Events » Past Events » What is the Focus of this List?
Subject: The focus of our list [a longwinded but worthwhile read]
Date: Wed, 19 May 1999 02:17:19 +0500
From: “Paul M. Helfrich” <helfrich@cafemuse.com>
To: sethnet@onelist.com
05/18/99
For those of you concerned about the focus of our list, please set aside ten minutes before reading through this. You may also wish to print this out.
Mary W. writes:
(Aside to MaeLou, I think a separate focused list really would be best in this case. My first post is barely 24 hours old, and you can see how the focus has shifted from examining beliefs to exercise suggestions. The weight belief focus may not be interesting to most people here.)
Maelou responds:
Perhaps watch Kristen da Fox and see how she keeps her thread focus front and center of the group. As interested party in the thread, you need to facilitate it, and nudge it back on track by asking questions. She does it in such an intriguing way that everybody is happy to keep on posting on the topic based on her boundaries. Those that don’t go off on another thread...no big deal. You keep those interested at the round table. So don’t roll over into whipped puppy pose here... This place is also about focus, intent, communication skills and presentation and above all, staying centered. Sorta like life without the face-to-face. Good place to practice, IMHO! Which is one more reason I love it here so much...
I’m still watching the pro’s here that’ve been doing this for years and amazed at how erudite they are. <Take a bow, goldie oldies> <vbg> And how *low* they can go without a blush... But that just cracks me up, as I don’t take it personally. So, as my new bumper sticker on the vehicle of my spirit says, Take Responsibility, Don’t Project!
Sandy adds:
I really just don’t see how anyone can dominate posts, here. IMO Everyone can post...If a person doesn’t like the way a certain conversation is going, or maybe they don’t find it interesting, then what’s to stop them from originating another thread of thought, and just ignoring the others? If 180 people were to start new conversations, the illusion of domination would disappear fast. What’s the deal? Has anyone else been around long enough to recall when this kind of thing came up so frequently?
Eric da Fig reflects:
In my experience complaining about what’s been posted usually serves as fuel for whatever was being complained about to stick around for even longer to fester like an uncleaned wound. I think that phenomenon relates quite strongly with Seth’s sentiment of “you get what you concentrate on.”
And of course it’s OK to leave for awhile or just lurk. I’ve certainly done that myself too but I do it in a manner in which I just sort of fade into the woodwork.
JJ the strolling belief wonderer strums:
I believe there is a lot to be taken from someone’s “streams of consciousness.” It’s ALL stream of consciousness – it’s ALL spontaneous – don’t you think? What do you mean by “forethought?” How is a person to know what 180+ members want to read? Should our posts be written to please everyone? Or should they be written to please self?
[And later to Sandy ...] If there are 180 people on this list, I’d like to know where they all are. It seems like there are maybe twenty people tops. Which means there are 160 lurkers out there. I like audiences, so that’s a good thing.
Bob Y., netizen riffs:
My point to you JJ, is that I don’t think you should be surprised that group dynamics is in play. The Net is the most advanced form of communication yet devised on a massive scale. Crude by some standards, but nonetheless a marvel. It was designed to interpret censorship as “damage,” and route around it, I’ve actually seen this occur. It is a very well designed medium, it has military roots which have served it well. I do agree with you that “dominating” posts is a bogus concept, just as in a room of people you will have a minority of more outgoing talkative types, and the rest of us will be more quite and reserved. What is happening here is a mirror of a “live” situation, and that is a testament to how well the Net mimics natural human communication. I like the freedom and openness that is here, if its not to anyone’s liking, I would only say that I can’t think of any way to change it that would not in some significant way diminish its beauty.
Paul H. muses:
Marvelous and insightful comments one and all. Many thanks and very helpful.
“You get what you concentrate on. There is no other main rule.” That quote, from The Nature of Personal Reality, is at the core of my efforts to facilitate/nurture/focus this general public Seth list. The idea is to share our own personal experiences, or “the evidence of our senses” as Seth challenges us, in light of our *emerging* understanding of Seth/Jane’s ideas.
Some tips: if you want a more focused – that is focused in some way that YOU feel is appropriate for YOU, list – then exercise *your* point of power, step up to the plate, and do your best to focus a thread.
