Session 527
more than the sum of its parts 
“There is however an inner communication, and the knowledge of one is available to
any - not after physical death, but now in your present moment. Now the soul itself, as
mentioned earlier, is not static. It grows and develops even through the experience of
those personalities that compose it, and it is, to put it as simply as possible, more than
the sum of its parts.”
Session 527
If the desire is strong enough
“Now, there are no closed systems in reality. In your physical system the nature of
you r perceptions limits your idea of reality to some extent, because you purposely
decide to focus within a given “locale.” But basically speaking, consciousness can never
be a closed system, and all barriers of such a nature are illusion. Therefore the soul
itself is not a closed system. When you consider the soul, however, you usually think of
it in such a light - unchanging, a psychic or spiritual citadel. But citadels not only keep
out invaders, they also prevent expansion and development.
There are many matters here very difficult to express in words, for you are so afraid
for your sense of identity that you resist the idea that the soul, for example, is an open
spiritual system, a powerhouse of creativity that shoots out in all directions - and yet
this is indeed the case.
I tell you this, and at the same time remind you that your present personality is
never lost. Now another word for the soul is entity. You see it is not a simple matter of
giving you a definition of a soul or entity, for even to have a glimpse in logical terms you
would have to understand it in spiritual, psychic, and electromagnetic terms, and
understand the basic nature of consciousness and action as well. But you can
intuitively discover the nature of the soul or entity, and in many ways intuitive
knowledge is superior to any other kind.
One prerequisite for such an intuitive understanding of the soul is the desire to
achieve it. If the desire is strong enough, then you will be automatically led to
experiences that will result in vivid, unmistakable subjective knowledge. There are
methods that will enable you to do this, and I will give you some toward the end of this
book.”
Session 527
accept the fact
“This discussion is not meant to be an esoteric presentation with little practical
meaning in your daily lives. The fact is that while you hold limited concepts of your own
reality, then you cannot practically take advantage of many abilities that are your own;
and while you have a limited concept of the soul, then to some extent you cut yourself
off from the source of your own being and creativity.
Now these abilities operate whether you know it or not, but often they operate in
spite of you rather than with your conscious cooperation; and often when you do find
yourself using them, you become frightened, disoriented, or confused. No matter what
you have been taught, you must understand, for example, that basically speaking, per-
ceptions are not physical in the way the term is usually used. If you catch yourself
perceiving information through other than your physical senses, then you must accept
the fact that this is the way perception works.”
Session 527
Seth on E.S.P.
“So-called extrasensory perception gives you but a crude and distorted idea of the
basic ways in which the inner self receives information, but the concepts built around
extrasensory perception are at least nearer the truth, and as such represent an
improvement over the idea that all perception is basically physical.”
Session 527
there is no point where one begins and another ends
“Now it is nearly impossible to separate a discussion of the nature of the soul from a
discussion of the nature of perception. Very briefly let us review a few points: You form
physical matter and the physical world that you know. The physical senses actually can
be said to create the physical world, in that they force you to perceive an available field
of energy in physical terms, and impose a highly specialized pattern upon this field of
reality. Using the physical senses, you can perceive reality in no other way.
This physical perception in no way alters the native, basic, unfettered perception
that is characteristic of the inner self, the inner self being the portion of the soul that is
within you. The inner self knows its relationship with the soul. It is a portion of the self
that acts, you might say, as a messenger between the soul and the present personality.
You must also realize that while I use terms like “soul” or “entity,” “inner self,” and
"present personality," I do so only for the sake of convenience, for one is a part of the
other; there is no point where one begins and another ends.”
Session 528
continuous creativity
“Physical existence is one way in which the soul chooses to experience
its own actuality. The soul, in other words, has created a world for you to inhabit, to
change - a complete sphere of activity in which new developments and indeed new
forms of consciousness can emerge.
In a manner of speaking, you continually create your soul as it continually creates
you.”
Session 528
It creates worlds
“No psychological system is closed, no consciousness is closed, regardless of any
appearances to the contrary within your own system. The soul is a traveler, as has been
said so often; but it is also the creator of all experience, and of all destinations in your
terms. It creates worlds as it goes, so to speak.
Now this is the true nature of the psychological being of which you are part. As
mentioned earlier, later in the book I will give you some practical suggestions that will
allow you to recognize some of your own deeper abilities, and utilize them for your own
development, pleasure, and education.”
