Chapter 19
The Inner Senses-
What They Are
And
How Use Them
In a recent class session, Seth said: "If you would momentarily put aside the selves you take for granted, you could experience your own multidimensional reality. These are not just fine words that mean nothing. I do not harp about theory simply because I want to spout theory, but because I want you to put these ideas into practice."
"Precisely what steps do you want us to follow? " One of the students asked.
First, you must try to understand the nature of reality. To some small extent I have begun to explain this in the Seth material. The 500 and some odd sessions we have barely represent an outline, but they are enough to start with. The ideas, in themselves, will make you think. I have told you that there are Inner Senses as well as physical ones. These will enable you to perceive reality as it exists independent of the physical world. You must learn to recognize, develop, and use these Inner Senses. The methods are given in the material. But you cannot utilize the material until you understand it.
The material itself is--you will forgive the term--cleverly executed; so that as you grapple to understand it, you are already beginning to use abilities beyond those that you take for granted.
You must, first of all, cease identifying yourself completely with your ego, and realize that you can perceive more than your ego perceives. You must demand more of yourself that you ever have before. The material is not for those who would to see themselves with pretty, packaged, ribboned truths that are parceled out and cut apart so that you can digest them. That sort of material serves a need, but our material demands that you intelligently and intuitively expand.
One student had a guest with her, Mary, who wrinkled up her forehead when Seth finished speaking. "But if we momentarily put aside the Ego," she said to me, "won’t we be unconscious?"
I didn’t have a chance to answer. Seth answered for me--his way. You are an identity, he said. Pretend that you hold a flashlight, and the flashlight is consciousness. You could turn this light in many directions, but instead you are in the habit of directing it along one certain path, and you have forgotten that there are other paths.
All you have to do is swing the flashlight in other directions. When you shift it, the path upon which you have been focusing will momentarily appeared dark, but other realities and images will become available to you, and there is nothing to prevent you from swinging the flashlight back to the earlier position.
Seth has used several analogies to explain this point. He said in another class session: " You have more than one conscious mind. We want you to change the channels of your awareness. . . . If you consider the conscious mind that you usually use as one door, then the stand at the threshold of this mind and you look out into physical reality. But there are other doors. . . . You have other conscious selves. . . .
You are not expected to become unconscious, then. There is no need to feel that when you block out the ordinary conscious mind, there's only blankness. It is true that when you close one conscious mind-door-there may be a moment of disorientation before you open another.
It is also true that you may need to learn the methods by which you can perceive other realities, simply because you are not used to manipulating these other conscious portions of yourself. But these portions are as critical--and even as intellectual--as valid and as real as the consciousness with which you are ordinarily familiar.
Seth insists that there is only one way to learn what consciousness is: by studying and exploring our own consciousness, by changing the focus of our attention and using our own consciousness in as many ways as possible. He says: "when you look into yourself, the very effort involved extends the limitations of your consciousness, expands it, and allows the egotistical self to use abilities that it often does not realize it possesses."
The Inner Senses are not important because they release clairvoyant or telepathic abilities, but because they reveal to us our own independence from physical matter, and let us recognize our unique, individual multidimensional identity. Properly used, they also show us the miracle of physical existence and our place in it. We can live a wiser, more productive, happier physical life because we began to understand why we are here, individually and as a people.
The Inner Senses help us to use telepathic abilities, for example. This doesn't mean that we will always be able to "read minds." It means that in family, business, or social contacts, we will be intuitively aware of what the other person is saying to us: we will know what is beneath the words. We will also use words better ourselves to communicate our inner feelings since we will know what those feelings are. We will not be afraid of them or feel the need to cover them up.
At times, we can “read minds"--though that is a popular term, leaving much to be desired. But to use the Inner Senses properly, they must be used smoothly, often blending one into the other. It is often difficult to know whether we are receiving clairvoyant or telepathic information, for example. Not that it matters. Using the Inner senses, we simply increase our entire range of perceptions.
As I write this, I am picking up all sorts of information about my environment, but I am hardly aware of doing so. Certainly I don't consciously separate visual and auditory data unless I stop to think of it, though I know I receive the information through different senses. All of the physical senses operate at once to give us a picture of our reality. We use inner senses the same way, constantly, far beneath the usual conscious notice. In order to explain them, we must describe them separately, though their effects are felt together.
Seth began to list and explain them early in our sessions, starting in February 1964, and we are still learning to use them. I will list them as he did, and give a few excerpts from his descriptions.
