Seth on libido

[Sena]

I searched the forum for any previous references to libido, and I found this post from Bumblebee going back to 2016:
"Body Changes and Discovering Hidden Beliefs"
https://speakingofseth.com/index.php?topic=787.msg7327#msg7327
"I thought I was kind of loosing it; memory loss, emotional roller coaster, depressing thoughts when all is great in my life, extreme fatigue, insomnia, cold sweats at night, no libido, no drive for anything actually. I just realized through reading articles that I am starting my premenopause. Wo... didn't see that coming!"

This is Wikipedia on libido:
"Libido is a person's overall sexual drive or desire for sexual activity. Libido is influenced by biological, psychological and social factors. Biologically, the sex hormones and associated neurotransmitters that act upon the nucleus accumbens (primarily testosterone and dopamine, respectively) regulate libido in humans."

This is Seth on libido:
""Ruburt has been reading Jung, though not consistently. The libido does not originate in the individual subconscious of the present personality. It originates instead in the energy of the entity and inner self, and is directed by means of the inner senses, outward so to speak, through the deeper layers of the individual subconscious mind, then through the outer or personal layers. Your Freud and Jung have probed into the outer, personal subconscious. Jung saw glimpses of other depths, but that is all. There are rather unfortunate distortions occurring in Jung's writings, as well as in Freud's, since they did not understand the primary, cooperative nature of the libido. We will involve ourselves in a much more thorough study along these lines, as we come to another body of subject material. However, the basic cooperative nature of the libido is indeed responsible, in large degree, for the psychic cooperation in which all entities are involved, in the construction of a physical world of matter that is inhabited by all on your plane. This cooperative nature of the libido has been completely overlooked and misinterpreted for various reasons, many simply due to ignorance. You know that the individual cells of any form cooperate to form another, more complicated gestalt; and without the cooperation not only would the more complicated structure cease to operate, but the individual cells would also cease to operate. We have spoken of the interdependence and cooperation, biologically, among organisms in your physical universe. The new appearance of an individual into the physical realm is aided by the psychic cooperation of individuals on your plane. Almost at once the new libido takes up its adopted duty of maintaining the physical universe, along with all others, and without hesitancy. If it did not do so it would not exist for long. Cooperation on all levels is the necessity on all planes. The cooperation can be joyous, given freely on subconscious and conscious levels, or it can be given in a grudging manner, but it will be given." (from "The Early Sessions: Book 2 of The Seth Material" by Jane Roberts, Robert Butts)

From the Kindle edition: http://amzn.eu/7JEvbhY

I would like to highlight two surprising and interesting points from the above quote:
(a) "Libido  originates in the energy of the entity and inner self, and is directed by means of the inner senses, outward so to speak, through the deeper layers of the individual subconscious mind, then through the outer or personal layers."
(b) "The new appearance of an individual into the physical realm is aided by the psychic cooperation of individuals on your plane. Almost at once the new libido takes up its adopted duty of maintaining the physical universe, along with all others, and without hesitancy."

While modern science states, as quoted in Wikipedia, that the libido depends on body chemicals such as testosterone and dopamine, Seth is telling us that libido is a much more fundamental reality originating in the energy of the entity and inner self.

If Seth is correct, both Roman Catholicism which encourages celibacy, and Buddhism which emphasizies the overcoming of desire, are off the mark.

With reference to Bumblebee's post, Seth does not say that libido will always be present with the same intensity. There will be times when libido may be diminished or almost absent, determined by the entity and inner self for reasons we may not always understand.

[Deb]

While modern science states, as quoted in Wikipedia, that the libido depends on body chemicals such as testosterone and dopamine, Seth is telling us that libido is a much more fundamental reality originating in the energy of the entity and inner self.

I forgot about Bumblebee's post, thank you!

I don't think there was ever a topic about which Seth didn't have something to say. Thanks for this post, I would not have guessed that "libido originates in the energy of the entity and inner self." My view has been more in alignment with science, that it's tied to chemicals produced by both genders during the reproductive years. As always for me, I look back to the practicalities of nature. Females stop being able to reproduce in mid-life, the related hormones decrease, the drive diminishes. Since males do not bear the physical rigorous process of carrying offspring to term, their ability to reproduce lasts further into maturity since their contribution to reproduction is less involved. When I was 15 I was sexually molested by an MD who had to be in his late 70s. I was and still am flabbergasted that a man his age was still... you know.