Session 528
Your intent
“I want to emphasize again that while all this sounds difficult in the telling, it
becomes much more clear intuitively when you learn to experience what you are, for if
you cannot travel inside your physical body to find your identity, you can travel through
your psychological self.
There are far more wonders to perceive through this inward exploration than you can
possibly believe until you begin such a journey for yourself. You are a soul; you are a
particular manifestation of a soul, and it is sheer nonsense to think that you must
remain ignorant of the nature of your own being. You may not be able to put your
knowledge clearly into words, but this will in no way negate the value or the validity of
the experience that will be yours once you begin to look inward.
Now you may call this a spiritual or psychological or psychic exploration, as you
prefer. You will not be trying to find your soul. In that respect there is nothing to find. It
is not lost, and you are not lost. The words you use may make no difference, but your
intent does indeed.”
Session 530
super reality 
“Yours is not a system of reality formed by the most intense concentration of energy, therefore.
It is simply the one you are turned into, part and parcel of. You perceive it simply for this reason.
Other portions of yourself, therefore, of which you are not consciously aware, do
inhabit what you could call a supersystem of reality in which consciousness learns to
handle and perceive much stronger concentrations of energy, and to construct "forms"
of a different nature indeed.”
Session 530
“not here”
“To begin with, your physical form is the result of great emotional focus. The fantastic energy of your psyche not only created your physical body, but maintains it. It is not one continuous thing, although to you it seems permanent enough while it lasts. It is nevertheless in a constant state of pulsation, and because of the nature of energy and its construction, the body is actually blinking
off and on.
This is difficult to explain, and for our present purposes it is not entirely necessary
that you understand the reasons for this pulsing; but even physically, you are "not here"
as often as you are. Your emotional intensity and focus create forms beside your
physical body, however their duration and degree are dependent upon the intensity of
any given emotional origin.
Your space is therefore filled with incipient forms, quite vivid, but beneath the
regular structure of matter that you perceive.”
Session 530
you are the superself
“You are, using an analogy again, sent out by a superself who strongly desired
existence in physical form. You are no puppet of this superself. You will follow your own
lines of development, and through means far too difficult to explain here, you add to the
experience of the superself and also then extend the nature of its reality. You also
insure your own development, and you are able to draw upon the abilities of the
superself.
Nor will you ever be swallowed by the self that in these terms seems so superior.
Because you exist, you send out like projections of your own,as mentioned earlier.
There is no end to the reality of consciousness, nor the means of its materialization. Nor
is there any end to the developments possible for each identity.
Let me make it clear once again: Your present personality as you think of it is indeed
"indelible," and continues after death to grow and develop.
I mention this again in the middle of our present discussion so that you do not feel
lost, or negated, or insignificant. There are obviously an infinite number of gradations in
the types and kinds of forms of which we have been speaking. That energy which is
projected from our “superself,” that spark of intense identity that resulted in your
physical birth, that unique impetus, in the one way has many similarities to the old
concept of the soul - except that it contains only a part of the story.
While you continue to exist and develop as an individual, your whole self, or soul,
has such vast potential, that it can never be expressed fully through one personality, as
somewhat explained in one previous chapter.”
Session 530
true experience
“There are then, obviously, probable futures and probable presents. I am trying to
discuss this in your terms, since basically, you must understand, the words ,.past,"
“present,” and “future” are no more meaningful as far as true experience is concerned
than are the words “ego,” “conscious,” or “unconscious.” “
Session 530
know thy self
“Now often you tune into these other streams of consciousness without realizing that
you have done so - for again, they are a part of the same river of your identity. All are
therefore connected.
Any creative work involves you in a cooperative process in which you learn to dip
into these other streams of consciousness, and come up with a perception that has far
more dimensions than one arising from the one narrow, usual stream of consciousness
that you know. Great creativity is then multidimensional for this reason. Its origin is
not from one reality, but from many, and it is tinged with the multiplicity of that origin.
Great creativity always seems greater than its pure physical dimension and reality.
By contrast with the so-called usual, it appears almost as an intrusion. It takes the
breath away. Such creativity automatically reminds each man of his own
multidimensional reality. The words “know thyself,” therefore, mean far more than most
people ever suppose.”
