated by the self after birth -- as soon as self-will emerges, it completely takes over. It has the highest priority, and it can take over all those automatic consciousnesses. So although these automatic consciousnesses will still work automatically when not interfered with, the moment there is interference, they stop working.

Let me give you a vivid example. Your ego consciousness is like a boss who knows nothing but gives orders recklessly, while your body's autonomous consciousnesses and automatic consciousnesses are like highly professional engineers or a professional team. But this mistaken or foolish boss is always giving bad orders, and because his power is great enough, the people below have to listen to him -- there's no way around it. So at this point, you can't say: why doesn't this engineer rebel against the leadership above him -- when he clearly knows the plan is wrong, clearly knows this will have a major impact on the enterprise or the company, why don't you stop him? But for an engineer, he only draws an engineer's salary; you can't ask him to take on the owner's spirit of a factory director and prevent such a wrong decision. He certainly tried to stop it, and he voiced his own opinions, but if you expect him to ultimately prevent the matter, he can't do it -- it's not within the scope of his duties, nor within the scope of his abilities.

So the core point here is, I think I've made it clear: don't keep dwelling on this question any further.

Another point: you might say, if your body is ruined, doesn't your larger self get anxious? Doesn't the body consciousness get anxious? It does get anxious, and it worries too, but there's nothing it can do. On one hand, the larger self doesn't care; it has no pain, it doesn't suffer, and the body means nothing to it. The smaller self -- the body consciousness -- has the ability and the authority to maintain the body well, but it doesn't have that much authority, because there's an ego stuck in between, and this ego is very strong and domineering.

So you see, their relationship is like this: there is one with more power who doesn't care, watching you struggle as if watching a play; it has no pain, it doesn't mind, and to it everything is a brand-new experience. Whether you get sick, or restrict yourself completely, or tie yourself up and throw yourself into a cave, to it you're just performing on stage, and it doesn't care. But the one who does care -- the small body consciousness -- doesn't have enough authority to directly oppose your free will. That's the current situation.

Fear of Coughing

Rob told Jane that since the fever had gradually passed, he expected her body to continue improving, as she was clearly trying to do. Her new movements were a good sign that her body was expressing her own incredible effort. Before Rob turned her onto her side and then took a short nap, he tried to find the description of the dream he, Jane, and Joe had shared in his earlier notes, but he could not find it -- no luck. Rob finally had to accept that, despite his good intentions, he had really forgotten to type them in and had not written them into the notes -- that was on the day Jane did not have class, February 13, which he only discovered after he got home.

After dinner, Rob read this session to Jane. Jane then admitted that today she had become afraid, because she sometimes coughed up phlegm. And after the session she was even more afraid.

You can see how severe her fear was. Jane gave him this reassurance, yet not only did she not improve, she became even more afraid. Rob was frightened by her reaction. Jane said, Seth has said so much, yet not only have you not removed your fear, how has your fear actually grown even greater? How could you be even more afraid?

After all that we tried to do, she still overreacted to and feared something beneficial -- such as coughing -- treating it as something terrible, which greatly horrified Rob. Because coughing was an inevitable part of her body's healing and recovery process, there was nothing to be afraid of -- in other words, it should be a good thing -- being able to cough it up, being able to cough, was a good thing, and being able to expel the phlegm was also a good thing. So why was Jane so afraid?

This implication shocked Rob, and Rob became despondent. He was thinking, I cannot see the day she recovers, I cannot see the day she will one day break the cycle of her fearful reactions to the world -- and to her place within it. Her fear of being attacked and of life itself -- he could not break this. What Rob feared was her fear of being attacked and of life itself.

Rob said, if Jane has this kind of belief system, I really cannot do anything about you. No matter what Seth says, no matter what I say, you actually become this afraid and fearful over a little cough -- this is clearly a sign that the body is improving, yet you treat it as a sign that the body is deteriorating. Rob said, if that is the case, I really cannot see the day she will improve. That is, no matter how Seth and I try to persuade her and help her, she still cannot remove this belief of inner fear. And Rob also knew that if this belief of fear was not removed, her self-attack would not lessen, and it would be very difficult for her to truly heal.

Rob's judgment was not wrong. Because Rob was with her day and night, and although he did not explicitly write some things out in the book, from this text you can see that Rob was extremely disappointed and depressed. He did not even know what the purpose of all the hard work he did every day was -- was the purpose not to free Jane from fear? But the result was that Jane not only did not lose her fear, she became even more afraid, which left Rob somewhat bewildered.

Rob's Questioning

Rob was blunt too. Rob said, can I say something? He asked her, and he was a bit upset. He said:

I don't understand how you can be so afraid of something as beneficial as a cough, yet have endured all these years of not being able to walk?

Rob's words were pretty harsh. That is to say, coughing is a signal that the body is beginning to recover and improve, yet you are so afraid of it; you yourself cannot walk -- this is when your body began to slide downward, falling toward a worse place -- yet you are not afraid. You cannot even walk and you are not afraid, and now you cough once and what are you afraid of?

Rob's words, once translated, sound quite harsh. The meaning is: over these past few years you allowed your body to deteriorate, allowed you to attack yourself, allowed your body to worsen continuously, day by day, until you could not even walk, and I never saw you afraid, nor did I ever see you change because of fear. Today, when you begin to improve -- coughing is a sign indicating improvement -- now you are afraid. Rob said directly:

This contradiction puzzles me; I cannot understand how you think.

Rob said:

I don't care what Seth said about the extreme of poverty; that is to say, I think your behavior is extreme; within the context of my society, it is extreme.

This word "extreme" -- Rob did not look at how the original text translated it -- is not a good word; it just means "extreme" -- here it should probably be changed to "extreme" for better understanding. Rob said, I will set aside for now whether Seth said poverty is an extreme behavior; let me just say that your current behavior, I think, is an extreme behavior -- what does extreme behavior mean? It has reached the point of being outrageous and incomprehensible; how could you do such a thing?

Then Rob also realized he had spoken very harshly, but he did not want to continue either; he felt that saying more probably would not help much. So he stopped and changed the subject -- saying, now let me tell you about the dream I had during my nap.

The Million-Dollar Dream

While Jane was eating dinner, Rob told her about a dream he had:

I dreamed I got a call from a bank teller, and the girl told me that the check I had deposited for Jane's hospital foundation was not the 1,000 dollars we both thought it was, but rather 1 million dollars. The news completely took me by surprise. Are you sure? I asked the teller. Yes, it is 1 million dollars, it was miscalculated before.

Then Rob, in the dream, said to the bank clerk on the phone:

You hold on to that check, I will be there within 20 minutes.

In his dream, he had deposited a check two days earlier, and the bank called to say: this check of yours is not 1,000 dollars, what you deposited is 1 million. Rob said, are you sure? The clerk said, I am sure it is 1 million, just wait, I will be right there. Very interesting.

This is one of his little dreams, inserted here at the back, actually to ease his angry mood a bit. Rob told Jane, I do not expect anyone to give us 1 million, but I am certain it is a very good omen of a dream for us. Actually it was to ease the mood between him and Jane — there really was a lot of emotion. Although he did not say it so explicitly, you can feel it between the lines.

All right, regarding this part of the content, we will stop our reading here for today. As for how you view this kind of back-and-forth in Jane's beliefs and this emotional tug-of-war during her recovery process, you are welcome to share your own views.

February 17, 1984

Starting from February 17, 1984, this day was a Friday at 4:05 p.m., the 16th day of Jane's new activity (starting from February 2).

He did not call last night, but this morning a nurse called and said Jane seemed to have run out of lighter fluid, and asked me to bring some to the hospital room. We talked briefly. After breakfast I spent half an hour answering Christmas cards -- it was already February, and he was answering Christmas cards from December 25. That had to be done in some way like those professional systems, in order to keep up with the letters from fans of the books. Although we were very happy to receive those precious letters -- if people did not care about what we wanted to do, where would we be -- answering them still took time away from Dreams, "Evolution," and Value Fulfillment. He still hoped for reader letters, but did worry that they would take up too much of their time.

This morning Jane went for hydrotherapy, and it went fairly well. His arms and hands were still moving -- he previously could not move them. He also said there was a new kind of movement at the ankle of his left foot, like a kind of ball bearing, although perhaps it did not look like a different kind of movement to him. He was still using that bactrim (the medicine for cystitis), the antibiotic. His eyes were still quite red, and he tried to read yesterday's session but could not. At 2:45, I read it to him. After he had finished a good lunch, at three o'clock, after I had finished reading that session -- especially the last part, and my notes about my own reactions -- Jane was very upset about it.

That is to say, Rob's fear about Jane that would not go away -- Rob had a lot of emotion about it. After the reading Jane was very upset, and he told me that during the last hour I was there yesterday, he was actually very depressed, and he was also very afraid, and he felt he was going to get pneumonia. He had not told me about this; he had received that kind of suggestion from something a nurse said this morning.

