Problems and Perspective

[Deb]

Student B:  "A problem is a negative thing."

Seth Responds: "A problem need not be negative. A problem is a challenge. It is only negative when you look at it in that aspect. A problem is usually the opportunity for change, growth and development. [ESP Class, 7-21-70]

By such a belief you so attract probabilities that you actually miss the threats that appear at one level of reality.  In so doing you not only help yourself but others as well, for they perceive your safety, and look for the reasons.  The sea is dangerous if you are in the middle of the ocean without a boat.  If you are on a fine liner, however, with all conveniences, then the ocean becomes an enjoyable adventure.

Traveling from one shore of it to another becomes a vast learning adventure, in which both sea and sky are observed in all of their moods and nuances while you are safely ensconced all of the while.  You would not help anyone by jumping off of the liner to see whether or not the ocean was in fact dangerous without a boat.  Instead you would show others how to board the craft." [PS#3, pg 215]

"There will be a time, not so far from now, that you will look back on this phase of your life and instead of condemning it or beating up on it... instead of blaming or guilting, you will feel appreciation for it, because you will understand that a renewed desire for life was born out of this time period that will bring you to physical heights that you could not have achieved without the contrast that gave birth to this desire."

~Abraham-Hicks

[Sena]

By such a belief you so attract probabilities that you actually miss the threats that appear at one level of reality.  In so doing you not only help yourself but others as well, for they perceive your safety, and look for the reasons.

Deb/Dandelion, this is a very useful quote from the Personal Sessions. It gives a hint as to how to demonstrate the Seth ideas to the skeptical (skeptical due to religion or dogmatic science). It calls to mind the Gospel quote: "No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light."

[Deb]

Sena, where did you find that quote about the candle? I'm not very well versed in Christianity, but anything I've read talks about not putting a lamp or lantern under a table. While for some unknown reason (to me) I have an aversion to organized religion, I did do my research just because I feel the need to make educated decisions in my life. When studying the new testament, I read the NET bible (New English Translation, my guess is 50% footnotes), which was supposed to be relatively unbiased in translating from Greek to English. But, I've realize that the original fragments of the bible were in ancient Aramaic, so I also understand that the NET bible was not exactly accurate.  Just curious.

For me, the quotes about perception are major. Basically all one needs to do is change perception of an event or situation and then everything changes. And your quote goes back to the power of "be the change you want to see." Teaching by example. Very gentle and unobtrusive.

[Sena]

Deb, it is the King James version that I have quoted:
http://biblehub.com/luke/11-33.htm
That version is not the easiest to read nor probably the most accurate translation, but the quotes sound the most authentic!
P.S. I see that BethAnne has quoted the same verse in a different translation on this page:
https://speakingofseth.com/index.php?topic=602.msg5627#new

[Dandelion]

I think one the keys to maintaining one's perspective is to understand the role of the ego—how it works, its purpose and goals, its value and limitations.  The ego sometimes reminds me of Chicken Little, often panicking and thinking disaster is upon us.  It needs reassurance.

The ego is essential for dealing with physical reality.  It is our way of focusing.  Related to that is a quote from Session 499 in ES#9:  "The survival instinct, strongly connected with the physical self, keeps it anchored in focus within your system.  Without it, consciousness would tend to float free.  It is your anchor." 

The problem is, the ego tends to view too many things as potential threats.  This includes all sorts of external things that are different, that require change, that are hard to comprehend.  One of the tools the ego uses is to block information, both to help maintain its focus on reality and as a form of self-protection.  The ego can only handle a limited amount of information and not all of the information available makes sense to it.  Some information is just too confusing or scary to face.  Unfortunately, the ego also blocks information that could be useful, especially information from the inner self which might help reassure the ego that it is not alone and defenseless in the world.

The ego deals with the physical world and knowledge:  It's our close-up perspective of the world.  Understanding concepts is more the realm of the inner self:  It provides the basis for our big-picture perspective.  Both perspectives are necessary to solve and learn from the problems we create in this reality.  The challenge is to get the inner self and the ego to work together.  The inner self needs to appreciate the work the ego is doing, understand the needs of the ego, and provide support and reassurance for the ego.  The ego needs to trust the inner self, has to believe it is being supported by the inner self, and be willing to accept information and help from the inner self.

