What would Seth have to say about the world today?

[usmaak]

I am in the middle of Unknown Reality and I was kind of shocked to realize that it was written 44 years ago!  A lot has happened with the world in that time.  Seth was saying something about our consciousness changing because we are now aware of more information because of technology (I'm totally paraphrasing).  Compared to today, the technology of 1974 was lame.  We now have access to almost instantaneous information, 24/7.  Back in 1974, we had the evening news.  It was a half an hour of news stories from the US and around the world.  Today, we are bombarded with non-stop information, much of it sensationalized news that is beyond belief.  I wonder what Seth would have to say about the world today.  In many ways, it is SO dramatically different from the time in which the Seth books were written.  I'm not romanticizing the past, after all, I was only a 9 year old kid in 1974.  It just seems like times were much simpler and that we lead vastly more complicated lives, largely due to the technology of today.  I'm definitely one of the rare breed of modern American humans that is NOT tied to his electronics.  My cell phone sits on its charger, unless I'm out and about and even then, I just use it to text my wife and let her know where I'm at.  Sometimes the bombardment of information is too much for me to handle.  Yet I make my living on computers and what I do wouldn't exist without them.  I write apps for the very device that is currently sitting on its charging cradle.  The irony isn't lost on me. 

I wonder what Seth would think about how there's so much more information available to us now, yet it is so much more difficult to know what's real and what's "fake news".  I wonder what he'd have to say about how we're all so much more connected these days, yet it also feels like I'm further apart from everyone than I've ever been.

That's one of the good things about the Seth material - it's timeless.  It doesn't matter that it was written almost half a century ago, because the message isn't wrapped in technology or the goings on of the time in which it was written.  It is just as applicable today, as it was 40 years ago.

[Deb]

Seth was saying something about our consciousness changing because we are now aware of more information because of technology

GREAT TOPIC!

Seth has talked about science (and psychology and medicine) looking in all the wrong places for answers, using camouflage instruments that can only see what's in this camouflage existence, so I'm assuming that's not you're talking about those here since you mention computers. (BTW, so cool that you write apps!)

Can you tell me roughly where your found that? UR1 or 2? I'd like to see what Seth says. I read not quite half of UR1, maybe 1/4 of UR2. I'll finish them eventually.

It doesn't matter that it was written almost half a century ago, because the message isn't wrapped in technology or the goings on of the time in which it was written.  It is just as applicable today, as it was 40 years ago.

Yep, I agree, and this is my guess: His teachings and advice would remain the same, because the "rules" haven't changed since the books were written. Such as, I've been surprised when reading the Seth books that turmoil in the Middle East has been mentioned: still no changes there, it's been that way forever. He'd still be saying we make our own reality. And that we inflate and perpetuate negativity by focusing on it. But (and everyone has a big butt, according to Pee Wee Herman), my feeling about the internet is that it is preparing us for the next step: the www is a model of the undercurrent of psychic communication Seth says we share and it's preparing us to become more conscious of that. At least, that's what the internet felt like to me when it first came about. The speed of the internet will help us to progress more quickly.

The fake news thing, however, is a different subject. Not everyone is using our technology for "good" -- it's being manipulated and misused in many ways. Maybe that's a part of the learning process. And those who expose fake news, regardless of their political affiliation, are bringing the problem into the light, so that will eventually change. The general public will also learn to think and question everything rather than blindly accepting what they read or hear. Although once we are more conscious of our psychic connection, fake news will no longer be possible. And the newly realized psychic connection should make people more empathetic, tolerant, kinder to each other, nature and the planet. All of consciousness. I'm not going to place a bet on when that will be. 

[usmaak]

Interesting.  If our current level of technology is preparing us for the next step, then I'd say that we're ill prepared for it and are definitely still in training.  Perhaps it's just the groups that I frequent.  Conversations on topics start out innocuous enough, but they inevitably end in anger and fighting.  It seems like many can't accept that their opinion is not law and that others might disagree.  This has really come out in the current, super polarizing political climate.  People just seem to lack the ability to accept that their opinions are not shared by others.  Imagine what it would be like, swimming around in someone like that's thoughts.  Of course there are topics that are guaranteed to start a major battle, like:

Politics
Religion
Guns
Marijuana

But really, any topic at all seems to end up in a battle if it goes on long enough.

It gets tiring.  When it gets to be too much, I just work on code or a website design, or something else that requires me to only deal with me.  If I get in an argument with myself, well I only have myself to blame.

I'll see if I can find the passage(s) in UR that I am referring to.  It is somewhere toward the end of the first quarter if UR 1.

