“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

1. Originally Jane said “world” here, where I’m sure Seth wanted her to say “universe.” Anytime I make such a change in Seth’s copy, or insert a clarifying word or phrase as though it came from him, or might have, the alteration is in brackets [like this]. Occasionally Jane or I may recast a sentence of Seth’s, but this isn’t necessary even once per session. Our rule is that otherwise we do not change or delete any of his material without noting it.

3. I’ve known Seth planned to discuss evolution—that sensitized subject—ever since Jane tuned into the title of his new book a couple of months ago. However, my interest in one of my favorite fields of inquiry lay relatively dormant until Seth confirmed the title earlier this month (September); then I felt the impulse to jump right into producing notes on the subject. Better wait, I told myself and Jane, until we had an idea of how Seth is going to handle his own material on evolution.

So why do Jane and I think we’re on to something with the Seth material—that it can help if given the chance? Why haven’t others—our scientific, religious, and political leaders, or those in the fine arts, say—come up with ideas similar to those espoused by a Seth, and why aren’t those ideas common today? Seth’s kind of information must have surfaced innumerable times, I think, and for many reasons fallen short as broad coherent systems of thought. [...]

[...] Adding to the humor of the situation is the fact that we’ve had people write or say the same thing about the Seth material. [...]

[...] Our experiments in what Seth calls “Psychological Time” helped us develop our own psychic abilities. The quality and scope of the Seth Material constantly grew, and we were to make some contacts with others in the field of parapsychology. We were shortly to discover that Seth was indeed clairvoyant, and that my own training as a medium had only begun.

I was unhappy with the reincarnational material simply because I still didn’t want to accept the idea—it just seemed too far out. I didn’t exactly encourage Rob to ask Seth to enlarge on this information or to fill in on the details he’d given. But it was a part of the material—I could hardly deny that.

We quickly learned that Seth regarded physical symptoms as the outward materialization of inner dis-ease. [...] In later sessions he would give some excellent material on maintaining good health. [...]

I’ve devoted some time and space to the early Seth sessions so that the reader could become acquainted with part of the material as it was given to us. [...]

(It will be remembered that in the unscheduled 184th session Seth said that Cosmopolitan Magazine would be interested in an excerpt from Jane’s ESP book, but that nothing would happen right away. [...] The material was returned today with a plain rejection slip. Seth had stated that Cosmo would return the material, but with a letter expressing interest.

(I believe the book of Jane’s that Seth refers to here is her new project, dealing with the Seth material itself. Jane has been casting about for a good way to present the material, and has about decided upon her approach. [...]

[...] Blanche knows about Seth, but little about the material itself.

[...] If Seth’s prediction, made in the last session, to the effect that Dr. Instream will help us out in the matter of copying the material, works out, then perhaps other arrangements will be made.)

(Jane has finished her ESP book for all practical purposes, and has been looking through the Seth material for a suitable quote to end the final chapter. I suggested she ask Seth for a few appropriate words this evening.

(Jane said she felt that Seth was trying to come through with material on the Gallagher object, and that she was trying not to block it. She had the feeling Seth wanted to say it was rock; the other day Jane had the conscious impression that it was tin or galvanized metal, of the sort Bill Gallagher uses in fashioning some of his modern sculpture.

(It will be remembered that it was at York Beach, in August 1963, that Jane and I saw the fragments we had ourselves created, according to Seth, in the dancing establishment called the Driftwood Lounge. [...] For York Beach material see sessioms 9, 15, 17, 69, and 80 in Volumes 1 and 2.

[...] She thought she might very well use Seth’s material above to end her book.

[...] Yet I could see that I confused Jane, for to make such a venture possible we’d have to change certain beliefs and values that are deeply rooted within us; especially those about personal privacy and our reluctance to “go public” with such topical, immediate material, instead of trusting that the Seth material will exert a meaningful influence in society over the long run. [...] But I think the main portion of my enthusiasm stemmed from the frustration I often feel because much of Seth’s material will go unpublished at this time. [...] We’re sorry to think that such material will be shelved indefinitely, but there’s no room for most of it in Mass Events, and there probably won’t be in future books either. [...]

[...] Somehow, after supper, we got on the subject of Seth doing a “quick book” about Jonestown and Three Mile Island, something that could be offered to the public very soon, instead of material that would show up in a regular Seth book a couple of years from now. We already had the perfect title for the book, one we’d jokingly originated following last Monday night’s session: Seth on Jonestown and Three Mile Island: Religious and Scientific Cults.

[...] I’ll describe the latest of the many courses of action we’ve found ourselves considering over the years as we work with the Seth material, while trying to keep a balance between the realities we’ve created for ourselves and the possibilities we constantly encounter in the “outside” world.