This post brought a lot of things to mind/questions for me: I've read that only humans (and dolphins) have intercourse for reasons other than reproduction. What is the purpose of libido from the perspective of the entity and inner self? And I remember Bob Monroe wrote in his first book about OBEs that there is a spiritual/nonphysical equivalent of sexual union. For what purpose? Seth talked about a second puberty as well.

This quote was interesting about sexual expression:

"Because of your exaggerated focus, you therefore become relatively blind to other aspects of "sexuality." First of all, sexuality per se does not necessarily lead to intercourse. It can lead to acts that do not produce children. What you think of as lesbian or homosexual activity is quite natural sexual expression, biologically and psychologically. In more "ideal" environments such activity would flourish to some extent, particularly before and after prime reproductive years."
—NotP Chapter 4: Session 768, March 22, 1976

In the process of looking up Seth quotes, I found this, which I intend to research more fully. It brought me back to the medical sciences saying that only certain things in the human body are capable of healing, i.e. a cut or broken bone will heal, but injured brain cells can never recover. But recently the concept of neuroplasticity has gotten some attention. Seth was way ahead of the curve.

"Basically (underlined), any portion of the human body has the inherent capacity to reproduce itself—and further, to become a reproductive organ. [...]"
—TPS5 Session 877 (Deleted) September 3, 1979

[Sena]

This post brought a lot of things to mind/questions for me: I've read that only humans (and dolphins) have intercourse for reasons other than reproduction. What is the purpose of libido from the perspective of the entity and inner self? And I remember Bob Monroe wrote in his first book about OBEs that there is a spiritual/nonphysical equivalent of sexual union. For what purpose?

Deb, sorry to hear about your experience at the age of 15.
My understanding of the Seth quote is that the libido is involved in some mysterious way in the creation of physical reality. How this happens I cannot really say, but Wilhelm Reich said something similar with his "orgone energy" (orgone energy is the energy of the orgasm, but according to Reich it is also involved in all living matter from microorganisms upwards). Bringing up Reich opens a whole new can of worms! Very few scientists agree with Reich. He was sentenced to prison in the US for supposed medical malpractice, and he died in prison.

https://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/ciencia/ciencia_reich10.htm

[Deb]

Wilhelm Reich said something similar with his "orgone energy"

Wow, something completely new to me. I'll look into the link you provided.

[jbseth]

Hi Sena, Hi All,


Very interesting topic Sena. 


Seth says:

"However, the basic cooperative nature of the libido is indeed responsible, in large degree, for the psychic cooperation in which all entities are involved, in the construction of a physical world of matter that is inhabited by all on your plane."

Given what I know of our world today and of some of the conclusions reached by psychologists, I would never have thought that "the libido" was responsible for this activity.  If Seth is correct about this, then we, the human race in general, are way off the mark, in our understanding of the libido.

It kind of makes you wonder, it what Seth says here is in fact true, then how far off the mark are we on other similar topics like sexuality, or even other non-sexual related topics.

jbseth   

[Sena]

If Seth is correct about this, then we, the human race in general, are way off the mark, in our understanding of the libido.

jbseth, I agree. Seth did not say much about Eastern philosophies, but it may be worth noting that in Yogic philosophy the divine is both male (Shiva) and female (Shakti). In Chinese philosophy there is Yin (female-dark) and Yang (male-light):

[jbseth]

Hi Sena, Hi All,

Yes, and Jung had his Animus and Anima.

The problem I see with this type of thinking is that these concepts are often seen as being dualistic or polar "opposites" of each other, instead of just being attributes. 

Furthermore, sometimes these attributes are used together, in conjunction with each other, but this point is often overlooked as a result of this dualistic type of thinking.

For example, consider how a woman will exhibit both love (generally considered a female attribute) and aggression (generally considered a male attribute) when one of her children are threatened. 

As another example, consider how civil engineers will use both creativity (generally considered a female attribute) and aggression/violence (generally considered a male attribute) in designing a rail road track such that it will go through, rather than around, a mountain; thus a hole will have to be blown through the mountain.


jbseth