Inner Vibrational Touch
“Think of the Inner Senses as paths leading to an inner reality. The first sense involves perception of a direct nature--instant, cognition through what I can only describe as inner vibrational touch. Imagine a man standing on a typical street of houses and grass and trees. This sense would permit him to feel the basic sensation felt by each of the trees about him. His consciousness would expand to contain the experience of what it is to be tree--any or all of the trees. He would feel the experience of being anything he chose within his field of notice: people, insects, blades of grass. He would not lose consciousness of who he was, but would perceive these sensations somewhat in the same way that you now feel heat and cold.”
This sense is much like empathy, but far more vital. (Seth says that we can't experience these Inner Senses in their full intensity now, because our nervous systems can’t handle that much stimuli.) It is difficult to categorize experiences of this kind, but I think that I was using a vibrational touch in the following instance:
One night while Bill and Peg Gallagher were visiting us, a neighbor also came to call. Polly was a rather emotional young woman, and she asked me if I could pick up "any impressions about her. I refused, saying that I was tired. Actually I felt that she was "highly charged," unpleasantly so, and I did want to get involved. Apparently my curiosity get the best of me. I switched to my Inner Senses to find out what was wrong--without realizing that I was doing so. (In the use of the Inner Senses, like anything else, we have to learn discrimination and discretion. )
Almost instantly I saw the young woman back in 1950 as a teenager. She was in a hospital bed, having labor pains. I felt them, in my living room. The experience was exceptionally vivid, and the pain quite real. I saw an older woman and a young man in a hospital room and was able to describe them. Polly identified the people as a former husband and his mother, but denied having the child, though she said that girl friend delivered an illegitimate daughter that same year.
At first the pain frightened me so that I just blurted out was happening; I didn’t mean to embarrass Polly. Later I felt foolish and angry at myself, wondering if the pain episode was some kind of subconscious dramatization. Two years later Polly left town. Before she went, she called to tell me the episode was quite legitimate. The child had been her own, and my description of the room tallied with her hospital room. Naturally, she did want anyone to know about the child, who had been put up for adoption ( and it was not of my business anyway). She been brooding about the birth the night she visited us, because she had just heard from the baby's father for the first time in years. Probably this was why I " tuned in" to the episode. In this case I used inner vibrational touch to become more aware of her feelings.
Generally, though, this first inner sense can be extremely valuable, leading to expansion of experience, greater understanding, and compassion. Using it, with practice, you can feel the living emotional element of any living thing, rejoicing in its vitality. It does not diminish individuality, and it does not imply psychic invasion. We are not to be psychic Peeping Toms, but should use these abilities only to help others or, joyfully, as we use muscles and bones. The intent is important, but I don't believe that you can use the senses wrongfully in any basic way; if you aren’t ready to utilize them properly, your own personality will see to it so you don't use them consciously it all.
Psychological Time
Psychological time is a natural pathway that was meant to give an easy route of access from the inner world to the outer, and back again, though you do not use it as much. Psychological Time originally enabled man to live in the inner and outer worlds with relative ease. . . . As you develop your use of it, you'll be able to rest within its framework while you are consciously awake. It adds duration to your normal time. From its framework you will see that physical time is as dreamlike as you once thought inner time was. You will discover your whole selves, peeping inward and outward simultaneously, and know that all divisions are illusion.
Actually, in practice, Psychological Time leads to development of the other Inner Senses. In Psy-Time, as we call it, you simply turn the focus of attention inward. Sit or lie quietly alone and close your eyes. Pretend that there is a world within as vivid and as real as the physical one. Turn off your physical senses. If you want, imagine that they have dials and you flip them off, one by one. Then imagine that the Inner Senses have another set of dials. Imaginatively, turn them on. This is one method of beginning.
You may, instead, just lie quietly and concentrate on a dark screen until images or lights appear on it. Do not concentrate on worries or daily trivia that may arise as soon as you block out physical distractions. If such thoughts do come to the foreground of attention, then you are not ready to proceed. First you must get rid of them.
Since we can’t concentrate fully on two things at once, you may focus your attention on the screen again or on any imaginary image--this will banish your annoying worries. Or you may pretend that the worries themselves have images and then "see" these vanishing away.
At a certain point you will feel alert and conscious but very light. Within your mind you may see bright lights. You may hear sounds or voices. Some may be telepathic or clairvoyant messages. Some may simply be subconscious pictures. As you practice, you will learn to tell one from the other.
Gradually as you progress, you will feel apart from time as we know it during the exercise. You may have various kinds of subjective experiences, from extrasensory episodes to simple periods of inspiration and direction. I sometimes have outer body travels, for instance, during Psy-Time. This sense leads to refreshment, relaxation, and peace. It can be used in many ways, for different purposes. Most of my students now utilize this sense quite well and use it as a preliminary to other experiences.
Perception of Past, Present, and Future
If you will remember our imaginary man as he stands upon the street, you will recall that I spoke of his feeling all of the unitary essences of each living thing within his range, using the first Inner Sense. Using this third sense, this experience would be expanded. If he is so chose, he would also feel the past and future essence of each living thing within his range.
