1972-1973 · The Nature of Personal RealityAI summary (single book)
In The Nature of Personal Reality, Seth provides a profound and multidimensional exposition of the concept of "affirmation":
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The core definition and essence of affirmation Affirmation means saying "yes" to you and to the life you lead, and accepting your unique personhood and miraculous complexity . It means acquiescing to the reality of you as "a soul in the flesh" . Affirmation is by no means passive resignation or inaction; on the contrary, it is accepting your personhood in the flesh, which is a necessity both psychically and biologically, and represents your appreciation of your own extraordinary integrity . It is built upon the recognition that no consciousness is identical to yours, and that your abilities are uniquely your own .
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The distinctive aspects and specific requirements of affirmation
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Accepting present imperfection: Affirmation is accepting yourself as you are now, without expecting yourself to reach some state of "perfection" that leaves no room for future growth .
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Fully accepting emotions and animality: Emotions are elements of the power of consciousness. If you affirm one emotion and deny another, you set up barriers . Affirmation means accepting your soul as it is within your animality; you cannot split off and deny one of them .
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True pride and true humility: True self-pride is the loving recognition of your own integrity and worth; true humility is based upon a loving regard for yourself, and upon the recognition that all other beings in the universe also possess undeniable unique value .
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The right to say "no": Within the framework of affirmation, you have the right to say "no" to certain situations, to express desires, and to communicate feelings .
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The transformations and effects brought by affirmation
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Automatically weakening negative beliefs: When you affirm the basic grace of your own existence, you automatically weaken beliefs that contradict that principle, enabling you to hold simultaneously the image of the "ideal self" and all natural deviations .
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Promoting interpersonal cooperation and self-trust: Affirming your own lightness in the universe allows you to cooperate naturally with others, without envying them, and without needing to dominate or cower, thereby truly trusting the miracle of your own existence .
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Opening multidimensional perception and reshaping space-time: Affirmation of the self can allow the brain to attune to broader methods of perception, activating biological structures to perceive multidimensional experience . Furthermore, affirmation and acceptance of the self in the present can be projected into the future, and can change your past and future .
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The obstruction of social beliefs: Seth points out that existing social belief systems often deny the "joyful affirmation" that the elderly could otherwise obtain, thereby suppressing old age as an extremely creative stage of life .