physical reality is far more painful than was originally intended

[Deb]

I thought this was interesting, starting with the topic of Christ, to free will and then ending with how we've managed to warp the original intent of why we are here due to our free will and ego.

The Class Sessions Vol I, 4/1/69:

[Florence:] When I think of the millions and millions of lives that have been sacrificed in the name of Christ, in the name of God, the Jewish slaughtered back in the middle centuries with the —in the Crusades—in the name of Christ. You said that the spirit of Christ had entered every person, and yet mankind does not reflect this. Watching the turmoil on television today, just one spark could have set off an explosion that would rock this country, just one Negro had been pushed around too much by a white policeman. Seth said before that there is not just one Christ, not just one person that did all the things that Chris did, but many people.

(Group discussed the concept of Christ.)

[Seth:] Do you think that the Son of God could be contained in one frame? Now, you have been given the free will because the spirit of Christ is within you, this does not mean that you do not have free will. The spirit of Christ gives you the life to do with it what you choose. Within you there are blueprints. You know what you are to achieve, as individuals and as people, as a race, as a species. You have free will, you can choose to ignore the blueprints. You can choose to ignore the blueprints for some time. You are learning you are responsible. When you learn how to handle responsibilities, you will have a hand in very important matters.

Now, you have made physical reality something different than was intended. You did this through using your own free will, your egos have become overdeveloped, overly specialized. They are focused so strongly within physical reality and physical reality is far more painful than was originally intended. You are indeed in very strong respects within a dream. It is you who have made the dream too vivid. You were to work out problems and challenges, but you were always to be aware of your inner reality and of your true home. To a large extent you have lost contact with this. You have focused so strongly upon physical reality that has become, indeed, reality. The only reality that any of you know.

[jbseth]

Hi Deb,

Wow, that's an interesting discovery.

I know that Seth has said that we have become very focused in 3D reality and that we never intended to become that focused in it, but I never remember him saying that it is far more "painful" that intended.

Do you think that this might have been a typo or perhaps a distortion?

Given what he says in the rest of that paragraph, it doesn't sound like it was either.

jbseth

[Sena]

You did this through using your own free will, your egos have become overdeveloped, overly specialized.

Deb, thanks for this quote. It seems to me that the Seth teachings (Inner Self, reincarnational selves, Framework 2 etc.) help to cut our egos down to size. Christian doctrine, on the other hand, with its emphasis on sinfulness and personal salvation (with the idea that only some souls will be saved) actually strengthens the ego.

[Deb]

Do you think that this might have been a typo or perhaps a distortion?

My first thought was that Seth was responding in like to Florence's emotional outburst, and that the words of choice, rather than painful, would have been "more challenging than intended." We are not here to suffer, according to Seth. This is a training ground. We are here to learn from challenges we pre-chose to face and overcome. And yet, for some reason (why did we do it?), we made things harder for ourselves than originally intended.