Remember, according to Seth these Inner Senses are used by the whole self constantly. Since past, present, and future have no basic reality, this sense allows us to see through the apparent time barriers. We are seeing things as they really are. Any precognitive experience would entail the use of this Inner Sense. It is often used spontaneously when Psy-Time is practiced.
The Conceptual Sense
The fourth Inner Sense involves direct cognition of a concept in much more that intellectual terms. It involves experiencing a concept completely. Concepts have what we will call electrical and chemical composition{ as thoughts do}. The molecules and ions of the Consciousness change into [those of} the concept, which is then directly experienced. You cannot truly understand or appreciate any living thing unless you can become that thing.
You can best achieve some approximations of an idea by using psychological Time { as a preliminary}. Sit in a quiet room. When an idea comes to you, do not play with it intellectually, but reach out to intuitively. Do not be afraid of unfamiliar physical sensations. With practice and to a limited degree, you will find you can ‘become’ the idea. You will be inside it, looking out--not looking in.
Concepts such as I am referring to reach beyond your ideas of time and space. If you become proficient in the use of the third Inner Sense [perception of past, present, and future} when cognition is more or less spontaneous, then you can utilize the conceptual sense with more freedom. Any true concept has its origins outside of your camouflage system and continues beyond it. Unless you use the inner senses in this manner, you will only receive a glimmering of a concept, regardless of its simplicity.
I was using this sense, I believe, in the episode described in Chapter 17, experiencing a concept that could not be expressed adequately in words, when everything in the room seemed to grow to tremendous size.
Cognition of Knowledgeable Essence
" Remember that these inner senses operate as a whole, working together smoothly, and that to some degree the division between them are arbitrary and my part. This fifth sense differs from the fourth { conceptual sense} and that it does not involve cognition of the concept. It is similar to the fourth sense in that it is free from past, present, and future, and involves in an intimate becoming, or a transformation of self into something else.
This is difficult to explain. You attempt to understand a friend by using your physical senses. Use of this fifth sense would enable you to enter into your friend. In its fullest sense, it is not available to you within your system. It does not imply that one entity can control another. It involves direct and instantaneous cognition of the essence of the living ‘tissue.’ I use the word ‘tissue’ with caution and ask you not to think of it necessarily in terms of flesh.
All entities are in one way or another enclosed within themselves, yet also connected to others. Using this sense, you penetrate through the capsule that encloses the self. This Inner Sense, like all others, is being used constantly by the inner self, but very little of the data received is sifted through to the subconscious or ego. Without the use of this sense, however, no man would ever come close to understanding another. This sense is a stronger version of inner vibrational touch.
Innate Knowledge of Basic Reality
This is an extremely rudimentary sense. It is concerned with the entity’s innate working knowledge of the basic vitality of the universe, without which no manipulations of vitality would be possible--as, for example, you could not stand up straight without first having an innate sense of balance.
Without this sixth sense and it's constant use by the inner self, you could not construct physical camouflage universe. You can compare this sense with instinct, as you think of it, although it is concerned with the innate knowledge of the entire universe. Particular data about specific areas of reality are given to a living organism to make manipulation within that area possible. The inner self has at its command complete knowledge, but only portions are used by an organism. A spider, spinning its web, is using this sense in almost is purest form. The spider has no intellect or ego, and its activities are pure spontaneous uses of the Inner Senses, unhampered and uncamouflaged to a great extent. But inherent in the spider, as in man, is the complete comprehension of the universe as a whole.
Seth always maintains that the answers to our questions about reality lie within us. They reveal themselves to us when we turn our attention away from the physical data and look inward; this is when the sixth Inner Sense comes into play. It also shows itself in inspiration's and episodes of spontaneous “knowing." Surely this sense suddenly came into operation during my experience with "cosmic consciousness" and was partially responsible for my "idea construction" manuscript. This sense gives rise to most experiences of a revelationary character.
The trouble is that we must somehow translate the data into terms that we can understand, explaining it verbally or with images--and distortions are bound to result. Some such experiences cannot be expressed physically, yet the individual concerned is convinced of their validity.
Expansion or Contraction of the Tissue Capsule
This sense operates in two ways. It can be an extension or an enlargement of the self, a widening of its boundaries and of conscious comprehension. It can also be a pulling together of the self into an ever-smaller capsule that enables the self to enter other systems of reality. The tissue capsule surrounds each consciousness and is actually an energy field boundary, keeping the inner selves energy from seeping away.
No consciousness exists in any system without this capsule enclosing it. These capsules have also been called astral bodies. The seventh Inner Sense allows for expansion or contraction of this tissue capsule.