[Sena]

Unfortunately, the ego also blocks information that could be useful, especially information from the inner self which might help reassure the ego that it is not alone and defenseless in the world.

This is one of the reasons why trying to recall one's dreams is useful. During sleep, the ego is "disabled", like an antivirus being disabled on a computer, although in this instance we hope to get useful information from areas of consciousness other than the ego. One sees life from a different perspective in a dream.

"The dreaming self is to some considerable degree aware of the probable self. There is give-and-take between the two, for much data is received by the dreaming self from the probable self - the self that experiences what the ego would call probable events.

This data is often wound by the dream self into a dream drama which informs the subconscious of dangers or of probable success of any given event which is being considered by the subconscious for physical actuality.

Were it not for the experience of this probable self, and for its information given via the dreaming self to the subconscious, then it would be most difficult for the ego to come to any clear decisions in daily life."

(Seth, Dreams and Projections of Consciousness)
http://sethquotes.paradisenow.net/seth_excerpts_part_iii.html

(I have not read that book yet. I found this quote by a Google search)

[Batfan007]

Unfortunately, the ego also blocks information that could be useful, especially information from the inner self which might help reassure the ego that it is not alone and defenseless in the world.

This is one of the reasons why trying to recall one's dreams is useful. During sleep, the ego is "disabled", like an antivirus being disabled on a computer, although in this instance we hope to get useful information from areas of consciousness other than the ego. One sees life from a different perspective in a dream.

"The dreaming self is to some considerable degree aware of the probable self. There is give-and-take between the two, for much data is received by the dreaming self from the probable self - the self that experiences what the ego would call probable events.

This data is often wound by the dream self into a dream drama which informs the subconscious of dangers or of probable success of any given event which is being considered by the subconscious for physical actuality.

Were it not for the experience of this probable self, and for its information given via the dreaming self to the subconscious, then it would be most difficult for the ego to come to any clear decisions in daily life."

(Seth, Dreams and Projections of Consciousness)
http://sethquotes.paradisenow.net/seth_excerpts_part_iii.html

(I have not read that book yet. I found this quote by a Google search)

It's funny reading about this self and that self. Seth repeatedly reminds us that the descriptive words are a way of communicating his ideas within our system that makes sense to us on our own terms, but there is no division of self or selves as such.
I do often write articles in idea form in the early morning while still half asleep in theta or alpha state etc, it's more abstract ideas, impressions, feelings, archetypes, then when I get up and write at the PC, it's like dictation, all the idea forms turn into words and sentences getting at whatever overall idea is attempted to be communicated in a given article.


There's a sweet spot between dreaming and waking that is great for my article writing. I practice staying in that state for as long as I please, sometimes I go deeper down back into full dreams and sometimes I wake more and my thought and feelings become more worldly and concrete.

[Deb]

I thought this quote, supplied by Ivan Kelly on Facebook
(bless his heart, he makes my life easy, if I can just keep up with his quotes)
was pertinent to the idea of problems and perspective:

"I am not telling you that you can have heaven upon earth. For one thing, there is no such thing as heaven, and for another, if there were, you would be bored. You need a challenge. Any flower uses it. And I am not talking about problems and challenges being the same thing. I am speaking of initiative, and desire and accomplishment: the need to use your abilities. They need to be used as a stem needs to grow. That is what I am speaking of."

~ Seth (Jane Roberts), excerpt from ESP Class, December 2, 1978. 'Conversations with Seth', Chapter 9, by Susan M. Watkins

[sethspeaks]

"In terms of earthly life as you understand it, it is overly optimistic to imagine that eventually all illnesses will be conquered, all rela-tionships be inevitably fulfilling, or to foresee a future in which all people on earth are treated with equality and respect. For one thing, in that larger framework mentioned earlier in this book, illness itself is a part of life's overall activity. Disease states, so-called, are as necessary to physical life as normal health is, so we are not speaking of a nirvana on earth — but we are saying that it is possible for each reader of this book to quicken his or her private perceptions, and to extend and expand the quality of ordinary consciousness enough so that by contrast to current experience, life could almost be thought of as "heaven on earth"."