[...] But Jane had written some chapter headings, which were very good, and half a page of commentary for Seth’s hypothetical book. [...] Jane believed me, finally, and in the course of the conversation I learned that she’s also been worrying about which of Seth’s recent sessions should be presented in Mass Events. She agreed with the decisions I’d made in that area, but she also wanted Seth “to get back to the book per se, and call his sessions dictation.

As soon as I realized that Dreams, “Evolution,” and Value Fulfillment was going to be so long that it would require publication in two volumes, I began to think about how I was going to summarize here all of the material that Jane, Seth, and I had contributed to Volume 1. I developed the hilarious notion that if I did the job the way I really wanted to, this introduction would be as long as that first volume is itself! [...]

[...] However, I can help initiate that process by presenting short blocks of material from Seth-Jane and myself. [...]

First, Seth’s headings for the six chapters of Volume 1 give a broad outline of his material in that book:

[...] But in my opinion they’re vital for understanding what the Seth material is all about.

(4. Seth also said that it would be “not practical” and “boring” for him to relive his life as a pope, then added: “In those terms, many people do choose to reexperience what you would think of as a past existence in order to change it as they go along.” [...] Again in Seth Speaks, see Seth’s material at 10:07 in the 539th session for Chapter 10: “You may perfect [that past life], in other words, but you cannot again enter into that frame of reference as a completely participating consciousness — following — say, the historic trends of the time, joining into the mass-hallucinated existence that resulted from the applied consciousness of your self and your ‘contemporaries.’”

(Finally, as we waited for Seth to return, Jane said: “Now I am confused — I can get material on three different subjects….” [...] The other two were points 4 and 5, as listed in the notes preceding this session; since Jane became consciously aware of material on them just before the session began, she’d had no time in which to give it. [...] It didn’t take long: Out of those very interesting ideas he’d mentioned in class last night, Seth ended up discussing the one I’ve noted as point 5.

5. Point 5 at the start of this session contains my note that later I added to Appendix 18 a few of the comments Seth made in last night’s ESP class, concerning his connections with Jane. Seth obviously elaborated on that material here, but instead of quoting it in Appendix 18 also, I thought of letting the reader first come across it in this session; and so, to whatever tiny extent, this additional information now alters each reader’s present reality by changing his or her conception of that Jane-Ruburt-Seth relationship.

[...] Seth covered many interesting points, and [I can add later] Jane presents the entire session in slightly abbreviated form in Chapter 15 of Politics. I suggest the reader review that material at this time.

(To my way of thinking, this is one of the most significant bits of information to come out of the Seth material.)

(This material is inserted into the record here because it is dealt with briefly by Seth in the following session, the 68th.

Again, the only main difference between material and immaterial constructions is that immaterial constructions are not perceived by the outer senses. These immaterial constructions include among others dream constructions, and also certain intangible, necessary constructions upon which the material worlds rest.

[...] These are utilized in the material universe, but they do not actually exist in it in the same way that, say, a rock or chair does. [...] Material objects are indeed actions, literally without specific beginning or end, the action being continuous.

On April 17, 1968—I got request from a Tam Mossman to do a book on Seth Material, using portions of the best chapters from dream book that deal with Seth.

This involves request from other publisher—same connection with February (the initials would be T. M. rather than Seth Material) and it would be a year off. [...]

JANE’S HANDWRITTEN NOTE,
RELATING TO SETH’S COMMENTS IN SESSION 313

(Sometime after 9 PM Jane and I sat to see if Seth would come through. I told Jane she needn’t have a session, but she was willing enough if Seth decided to. She has been working long hours on her book for Prentice-Hall, The Seth Material, and has but a couple of chapters to rewrite. [...]

(Jane has had two recent, excellent and long sessions for her ESP class however, featuring both Seth and Seth II, and including new material.)

[...] She said she could feel Seth pushing at her to get her to let the material through as clearly as possible, “without distorting it out of all recognition.”

(After we had talked a bit I deduced that Seth/Jane had been trying for the word Stonehenge—meaning the ancient Druidic stone monoliths, arranged in a circle in England, etc. Jane then said this was the word Seth had been trying to get her to say. [...]

(Seth reiterated that Jane’s book on the Seth material would be published, and that the poetry book would be published. [...] See page 269 of the 232nd session for background material and other references. Jane’s publisher F. Fell, has written asking for photographs pertaining to the Seth book; in connection with this and in answer to my question, Seth said he would be amused to see a reproduction of my painting, purporting to be Seth, in the book. I’d done my oil of Seth in May/June of 1965.

The inverted time system should be at least briefly explained in the Seth book. [...] All of this in direct quotes from the material itself. The last section of the book could then deal with what evidential material we have, and you shall have more. [...]

