A Spiritual Explainer

Our Entire Reality Is a Symbol of Our Authentic Truth (Seth)

Seth/Jane Roberts says everything we know is a symbol of our inner self; but we need to go beyond the symbols to know Truth.

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CONTENTS

[1] Words as Symbols — [1.1] Imaginations & Illusions — [1.2] Communicating with Symbols [2] Objects as Symbols — [2.1] Expressing Ourselves Symbolically Through Objects — [2.2] Creating Our Reality [3] Alternate Symbols (Beliefs) — [3.1] Symbols are Conscious & Aware [4] Working with Symbols — [4.1] A Radical Nonduality Perspective — [4.2] For More on Symbols…

“All symbols are an attempt to express feelings, feelings that can never be expressed adequately through language. Symbols represent the infinite variations of feelings, and in various stages of consciousness, these will appear in different terms, but they will always accompany you. There are several exceptions, however, in which pure knowing or pure feeling is involved without the necessity for symbols. These stages of consciousness are infrequent and seldom translated into normal conscious terms.” — Seth/Jane Roberts, Seth Speaks, part two, chapter 18, session 571 on March 3, 1971

Restating Seth/Jane Roberts: We live in a world of symbols. Everything we encounter is a symbol. We will never know anything as it truly is unless we experience it without the symbols. To do that means there is no judgment, and no ego.

This article is my interpretation of the symbolic nature of our 3rd Dimensional reality, based on the teachings of Seth, as channeled by Jane Roberts.

“Symbols” are one way of understanding how we define and put boundaries around something to make it separate from other things. We also can think of them as the outer manifestations of inner “beliefs”.

[1] Words as Symbols

I am typing letters on my computer that are symbols for sounds. When grouped together, the letters become a symbol for a word. Words are symbols for things. But the letters and words are not those things. They are just pointing to those things.

The word “love” is a symbol for a certain feeling. It is an energy or vibrational frequency we feel. It is not the feeling, energy, or frequency itself.

“Love” is the word/symbol that describes the underlying energetic vibration of the universe. In 3D, we mostly feel separate from everything else. When we overcome separation and feel connected (or “one”) with something else, we feel “love”. Overcoming separation and returning to oneness is what spiritual awakening and enlightenment are all about.

Similarly, the words I create together (in sentences, paragraphs, and stories) become symbols for things I am trying to describe. They point to what I am trying to describe, but they are not the things I am trying to describe.

Each word and sentence on the page is a symbol for something. None of them is that thing, just as the word “love” is not the feeling of love.

That is the way letters, words, and stories work. That is the primary way we communicate. We also communicate through body language and our tone of voice, which are other forms of symbolism. And there is telepathic communication, which we are mostly unaware of, so we cannot say much about its symbolic nature.

And we have a story about who we are. That too is a type of symbol discussed more in section [2.1], below.

[1.1] Imaginations & Illusions

“Words reduce reality to something the human mind can grasp, which isn’t very much.” — Eckhart Tolle

“Symbols” are the primary way we put boundaries around parts of reality to make them separate from other parts.

Our 3rd Dimensional existence is one of apparent separation (or duality). We feel separate from everything else. Words (written or spoken) reinforce our sense of separation and duality because they can never be what they symbolize.

Instead, words create an image in our imagination. We judge the image, believing (or not) that it is real. It can never be the real thing when we create it through words. It is an illusion (or story) pointing to the real thing.

But because we think it is real, the illusion/story further removes us from true reality. It drives us even deeper into 3rd Dimensional duality. There is nothing wrong with that if your goal is to experience 3D to the maximum extent possible. But some people are ready to move on from that experience.

Whether you believe the story I am telling you here is true depends on whether the symbols (words and analogies) I am using resonate with an energy, vibration, or frequency that you trust.

For example, in New Age spirituality, we often hear the phrase, “We are God”. That phrase is pointing to the truth of who we are. But, no matter what words we use, they will never be the truth of who we are, or of God/Source. They will only create a story (illusion) in our imagination. We may or may not believe the story is true.

Words can be symbols for truth/reality. But they are not truth/reality. They can create an illusion we believe is truth/reality. But that illusion is never the truth/reality.

[1.2] Communicating with Symbols

We learn the symbols of our culture as we grow up. Because we each have a unique set of experiences and memories, the symbols we use are seldom exactly the same as what others use.

You (I) can kind of understand most words: we can kind of imagine what they are pointing to and what they symbolize. We can do that well enough to communicate with others most of the time— to create shared images.

We assume other people know and understand the symbols we use. For simple things, like ordering a cup of coffee, that assumption is usually safe.