[Deb]

Conversations on topics start out innocuous enough, but they inevitably end in anger and fighting.  It seems like many can't accept that their opinion is not law and that others might disagree. 

I totally agree. Even over Seth topics, on Facebook. Ego. It seems like it's escalating, maybe coming to some sort of "head." Feels way worse than ever. I think there are a lot of us that are weary and disgusted by all the negativity. I'm also embarrassed for the country. I suppose that's a backwards way of uniting the rest of us. It has to end somehow. I'm hoping for the best.

And that we inflate and perpetuate negativity by focusing on it.

For this reason, I'm going to stop following the news for a while. I've done that throughout my life—cancelled newspaper delivery back in the day, stopped watching the news for a while. No ill effects because of it, only good. Just yesterday I decided that I'm once again taking a sabbatical from all news. It makes me frustrated, brings me down, and so I have to stop giving it my attention.

I'll see if I can find the passage(s) in UR that I am referring to. 

Thanks. I did look on the Seth search engine before I asked, didn't find anything that fit. I suppose I should look in the book's Index.

[usmaak]

I've thought more on what you've said in this thread, and I think that it has opened a new way of thinking for me.  I've been trying to puzzle out for a while why the world is becoming the way that it is (or at least how it appears to me).  I find that I can only be connected for so long, before it becomes a bit overwhelming.  People everywhere I go.  No alone time.  Sometimes I yearn for an easier way of life.  I'd like to live in the mountains to my west, in a cabin, somewhere remote and disconnected.

The idea that the internet and the interconnectedness between all of us is a training ground for the next step seems right to me.  I'm not sure that I'll ever be ready in this lifetime.  In fact, I find it unlikely that I will.  It seems like a younger person's game, now.  I see all of these kids these days and how natural all of this is to them.  To me, natural is how I was brought up.  None of this is natural.  I can play in this arena from time to time, but living in it full time simply does not feel normal.

[Daniel V.]

@ usmaak

Perhaps the promise of the internet's connectedness allowed for more things to be connected than just mere information.   

[usmaak]

@ usmaak

Perhaps the promise of the internet's connectedness allowed for more things to be connected than just mere information.   

Please elaborate.

[T.M.]

Usmaak, I feel the same way about the world, technology, and the younger generations

[Deb]

The idea that the internet and the interconnectedness between all of us is a training ground for the next step seems right to me.  I'm not sure that I'll ever be ready in this lifetime.  In fact, I find it unlikely that I will.  It seems like a younger person's game, now.  I see all of these kids these days and how natural all of this is to them.

I get it. I grew up in a small town in NJ, spent my childhood wandering (and foraging my way) through the woods, fishing, cutting through farm land as shortcuts, walking the RR tracks. A regular "Stand by Me" childhood. But for some reason when I saw my first computers in 1976 (I worked as a secretary at IEEE) and rudimentary word processing equipment, I was hooked on technology. But now even I'm starting to think I can't keep up, the changes have been accelerating for the past 20 years and there's little I can do to keep up with them. It's hard to "know" how to do anything for any period of time because things change drastically every day. My desire to keep up is dwindling.

I've often dreamed of a cabin in the mountains myself. My house in the burbs is as close to a sanctuary as anyone can get.

[usmaak]

I get it. I grew up in a small town in NJ, spent my childhood wandering (and foraging my way) through the woods, fishing, cutting through farm land as shortcuts, walking the RR tracks. A regular "Stand by Me" childhood. But for some reason when I saw my first computers in 1976 (I worked as a secretary at IEEE) and rudimentary word processing equipment, I was hooked on technology. But now even I'm starting to think I can't keep up, the changes have been accelerating for the past 20 years and there's little I can do to keep up with them. It's hard to "know" how to do anything for any period of time because things change drastically every day. My desire to keep up is dwindling.

I've often dreamed of a cabin in the mountains myself. My house in the burbs is as close to a sanctuary as anyone can get.

Same with me.  I got my first computer in 1987 and haven't looked back.  I've been a computer programmer for over 20 years and have worked with everything from DOS, to the latest cell phones and iPads.  I've always had a love of the gadgetry that makes it all available.  What I don't love is how pervasive it has become in our lives.  It is everywhere, and it rules so much of our lives now.  I have no problem imagining myself without a cell phone, but I know that I'm in the minority.  Most people couldn't imagine living their lives without them and many have their faces stuffed in them all day long.  Technology makes so much possible, but it takes face-to-face human interaction out of the picture, or alters it into something that is not recognizable.  After a while, face-to-face interpersonal communication becomes a lost skill.  Or at least one with which I no longer get much practice.