I said that what others say is not important; what matters is his reaction to those words. I had hoped we were already past that stage -- the stage of reacting to the suggestions in other people's words -- but Jane clearly had not gotten past it. I said that in yesterday's session, I had expressed myself clearly, so that he would know how I felt. Jane made no comment today about my mention of any possible reincarnational connections related to his symptoms. And I said that the idea of pneumonia was an example of the complete opposite extreme. However, Jane said that last night, after I left, his depression almost magically dissipated, and he felt very good and slept very well. I said that perhaps he had learned how to shorten the duration of depression -- a sign that we had learned something after all.

I just had a thought, and I said: "This kind of total preoccupation with avoiding negative suggestions makes you even more sensitive to them." Jane said he sometimes had the same thought.

This kind of total preoccupation with avoiding negative suggestions actually makes them more sensitive to those suggestions. This is the famous "white bear" suggestion in psychology. There is an experiment where the subjects are told "do not think of a white bear in your mind," and then the experiment can be ended. But after the subject received this suggestion, the white bear had nothing to do with him at all, yet he kept thinking about the white bear. That is, sometimes the more you try to avoid thinking about something, or the more you try to avoid being affected by some suggestion, the stronger that suggestion becomes. This is normal, and it is a very correct way of thinking about it. So what we want to say is: do not have any positive or negative thoughts -- do not have anything that is positive or anything that is negative. When you focus on the positive, the negative will also come; when you avoid the negative coming, it will actually come even more strongly. This is what happened with Jane. Jane said he thought so too.

Today since I arrived at this hospital room, Jane has been coughing more, and blowing his nose desperately. There was no heat in the room; for some reason, there was no regulator, and the heat was not coming through the regulator. At 3:08, after Jane put on lipstick and looked in the mirror, I read the February 1 session to Jane. He smoked a cigarette, and then I read other good incoming sessions to him.

Next I described my vivid dream from last night: in the dream, Jane and I were still driving our old yellow Cadillac convertible. In the dream Jane walked normally. When we were in a local bar, two young men stole the car parked not far away and took it for a joyride. I went outside to get the car, wanting to drive home, and found they were gone. I called the police, and also found that a young man in the bar knew the two who had stolen the car, but did not dare tell me who they were. Finally the police found the car; it had been abandoned some distance away, but was not damaged. I was very angry about the whole thing, and swore I would find out who stole it. I told Jane that the dream was almost like practicing exploring a probable reality, so real.

At 3:47, Jane's temperature was 99 degrees Fahrenheit. Jane said this was the highest it had been since he came in and it began dropping. He was getting a bit cold, and I suggested that if he wanted to have a session, he should have it, and then we could ask the staff to call a maintenance person to fix the heat. Jane was still coughing and blowing his nose from time to time. I looked at the letters, but did not get anything done.

Seth came through, and Seth said:

I want to remind Jane of the material given several times in the past. When an idea for a book or a poem appears, Jane immediately tunes into its frequency. He never thinks of guessing how many causes and syllables, words and sentences, paragraphs or page numbers will be involved. He takes it for granted that his intent will be carried out. That is the natural creative way of operating, and it has provided him with many wonderful books and poems.

What Seth means is that when Ruburt wanted to write a poem or a book, he immediately threw himself into it completely. He never thought about how many words or how many syllables would be needed to complete this poem or this book; he just went all out and did it, and then eventually the book or the collection of poems was completed. Everything formed naturally and creatively.

Then Seth continued:

When he writes, he does not think in terms of obstructions. If there are any obstructions, he pushes them aside.

When he creates books or poems, Jane does not consider anything that might obstruct him. If there is something obstructing, he just pushes it aside, and does not let anything obstruct him from completing the work.

Then Seth said:

Jane's health can be handled in the same way. He does not have to wonder how many stages of nerves or muscles must be activated.

Just like writing a book, you do not have to worry about how many paragraphs, how many chapters, how many sentences, how many words you will write. The recovery of your body is the same; you just need to want to recover and to complete it. You do not have to think about how many stages it will go through, how the muscles will recover step by step, how the body will recover step by step. You do not have to think about the process, just as when you write a book, you do not think about how the book is completed step by step; you just write it, and it completes itself naturally.

We know that every book of the Seth material, except for a few individual books that are relatively short, most of the books are massive. And these books are not a simple matter for anyone's creativity, let alone the fact that Jane herself wrote many books, including novels, including Cezanne's views on art, the worldview of the philosopher Williams after death, and so on. These books were not easy things to complete, but Jane completed them all very easily. Think about it: in just 21 short years, besides transmitting a full 31 books of Seth material -- the full 31 books of Seth material as we know them today, books like The Way Toward Health -- she also wrote nearly 20 novels, poetry collections, and essays on her own, including the ones I just mentioned about Williams and Cezanne. Think about how she wrote nearly 50 books in over twenty years, in just 21 years. Basically she wrote a book in less than half a year -- do you know what kind of concept that is? Especially in her later years, her body was greatly restricted, and typing herself became difficult, but she kept going until she could not move anymore. A person who could write more than 40 books in over twenty years -- how did she complete these books?

Seth used what Jane was best at as an example for her, to make her understand that the recovery of her body was as natural and simple as writing a book, without focusing on the process in between. Seth continued:

You do not have to worry about how much time will be involved either. When writing a book, one never worries about that. Put another way, the body is a living book, created in each present moment.

From another angle, he is saying that your body, for Jane, is like the book she wants to create, created in each present moment. So Jane only needs to rest in the present moment, hold a very firm and unwavering confidence in her own body's health, and just do what she is happy and wants to do, and her body will be miraculously produced and created like a book, and will heal very easily.

But Jane clearly did not do this. She was very worried about how the body could recover step by step. Just like in the session I talked about two days ago: when she fell off the cliff and suddenly wanted to recover, she found she had already slid too far; when she was thinking "how am I going to climb back up," the difficult journey of climbing back up scared her. Seth came through again this time to encourage her, saying do not be afraid of how arduous the journey back is; you only need to be firm that you can go back, and just do it step by step, and you will recover very soon.

He said:

Again, it may seem too simple. The body may be simple, made of blood and blood cells, joints and ligaments, muscles and so forth, rather than syllables, consonants, words or sentences. There are corresponding methods, and in the body health will be written with health and vitality.

Seth's meaning is still using the book as an analogy: writing a book is actually far more complex than the operation of your body, because the operation of the body is basically automatic; whether cells or muscles, they do not require you to do much extra work. A person's recovery or healing is also automatic. But writing a book is not; writing a book requires you to choose words and form sentences, arrange paragraphs and plan. So of course, a book is also written in one continuous flow, and the body is the same at this time. He is saying, in the way you write sentences, use the various tissues of your body to write your body's health, and write your own body's health with health and vitality.

Of course, Seth then left. Seth said he might or might not come back. Then Rob quickly asked, "Can I ask you a question?" Seth said, "You may."

He said, "What do you think of my dream yesterday afternoon? The one about us receiving one million dollars in the dream."

Seth said:

Both of your positions of power are correct. It simply means that far more benefits than you imagine are being added to your account. It means abundance, and not only in terms of money.

That is, you will receive many, many more things than you think, but it is not only wealth; there may be other things as well.

He said, "Yes, but what about my dream last night? The one about the old Cadillac being stolen." Then Seth said:

Take a break, and we will continue.

Because Seth apparently did not know about this dream. At 4:18, while Jane was smoking, I read to him what I had written in my daily notes about the Cadillac dream -- because he could not remember it clearly, and actually he was also reading it to Seth. Otherwise, Seth would have had to enter Rob's dream from yesterday and analyze it with him, so to save trouble, Rob just read it directly to Jane.

Then Seth said that the example of the car was very good, and he said:

The car dream represents the beliefs you had when you had that car. Those beliefs took you for a ride. What are you? You are your physical bodies. The car is a vehicle.

In English, "car" means vehicle. So the convertible represents a part of yourselves -- going for a ride represents feeling good, a part of yourselves that feels good. Driving a convertible for a ride feels good, and going to a bar for a drink also feels good. In the dream you were also quite angry, because those beliefs did indeed take your life vehicle -- that is, your physical body -- out of your hands. Since in the past you did not recognize that those beliefs were your own.

These few sentences are very profound. He said, you did not recognize that those beliefs were your own. They were your own beliefs -- the car was your belief. Belief carried your body around for rides, making you feel good. You did not recognize that those beliefs that made you feel good were your own. To put it bluntly: you have this innate belief that can make you feel good, but you did not see that it was something you yourself already had; you thought it was the car that brought it to you. Only when the car was stolen did you get anxious, and you said "I want to get this car back," and only then did you acknowledge that the car was yours, because when you drove it every day you had already ignored the car. So you began looking for the car, and in the end the car was still returned to you.

Seth gave Rob this explanation of the dream. Then Seth left, and then Jane said, "It's me," and he came back. He said, "Thank you." He said this to Seth, who had already left.