For more complex things, like politics and spirituality, that assumption can be a challenge. “Liberation”, for example, brings forth different beliefs among people about what is true and not true in our shared world experience.

Because of our different memory-based conditioned responses and associated beliefs, the same words/symbols can have opposite meanings for different people. The result is endless misunderstandings and debates over every political and spiritual topic possible.

We are working with energy when we communicate. When we say, “I love you”, for example, we are attempting to use the symbolic nature of that phrase to elicit the same feeling/energy/frequency in another person. That effort may or may not work depending on the other person's beliefs and memory-based conditioned responses to the word and to us.

We communicate well when the symbols (words and stories) we use conjure up an energy/image in another person’s imagination that matches our intention.

Seth says the more physical and concrete a symbol is, the more fixed it is in our imagination — such as a table in your home. Less physical symbols, such as words and ideas, are more flexible, easier to change, and open to different interpretations and imaginations.

[2] Objects as Symbols

“Now, in the same way, I am telling you that objects are also symbols that stand for a reality whose meaning the objects, like the letters, transmit. The true information is not in the objects any more than the thought is in the letters or in words. Words are methods of expression. So are physical objects in a different kind of medium. — Seth/Jane Roberts, Seth Speaks, chapter 5, session 523 on April 13, 1970

It is easy to understand how words are symbols. But is Seth/Jane Roberts right in saying that every object in our reality is a symbol? I think so.

One way to comprehend this is the fact that we never directly sense or experience anything, except through the filter of our nervous system. Our sights, sounds, tastes, and touch are only what our brain/mind interprets from the sensory energy inputs picked up through our nervous system.

Those sensory inputs are like the letters on a page. Those “sensory letters” group together to symbolize an object in our environment. That symbol has both objective form and subjective meaning for us, although much of the time we are not consciously aware of their meanings.

Over time, we have adopted and ingrained a plethora of conditioned responses in our body/mind memory system. And we interpret everything in our experience through those memory-based conditioned responses.

“Your body is your most intimate symbol at this point, and again your most obvious.” —Seth/Jane Roberts, Seth Speaks, part two, chapter 18, session 571 on March 3, 1971

By “most obvious”, Seth is implying that we feel we know our body so well that we take it for granted. It has more to tell us than we can possibly imagine. But we do not take the time and effort to understand it as deeply as we should.

As an example of an in-grained conditioned response, what do we see if we see a homeless person begging on a street corner? Do we see that person as a living being with a complex life story? Or do we see our judgment of that person as a symbol of what can happen when “others” make certain mistakes or bad choices in life?

It is the latter, most of the time. We rarely see another person, no matter who they are, as a real person. Through our conditioned beliefs about the world outside us, we judge everyone we encounter. We experience them as symbols, not people.

Furthermore, we judge ourselves according to the conditioned beliefs we hold about ourselves. This is how we experience ourselves as a symbol, not as a real person.

“The highest form of human intelligence is to observe yourself without judgment.” ― Jiddu Krishnamurti

For more on our conditioned responses, see:

[2.1] Expressing Ourselves Symbolically Through Objects

Seth/Jane Roberts goes even further than the idea that we give symbolic meaning to the objects in our environment. According to Seth, we fully create our entire physical environment and universe, and all the objects therein, through our imagination.

“You usually think of them simply as realities. You think of thoughts, images, and dreams sometimes as being symbolic of other things, but the truth is that physical objects are themselves symbols. They are the exterior symbols that stand for inner experience.” — Seth/Jane Roberts, Seth Speaks, Appendix for session 594 on September 13, 1971

The world we create is how we symbolically express and display who we believe we are.

Everything in our outside world is a symbolic mirror of our internal world. If we were capable, we could draw a line from each thing in our universe (from the parts of your body to the farthest stars in your night sky) to an aspect of our inner self (or psyche).

The connections are not direct — a star outside of us is not a mirror of a star inside of us. Instead, the connections are symbolic. A star outside of us is a symbol of a belief we hold inside us about ourselves and our reality.

“You will be dealing with symbols, yet you will learn that symbols are reality, for you are symbols of yourselves that live and speak. You do not think of yourselves as symbols [but] there is no symbol that does not have its individual life.” — Seth/Jane Roberts, The Unknown Reality, Volume2, Appendix 16 for session 711 on October 9, 1974

We each have a story about who we think we are — our life story. That story, our physical body, and our immediate world/environment are the clearest symbols of our inner beliefs and conditioned responses — who we believe we are.

[2.2] Creating Our Reality

It is said that one characteristic of Source/God is that it is a creator — it likes to create. That is why we and our universe exist.