(The evening’s conversation had largely concerned matters other than Seth, but his name had been mentioned. After the Gallaghers left Jane said she could feel Seth “buzzing around.” Shortly after this she began speaking as Seth, in an average voice; she was smoking; she gestured often, and eventually her eyes began to open. [...] I did not ask Seth the type of question I would prefer being answered in writing.

(Seth began by discussing a very emotional dream I had on the night of Thursday, February 24, involving what seemed to be the death of my father. [...] Seth explained how the dream was built around my subconscious fears concerning my father. [...] The conclusions were somewhat similar, and contained Seth’s assertions that the death of my father is not imminent, although he is 75. Seth went into one of the basic problems behind the dream, the lack of an easy communication between my father and myself. [...]

The Early Sessions are also very important for the sheer preservation and distribution of the Seth material. [...] The Seth material is a long way from being on computer—if that ever happens—and relatively few readers will make the journey to Yale University Library, to study the collection of Jane’s and my papers that’s available there for anyone to see.

[...] Also, even though I’d been so intimately involved with the Seth material from the very beginning, for example, I didn’t fully comprehend the volume of just the session material that we’d accumulated over a total of 21 years. [...]

[...] These 510 sessions, then, are exact copies from the verbatim transcripts I made in my homemade shorthand while Jane spoke for Seth; I added notes and comments while typing the material after each session. [...]

[...] This framework matches that in the already-published Seth books like Seth Speaks and The Nature of Personal Reality.

When I asked him in the same session about his evocative use of “fragment,” Seth replied: “That is an original term with me, as far as I know.” Within another couple of sessions, however, he began to let “fragment” semantically yield to other terminology as he continued developing his material in ever-deepening discussions of personalities and entities, reincarnation, time, dreams, and other related subjects. [...] I’ve designed this note to supplement Jane’s writing on fragments in The Seth Material, which Prentice-Hall published in 1970.

Then as we sat for the session Jane told me that after supper tonight she’d picked up material from Seth “that I wasn’t sure of because I didn’t understand what he meant….” [...] I thought it obvious that her two latest intuitions from Seth were directly related—and that certain creative portions of her psyche never stopped “working.” [...]

[...] We’re up to Volume 77 for the “regular” and book sessions, and Volume 22 for the private or “deleted” material. Here’s the note Jane wrote this morning and inserted in Volume 77, where I’m keeping a few sheets of paper to record the next session: “Something from Seth over the weekend—only got a little—something about earth’s grid of perception being so constructed that…. [...]

[...] Neither of us could remember Seth stating flat out in any of his material that animals reincarnate, although he may have done so. [...]

At the time of the “Idea Construction” experience, the Seth sessions themselves were undreamed of, of course. So while this book is devoted to Seth’s theories on the nature of dreams and his instructions on their use, it is not meant to be a definitive statement. Seth continues to deliver material on dreams, along with other subjects. Those of you who want a more general idea of Seth’s views can refer to The Seth Material. Here, I’ll give the material on dreams as it was given to us in succeeding sessions — particularly in the early part of the book. This automatically presents the material in order, preserving the sense of continuity, and serves as a progressive, subjective journal of dream experiences as Rob and I, and later my students, followed Seth’s suggestions. This method of presentation also gives the reader a built-in opportunity to try the experiments for himself, just as Seth gave them to us as we went along.

[...] Even when I wrote The Seth Material, I didn’t clearly understand why it happened or connect it in any way with my previous life or beliefs. [...]

Before Seth began a discussion of dreams, and as a preliminary, he explained the natural mobility of human consciousness and outlined the main features of the “interior universe” that could be glimpsed in both waking and dream states and which underlie physical reality. [...] The first portion of this book will therefore deal with this material and with our first explorations into that inner reality.

I’m including in this chapter a few poems as notes of a subjective autobiography, to show what events triggered this first release of unconscious material on my part, opening the doors to the interior universe; for now I believe that certain personal conditions are characteristic prerequisites for such developments, that the channels of intuitive knowledge are opened according to the intensity of individual need. [...]

(The other morning in a burst of inspiration Jane wrote out a full outline, including chapter breakdown, of the book she intends to write after she finishes the first book on the Seth Material, and the book on dreams that she now has well under way.

(Many sessions ago, I believe within the first 50, Seth told us we should one day be aware of our dreams while fully conscious. At the time we did not have enough background material to see how this would be possible. [...]

(We wondered whether Seth would be able to come through with the Wyoming location also, in respect to the data given in the last session. [...] According to Seth they have well-developed abilities. [...]

[...] Through watching them, you see, you can observe the effect that our material has on their daily lives. This is the material in its functional working dimensions, and that is very important.