At 4:28, I told Jane that Seth's analysis of the car dream was excellent. It really was. The IV bag on the pole by Jane's bedside was already empty, and the tube was still dripping into the plastic line, entering Jane's right arm. I felt cold, but he still did not want anything covering him. You see, Rob felt cold, but he still did not cover himself with anything. At this point Jane could possibly catch a chill and a cold. We know that during an IV, a person's body temperature generally drops, because the temperature of the fluid is naturally cooler, and entering our normal blood at 36 or 37 degrees brings a certain cooling effect to the body. And if at this time the heat was broken, and it was very cold outside, Jane in this situation -- you see, he caught a cold afterward.

While I napped, he said a maintenance person came over and adjusted the thermostat, and said he would bring us some heat, but he did not at all. After dinner, when I read this session to Jane, Jane asked about the heat problem, and it was still not resolved. When I left at 7:10, the heat was still not fixed.

Jane did not yet know that in tonight's mail, among the letters, there was a letter from Maude containing a check for $600, for Jane's hospital fund. I did not equate this amount with my dream -- the dream about the one million dollars. I thought -- and Seth agreed -- that the dream meant far more than the total amount of money received. Far more than that total, and not just money; there was other abundance waiting for them. It was a very encouraging dream, and I was very glad I had it. Not that we did not welcome that money, just that there would be more money on the way.

February 18, 1984

The following session is just a running account, nothing much to comment on. Saturday, day 17.

Last night Jane called and forgot to tell Debbie Harris about visiting him. The weather was warmer, 50 degrees Fahrenheit. This morning I already finished typing Chapter 5 of Dreams, "Evolution," and Value Fulfillment. Still on the IV, just finished the antibiotics. The heating is fixed now, but because the temperature was relatively high, he turned it off, and the window was wide open. Jane ate lunch fairly well, and her feet are still better. Lipstick and mirror. At 2:49, Jane asked for yesterday's session, but I read it to him, and he coughed badly. At 3:14, I read Maude's letter to Jane. At 4 o'clock, still on the IV. At 4:10, temperature taken, 98 degrees. At 4:45, turned over and massaged. From 5:10 to 5:55, a nap. Jane no longer needs this antibiotic. At 6 o'clock, dinner. At 6:20, cigarettes and more dessert. Coughing, blowing his nose. I asked him whether he had caught a cold, but he did not deny it; instead he said he did not know. At 6:45, cigarettes and TV. At 7 o'clock, prayers. At 7:05 I left to go grocery shopping at the supermarket.

Nothing happened at all that day.

February 19, 1984

Next session, February 19, 1984, Sunday, 4:12 p.m.

Jane called last night. She said she had dozed through most of the television program -- something she almost never does. When I went to the hospital room, the weather was warm again, 44 degrees Fahrenheit, and she had turned off the room's heat. Today her cough was better. She said her eyes were very uncomfortable and had become red, though the redness had mostly faded. But her feet looked much better. She was still receiving anti-inflammatory antibiotics, and her temperature had remained normal. My suspicion is that her cold and other symptoms -- since she launched the first day of the program on February 2 (that is, her new-life program), we had set up some resistance in her mind. Today was the 18th day of that program. My feeling is that we should minimize the health-problem aspect of the sessions for a while.

What Rob means is: we should not keep discussing health problems in the sessions, not have Seth come through and immediately focus on Jane's health problems. We should reduce that content as much as possible. His judgment was correct; it really was that way. But Jane's symptoms were indeed -- she was now clinging to Seth like someone grasping at a lifeline, hoping that Seth could give her a lot of affirmation, saying that her body was improving, that she had no problems. Her mentality at this time was very much in line with an ordinary person's mentality. She treated Seth like a semi-immortal, a psychic, hoping that Seth would give her some definite pronouncements, just as when we have our fortunes told we hope the fortune-teller will give us some good pronouncements. And then when Seth gave her the genuinely helpful suggestions, she was not very willing to do them, for all sorts of reasons we have already analyzed at length. And the core of it is this: if we focus too much attention on health problems, it will actually backfire. We have talked about this viewpoint many times. The best approach is to simply do the things you want to do after you are well, to imagine the future, or to shift your attention and do something creative. Creative things themselves carry a healing effect, but Jane did not do much of that either.

Jane ate a lunch that was better than yesterday's -- what she called a good lunch meant she ate more. Actually the hospital lunches were all about the same, standard meal sets; what she called good or bad was really just how Jane's appetite was. Afterward she smoked a cigarette, and I took out letters to answer. Jane put on lipstick and looked in the mirror. As time passed, her coughing and nose-blowing increased. Carla took her temperature: 98.8 degrees. Five minutes later, Penny hooked up another antibiotic for her. I wrote replies to letters until Jane's session, and by that time most of the medication had been absorbed. At this point it should have been time to call someone in to switch shifts, but Rob did not call anyone; he wanted to finish the session first. Jane was coughing so badly that she said she hoped she could get through it -- what did that mean? It meant she felt she might not make it, felt she might be about to die.

Now the window had been closed, and the heat had been turned on. The wind had become very strong, which I thought might mean another cold wave was coming.

Now Seth came through:

I wish you again a good afternoon.

Seth said:

Today it is certainly time to review the material given on the first day. It cannot be put off any longer.

Because in between, yesterday they had not had a session, nor had they reviewed. And Seth repeatedly emphasized that every day they must set aside a little time, even ten minutes, to review the session from February 1 -- the one about "health being natural and simple and effortless."

Then Seth continued:

The body has many methods of speeding up its own resistance. The so-called common cold, with its coughing, for example, is a good case in point. At another time I will say more about that mechanism. The body is, so to speak, now going full steam ahead, throwing itself into the shoulder efforts to further strengthen the arms and fingers, so that the eye symptoms are temporarily more severe.

That is what Seth said. Seth said the body often speeds up its own resistance, and when it is accelerating recovery or healing, some resistance will appear. He gave examples like coughing and colds, all of that. He said your body is now going full steam ahead, accelerating its recovery, so this resistance has appeared. Why? Because the body's muscles need to readjust. If the muscles of her head, neck, and shoulders are to recover, they all need to readjust, and this readjustment brings about these physical changes.

Seth said:

In fact, I announce that I have arrived. Just to let you know that I am indeed present and approachable. And I am also making those adjustments that speed up the healing process. Ruburt is in no danger of going blind, or of any other dangerous condition. I wish you an early good evening.

It was indeed too early. At 4:28, I assumed that meant "I want to read the February 1 session to you again," I said to Jane. Jane agreed. I said: "I thought that moment was the cause of all the discomfort from that point on." I noticed that now both Jane and Seth acknowledged that she did indeed have a cold, just as I had asked her yesterday -- she did have a cold.

Remember what I used to say years ago? I suddenly asked -- that came from our private session material at the time -- the phrase was: "When things get faster, it means they are getting better." This is also a common saying in China, meaning that when things reach an extreme, they reverse. Jane said she had thought of something similar this morning. I had completely forgotten that phrase for quite some time.

When I read this session to her, I was again startled by Seth's use of the word "blind," and Jane admitted that because of her eye trouble, she had been worrying that she would lose her sight. I laughed out loud, out of disbelief that Jane would have such a thought, rather than out of humor. He just thought, how could Jane think that? Because one day Jane had also been afraid she had pneumonia. I wondered once again when this cycle of Jane's fears would ever end. Then Rob said: "Give me a break." Rob could not take it anymore -- your fears are endless, one moment you worry you have pneumonia, the next you worry you will die, the next you worry your eyes will go blind. Rob said he could not do anything about it, wondering when it would ever end.

Today when Seth said "things are progressing at full speed," Rob was still quite surprised. Why surprised? Because he felt Jane was spinning in place, that her body had not changed much, because her fears and beliefs had still not been removed.

Just before dinner, I told Jane that my dream last night involved Bill Gallagher -- Bill Gallagher is a white-haired stage performer⁵⁵. And I was seated in a comfortable, dramatically lit box seat in a theater, looking down at this actor from above. Bill lost a shoe in the middle of his performance and stopped out of frustration. His rhythm was broken, and he stood helplessly under the stage lights, wearing brightly colored stage costume, looking like a comedian. Someone may have helped him off the stage. I believe there had been a similar episode before this scene -- when an accident stopped his performance and he ended up frustrated and confused again -- but I did not remember clearly enough to describe it.

February 20, 1984

Next item, February 20, 1984, Monday, 4:27 p.m.

This was the 19th day of Jane's activities. He called last night, and I told him I had made two phone calls to two donors. After breakfast I called the bank to ask if they were open today, because I wanted to open an account for Jane's hospital fund account. But the bank was closed because of Washington's Birthday. I spent half an hour answering Christmas cards, then began work on the book Dreams, "Evolution," and Value Fulfillment. It was cooler today; it was 39 degrees Fahrenheit when I left the house for the hospital.