Jenny’s recent post about interest in a “weight list” spontaneously generated a thread on that subject. There were over a dozens posts in less than 36 hours. In one sense, Jenny instantly manifested a weight list, by focusing her interest on the subject and drawing out others to interact. An entire list may spin off from that single thread!
If you want a “more” focused list here, then create it yourselves! What beliefs does that statement trigger? What prevents this list from being focused? How do you define focus? How does one create a more focused list without becoming a focus cop? What strategies exist that we can use here? It’s open mic night. really. All are welcome.
Another recent example someone creating focused threads is Eric Fig, who has put in many hours researching Seth quotes that reinforce the issues that he chooses to explore and share here. He has generated and added his slant to many interesting threads.
Ted Mousseau invests his own time studying The Nature of Personal Reality and posts his own summaries, a veritable Cliff Notes! More of Seth’s ideas in concise form for anyone interested in that format.
Ted and Sheri LoBello also took the time to create a voluntary list of subscribers that’s now part of our list’s web pages.
Yvonne posted a series of abundance affirmations, every day for a month.
There are *many* more examples, too many to list but you know who you are and I appreciate and salute your efforts.
So what are we waiting for? Me? We’re waiting for YOU! This is *our* list. I post and nurture threads on issues that help ME. And yes, it’s pure selfishness. But it’s honest, heartfelt, and hopefully helpful to those who connect with my explorations and riffs.
Anyone can do the same. Which you? Which world? Which focus?
Some additional tips: no one is forced to read a post on any subject that triggers conflict and trauma/drama. No one creates your reality for you. Realize that YOU are the one with the issue, creating your emotions, not the poster. Take responsibility for them. There are few, if any, victims subscribed here.
USE YOUR DELETE KEY and don’t respond if you are offended in any way. I do. You only lend energy, fuel the flames, by attempting to force someone to align with your notions of propriety.
Some people, a minority but vocal at times, *feed* off of your reactions. It’s one way to get attention and feel important. This cycle of behavior occurs repeatedly on every list I’ve participated in during the past seven years. They will stop posting and feeding when they don’t get a reaction. Kid’s stuff really, don’t need a Seth/Jane for that one.
Another hamster wheel I’ve observed at times is the belief: “if you don’t agree with my ideas then I will do my best to prove that they are ‘right’.” The few flame exchanges that have occurred to date reflect this core belief of “my way or the highway.” Get over it already! There is no absolute law of right and wrong, and that’s the challenging Truth of the frontier we choose to explore called conscious creation.
Again, if a post offends you, delete it. You have a choice to not respond. Every thread has its unique energy signature and cycle. Most responses fuel a thread in some way. It’s all Psychic Politics 101 at play.
And what beliefs are involved with the notion that everyone has to agree on everything? Who believes that Seth readers are somehow supposed to “know better?” I don’t. Seth/Jane, from a wider view, is a modern day variation of the perennial wisdom – archetypal, also hard coded into our DNA! Seth/Jane is one version; one unique, eccentric expression of this timeless, ancient knowledge.
However, Seth/Jane’s ideas are the glue we choose that holds this list together. And what marvelous “glue!” Their ideas are clothed in the language and beliefs of our Western culture. As such they contain *extremely* low distortion and offers us a gold mine as a primary source. You can find many of their ideas in the kernels of *all* the main religions and philosophies, if you really search. So it’s not about Seth/Jane, it’s about us, our interpretations, and our choices of interaction.
Which us? Which world? Which focus?
All we ask here is we each observe three basic tenets:
- Please keep your posts relevant to the ideas expressed throughout the Seth/Jane Roberts's books when sharing personal experiences.
- When posting any supporting material, please keep it relevant to the primary focus of this list - the joint exploration of the 40-plus books written by Seth/Jane Roberts.
- Aspire to treat YOURSELF with unconditional love, acceptance, and respect, and reflect these values in your posts to others (destructive criticism and flames are strongly discouraged and best taken offlist).
And please feel free to check out other lists, and do_come_back_and_share with us the things you’ve learned. We are *all* in this together, learning about ourselves through interaction with each other.
Also realize that we each have unique learning styles/modalities. This observation is based upon 20 years as an educator. Some of us like to riff, some like to study, some like the personal support on various personal issues, on and on the list goes. *All* these need to be nurtured and encouraged.