Because we are fractals, parts, or aspects of Source/God, we have inherited that propensity to create — to express ourselves creatively. Creative expression is the basis of all manifest reality. It is what keeps our universe/reality infinite and ever-expanding. For more on that, see:

Seth/Jane Roberts famously coined the phrase: “You create our own reality”. It is something Seth said repeatedly through his channeled message.

Our reality creation begins as an impulse deep in our subconscious psyche to express itself. That impulse passes through the beliefs we hold about ourselves and our reality (our memory-based conditioned responses). The impulse carries that belief into our imagination to generate a symbolic form (object). If the energy is strong enough, that form will appear in the physical world we experience.

Based on our memories-responses-beliefs, our imagination puts a symbolic boundary around a part of reality (a homeless person on a street corner, for example). That symbolic boundary only exists because our beliefs put it there. It is not natural because all reality is an inseparable oneness, which we often call God, Source, and All-That-is, among other terms.

That is why those who know, or have had glimpses of, the oneness of reality consider the diversity of forms as illusions.

“Every time you take a picture, no matter what you are taking a picture of, a mountain, a tree, an animal, another person, you are taking a “selfie”. — paraphrased from Chuck Hillig

There are two ways that Seth/Jane Roberts describes how we create symbolic objects and events in our world:

1. We define subatomic particles in a certain way, so they form physical objects that symbolically express our inner beliefs. The objects for each person are different because each of us perceived a unique universe. But we agree with others to form similar objects and events so we can have a shared experience with them.
2. We draw or attract to us objects and events that symbolically align with our beliefs. We are more likely to have drawn to us (rather than generate gate from subatomic particles) people we interact with and who perform certain roles for us. But even then, those people are a symbol of a belief (conditioned response) that we hold.

That is all done at the subconscious and psychic level of our being. So, whether we form an object or draw something to us, we are doing so to express our inner psyche symbolically in our outer world.

“Your intimate physical environment is, therefore, a symbolic statement of an inner situation. The inner situation is a fluid one, for you are always in a state of becoming. Left alone, you will automatically translate the freely moving, spontaneous inner events into physical reality, therefore altering your environment and changing the symbols.” — Seth/Jane Roberts, Seth Speaks, Appendix for Session 594 on September 13, 1971

[3] Alternate Symbols (Beliefs)

Our beliefs about the reality of our physical environment and universe are usually so strong that what they create is absolutely solid and real for us in every way. Altered states of consciousness can disrupt those beliefs, though only rarely do they do so in a way that changes our physical environment and universe.

Psychoactive chemicals and plants, and some forms of mental illness, can give people glimpses of alternative ways of creating our reality. Higher states of spiritual and psychic consciousness can also do that.

Different dimensions or densities of reality have different rules about what is real and not real, and true and not true. Our personal beliefs and symbols are different in those other dimensions as well.

[3.1] Symbols are Conscious & Aware

“Symbols are a method of expressing inner reality. Working in one direction, the soul, using its consciousness, expresses inner reality through as many symbols as possible, through living, changing symbolism. Each symbol itself, then, is to its own extent conscious, individual, and aware.” — Seth/Jane Roberts, Seth Speaks, part two, chapter 18, session 571 on March 3, 1971

and

“Knowledge itself is conscious. … Words on a printed page, for example, are not dead, nor are they merely inert symbols. They share the consciousness of the material upon which they are printed and the various individual letters themselves, by their position and reality, make each unique piece of paper upon which they are written original from all others. The newsprint to this degree, you see, has a consciousness, even in this regard. The least information is not inert. All symbols have a meaning, therefore, in themselves, also, and a reality apart from that which they are meant to display. You can see this easily. The painting of a tree, while a symbol for the tree, nevertheless has its own consciousness and reality.” — Seth/Jane Roberts, The Early Sessions, Book 8, session 412 on May 27 1968

According to Seth/Jane Roberts, everything has a degree or type of consciousness and awareness, from the smallest subatomic particle, to the words on this page, and largest cluster of galaxies. That is like the panpsychism theory that our entire universe is conscious, which is quite popular today.

But Seth goes even beyond that to say that all non-physical forms (thoughts, ideas, and emotions, for example) are also conscious and aware entities. They differ greatly from humans in the 3rd Dimension. But they might be more recognizably conscious in other dimensions where human forms do not exist.

This makes sense from the perspective that everything physical and non-physical manifests from an underlying universal energy field. (In particle physics, it is like a portion of a quantum field collapsing into a particle when it is observed and measured.)

That pure energy can be anything — there are no limits.