After Jane came back from hydrotherapy, his attending physician came to check Jane's bedsores. He stopped giving him antibiotics and instead wanted him to take more vitamin C, so as to make his urine more acidic. He also suggested that Jane begin lying on his right side. Jane's feet again seemed improved, his coughing and nose-blowing had lessened somewhat, and his temperature was normal. He ate a light lunch. Although his eyes seemed better, at times he could not make out faces on the television, and later he could not read yesterday's session at all.

"This really upsets me a great deal," Jane said. "I thought it would show when you got better," I said. "So did I," he replied. Both of us were still very puzzled about what had been happening since the first day.

I find it very interesting, actually, that Seth had already given them a clear explanation in the preceding days, yet the two of them said they were still confused. I do not know why they would still be confused, because Seth had already spoken very clearly and plainly.

I told him I had another dream last night, about our moving back to 458 West Water Street, but I could not remember it. This in turn triggered his own memory — last night he had several dreams he could not recall. At 3:26, I read yesterday's session to Jane. He told me with surprise that the thought I had in it — that is, that we should forget some of our concern about health issues — was exactly his thought this morning. He was still quite uneasy about the eye matter, and so was I, although I did not think there was anything wrong with his eyes. At 3:45, Carla took Jane's temperature: 98.4. I read the February 17 session, about the obstacles to health as contrasted with his extreme freedom in writing — these two contrasts allowed Jane to understand that his physical recovery was as natural and simple as his writing a book. I began sorting replies. At 4:09, Shannon brought Jane some vitamin C in ice cream; his attending physician wanted him to take it four times a day. When Jane had the session, the heat in the hospital room was off, and the window was open.

Seth said:

Now I bid you once again a good afternoon.

Seth said:

Ruburt has been trying too hard. It is not unusual for a new decision to be accompanied by a period of worried doubt.

He was explaining why, after Jane had made up his mind to begin a new life since hearing that session on February 1, his body would have these kinds of changes. Seth said: when you make a new decision and begin a new life, it is normal to be very worried or doubtful for a period of time; this hesitation and doubt is normal. Under such circumstances, relaxation is appropriate. The situation is as I have said; relaxation is needed. That is, when you are uncertain about the future and beginning a new life, the first thing you need to do is relax.

Seth said:

I asked him to imagine himself reading a session.

That is, he asked him to imagine that he could read a session. Regarding his eye problem — both of them had said the eyes kept him from reading the sessions — Seth asked Jane to imagine himself reading a session in his imagination, or to exclaim aloud how well he read. These are all imaginings. Remember, these are all exercises done in the imagination. Otherwise, he should forget as much as possible about his vision problem; if he could not do that, then he should not think about the vision matter. And he would indeed correct himself; after a while it would get better on its own. No need to worry about it. Either you imagine yourself reading well, with Rob praising you; or you just forget about the vision matter.

Seth said:

There is more material in this direction, and I will certainly see that you get it. Although now is not the time. But in the meantime, I have indeed accelerated those coordinates that help with your healing.

Then Seth left. Then Jane said, "Thank you." At 4:32, while Jane smoked a cigarette, I read this session to him. Seth at least confirmed some of my thoughts. I told Jane that Seth's promises to give more material usually do not get fulfilled. In the earlier sessions they did, but in the recent The Way Toward Health sessions, Seth had said many times, "I will give you some material, I will give it to you later," but it was never given. Rob actually complained a bit; he said:

"I am aware of that statement. The additional material never comes through. Either I must keep a list — of the content Seth has promised to deliver — and constantly remind Jane to ask him for that material, or he just remembers those examples, and I cannot imagine he would do that. Rob said that if he did not keep a list, Jane would have forgotten long ago. Especially since he often does not even read the sessions I have typed up at all, and only listens to the ones I read to him. So I have stopped asking him for the material he promised to continue giving us. I no longer push him. I know the material is there, but at least in some cases, if we could get it, it would be very helpful."

That is, Rob still wanted to get that material, so he grumbled a little.

February 21, 1984

Let's look at the next session, February 21, 1984, Tuesday, 4:40 p.m.

Today is the 20th day of Jane's new activities. He called me fairly early last night. I told him I had bought him a different brand of liquid vitamins. This morning I again answered Christmas mail, and finished marking Chapter 5 of Dreams, "Evolution," and Value Fulfillment for the printer. I finished early so I would have extra time to open a bank account for Jane's hospital expenses. But you know, the phone rang at 11:55, and it was someone from the hospital's social services department. He wanted to know what the latest news was, what recent progress there had been. I told him we were doing everything we could. I couldn't fully understand what he was saying, because of some of the hospital insurance terminology involved — many systems in America are very complicated; it's not that just knowing English means you can understand them.

But regarding the hospital beds and other things he had been telling people about, this person told Rob that he was frightened by the things he had to tell people. For example, the enormous medical costs and so on. I told him that Jane and I had already been frightened for a long time. Then he said he understood. I explained how I had to give up worry in order to save my sanity. He told him why he had to give up these worries in order to get some work done. He had some news about Jane, such as the insurance company requiring Jane to provide more records of her care.

This little episode actually reflects a reality: Jane and Rob had indeed been frightened by the enormous hospital medical costs, and were actually very worried, but they had to adopt a certain mindset to adjust themselves, so that while caring for Jane they could also begin normal work, including the publication of previous books and the transmission of new Seth material. The two of them were doing this under tremendous, enormous pressure.

He said, I did stop at the Marine Midland Bank and opened a bank account for Jane. Jane went for hydrotherapy this morning, and her eyes didn't seem as red, but she said they were making her very uncomfortable, and she tried to ignore them. After a fairly good lunch, she still couldn't read the sessions, so I read to her at 3:18. I forgot to insert the new letters into my envelopes so I could answer them this afternoon. But I did find two other forgotten letters. If I didn't live so far from the hospital, I would go back and get some letters. I said ruefully — that is, Rob had written the replies and wanted to bring them to the hospital, put them in envelopes and mail them, but he hadn't brought them. "I knew you'd think that way," Jane said. Her feet were once again much better, and she was no longer coughing and blowing her nose so often.

I read the session to her, and for the first time Jane fell asleep while I was reading the Seth material. So when she startled awake, I read to her again. I guess after a bout of infection, she needed that rest — Jane had never before fallen asleep while Rob was reading the Seth material to her. At 3:48, Lynn took Jane's blood pressure, and Shannon took her temperature, 98.4, very perfect. Then Dana brought in the extra vitamin C ice cream that Jane takes four times a day. The window was closed, but once again, there was no heat in Room 330, even though the thermostat had been replaced and fixed.

Seth's opening remarks unconsciously reflected what I myself had said at the end of yesterday's session — when I said that he often didn't follow through on the material as he had promised. Then Seth came through and said:

Now I bid you once again a good afternoon.

Seth said:

In regard to the material I mentioned yesterday, concerning Jane's symptoms, particularly her eyes.

Seth came directly to supplement it. He actually came directly to call Rob out — Rob had said that Seth always promised material and then didn't deliver it, and that he had to keep remembering to ask Jane for it. Rob said, fine, this time I'll just give it to you directly. Very interesting — Seth is quite a playful character. He said:

Most of this material will indeed be given to you at a later time. Though not always under the same heading or category, it is often embedded within a body of material.

Seth was actually making an explanation: he said, some of the material you ask me for, I say I'll give it to you later, but I won't say that on a certain day I'll give you the follow-up material on that topic — I will weave that content into other material. But I generally do give it to you.

Then after Seth finished his explanation, he continued:

I particularly want to point out that, unfortunately, the body's actions are often misread or misinterpreted. The body often cleanses itself or tries out its own processes. Perhaps by running a fever for a few days, and then once the unwanted material has been burned away (that is, those viruses and bacteria), so to speak, it thereby lowers the temperature and automatically returns to normal. At one time it may continue to store minerals in the urine, while at another time urination may seem excessive. However, when the body is basically not trusted, all of these behaviors are considered dangerous and suspicious. Ruburt's cold, his annoying eyes, are all connected with the unusual muscular activity of the jaw, head, shoulders, arms, and hands.

Seth's main point is: people misunderstand the body. When the body is cleansing or regulating and recovering, it will have some fever or other symptoms, and this is normal. It is indeed the case that fever helps clear out viruses and bacteria from the body, and then when it returns to normal, after those bacteria have been killed off, it returns to normal. He said that including the discomfort in the eyes, it's because these muscles are all abnormal, and when they need to recover, those muscles are all too close to the eyes, and they all affect the eye muscles. Because the eye muscles are too fine and too small, the adjustment of your head muscles will also affect the eye muscles.

Seth said:

In your terms, the symptoms will correct themselves, and the eye muscles will become more elastic and more flexible as needed. They will correct themselves; don't worry about them. His temperature has already returned to normal, his feet have returned to their normal color, and his urine is clear as well.

Seth once again gave Jane affirmation. Then:

Now I may or may not return. But know that I am here, and approachable.