The calcification process toward unrecognizable distortion begins the moment any idea forced into the mold of language. This too is perennial wisdom. That’s why ideas need to be kept fresh *inside* of us. Constantly reinventing, reinterpreting ourselves in light of the material, and the material itself. And this is Jane’s greatest legacy detailed to us in her American Vision, from The God of Jane: A Psychic Manifesto!
The Sethian community is a community of one. Period.
Our list is a growing community of “community’s of one,” sharing, learning, and for the most part reflecting simple regard for *ourselves.* So to each his own, the only self-imposed constraints are the three basic tenets. The rest unfolds effortlessly from there. Standing down from my soap box now ...
Closing with the Seth of Billie:
“Each person alive helps paint the living picture of civilization as it exists at any given time, in your terms. Be your own best artist. Your thoughts, feelings and expectations are like the living brush strokes with which you paint your corner of life’s landscape. If you do your best in your own life, then you are indeed helping improve the quality of ALL life. Your thoughts are as real as snowflakes or raindrops or clouds. They mix and merge with the thoughts of others to form man’s livingscape, providing the vast mental elements from which physical events will be formed.
As you learn to allow your impulses some freedom, you will discover their connection with your own idealized version of what life should be. You will begin to discover that (those spontaneous urges) are as basically good and life-giving as the physical elements of the earth, that provide the impetus for all biological life.
Beyond that, however, those impulses, again, connect you with the original impulse from which all life emerges.” [session #873]
Which you? Which world? Which focus? As always, our choice.
Paul
List Admin
P.S. I will add additional feedback to this post, make a web page out of it, and add it to our list web site so others can refer to it in the future.
Sharron E. adds later:
I do not often put forth my opinions, sometimes because I have none <g> but sometimes because I just like to see how things will play out. I guess I am a closet people-watcher.<G> I choose to unlurk at this time because watching won’t cut it. Please, those of you who are contemplating leaving this list, consider .......
You create your own reality. The present reality, as you sit facing your computer screen reading this e-mail from this list, is this list. If you do not like the way the threads on this list are going then change them, start new threads, talk (or type) about what you want to talk about within the very easy guidelines that we have here. Seth never said that changing your reality meant sitting on your hands and doing nothing, or that leaving one space for another was the answer. He did say that because we choose to incarnate into this physical plane that we must interact with it physically as well as on a psychic level. How about it?
As I sit and read I see beginners at this creating stuff. I also see people who are much more advanced than I . I see some who have just begun their exploration with Seth Speaks and The Nature of Personal Reality and those who have read all, or nearly all, of the 40-plus books not once thru but several times. There are people who can formulate what they want to say in a few brief sentences and others who take a whole lot of bits & bytes to work out what they want to say. I try to take these things into account as I read. The more you learn about another person the more you can understand where they are coming from. Therein lies the joy. I learn from all.
This list is not my whole life . It is a small but interesting part. Until I found a SNI write-up in a Seth book at a bookstore a few years ago, I felt I was alone in appreciating this and other like materials. There were few who understood. My husband and kids roll their eyes and smile while my sister still thinks I am a kook! Ah well I now have company.<GGGG>
And from John K.:
MaeLou has some good points about the list and the participants, and the way they chose to interpret what they see. Let’s not take this list too seriously. It can be a Play Yard. So, let’s try to enjoy the “swings” (highs as well as lows) and the “slides” and even those individuals who want to pee in the sand box. We’re here to have fun – not only on this list, but in life itself.
I believe that Seth once said (not that Seth is the beginning or end of my universe) “If you’re not having fun, quit doing it.” Another, equally valid way of addressing not having fun is look at it another way. [We could even play “That’s True, Too”] Let your inner child – Your Nature – out to play, and ease up on the judgment of others ... who are always connected to self, if not even a part of self.
Remember, YCYOR? “NOW” is not only the time but the OPPORTUNITY to deal with it – if you choose. So, let’s have some fun creating while here (on the Net, SethNet and Earth)!
and later ...
Remember, one of the many things Seth passed on to us - “Spontaneity has its own logic”
So whether the list is intentionally “focused” or not - it is!
Mull that one over and see what kind of responses that brings up.
(Oh Cliffs of Life, Echo to me - and the list)