Objects, sounds, lights, emotions, ideas, egos, and experiences are ways the universal energy field contracts into forms. They are like the waves on the surface of the ocean — different forms, but the same ocean. And all those energetic contractions (forms) are 3D symbols on the surface of a deeper 4D/5D psyche that is connected to universal oneness (the ocean).

In that way, symbolic meanings and forms are born (they emerge from the energy field). — They grow (they change over time). — They seek others like themselves (they attract and repel). — And they eventually die (they dissolve back into the energy field).

Symbols are highly charged psychic particles, and that includes physical objects that have strong characteristics of attraction and expansion, that stand for inner realizations and realities that have not been perceived through direct knowing. (By direct knowing here, I mean instant cognition and comprehension, without symbolization.) — Seth/Jane Roberts, Seth Speaks, part two, chapter 18, session 571 on March 3, 1971

We see this kind of pattern in fashion, entertainment, and social trends that become widely popular and then fade away. Belief systems of all types (in religion, politics, education, and more) have these characteristics. Without having a physical body and nervous system, they still seem conscious in their own way.

In that way, books, articles, and stories of all kinds are also conscious entities. They served a symbolic purpose for some people for a while. But life is always changing, and symbols change, as well.

Seth says they are as conscious and aware as we are in our human bodies. That is difficult to perceive in our 3D physical experience. It is more evident in other, more subtle dimensions of reality. (I cannot prove any of that, but it is an interesting idea to play with.)

[4] Working with Symbols

“Those stages of consciousness that occur after death still all deal with symbols, though there is much greater freedom in their use, and greater understanding of their meaning. But in higher stages of consciousness, the symbols are no longer necessary, and creativity takes place completely without their use.” — Seth/Jane Roberts, Seth Speaks, part two, chapter 18, session 571 on March 3, 1971

(Note: For Seth, the 4th Dimension includes both the after-death and the dreaming states of consciousness.)

Nowadays, we often hear spiritual teachings that talk about how our physical reality is an illusion of our ego. The only real reality, if it can be called that, is the nonduality of Source/God/The Absolute. Everything in the duality and diversity of manifest reality is a fractal or aspect of that oneness which is beyond all manifestations.

Instead of everything being an illusion, Seth says it is all symbols. And symbols may be a better way to describe manifest reality than calling it an illusion. The problem is our ego is not easily aware or understanding of that.

The ego is the only part of the self that regards physical objects as anything but symbols. It is highly difficult for other parts of the self to experience the ego for this reason. The ego, while always changing, is one of the most rigid aspects of identity. — Seth/Jane Roberts, The Early Sessions, Book 7, session 301 on November 16, 1966

If it is all an illusion, then the best we can do is change the illusion through our imagination. That is how The Law of Attraction works, which originated from Seth’s teachings and was further developed by Abraham, channeled by Esther Hicks.

Seth has said that our imagination is our greatest tool for changing our reality. But he also emphasized the importance of understanding our beliefs to change our reality.

Seth/Jane Roberts suggests that if we find the sources of what the symbol represents, we can then change or eliminate it at a deeper level than working with our surface imagination. When we change our inner meaning (belief) of the symbol, our outer body/mind and world change. That is what he emphasizes here:

“Once you understand the symbolic nature of physical reality, then you will no longer feel entrapped by it. You have formed the symbols, and therefore you can change them. You must learn, of course, what the various symbols mean in your own life, and how to translate their meaning. To do so, you must, first of all, remind yourself frequently that the physical condition is symbolic — not a permanent condition. Then you must look within yourself for the inner actuality represented by the symbol.” — Seth/Jane Roberts, Seth Speaks, Appendix for session 594 on September 13, 1971

The objects and experiences in our outer world are symbols of beliefs that we hold about ourselves and the nature of reality. They are the memory-based conditioned responses we have adopted in this incarnation/lifetime.

The outer manifestations of those beliefs and conditioned responses are obvious — we encounter them continually in our waking and dreaming states of consciousness. And because they are direct and symbolic representations of our inner subconscious self, that means we are continually interacting with our subconscious as we make our way through life.

“All symbols stand for inner realities, therefore, and when you juggle symbols, you are juggling inner realities. Any exterior move that you make is made within the interior environment, within all the interior environments with which you are involved.” —Seth/Jane Roberts, Seth Speaks, part two, chapter 18, session 571 on March 3, 1971

We can change our reality (beliefs) by working with symbolic representations as they appear in our waking 3D world. But that can be a slow and challenging process. As mentioned above, the more physical the symbol is, the narrower and more fixed its definition is. That is why physical reality is much harder to change than our dream reality.