Seth left. Jane said, "Thank you." At 4:47, of course, the Seth material was reassuring, because it gave him some affirmative answers, and he believed him — he believed the Seth material. Despite all that, I think Jane also believed him, because as long as he said something good, they both believed him. Rob said:

"So if you follow his material, then you shouldn't accept antibiotics."

Rob said to Jane: if you believe Seth's words, if you want to follow his material, then you shouldn't accept antibiotics — why are you still using antibiotics? That also indicates that midway through, Jane wouldn't try too hard either — that is, you don't need to try too hard; according to the principle of ease and effortlessness, the body will heal itself. Jane sometimes tried too hard.

But Jane began to explain, even to push back, saying:

"But when you're in a place like a hospital, if you don't agree with the kind of treatment you're faced with, and you can't walk out, and you can't leave the hospital, what can you do?"

I asked, "That's when you're stuck." Rob gave himself a way out — actually he didn't want to blame Jane either. He said:

"We are still far from the day when any medical profession thinks about the body the way Seth does, or even the way we do."

It's true that we shouldn't accept antibiotics, but you've already entered the hospital, and you should have known better than to go to the hospital in the first place. Once you go to the hospital, you're considered to have accepted their treatment standards and natural procedures, and they're enforced in a very forceful, even legal way. This world is just like that — you don't even have the right to decide about your own body. For example, if you want to adopt a different treatment approach for your own body, no one else dares to treat you — that's your freedom, and they can't control you. But they control the people who treat you. Other people cannot treat you; if they don't have a doctor's medical license and professional qualifications, treating you would be illegal and they would go to prison. So they restrict the people who could treat you, and therefore you can only adopt this single modern Western medical treatment system. Rob said, since you've already chosen to go to the hospital, if you don't use their treatment methods, what else can you do? What we want is a treatment approach or a medical system that aligns with Seth's ideas, but that is still far off.

So we also call for this: can we, in places where the law is more lenient or permissive, establish a natural healing method? Can we try some approaches that don't rely on things like drugs or instruments, using nature's healing methods? Because I'm not someone inside the medical system, but I know that natural healing has already become a healing approach in the West, an available option. But whether in the East or the West, when it comes to medical issues, the directions humans can choose from are not many, because they've all been boxed in by society and law. So this requires people to have tremendous courage and determination, daring to challenge these medical systems that are already outdated or in need of improvement.

Rob said:

"And regardless of what Seth says, I still want some material about Jane's extreme behavior."

Many of her behaviors really were too extreme. His intention was for Seth to give Jane a lesson, to tell Jane not to behave so extremely. But Seth spoke rather gently and tactfully, not so directly, and Rob was a bit unhappy. Rob wanted Seth to properly talk to Jane — her inner fears and these inner extreme behaviors had caused great harm to her body. For example, her fear of being targeted — many people have this kind of thought, and the thought itself isn't wrong, but when it becomes too extreme, it's not good. She had guilt, feelings of being attacked, and so on — all of these points were too extreme.

I suppose:

Even if there is fear, even if it is intense, that is all right. But just don't follow it all the way to the end; don't go to the extreme; don't push fear to its extreme, to the point where it makes people helpless.

That is, you can have fear, but don't be so fearful that you think "Am I going to die?" or "Am I never going to get better?" — don't push fear to its extreme. This is where Rob had issues with Jane — Jane would push fear to its extreme at the slightest thing. He was quite annoyed, and he wanted Seth to talk to Jane, because he knew that if he said it himself, Jane probably wouldn't listen.

Rob said:

In a broader sense, I even understand why a person would choose to carry a certain behavior to its extreme. But in the short term, this is not so easy to understand.

In a broad sense, Rob said, I can understand, but in the short term, when it comes to Jane specifically as a person, I still can't understand. I can't understand why Jane would do this. That is, in principle I can understand it, but when it comes to Jane's case, I can't understand why she would have such extreme thoughts.

Actually, you can see that the two of them were not entirely consistent in many of their beliefs, and on many points they were completely opposite. This is also why Rob continued to live on after Jane's passing — I don't know how many years, several decades, maybe into his 90s before he passed — while Jane left quite early. Here we're not using lifespan as a basis for judgment, but we can see something from this matter.

This is the content related to Part 10 of Chapter 2 that we wanted to share with everyone. This covers many small sections; although Seth's content isn't much, we can discover many very meaningful things from it. As I've said before, the content of The Way Toward Health isn't very difficult, but it touches on the topic of health that most people care about. It is more suitable for the vast majority of ordinary people — those who don't have a deep understanding of the Seth material — to see how a transmitter of the Seth material, in the process of struggling with illness, did some things right and where there was room for improvement. We apply it to ourselves: when we face our own health problems and life problems, what adjustments and changes should we make. This is the meaning and value we should be able to learn from studying The Way Toward Health.

Body and Mind Are a Continuously Interwoven Process

Let's look at the first subsection, which is Wednesday, February 22, 1984, at 4:14 p.m.

When I left home to go to the hospital room, the weather was 45 degrees Fahrenheit, bright and sunny. This morning Jane went to hydrotherapy, and her feet continued to improve. Jane ate a very good lunch, and afterward she took the brand of liquid vitamins I had bought for her on my way home last night. She said they tasted better than the hospital's, but I did not see vitamin C or E on the label, and I wanted to ask the staff to check the new brand.

After lunch, Jane showed me the particularly long movement she currently has in her right arm, with the elbow extending fairly straight. She said that in the hydrotherapy department, when she lay flat and had room for the arm to reach lower, the situation was even more obvious. I told her I hoped it was an early sign of new healing and freedom, which is what Seth has been saying all along -- that Jane is beginning to achieve through her recent fever, cold, and so on.

At 3:20, she simply could not recognize yesterday's session; she could not see it. So I read it to her. She said, "I want to do the work of writing the book, but I spend all my time trying to develop things about my health." She finally came around to it -- I should do the work of writing the book, and not keep focusing on my health. She had spent almost all her time studying why she got sick and how she could get better. Then I said, for the time being, if necessary, forget about health matters for a long stretch. As far as I could see, it was not really helping that much. If we simply left the whole thing alone and did not focus on it, perhaps any progress she could make would happen more easily.

Their point of view on this is correct -- not focusing on Jane's illness, letting Jane's own healing do its work, trusting her own body, would actually be better. But this is something very hard for anyone with physical discomfort to do; they tend to concentrate more on these things.

At 3:43, I read to Jane the last dictation she had given fifteen days ago, about this book. The days in between had all been spent talking about Jane's condition, with very little talk about the book. In fact, on February 7, hard to believe, at 4:09 Jane gave Jane her next dose of vitamin C; Jeff had changed the time for some reason, to the afternoon. As the time for the session approached, we left the window open and the curtains drawn to block the bright sunlight, though I had turned the heat back on -- it was working again now, somewhat mysteriously, I thought, because no one had come to look at it.

Jane had taken off her glasses, and she said she could see more clearly without them -- things were not clearer, but less blurry. I said that might also be a sign of progress. Rob said he himself did not wear his glasses as much as he used to.

Jane's Seth voice was quieter than usual, with a slight hoarseness and raspiness. Then Jane came through as Seth.

Seth said, "Now once again I wish you a good afternoon." Then Seth gave dictation -- generally speaking, dictation is about the content of the book. After a pause of some length, he said:

In this book, we really want our readers to look at body and mind in a different way. Do not think of the mind as a purely mental entity.

Here by mind, he uses the word "mind." What we ordinarily call the mind refers to the conscious mind. There is no need to think of it as a purely mental entity, nor to think of the body as a purely physical entity. We generally think of the mind as a purely mental entity, and of the body as a purely physical entity. He says it is just the opposite: you should think of both mind and body as continuous, interwoven processes.

What does interwoven mean? It is both mental and physical. Body and mind are simultaneously both mental and physical, both mental and material at the same time. This is what he wants to say next.

In fact, your thoughts are quite as physical as your body is, and your body is quite as nonphysical as your thoughts seem to be to you.

For example, electromagnetism, sound, light -- these are essentially also a kind of physicality, but they can be called a kind of nonphysicality different from what we ordinarily call tables, chairs, and benches.

You are actually a vital force, existing as a part of your environment, and yet at the same time separate from your environment.

This sentence is very important. You are actually a kind of force, a life force. We often use the term "life force" to describe it, and there is good reason for that. Our essence is more like a manifestation of life force. Through the manifestation of life force, we become a part of our environment, and yet you can also feel that you are separate from the environment -- you are both a part of the environment and you have your own uniqueness and independence.

Obviously, when you decorate a room, you stamp it with your own characteristics -- you decorate your room according to your preferences. But in the same way, you also stamp what appears to be empty space with your imprint.

But in the same way, you also stamp what appears to be empty space with your imprint.

What does this mean? You turn empty space into the living physical matter of your body. What is the imprint? The imprint is your body. In empty space, your body comes into being, and this body is like your imprint in space -- it is unique and special, and you never even realize you are doing this. Just as you decorate an empty room in the style of your room, your body also represents your style.

