"You cannot help yourself and you cannot help your species by identifying with your own weakness, or with the weakness of your species. When you are safe, you are safe, and you are in a position of strength and you can be in a position of tranquility. Then you have the energy and exuberance to think and feel clearly and to help others. "When you are in a position of safety, you do not help by pretending you are not safe, or by taking upon yourself the agony of others. Your reality, when you are safe, is a reality of security. From that framework, you have strength, validity, grace, exuberance -- additional energy that you can send out to touch the hearts and realities of other people.   "What I am saying this evening is indeed simplified but you must operate from strength, not weakness. When you stand upon a firm shore, you can extend your arm to the man who is in quicksand. You cannot help him by leaping into the quicksand with him, for surely both of you will go down - and he will not thank you! "Organize your reality according to your strength; organize your reality according to your playfulness, according to your dreams; according to your joy; according to your hopes - and then you can help those who organize their reality according to their fears." ~ Seth -- Conversations with Seth, Vol. 2