When we do things in our outer physical reality, we are working with the most difficult symbols to change. But remember that those outer physical symbols represent things in our more flexible inner reality.

A much faster way to change our outer experience is to change our inner beliefs and conditioned responses. If we can tap into that, our outer world will change instantly. That is what we often call “instant manifestation”.

We, as our limited conscious 3D ego, are seldom aware of our true self. But our inner self (inner ego, as Seth sometimes calls it) is fully aware of the full nature of who we are across all dimensions and timelines. That is a much more powerful level for us to work from.

[4.1] A Radical Nonduality Perspective

In the quotes above, Seth mentioned a way of knowing that is beyond the symbols:

“By direct knowing here, I mean instant cognition and comprehension, without symbolization.”

But he also said,

“These stages of consciousness are infrequent and seldom translated into normal conscious terms.”

Direct knowing, without using symbols, is a characteristic of instant manifestation. It is what many spiritual teachers refer to when they talk about awakening, self-realization, and enlightenment.

And it is what Radical Nonduality speakers mean when they say, “we do not exist”. That is because the “we” they are talking about is no longer in the way of non-judgmental, direct knowing.

The direct knowing is never done by “us”. “We” can only know symbols (illusions, beliefs, concepts, and stories). Direct knowing by something beyond us. People call that something God, Source, The Absolute, pure awareness, and pure consciousness, among other terms.

For Radical Nonduality, the what and how of direct knowing is beyond our ability to know, because…

“Whatever can be perceived is not the perceiver.” — Huang Po (Chan / Zen Buddhism Master)

In other words, perception happens. There is an aspect of us that has that directly perceives. But we can know that aspect of ourselves because everything about us is something that perception perceives/observes. It is like our eye trying to see itself directly — it simply cannot be done.

The “we” that Radical Nonduality is talking about is our 3D presence, which is a symbol of our True Self. We can perceive that (our personality, emotions, thoughts, and body, for example). But those are symbols, illusions, and stories.

In the 3rd Dimension, 3D illusions can only create more 3D illusions. Our 3D stories can only create more 3D stories. And our 3D symbols can only create more 3D symbols. Direct knowing is beyond the illusions, stories, and symbols. And, of course, it is beyond the beliefs that are the source of all those.

Seth does not talk much about enlightenment, but that is the direction that his teachings seek to move those who read them — eventually.

For more on the differences between Seth’s “you create your own reality” and Radical Nonduality, see:

[4.2] For More on Symbols

and how we create and experience our consciousness with them, see Chapter 18 of the book Seth Speaks: The Eternal Validity of the Soul (1972) by Jane Roberts (links below). That chapter also discusses dream symbols, which I omitted from the discussion above.

Everyone should read “Seth Speaks: The Eternal Validity of the Soul”.

Seth Speaks was published in 1972. Seth dictated it entirely through Jane Roberts, and transcribed by her husband, Robert Butts. It is available through most booksellers and free versions are available online (links below). You can also listen to it on YouTube (links below).

I first read Seth Speaks when I was about 20 years old — several decades ago. Of all the New Age spiritual books I read back then, his message stuck with me the most. Along with my meditation practice (TM), I have manifested / created almost everything that I have desired in life. And I am still creating my own reality, which, of course, we all do.

[5] Related Resources

[5.1] Links to free downloads of Seth Speaks:

• Google Docs version (google.com)
• Direct download of pdf (no website to go to)
• Internet Archive version, available in different formats
• There are some differences between these sources. None of them includes the Appendix available in the original book.

[5.2] Links to YouTube readings of Seth Speaks:

• Tim Hart has separate YouTube recordings for each chapter of Seth Speaks here (two 15min recorders per chapter), as well as other Seth/Jane Roberts books. Chapter 18 of Seth Speaks is here:

• A full reading of Seth Speaks (9.5 hours long) is also available on YouTube here.

[5.3] Seth Sources:

• I quote Seth/Jane Roberts often in the blogs and articles I write on Medium.com. I get my quotes from Seth groups on Facebook, from my reading of Seth/Jane Roberts’ books, and the Seth Search Engine.
• The Search Engine is how I can reference the source of most Seth quotes. It includes most of the Seth books (but not all of them): — “Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts) (nowdictation.com)
• You can use that search engine to quickly find what Seth/Jane Roberts had to say on any topic.
• For more of My Seth/Jane Roberts Related Articles, see this collection. Note that the articles in this collection are behind the Medium paywall. For paywall-free access to my articles go to www.AlanLew.com, linked below.

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• Written in collaboration with my Energy Group/Higher Self and drawing on others. This is our perspective of the truth and not the whole truth of reality.

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