(Now for two concluding paragraphs of commentary and reference: Jane’s statement that the four-fronted counterpart self persists outside of space and time implies a contradiction, of course — but this situation is one that we, as physical creatures, will in some manner always have to contend with when we encounter certain of Jane’s and Seth’s concepts [including that of the four-fronted counterpart self]. Seth’s own idea of “simultaneous time,” that “all exists at once, yet is not completed,” has run throughout his material since its inception over a decade ago. [...] Yet Seth’s simultaneous time isn’t an absolute, for, as he also told us in that session: “While I am not affected by time on your plane, I am affected by something resembling time on my plane … To me time can be manipulated, used at leisure and examined. [...]

(1. While asleep she’d been aware of many insights about receiving Seth material in that mode — some of it “at a preliminary stage, before it’s ready.” But all of it came through in a peculiar way, Jane continued, “as if I were equipped with mental earphones … This material is somehow being transmitted directly on to my brain waves; automatically; yet in a wild way without disturbing my own thinking. [...]

5. Jane used an imaginary musical analogy in describing her sleep-state experience with “mental earphones” — but here are two psychic events of hers that can serve as real-life analogies: 1. Her reception 10 months ago, while asleep, of multidimensional data from Seth, which she followed the next day with her own material on neurological pulses; see Appendix 4 in Volume 1. 2. Her hearing Seth’s thunderous voice in her sleep two months ago, as described in the opening notes for the 710th session.

[...] See Appendix 22 for my own material on the event, plus Seth’s comments about it in ESP class last night, plus a quite unusual “confirmation” offered by class member Sue Watkins. [...]

[...] I did not base my decision concerning working hours on the Seth material, although the information Jane and I have received on expectations played a part; it has done much to increase our confidence in various fields of endeavor other than our arts.

[...] However, by the time we left York Beach, I had tried to suggest to my subconscious, in line with the material we have obtained to date on the value of expectation, that the car would consume less oil than on the outward journey. [...] Again, if tonight’s session developed, I thought I would ask Seth whether I was correct, or merely the victim of some overoptimistic wishes.

(It will be recalled also that in the 63rd session, Seth gave a date of Aug. [...] Seth did not specify the meaning of this latest date for her, and Jane and I saw Miss Callahan the day after our return from vacation, looking quite well. [...]

[...] 18, while we were dancing at the Driftwood Lounge at York Beach, which is the hotel bar where we saw our projected fragments, described by Seth in the 9th session [in Volume 1], page 43.

[...] Jane had begun delivering the Seth material late in 1963, and soon afterwards Seth started developing his ideas on probabilities.¹ Many times while looking at the snapshots since then I’d found myself speculating about the probable realities surrounding their two young subjects. [...] Maybe I just wanted Seth to comment on probabilities in a more personal way. [And added later: At the time, I had no idea that my questioning would trigger a new Seth book.²]

Idea Construction did serve as a psychic trigger, however; it led Jane to her outline for How to Develop Your ESP Power (see Note 2 for Seth’s Preface in this book), then to the beginning of the Seth sessions two months later. “Enough energy was generated in that evening to change the direction of my life and my husband’s,” she wrote in Chapter 1 of The Seth Material. [...] In Seth Speaks, see her Introduction and Session 596 in the Appendix for further references to that original manuscript.

2. Indeed, Jane was to hold several sessions before we realized that Seth had begun a new book — see the 683rd session in this section. Seth had finished Personal Reality over six months ago. [...] She also gave a number of private Seth sessions for the two of us on a variety of subjects. We ended up calling a portion of one of those the 678th session and added it to our records, since the material, which Jane received at my request, concerned probabilities and Jerusalem. [...]

Seth, in his material on probable systems in Chapter 16 of Seth Speaks, says: “The soul can be described for that matter as a multidimensional, infinite act, each minute probability being brought somewhere into actuality and existence; an infinite creative act that creates for itself infinite dimensions in which fulfillment is possible.”

[...] To some small extent I have begun to explain this in the Seth Material. [...] The methods are given in the material. But you cannot utilize the material until you understand it.

[...] The material is not for those who would deceive 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 intellectually and intuitively expand.”

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. [...]

“The material itself is—if you’ll 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.

[...] In one session, Seth discusses Jung’s concept of the unconscious. In another, he presents some new material on the “original planetary system,” and in answer to a friend’s question, he begins an explanation of the perception of a fetus. These discussions show the current direction the Seth Material is taking as it constantly unfolds.

In the foregoing chapters, I have taken excerpts from many sessions in order to present Seth’s views on various topics. This appendix is included for those readers who would like a more complete look at individual sessions, and a clearer idea of the way in which the material was originally given.

[...] This presentation shows Seth’s way of weaving one subject through another as he inserts new discussions and information while building on past sessions, and points up his method of using Rob’s and my own daily experiences as a launching pad for his own material.

Except for punctuation, the Seth Material in this appendix is unedited, and Rob’s notes have been included.