“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(Israel is constantly in the news, of course, and we see the television reports while eating supper or later in the evening. It always seems to be bad news, full of strife and agony and grim determination to survive. In addition, a NYC station is running a serialized story called Golda, with Ingrid Bergman. Jane has seen some of this, and could have identified with the Golda Meir character as representing the soul of Israel, and well as its individuals and its multitude. There was also much publicity until a couple of days ago, about Israel returning to Egypt the last portions it held of the Sinai peninsula, and how Israel destroyed the settlement of Yamit rather than hand it over intact to the Egyptians—a haggle over a price, I believe.

The name simply seemed to stand for all of man’s agonizing reach for greatness, and yet for the anguish that always seemed to separate himself. But in any case I felt like a divided Israel, crying out for the people to come together in peace. And what it meant was that Israel itself was a simile for the individual —that is, one person—who was (long pause) composed of so many fantasies and dreams and prophecies and hopes and angers and fears.

I guess I feel that Israel.... (long pause).... that the tale of Israel, with all of its wars and so forth, and its historical and biblical past, represents some ancient brilliant knowledge that man once had, of the self being so diverse as to behave as a nation of a million individuals, each looking for their homeland.

(“I guess that’s all,” Jane said. “Odd thoughts for me, though, about ‘Israel.” She hasn’t read last night’s session yet, but said now, “Well, I suppose you can see why I came up with this material after last night’s session,” although she hadn’t mentioned Israel.

[...] It is there for (Prime Minister) Begin (of Israel) and (President) Sadat (of Egypt). [...]

(I might add here that the Jonestown affair reminded me at once of the mass suicide of the defenders of the Jewish stronghold of Masada, in the First Century AD, in Israel. [...]

[...] However, it fits in with much of our questioning of late, in connection with the Middle East peace talks these past few months, and the behavior of the three who met at the summit, held at Camp David: Carter, President Sadat of Egypt, and Prime Minister Begin of Israel. Recently Jane and I found it the height of irony that Begin and Sadat were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize—evidently, we sarcastically concluded, because after thirty years of fighting Israel and Egypt weren’t shooting at each other—at least for the moment.

[...] There seems to be a D here—the name of David comes to mind, and the Star of Israel, which may mean that the competitor is Jewish.

[...] In view of the subject matter that did develop, rather to our surprise, let me note that since late last week President Carter, President Anwar Sadat of Egypt, and Israel’s Prime Minister Begin have been meeting at Camp David in pursuit of peace for the Middle East. [...]

[...] We talked about the well-known “tells” in Israel, for example.

[...] Baal worship appeared in Syria and Israel many centuries before the birth of Christ — as early as 1400 B.C., according to Syrian cuneiform texts. [...]

[...] “Just for kicks,” I told Jane, “I almost asked Seth to say something about Israel and Iraq, but I didn’t....” [...]

(Then when we watched the news while eating supper at the coffee table, we soon found the mayhem and related misdeeds recited by the newscasters so depressing that we switched channels to an innocuous Mod Squad show several years old—even though those color backgrounds—Nicaragua, Israel, Russia, etc., were still so fascinating. [...]

[...] “If it works out and you have a minute tonight, and if you’re in the mood to say something about Israel and Iraq, it would be interesting,” I told Jane. [...]

[...] Seth’s reference to President Anwar Sadat of Egypt came about because this afternoon Sadat, President Carter, and Prime Minister Begin of Israel had signed the long-sought-for peace treaty between their two countries. [...]

(It is of interest here to note that a current Biblical reference work, in dealing with the very early history of Israel, has much to say about the “oral traditions” which preceded — and thus helped shape — the written word by many centuries. [...]

(Again, learned via TV after the session: The assassin evidently belonged to a pro-Arab, anti-Israel organization of an inflammatory nature. [...]

[...] With equal fervor they demand the downfall of the United States, France, Russia, Israel, and Iraq, among other nations. [...]