TWTH session 1june 1984

[Deb]

GREAT quote @sethspeaks. I suppose our lives on earth would no longer serve a purpose if there were no challenges to overcome, no growth or progress to be made. Something also to consider:

"You choose this place and time for your own reasons and your own challenges... and so this planet is not peopled with strangers, but those who are already psychically united, who then come to this planet in your time. Your world is far more extensive than you realize, and your concepts have limited your experience. So, here, we knock the old concepts down. You knock them down as you encounter your own living psyche."

~ Seth (Jane Roberts) during class in late 1974, 'Conversations With Seth', Volume 2 by Sue Watkins

The mention of "time" in that quote reminded me of something I read in The World View of William James (I'm reading it piecemeal, just reading bits here and there, randomly). I really enjoyed this:

"My own dying was a relief, and I am convinced now that a person fits together with his or her time in a certain fashion. That is, whether people are comfortable or uncomfortable with their time, they fit within it, are automatically attuned to its overall challenges and conditions, and even their talents and abilities are peculiarly suited to their historic period. After a while, the fit is not as comfortable as it once was. The fabric of time rubs. The invisible seams that connect the person with his times begins to fray.

"For a good portion of his life, a man so identifies his own purposes with the general conditions of his historical period that the two seem one. Instead, a man's purposes slide like a zipper up and down, connected to this times as the zipper to his jacket, with so much mobility and no more. The groove in which the zipper slides will allow only so much leeway, and the teeth of the purposes and times must meet perfectly for the zipper to work at all. But the tension between the man's purposes and his historic times causes the tiny teeth to pull apart until finally the man sees that his purposes must be freed from the fashionable jacket of his times.

"It becomes apparent that he no longer fits into his time as he once did. He has done all he can within its tailored conditions. His thoughts and intents no longer mesh with his historic period with the ease of the past. His own desires, beliefs, and thoughts are like new buttons sewn onto an old sweater; they do not really fit the buttonholes."

[a couple of wonderful pages here] Then...

"Tug and pull as much as you will, in life your ideas and purposes are connected to the threads of your time, woven into it, and to progress after a certain point there is nothing to do but loosen those threads, cut yourself apart from the times, and take off the constricting garment that has become more like a straightjacket.

And so you die."

WVWJ, Chapter 10, April 15, 1977

[sethspeaks]

"You will not find yourself by running from teacher to teacher, from book to book. You will not meet yourself through following any particular specialized method of meditation. Only by looking quietlywithin the self that you know can your own reality be experienced, with those connections that exist between the present or immediate self and the inner identity that is multidimensional."
SS s.591

[BethAnne]

"For a good portion of his life, a man so identifies his own purposes with the general conditions of his historical period that the two seem one.
I was just thinking of this the other day.  I think watching the conventions triggered it as I thought back to the others in the past and how the country's expectations and the quality of the people have changed through the years.

I have two people I chat with now.  One is 80 and the other is 25.  Big spread of values and expectations.

I returned to my little town after leaving for about 6 years.  In the mean time I  went from the SW to the NW,  to Santa Fe where I had several alternative treatments and back.  I got Bell's Palsy during this time where I did not recognize my face.  I lost my job, lost my apartment and had to move back with my mother which was very interesting because she is not a very deep woman and it was like a stranger moved in with her!  LOL  The entire process wiped out my Ego's version of who I am. 

After all of this crazy change I came back to this small town where half of the clerks at the grocery store have been there for 30 + years. 
  People have literally backed away from me because the changes going on with me were too dramatic for them to wrap their minds around.  When I left I was very stressed (which triggered the Bell's)  and when I came back I am very happy.  I look at least 20 years younger than I did 10 years ago. 

So concerning the title of this thread.  I have had a very difficult life and encountered odd events....at this age of 64 it amazes me that everything that happened had a purpose and I am able to integrate my life now with all these fragments into a beautiful quilt of Life.  I've gone from extreme hardship to extreme bliss....because of the lessons I learned along the way.

[Deb]

Only by looking quietly within the self that you know can your own reality be experienced

That is so simple and clear.
And easier said than done.
I wonder why it's so difficult...?
It reminds me of the saying, "hiding in plain sight."
Sigh.

[sethspeaks]

Maybe it will be easier with your discussions...