Your health interacts with the daily weather.

Your health and your environment interact. This happens on both an individual and a collective basis -- whether individually or collectively, people and weather interact.

I admit that some portions of this material are quite opposed to your usual concepts. But the health of your body is not only intimately related to the health of the world, but also to the physical climate.

Actually, this viewpoint has existed in our Chinese medicine for a long time -- we have an interactive relationship with our environment. The environment affects us, and we affect the environment. Climate in particular was first mentioned in Chinese medicine. Chinese medicine divides the year into four seasons, or rather five seasons -- Chinese medicine has an additional season called "late summer," which is unique to Chinese medicine -- and it correlates the division of the seasons with the health of the body. The five seasons correspond to the five zang and six fu organs, and also to the five elements; this is a distinctive feature of Chinese medicine. So this is one way you can see why Chinese medicine is closer to our understanding of the essence of health. As Seth says, our bodies are closely related to our climate and interact with it. Western medicine, on the other hand, does not acknowledge the relationship between humans, nature, and climate; it only looks at the cellular and microscopic levels. We can understand it from this angle: Western medicine looks more microscopically and in greater detail, but it lacks a macroscopic holistic view, a holistic view of the universe and of health. It only sees the biological level, or things at the chemical and biological level; whereas traditional medicine sees the holistic view of the entire universe, including more beyond biology and chemistry -- for example, electromagnetism, emotions, energy -- and the influence of these parts on the human body. We will not expand on this here; Seth only mentioned one point, that the body has a close relationship with climate.

You would not be hurt the way a drought is. You would not catch a cold either.

"Catch a cold" here means to get a cold. The word "catch" means to be harmed by something. We often say one is harmed by wind and cold, which is called catching a cold, and catching a cold leads to getting sick. You would not say a drought was harmed, or that something harmed a drought.

In a manner of speaking, a drought is partially caused by the people who experience it. Yet a drought is not a disease.

A drought is jointly caused by the people who experience it. This point has been mentioned in many of Seth's materials. Just as there is an atmosphere of psychological climate, our human psychological activity -- individual and collective -- affects our climate, just as it affects changes in our psychological atmosphere. A drought is not a disease; it is part of a larger process.

It is a necessary part of the physical stability of the world, of the stability of a larger process.

Although a drought may seem very unfortunate, in its own way it is responsible for the proportion of temperature balance across the entire surface of the earth. It is indeed unfortunate for the people in the region experiencing the drought, but for the whole earth, it is responsible for adjusting the balance of temperature and humidity.

At the same time, diseases in their own way are often part of a larger process.

Disease is the same; its larger purpose is the overall balance and strength of the body. Although it is the overall balance, including the balance of strength and the overall balance of the body, disease is a small part of this larger process. Although during the process of disease a person feels uncomfortable, just as during the process of a drought the people in the region experiencing it also feel uncomfortable.

At 4:30, there was a pause of some length.

You cannot see the wind directly; you can only see its effects. The same applies to your thoughts.

Thoughts are the same -- like the wind, they have power, but you can only see the effects of their actions. You cannot see thoughts; you can only see their effects. This is one of the most interesting points for us.

Now I may or may not return, again according to those rhythms I have spoken of. But know that I am here, and approachable.

This passage on the relationship between body and health, including the relationship between your spirit and thoughts and health, and the relationship between your mind and body, was a brief exposition by Seth. Compared to Jane's recent sessions, it was already fairly long, but compared to his previous sessions, it was very brief. And this content has actually already been expounded in many of his other books, without much that is new in it. Here he is only re-emphasizing -- under the theme of health, re-emphasizing the nature of body and mind and their interrelationship.

At 4:32, Jane asked for a cigarette, even though the smoke made her cough. No one had come to take her vital signs yet today, although her temperature was normal. Jane said, "I did not expect him to talk about weather and so on." I read this session to her. When I finished typing this session at 9:31 p.m., Jane called, and we chatted for a while.

Jane's Little Poems

Let's look at the next session, February 28, 1984 -- there were a few days in between with no content. It was a Tuesday afternoon at 4:16, a dictated session, lasting less than five minutes. It's a poem, and whether it came from Jane or Seth is unclear, so let's just look at the content directly.

My thoughts hurry through the long corridor of time, flying over sun-filled hours, sinking into shadowed corners, mistaking the sweet tide of desire, slipping past golden refinement, and flying freely over the eternal meadow. I wish them a safe journey, as they travel before me. For one day, I shall surely follow.

Here, he separates "my thoughts" from "I," and the insight in this is very interesting. Yes, your thoughts are not you. The self that can think, or that ability -- the ability to think, or that which gives rise to thoughts -- that is your true nature and essence. But the thoughts themselves are not truly you. I hope everyone can understand this. So Jane transmitted this little poem here, and it expresses this concept -- the relationship between thoughts and one's own true nature. Thoughts are not the self, not the true self; thoughts are thoughts. But you will encounter thoughts.

Then on March 1 at 3:05 in the afternoon, Jane wasn't wearing her glasses, yet she could read quite easily the poem she had written that day as well as the poem from February 29. So Rob was both surprised and delighted -- just a few days earlier Jane could see almost nothing and could barely make things out, but by March 1, she could read the poems she had typed out with great ease.

Let's look at this poem from Wednesday afternoon, February 29, 1984, at 4 o'clock.

My thoughts fly back to yesterday, fat bees seeking fresh nectar, in hidden storage places, suddenly raiding the small compartments of desire, and the delicious honey stored from sweet moments of the past.

What does it mean? His thoughts can return to the past, and those past memories are like sweet honey, stored in the little cells of a honeycomb, each little cell filled with sweet honey. Just like the moments of your memories, or the fragments of life you have experienced, your thoughts can return to those fragments each time, or return to those states, to taste the delicious honey and receive even more nourishment than before.

Every time you recall your past experiences, it's like tasting honey once again, even sweeter and more nourishing than when you actually experienced it in the past. What he means is that the past is alive and has not disappeared. When you use your thoughts to interact with it, to return to the past and interact, you can relive that beauty again, and it will actually be more flavorful and more beautiful than it was at the time -- at the time of that so-called event you experienced.

How clever I am, to have stored away a portion of the past, unenjoyed, until now.

What he means is that our past experiences are all like honey we have stored away, and whenever we need it, we can return to the past to savor it in detail. Jane is appreciating the beauty of this interaction between thoughts and memory.

On Thursday, March 1, 1984, at 3:28 in the afternoon, there were more poems.

My history is filled with lost and circuitous kingdoms, with magical mirrors opening onto brand-new maps of the universe, and in my mind glittering worlds unfold, enough to fill a thousand books, multiple images leading me forward, to new worlds forming into fact.

The content that follows describes the process by which we create worlds in our minds, and he expresses it in poetic language.

Then he starts a new paragraph:

A moment from the past suddenly flashes before my eyes, and there I am on all fours observing a beetle.

He really did return to some moment in the past -- perhaps a childhood experience, when he was on all fours, crawling on the ground, watching a beetle.

Watching a golden beetle, its head toward the grass, its body shiny, oval, and hard. I lowered my face as much as possible and stared at this beetle moving.

Then at this point outside interruptions came in -- because he was in the hospital, after all, there were always various interruptions.

Like a black shiny living stone, its shadow dappled on the grass, while its body sparkled in the bright sunlight.

Its shadow left mottled marks on the grass, but its body gleamed and sparkled in the sunlight.

It made a rustling sound, as if its body needed oiling, and its legs, thin as dried grass, jumped up.

He is describing the feeling of returning to a moment in the past, and he was interrupted twice in the middle, and then it broke off.

Then he noted again that on March 20, without wearing her glasses, she read two of her poems again. As I noted in yesterday's notes, it wasn't perfect, but she really did it -- she didn't even need to wear her glasses anymore. Jane's nearsightedness was actually quite severe.

On Monday, March 5, 1984, there was another poem.

My heart's intent flies into tomorrow's sky, letting the great teacher come to see the lovely dragonfly that children reach for.

In the previous poem he returned to the past -- his thoughts could fly back to yesterday to see himself lying there watching a beetle; his thoughts could also fly to tomorrow to see himself catching dragonflies.

Then there was another one:

Sometimes my thoughts roll down the hill like small pebbles, and the villagers below shout, beware of the avalanche.

Thoughts are originally very, very small, but they roll and grow bigger. Thoughts can grow bigger and bigger, and by the time they reach the bottom of the hill they have become an avalanche. He is actually telling us that thoughts can keep expanding, keep growing like a snowball.

Sometimes my thoughts gather strength, rolling down the newly made beach, and the swimmers shout loudly, here comes the ninth wave.

Here he compares his thoughts to ocean waves, surging, crashing waves. Both of these are descriptions of thoughts.

