The Seth Material

I  reading The Seth Material by Jane Roberts. I'm  a little surprised that it's as readable as it is. I suppose that I assumed that it would be dry and esoteric, but Jane makes it quite pleasant. It actually draws you in. I also thought that it would be a bit dated, and it would just be a rehash (to me, anyway)  of ideas and concepts that I was already familiar with. Turns out that I was wrong.

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. The field of, what do you call it, metaphysics? Is sort of an underground movement, largely unrecognized by any of our media, which means that there is much less standardization and cross fertilization of ideas between different groups than might otherwise happen. So, despite the fact that this material has been out there for about 40 years, large chunks of it have not wended their way out into the larger community. 

On the other hand, the field is fairly new, in many ways, and still evolving. You could say that it's only been a relatively few decades since the grip of the Big Three religions has loosened to the point where competing ideas can be openly discussed without significant social, legal or religious backlash, so the field is still a bit of a Wild West with lots of ideas striving for recognition and dominance. There are a lot of contradictory, or at least confusing ideas, battling for recognition and dominance. It's also stumbling a bit while trying to find it's roots in ancient traditions. For some, it really is dominance, rather than consensus, that they're after. I would really prefer that we figure out what's really going on, as best we can, rather than set up yet another religion/belief system, but that's just me. Some people like the mystery and exclusiveness of their beliefs too much to contribute to expanding our understanding of what seems to be a greater reality.

In my own explorations, I have discovered a great similarity behind many different belief systems. It's almost like I can see how the same basic ideas were adopted and then morphed to fit in with the pre-existing beliefs. I suppose that always happens, but, to the outside, it makes it appear that there's a confusing pltethora of competing ideas, when it's really variations on a theme. It's like Christen sects that supposedly believe in the same thing, but can be very passionate about differences that, to outsiders, can very subtle and seem unimportant to the overall message.

It doesn't help that the ideas themselves are difficult to wrap you head around, like, for example, reincarnation. On the surface, this seems such a simple idea: You die and are born again. But very quickly the questions start coming: Why do you come back? What is the point? What determines what kind of life you are going to have? Is it wrong to switch sexes? Does it go on forever? If not, how do you get off the merry-go-round? If there's no judgment, no God, no threat of punishment, what incentive do people have to be good? Why is there evil? Why do we remember past lives, doesn't that mess with the plan? Why do past lives "bleed through" in memories, birth defects, phobias and other health issues? Google "Reincarnation" and you will find a whole lot more questions and discussions, from many points of view, that serve to muddy the water still further.

I don't have answers for all of these, just opinions, but I have always felt that the reason it seems so confusing is that there's a bigger picture we just not seeing. This book has given me a glimpse of that bigger picture. It's also reminded me that I still have many prejudices and basic assumptions that make these concepts very difficult to wrap head around.

In the part I'm reading now, Seth says that we all create our own reality. He specifically states that that doesn't mean we create the universe, just our personal reality. He also makes it clear that he's not talking about subjective experience, but creating physical reality. Exactly how that works, with many people interacting with the same objects, is not clear to me. Seth talks about it, that's one of the parts I can't get head around. Maybe in time it will become clearer.

I have no trouble with the idea that how reality appears and how it actually is, can be very different, but really getting it, is something else. Sort of like the idea that the moon and sun appear to go around us, when it's actually the other way around, I'm trying to come up with some kind of framework I can use put all the pieces into, that makes sense to me. No luck so far. I think I have too many hidden assumptions getting on the way, but, by holding to the possibility that it could make sense, I'm allowing for the kind of breakthrough that could change my life.