Session 530
nitty grittty
“ Some dreams themselves do take place in psychic or mental areas connected with your daily
activities, in which case no dressing-up process is necessary. But in the very deep
reaches of sleep experience - those, incidentally, not yet touched upon by scientists in
so-called dream laboratories - you are in communication with other portions of your
own identity, and with the other realities in which they exist.
In this state you also pursue works and endeavors that may or may not be connected
with your interests as you know of them. You are learning, studying, playing; you are
anything but asleep as you think of the term. You are highly active. You are involved in
the underground work, in the real nitty-gritty of existence.”
Session 530
dreamer self
“I do not want to minimize the importance of your state of consciousness; as, for
example, you read this book. Presumably you are awake, but in many ways when you
are awake, you are resting far more than you are in your so-called unconscious nightly
state. Then to a larger extent you realize your own reality, and are free to use abilities
that in the daytime you ignore or deny. "
Session 530
the waking self of which you are so proud
“At a very simple level, for example, your consciousness leaves your body often in the
sleep state. You communicate with people in other levels of reality that you have known,
but far beyond this, you creatively maintain and revitalize your physical image. You
process daily experience, project it into what you think of as the future, choose from an
infinity of probable events those you will make physical, and begin the mental and
psychic processes that will bring them into the world of substance.
At the same time, you make this information available to all these other portions of
your identity, who dwell in entirely different realities, and you receive from them
comparable information. You do not lose contact with your ordinary waking self. You
simply do not focus upon it. You turn your attention away. In the daytime you simply
reverse the process. If you were looking at your daily normal self from the other view-
point, you see, using an analogy here, you might find that physically waking self as
strange as you now find the sleeping self. The analogy will not hold however, simply
because this sleeping self of yours is far more knowledgeable than the waking self of
which you are so proud. “
Session 530
Sometimes strange fish pop up in those waters!
“The seeming division is not arbitrary, or forced upon you. It is simply caused by your
present stage of development, and it does vary. Many people take excursions into other
realities - swim, so to speak, through other streams of consciousness as a part of their
normal waking lives. Sometimes strange fish pop up in those waters!
Now I am obviously such a one in your terms, swimming up through other
dimensions of reality and observing a dimension of existence that is yours rather than
my own. There are, therefore, channels that exist between all these streams of
consciousness, all these symbolic rivers of psychological and psychic experience, and
there are journeys that can be made from my dimension as well as yours. “
Session 530
You put blinders upon it, and then say that it cannot see.
“Now initially Ruburt and Joseph and I were a part of the same entity, or overall
identity, and so symbolically speaking, there are psychic currents that unite us. All of
these merge into what has often been compared to as an ocean of consciousness, a well
from which all actuality springs. Start with any one consciousness, and theoretically
you will find all others.
Now often the ego acts as a dam, to hold back other perceptions - not because it was
meant to, or because it is in the nature of an ego to behave in such a fashion, or even
because it is a main function of an ego, but simply because you have been taught that
the purpose of an ego is restrictive rather than expanding. You actually imagine that
the ego is a very weak portion of the self, that it must defend itself against other areas
of the self that are far stronger and more persuasive and indeed more dangerous; and
so you have trained it to wear blinders, and quite against its natural inclinations.
The ego does want to understand and interpret physical reality, and to relate to it. It
wants to help you survive within physical existence, but by putting blinders upon it,
you hamper its perception and native flexibility. Then because it is inflexible you say
that this is the natural function and characteristic of the ego.
It cannot relate to a reality that you will not allow it to perceive. It can poorly help
you to survive when you do not allow it to use its abilities to discover those true
conditions in which it must manipulate. You put blinders upon it, and then say that it
cannot see. “
Session 532
Seth on sleeping habits
“Persons vary in the amount of sleep they need, and no pill will ever allow them to
dispense with sleep entirely, for too much work is done in that state. However, this
could be done far more effectively with two, rather than one, sleep periods of lesser
duration.”
Session 532
And the benefits
“As a result of more frequent, briefer sleep periods, there would also be higher peaks
of conscious focus, and a more steady renewal of both physical and psychic activity.
There would not be such a definite division between the various areas or levels of the
self. A more economical use of energy would result, and also a more effective use of
nutrients. Consciousness as you know it would also become more flexible and mobile.”