Next paragraph:

My thoughts need good straight legs, I bet my thoughts can make my legs run up and down stairs or anywhere, at a speed too fast for me to decipher. Because my thoughts demand movement.

Thoughts can restore one's body; here he mentions the function of thoughts, of belief -- no, the function of thoughts.

Then the next poem:

My dreams, one after another, fall and merge into one another, while the other dreamers below flee to dry land.

What he means is that dreams are like rain falling from the sky; his dreams intermingle and merge, just like clouds in the sky merging and then turning into rainwater falling below. And those other dreamers below, like ordinary people avoiding the rain, flee to drier places. Drier places are places not yet drenched by dreams, where they continue their own dreaming -- because this area has already been soaked by Jane's dreams. It's a symbolic, figurative metaphor.

Magic and Spontaneity

Saturday, March 10, 1984, 3:38 p.m. After today's session -- the first since February 22 -- I told Jane that my plan, now that he had resumed the sessions, was to type only the session-related material, rather than the daily records concerning his physical condition, temperature, and so forth, unless there was something unusual to record. He agreed. In my daily handwritten notes, I do have a record of those incidental events, and for purposes not yet known, that material may one day be transcribed and used.

I do want to note, however, that as I was passing through the emergency department corridor and climbing the stairs to Room 330 today, I ran into Jane's attending physician, Jeff Kardei, who asked how Jane was doing, asked about his work and his books, and made positive comments about his recovery from the recent infection and fever. Then the doctor said of him: "Very resilient, isn't he?" And I could see that he was extremely surprised and pleased by Jane's performance -- so you can see that Jane is actually in the process of recovering.

I said my wife was a person of extremely strong will, and Jeff agreed. He said he would go visit Jane, and that he was monitoring him through his records. Jane was very pleased to hear my account of this conversation, and he said, "I bet I can use that thing about resilience" -- meaning he would incorporate it into suggestions, attitudes, and so forth. We were both very happy that this had happened.

Jane's Seth voice was louder than usual, and seemed to carry extra energy. Then Seth came through.

Now once again I wish you a good afternoon.

Then Seth continued:

In any case, the workings of your body, and the workings of the world, are ubiquitous.

The workings of your body and the workings of the world -- this magic is ubiquitous. The world and the body are both quite magical. What is my definition of magic -- magic is unimpeded nature, or magic is unimpeded life, or you could call it the display of life force: the display of natural, unimpeded life force -- that is what is called magic.

It is true that your thoughts, emotions, and beliefs form the reality that you experience. But it is also true that this creative construction is, in a manner of speaking, magically formed.

There is creativity in it, and from a certain angle it is like performing magic -- formed in a very magical way. The word "magic" is used here, and it does not only mean sleight of hand -- it is formed in a very wondrous way, formed as if by magic.

That is, the construction of your body and the construction of a world are formed with the greatest combination of order and spontaneity, an order that seems hidden rather than obvious.

Seth emphasizes this point -- whether it is this world or your body, both depend on two things: one is a hidden order, and the second is your spontaneity. This mixture of hidden order and spontaneity, in Laozi's terms, is the "Dao." The Dao is both the way of nature and the way of the body -- all of these are the Dao. The Dao manifests in all things. Let me clarify once more what the Dao is -- a kind of hidden order, an order of energy, an order of consciousness, or you could call it an order that is drawn but not released, an order of non-action.

Then spontaneity -- spontaneity is the core here. The order is the same for everyone; this hidden order is the same for all. You can understand order as regularity, but the word "regularity" is not used here; what is it more like? It is like the fundamental laws of the universe -- there are certain hidden laws within it. Spontaneity is also actually one of the eleven laws of the universe. In fact, the so-called hidden order is these eleven fundamental universal laws, and it singles this out -- that is, under the operation of the universal laws, and through the joint creation of your personal spontaneity, you form your world. That is what this passage is saying -- all of this is as wondrous as magic, as miraculous as sleight of hand.

For example, you think, but you are not consciously aware of how you think. You can think, but you do not know how you think. You can speak very long sentences, and at the beginning of the sentence you are not consciously aware of what the conclusion will be.

You can speak a very long passage, but when you begin speaking, you do not know where you will end up. This does not mean you must remain forever in ignorance -- it is not saying that you are ignorant; that is not the meaning, just as you do not know that you only know the beginning and do not know the ending. But it does mean that there is a different kind of knowledge, and that all of your information does not come from reasoning alone.

There is also some knowledge that you do not know -- just as when you speak or think, you do not know what is driving it, yet it happens so naturally. And these things are not arrived at through reasoning. That is, the result of your thought -- for example, you have an idea, but you do not know what the idea will ultimately become; you do not know what it can become. When you say a sentence, you do not know what the final conclusion will be. This cannot be obtained through reasoning; it is a spontaneous production.

For example, you grow from an embryo into an adult, so obviously a part of you really knows how you perform such an astonishing activity as the growth and care of the physical body.

For example, you grow from a tiny embryo into an adult, and your cells know what you are going to grow into. How you perform, just like the astonishing activity of the growth and care of the physical body -- from embryo to body, to adult, this entire process is so wondrous and natural. You know that a part of you really knows, yet the reasoning mind alone cannot grow even the smallest cell by itself -- reasoning cannot make a cell grow, cannot even initiate the life of a molecule.

These are abilities that reasoning, or our human brain, cannot obtain. Our brain can reason, but we cannot obtain life force; we cannot make a cell or a molecule possess life. This ability is something humanity still does not know or understand. We can analyze what life is composed of, what constitutes life, but what is wondrous is that we cannot create this life.

Yet the growth and maintenance of the body goes on constantly.

This is the most natural thing of all. Every day we have the birth and growth of new cells; every day countless cells, incalculable cells are produced, yet all of these are formed naturally. But through the reasoning of the brain, or through science and technology, you cannot produce even a single cell. This is the very great limitation of human intelligence and reasoning. Yet our non-reasoning, non-rational, or non-scientific part can completely overwhelm this part of our intelligence. This part of ourselves that we are so smug about, in the face of our natural life force, is instantly crushed -- there is no comparison.

The hidden abilities that promote the health and vitality of your body also bring about and maintain the ordinary world.

The ability that maintains your body and health, and the ability that maintains this world -- the ability that keeps this world running and the ability that keeps you healthy -- are one and the same ability.

All of this is accomplished playfully.

It is all accomplished as if playing a game. Remember that it must be playful, relaxed, filled with curiosity and experimentation, driven by a powerful will behind it. For example, why do you love playing games? Because you want to play games.

Yet it is revealed with the greatest display of order and design.

It is displayed with the greatest order and design.

When you become too serious, you overwork your intellect and tire your body. For at such times, your entire life seems to depend upon your mental reasoning alone.

When you are especially serious and earnest, using your head to think, you become very tired, because you are using only your mind to do your brain's logical, rational reasoning. And the ability of your mind, in the face of your natural abilities, is far too weak.

And the ability of your mind, that is, your ability to think, is itself supported and brought about by the mixture of spontaneity and order within.

That is, this human ability to think and reason that you rely upon is itself generated jointly by the inner order and spontaneity.

That mixture combines so miraculously as to form both your reality and the reality of the world.

What kind of mixture? It is the inner order of the world -- a hidden inner order -- plus your spontaneity. Spontaneity is your subjective will; you think, you want, you are willing -- that is your spontaneity. Combined with this hidden order, the two mix together and form your world. So there is a strong subjective element here.

I wish you a good afternoon.

At 4:02 p.m., Jane said he was very glad to have had these sessions -- there had been a long gap in between. I would like to add in the opening remarks that Jane's resilience proved to be a learning experience for Jeff, as well as for Jane and me -- proof that Jane is still capable of holding sessions under these circumstances.

Winter Birds

Then on Monday, March 12, 1984, from 3:08 to 3:12 in the afternoon, only four minutes, and then a poem:

Winter birds sing their winter song, as the cold wind blows across the frozen lawn. Where will the birds go? When dusk comes, who will care for the winter birds sitting on branches, posts, or pear blossoms? I give them corn and bread crumbs, and listen to their winter song. As snowflakes fly across the frozen lawn, for the winter birds greet the winter dusk and dawn.

This is a song about winter birds.

After that are a few notes. First, when Jane was reading this poem, she sang it, and sang it quite well. Because she originally thought—originally this was a song, because it was the birds' winter song, and the poem she wrote was about the birds' song, so this was originally a song.

Another note: Jane and I both belong to what Seth calls the Sumari consciousness family. Jane can speak in Sumari rapidly, with words that seem to carry no objection, and without hesitation she transforms them into beautiful English prose and poetry. She can write, speak, and sing it, and the bird can write Sumari—but Jane has to translate it for me, and I am always amazed at the results. Jane can speak it, write it, sing it, and also translate it, while the bird can only write it, and after writing it, it does not know what it means. My wife has a powerful singing voice; see what she says about the Sumari material in Adventures in Consciousness.