Rob and I have had some experience is using this Inner Sense. So have several of my students. Inside-time this results in a peculiar "elephantiasis" feeling: I feel as if I am expanding and yet getting lighter and lighter in weight. The sensation can also arise just before an out of body experience. I have felt this in reverse in several sessions with the other personality, Seth Two.
Disentanglement from Camouflage
Complete disentanglement from camouflage comes rarely within your system, although it is possible to achieve it, particularly in connection with Psychological Time. When Psychological Time is utilized to its fullest extent, then camouflage is lessened to an astounding degree. With disentanglement, the inner self disengages itself from one particular camouflage before either adopts another set smoothly or dispenses with camouflage entirely. This is accomplished through which you might call a changing of frequencies or vibrations: a transformation of vitality from one particular pattern or aspect to another. In some ways, your dream world gives you a closer experience with basic inner reality than does your waking world, where the inner senses are so shielded from your awareness.
We have had very little conscious experience with this inner sense. Only in one small episode, mentioned earlier, when I felt bodiless and formless, like conscious air, have I ever approached using it.
Diffusion by the Energy Personality
An energy personality who wishes to become a part of your system does so by using this sense. The energy personality first diffuses himself into many parts. Since entry into your plane or system as a member of it, cannot be made in any other manner, it must be made in the simplest terms, and later built up--sperm, of course, been entry in this respect. The energy of the personality it must then be recombined.
What Seth is saying here is that the inner self uses this sense to initiate the birth of one of its personalities in physical life. It may also have a part to play in some mediumistic activities on the part of the surviving personality who wishes to communicate, and it may be used and out of body experiences that involve other than physical reality.
What is the point in learning to use the Inner Senses? Seth spoke about some of the benefits in the recorded session he gave for the college psychology class. He said, "You will not be swallowed by subjectively. You will learn what reality is. . . . What is not understood is that self investigation initiates states of consciousness with which you are usually not familiar. Now these can be used as investigative tools.
In this sort of exploration of which I am speaking, the personality attempts to go within itself, to find its way through the veils of adapted characteristics to its own inner identity. . . . . The inner core of the self has telepathic and clairvoyant abilities that greatly effect family relationships--And your civilization. Now you are not using them effectively. These are precisely those abilities that are needed now. If there is to be any hope of world communications, then each of you must understand where your potentials are as individual subject of creatures.
Books cannot tell you this. Even if you discover, through psychoanalysis, where your neuroses lie, you are in very shallow water. You are still exploring the top most levels of your personality, and you do not have the benefit of those altered states of consciousness that occur when you look into yourself in the manner I have prescribed.
There is a condition of consciousness that is more awake than any you have ever known--a condition in which you are aware of your own waking and dreaming selves simultaneously. You can become fully awake while the body sleeps. You can extend the present limitations of your awareness.
What Seth is alluding to is that the practice of Psy-Time does stretch normal consciousness. All kinds of previously inhibited inspiration's, hunches, and helpful extrasensory information now come into conscious awareness. When you do Psy-Time regularly, you become alert to data that comes through the Inner Senses. You react to the data and learn to handle a larger amount of stimuli than before.
This intuitional alertness carries over into daily life and into the sleeping state through instructions given by Seth I have learned to come fully awake while dreaming, as mentioned earlier. In this state you recognize your dreams as dreams and can manipulate them more or less at will. You can leave your body safely sleeping, for a projection of consciousness. All of this involves work, however--at least on my part. You must learn, through experience, to maintain the proper level of consciousness, and there's always the possibility of falling back to the usual dream state.
These levels of consciousness are only preliminaries to another state that I have reached but seldom. In the state your intellect, intuitions, and your entire being operate at a level that is really supra-normal. Your senses are almost unbelievably acute. This state can occur whether you are normally awake, "awake" in the dream condition, or any trance. But you feel as if you have lived your life in a dream and now awake. Momentarily you are awake of your multi dimensional reality. Once you had this experience you will never forget it.
These achievements begin with the simple practice of Psy-Time. They begin when you turn your focus of attention away from physical reality for a few moments a day. Each person will experience the Inner Senses in a different way, since perception of any kind is highly individual. It is extremely difficult to use the other Inner-Senses without first using Psy-Time, however. In fact some of my students "turned on" their other Inner senses spontaneously when doing Psy-Time. Some have used Psy-Time to receive information concerning their past lives; in this case, they used many of the inner senses together to search out the data they wanted.
Taken together, the Inner Senses will give each individual a picture of reality as it exists independently of physical matter, an image of the inner identity that is his own. They will automatically increase concentration and release abilities that will give daily life additional meaning, vitality, and purpose.
Pages 251-263
A Seth Book
The Seth Material
By Jane Roberts
Published by New Awareness Network Inc.
Manhasset, N.Y. 11030