Younger folks these days can be connected 24/7, and be happy with it.  I can't do it.  I need to disconnect from time to time.  You'd think that my career and hobby choices are counter to being disconnected, but they're not.  When I'm writing code for a program or a website, it's just me and my computer.  I am not plugged in and communicating with anyone except myself.

And I am not knocking the younger generation at all.  They have unique challenges that I never had to face.

And the irony of my typing this up on a computer to send to a bunch of people on the internet that I don't know so that they can read it on their cell phones or tablets is not lost on me in the least.

[T.M.]

The irony for me anyways, is there's some technology I couldn't really live without now.  Nor would really want too.
Feels like being stuck in 2 different worlds, without being able to go completely to one or the other. I simply couldn't live like my recent ancestors.  Yet I'm unable to embrace the new paradigm.
I loved computers for awhile. Anymore my kindle fire is about all I can, or even want to keep up with.
It's the whole technology revolution. I'm sure some form of human/machine combination will soon be the norm.
I'm also equally sure most of the beings will be coming into incarnation for the experience.
I do think the younger generations will go through one of the most profound changes in the history of humanity.
It's gonna take some brave and bold souls for it too.

[Daniel V.]

"Please elaborate."_usmaak

Pre-Internet media, e.g., movies, television, radio, was and in many ways continues to be a passive affair. You sat there as the medium delivered and any interaction was relegated to an expression to yourself or others nearby. Sometimes the expression could be powerful as in watching a movie with a strong message that could make you emotional and even weep. I'm sure there are movies in your own recollection that have affected you in one degree or another.

But when the internet began its march it was on a course of development that allowed the user an "interfacing" that went beyond mere passivity. What was once a simple expression to friends and others about whichever media item now became a platform to broadcast those expressions, and potentially around the world. You could make a website, post on a forum or chat, or go to Facebook and the many other "social media". On the surface of it it's an unprecedented freedom. But with that freedom also came a sense among many of its participants that their opinion(s) was gospel. And if some criticized the opinion then it was reacted to in a manner ranging anywhere from humor, dismissal, to outright vitriol. I know, I've made and administered a few websites and forums through the years and I've seen that range first-hand.

I could cite many examples of this but all you have to do is regard the present divisiveness of this country and how someone like Donald Trump in his "Tweets" has rallied many to his errancy and promoted it as "truth". Whether you are pro or anti Trump is not the issue, the issue is that anyone can now pipe-in with agreements or disagreements re his policies or that of anyone else. And they will continue in their self-entitlement despite being told they are wrong by widely verifiable facts even by people who are far more knowledgeable. In other words, if it's not confirmed by their bias, then it's "fake". Imagine the foreman of a construction team asking one of the workers why a particular fitting was measured at 1/2 of an inch when it should have been 1 inch and the worker replies that he was told by someone that the ruler gave "fake" measurements. So, he used his own method for "real" measurements. The house or building would never get built.

Now consider the following quote:

"The interior drama, therefore, is always the important one. The "story of your life" is written by you, by each reader of this book. You are the author. There is no reason, therefore, for you to view the drama and feel trapped by it. The power to change your own condition is your own. You have only to exercise it." _Seth Speaks

I have no problem with that quote and can see how the interior drama, etc., can apply to me. But there is no guarantee that others will "exercise" their interior drama to the benefit of society at large; and we're seeing plenty of that in current times. A society needs balance amongst its members and also a measure of compromise, otherwise it's running through the jungle. 

Another quote:

"The experience of a country is the cumulative result of the choice of each individual in it, so as you choose your own circumstances you affect each other person within your country and your world." _The Nature of Personal Reality

Yes, that's about right, but the affect/effect of such is again no guarantee of anything beneficial overall. And from my recollection, I do not remember Seth ever mentioning compromise with others as a necessary element. He refers to what "You" should do, not what you should do in order to coexist with others. If anyone knows where Seth does mention balance in this context please inform me as to where it is stated.

And another:

"Your camouflage universe, on the other hand, takes up space and has an existence in time, but it is not the real and basic universe, any more than the brain is the mind."_Early Sessions, Book 2

Many of us would understand the intricacies of such but others will take it as license to declare anything "in situ" as fake. Needless to say, many of them will reserve this perspective for mind stuff only. Tell them to jump off a cliff, that it's fake, and they will surely retreat to a solid perch. Nature and physics don't allow for such license unless it equipped you with wings.

You or others who read my comments may think that I regard Seth with some skepticism but that would not be wholly correct. In fact, someone I knew introduced me to Seth Speaks decades ago, about a year or so after it was published. I've had plenty of time since then to consider for myself many of the aspects and perceptions noted by Seth in comparison to my life experiences. Like many others I have found it and the other books quite revealing and even inspiring. But I live in "time and space", I live in a world where if you pinch me it hurts, I live in a country where its leader separates innocent infants from their parents and puts them in cages. As much as I want to think, "camouflage", as much as I want to think that  I can create my own reality, I have learned - and sometimes the hard way - that reality likes to do some creating of its own and that it and I are not always on the same page.