Note two: In 1965, in response to my letter, an elderly and highly respected parapsychologist, whom Jane called Dr. Yin⁵⁶, invited Jane and me to attend a hypnosis seminar he directed at the State University of New York—physicians, dentists, and psychologists all attended. There, Jane and I had our most unfortunate contact with a young psychologist; you can see a description of this part in Chapters 6, 7, and 8 of Seth Speaks. Yes, this psychologist actually wanted to bring Jane and the Seth material into their research, but unfortunately, the mainstream media still held a very strong attitude of rejection toward these views.

At this point, the entire second chapter, which was very long, has come to an end. Next time we will begin introducing the content of Chapter 3.

---

注释与核实

1. This claim could not be verified. ↩

2. This claim could not be verified. ↩

3. This claim could not be verified. ↩

4. Source: Wikipedia, "Three Character Classic" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Character_Classic) ↩ ↩²

5. Source: The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch, "Chapter on Conduct and Realization" (Wikisource) (https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E5%85%AD%E7%A5%96%E5%A3%87%E7%B6%93/%E8%A1%8C%E7%94%B1%E5%93%81) ↩

6. Source: Gale, Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology, "Reality Change (Magazine)" (https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/reality-change-magazine) ↩

7. This claim could not be verified. ↩

8. Source: Jane Roberts, Dreams, Evolution, and Value Fulfillment (Seth Book), Volume 1 (https://sethcenter.com/products/dreams-evolution-value-fulfillment-1-seth-jane-roberts) ↩

9. This claim could not be verified. ↩

10. This claim could not be verified. ↩

11. This claim could not be verified. ↩

12. Source: Wikipedia, "Donne-moi des ailes" (https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donne-moi_des_ailes) ↩

13. Source: Subalusky et al., "Annual mass drownings of the Serengeti wildebeest migration influence nutrient cycling and storage in the Mara River" (https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1614778114) ↩

14. Source: Wikipedia, "Africa: The Serengeti" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africa:_The_Serengeti) ↩

15. Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Xuanzang | Biography & Facts" (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Xuanzang) ↩

16. This claim could not be verified. ↩

17. This claim could not be verified. ↩

18. Source: Wikipedia, "Weather Forecast of Xinwen Lianbo" (https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hans/%E6%96%B0%E9%97%BB%E8%81%94%E6%92%AD%E5%A4%A9%E6%B0%94%E9%A2%84%E6%8A%A5) ↩

19. Source: Wikipedia, "The Man of Qi Who Worried About the Sky" (https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hans/%E6%9D%9E%E4%BA%BA%E5%BF%A7%E5%A4%A9) ↩

20. This claim could not be verified. ↩

21. Source: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), "JetStream - The Atmosphere" (https://www.noaa.gov/jetstream/atmosphere) ↩

22. This claim could not be verified. ↩

23. This claim could not be verified. ↩

24. This claim could not be verified. ↩

25. Source: Ulrich Theobald, "Liaofan sixun" (ChinaKnowledge.de) (http://www.chinaknowledge.de/Literature/Classics/liaofansixun.html) ↩

26. Source: Wikipedia, "Yuan Huang" (https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-cn/%E8%A2%81%E9%BB%83) ↩

27. This claim could not be verified. ↩

28. Source: Wikipedia, "Laozi (book)" (https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%80%81%E5%AD%90_(%E6%9B%B8)) ↩

29. Source: Chengdu Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, "The Laoguanshan Han Dynasty Cemetery in Tianhui Town, Chengdu" (Chinese Archaeology) (https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/char-2015-0006/html?lang=en) ↩

30. Source: Xinhua News Agency, "Listening to Cultural Relics Tell Stories: A 2,000-Year-Old Painted Lacquer Figurine Reveals the 'Code' of Ancient Chinese Medicine Meridians" (http://www.news.cn/politics/2021-09/20/c_1127882416.htm) ↩

31. According to Mike's original words, "he only believed there are 37 meridians in the human body"; upon verification, it should be "Chinese medicine holds that the main meridians of the human body are the twelve regular meridians (the twelve main channels) plus the eight extraordinary meridians, totaling twenty, not thirty-seven." (Source: Wikipedia, "Meridian (Chinese medicine)" (https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-cn/%E7%BB%8F%E8%84%89)) ↩

32. This claim could not be verified. ↩

33. Source: Sima Qian, Records of the Grand Historian, "Biographies of Bian Que and Canggong" (https://www.shidianguji.com/book/LS0001/chapter/1j755ol4btfst_103) ↩

34. Source: China Daily, "China deciphers ancient medical pioneer's guidebook from 2,000-yr-old bamboo slips" (2023) (https://govt.chinadaily.com.cn/s/202304/21/WS6441e735498ea274927b86e4/china-deciphers-ancient-medical-pioneers-guidebook-from-2-000-yr-old-bamboo-slips.html) ↩

35. Source: People's Daily Online Sichuan Channel, "Tianhui Medical Bamboo Slips Published, Possibly the Lost Medical Book of Bian Que" (2023) (http://sc.people.com.cn/n2/2023/0421/c379471-40385274.html) ↩

36. This claim could not be verified. ↩

37. According to Mike's original words, "there are 106 old prescriptions that have been lost"; upon verification, it should be "The text 'Recipes for Treating Sixty Diseases and Harmonizing Decoctions' in the Tianhui medical bamboo slips records 105 lost prescriptions (not 106), making it the earliest specialized book on formulated preparations discovered to date." (Source: China News of Traditional Chinese Medicine, "Millennium-Old Bamboo Slips Re-present the Medical Ancestor Bian Que's Marvelous Skills" (https://www.cdutcm.edu.cn/mtsp/mtjj/content_89582)) ↩

38. Source: Sima Qian, Records of the Grand Historian, "Biographies of Bian Que and Canggong" (https://gj.zdic.net/shibu/90/3851.html) ↩

39. According to Mike's original words, "Tao Te Ching, Liaofan's Four Lessons, Xingming Guizhi, and Xingming Guizhi [sic]"; upon verification, it should be "'Xingming Guizhi [sic]' should be Xingming Guizhi (full title: Xingming Shuangxiu Wanshen Guizhi, The Principles of the Dual Cultivation of Nature and Life for All Spirits), a Ming-dynasty inner alchemy classic published in 1615, so the list of books is actually three works: Tao Te Ching, Liaofan's Four Lessons, and Xingming Guizhi." (Source: Wikipedia, "Xingming guizhi" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xingming_guizhi)) ↩

40. Source: Laozi, Tao Te Ching, Chapter 40 (https://ctext.org/text.pl?node=11631&if=en&show=parallel) ↩ ↩²

41. According to Mike's original words, "only a bamboo-slip Tao Te Ching with 2,000-odd characters and 30 chapters"; upon verification, it should be "The Guodian Chu bamboo-slip version of the Laozi has about 2,046 extant characters, and its contents correspond to 31 chapters (not 30) of the transmitted 81-chapter version, about two-fifths of the transmitted text." (Source: Wikipedia, "Bamboo Texts of Guodian" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bamboo_Texts_of_Guodian)) ↩

42. Source: Wikipedia, "A Brief History of Time" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Brief_History_of_Time) ↩

43. Source: Wikipedia, "Jane Roberts" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Roberts) ↩

44. According to Mike's original words, "101 degrees Fahrenheit is about 39 to 40 degrees Celsius for us"; upon verification, it should be "101 degrees Fahrenheit is about 38.3 degrees Celsius (deg C = (deg F - 32) x 5/9), not 39 to 40 degrees." (Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Fahrenheit temperature scale" (https://www.britannica.com/science/Fahrenheit-temperature-scale)) ↩

45. This claim could not be verified. ↩

46. This claim could not be verified. ↩

47. This claim could not be verified. ↩

48. According to Mike's original words, "100 degrees Fahrenheit is about 39 degrees Celsius for us"; upon verification, it should be "100 degrees Fahrenheit is about 37.8 degrees Celsius (deg C = 5/9 x (100 - 32) = about 37.78), not about 39 degrees." (Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Fahrenheit temperature scale" (https://www.britannica.com/science/Fahrenheit-temperature-scale)) ↩

49. This claim could not be verified. ↩

50. Source: Wikipedia, "Foyin (Song dynasty)" (https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-cn/%E4%BD%9B%E5%8D%B0_(%E5%AE%8B%E6%9C%9D)) ↩

51. This claim could not be verified. ↩

52. Source: Jefferson Lab document database, "Calendar for February 1984" (https://hallcweb.jlab.org/doc-public/ShowCalendar?year=1984&month=2) ↩

53. Source: Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (Jefferson Lab), "Calendar for February 1984" (https://hallcweb.jlab.org/doc-public/ShowCalendar?year=1984&month=2) ↩

54. Source: Time and Date AS, "Calendar 1984 - United States" (https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/?year=1984&country=1) ↩

55. This claim could not be verified. ↩

56. Source: Wikipedia, "George Estabrooks" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Estabrooks) ↩