Lastly, and perhaps more directly to answer the "things' of my previous post, Allow me a personal example:

Fifteen years ago or so I got into an "online" relationship with a woman who lives in Canada. We got to know each other in a writer's forum and we developed it from there to emails and then phone conversations. As it progressed the conversations and attendant feelings became romantic and thus talk about "actual" possibilities. But as it developed further I began to notice some things about this "relationship" were going beyond basic text and phone conversation. They were beginning to have a psychological effect on me and also on her. We had never met each other in person, to this day I have not met her, and yet the feelings were as if we had been spending intimate time with each other. Virtual intimacy, yes. Actual intimacy, no.

After giving it thought I resolved this situation by telling her that I did not want to continue our conversations in the way they were going, that something about this track seemed unhealthy. She was puzzled by this and while she never came out and said so it seemed by some of her responses as if I was calling it quits in a real-life relationship. We continued our correspondence for awhile but eventually it faded away. Now and then, in a blue moon, she'll send me an email and ask how things are going and I reply accordingly. But the "feelings of yore" are no longer in evidence. There was really no other way and both her situation and mine did not allow for the luxury of either hopping on a plane for some resolve either way.  Am I thankful for having known her? Yes, she is a very nice woman, intelligent, but it was a premise that offered little except a simulation. A camouflage vying for real credentials.

At around that time, I remember seeing a website made by someone. He devoted the entire website to the situation he had with an online relationship with a woman who was married. It was a grueling read. That guy went to hell and back from the psychological wrenching of his "romance". His life was a mess, he got therapy, etc. In the end he seemed to be doing okay and got on with his life. He had never experienced anything like that before and I figured he was never going to let himself experience it again.

Now, it's been noted that many online relationships do end up in an actual relationship and sometimes a successful one. Good for them, I wish all of them well in their lives. But think about the one's that didn't work out, think about the ones that ended in disillusionment, and yes, the ones that ended in tragedy.

Now, think of all the cellphone "monks" out there with their present point of power focused on their ever-present hand-held devices. What's being created? What's real and what's not? What kind of a world is being created when people have been going to websites where they are shown how to carry on an actual conversation because they don't know how? That is, of course, the ones who have become aware of such. There are many others who seem to care nothing about that kind of interaction.

"Do not place the words of gurus, ministers, priests, scientists, psychologists, friends -- or my words --higher than the feelings of your own being. You can learn much from others, but the deepest knowledge must come from within yourself. Your own consciousness is embarked upon a reality that basically can be experienced by no other, that is unique and untranslatable, with its own meaning, following its own path of becoming."_The Nature of Personal Reality

But what happens if that deep knowledge within yourself is cluttered, possessed and shaped by information representations rather than the actuality needed by your natural being? To that, I think Scooby would have replied, "Ruh-roh".

What would Seth have thought? There are generalities in the Seth oeuvre that are left open-ended. Perhaps rightly so considering the ever-changing aspect of life itself. Nonetheless, there are demands made upon the human being that are often at odds with "paths of becoming". All challenges may at some point in time and space be surmounted but for many the immediacy of the moment is a siren that cannot be ignored. If Seth has lived as long as he claims, then no doubt he has memories of many sirens.   

Best Wishes

Daniel

[Deb]

And the irony of my typing this up on a computer to send to a bunch of people on the internet that I don't know so that they can read it on their cell phones or tablets is not lost on me in the least.

Oh, the irony of it all. Really, that cracked me up because you're so right. But at one point I realized that from the writings say, on this forum, I can really get a feel for the essence and personality of the people here without the outward distractions of appearance, age, gender. For me that is new and unique and very enjoyable. Like tuning into an inner sense by removing extraneous sensory data.

Of course there are some that misuse and abuse the technology, are deceptive, but in my mind they are a minority and fairly easy to recognize.

Technology and the internet have enriched my life in many ways. There have been some downsides (I need to read Daniel's post, no doubt I share some sentiments), but I have to say for the most part technology has been good for me. I may not be wired to handle much more of it, but also think that's a natural part of progress and "out with the old, in with the new." Meaning, I don't think we are meant to be able to adapt to everything that occurs during and especially past our natural life expectation. Maybe it is a part of the concept that we are not meant to live forever in this current physical existence, physically or mentally. At some point we need to accept our obsolescence and make room for the newcomers. Even if "we" are the newcomers in different garb.