“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

New paragraph. Driving through Sayre,¹ Pennsylvania, one Sunday afternoon, Joseph noticed a house for sale in a neighborhood he knew — and remembered that it had belonged, in his memory, to a man of whom his mother had been fond. On impulse, Joseph had Ruburt call the real estate firm whose sign was on the house. The house was still owned by the man in question. Joseph only remembered his mother speaking of this gentleman in the past. In the recognized reality shared by the Butts family there had been no intimate contact between Joseph’s mother and Mr. Markle (as I’ll call him). Joseph’s mother had been greatly struck by the man, however, and was convinced that she could have married him instead of the husband she had chosen. Through the years she fantasized such a situation. Mr. Markle was, and is, wealthy. Now of course he is an old man, unable to tend to his home any longer. He is now in a home for the aged, but well cared for.

Joseph felt strong leanings toward Mr. Markle’s home. Though the price was quite high, Ruburt and Joseph thought about buying it, and were taken through the home by the real estate people. A coincidence — a mere trick of fate that Joseph could be walking through the old man’s home,² and that Mr. Markle would be spending his last time in a nursing home, as had Joseph’s mother — meaningless but evocative that this house was for sale, and that the old man was insisting upon a price higher than the house is worth, just as Joseph’s mother insisted upon a high price for her own home, and determined to get it.³ Period. That is how it looked from the outside. It appeared to be one of life’s curious incidents.

New paragraph: This is, however, a clear case of the interweaving of probabilities. In this one Joseph can choose whether to buy or not, so there is no coercion (by Stella Butts), for example. Joseph and Ruburt were also shown a second house in Sayre — one a good deal cheaper, but generally much like the one in which Joseph’s mother lived in this life. They saw both houses on the same day. The second, like the first, was for sale because of age. An elderly couple recently moved from the second house to a home for the aged. Again, the “official” mind says, “Coincidence. All of this is quite natural: Many homes are for sale because the elderly can care for them no longer.”

[...] In one reality, for example, Joseph’s mother married Mr. Markle. Joseph inherited the home. In that reality Mr. Markle died before Joseph’s mother did, so there was no need for a Joseph, here, to even look for a house; he had one. In that reality Joseph did not marry Ruburt. [...]

I made it clear that the decision rested with Joseph and Ruburt. [...] Joseph was unconsciously aware of the first house [of the two in Sayre], and could have chosen not to drive down that particular street, for example. [...]

Give us a moment … Financially, Ruburt and Joseph were beginning to do well. [...] Those ideas themselves emotionally attracted certain aspects of Joseph’s mother. [...]

I would suggest therefore that Ruburt determine your relationship with Joseph’s parents for now until Joseph catches up so to speak. Joseph’s mother is particularly difficult to handle since it is against her emotionalism that Joseph first rebelled. [...]

[...] Be in a drowsy state and suggest, Ruburt, suggest, Joseph; do not attempt to bully or command the subconscious. [...] Your love of nature, Joseph, and Ruburt your love of nature, is another method of dissociation, or can be if you use it as such.

Joseph’s are closer at hand, and therefore it is necessary that you both learn the best way to handle that situation. [...] It is also easier for Ruburt to practice dissociation since it is Joseph’s parents who are involved.

[...] Joseph helped physically as the other tenants returned to their apartments. [...] Both Ruburt and Joseph threw open their two apartments. A couple was given shelter in one apartment while Ruburt and Joseph confined themselves to the other. [...]

[...] Joseph was not to have them either. [...] In this case Ruburt and Joseph acted in direct contradiction to authoritative radio statements, and held their own despite the fact that others in the immediate environment rushed off to the medical centers. [...]

Now: Dictation: Ruburt and Joseph (as Seth calls Jane and me) have always seen themselves in a one-to-one relationship with nature and with the universe. [...]

You are Joseph, the Joseph you see in your mind, the blueprint. [...] To the (wl no) whole Joseph there is no wall, but unity. I will call you Joseph.

[...] Joseph is your whole self more or less, the image of the sum of your various personalities in the past and in the future.

(“Would it help to paint a picture of my recollection of Joseph and the wall?”)

It is true that Joseph receives much data through inner visions. [...] You can learn, Joseph, to use your other inner senses as I tell you more about them.

[...] Though I certainly appreciate your interpretation, Joseph, as far as my comment on the lively arts is concerned, nevertheless though I enjoyed Jane’s little performance that is not what I was referring to. [...]

[...] And I am speaking now of the social arts, dear Joseph. [...]

In Joseph’s dream, his brother’s features had an Oriental cast. Joseph knew that his brother lived as himself, and also as an Oriental, unknown to Joseph in his present life. If Joseph had seen two people — one his brother and one an Oriental — he would not have recognized the stranger, so in the dream his brother’s known appearance dominated, while the Oriental affiliation is merely suggested. [...]

(9:50.) Joseph wondered, however, at this mixture of the living and the dead. It would be easy to think that the dream foresaw Joseph’s own death, and that of his brother and sister-in-law. [...]

Last night our friend, Joseph, had a dream experience that intrigued him, and yet seemed highly distorted. [...]

If I am answering your friend’s question in a roundabout manner it is only because, my dear Joseph—and I still call you my dear Joseph, although you scarcely deserve it—then it is only because there are things that I feel it is necessary that I clear up before the question can be answered with even a hint of correctness.

Indeed like you, my dear Joseph. In your case, Joseph, and I have said this many times, you overcompensate now for past, shall I say fleshiness, by a most unnecessary esthetic and self-punishing attitude. [...]

[...] However, Joseph, while I admit I came uninvited, and while I understand the reason for last night’s absence, I took it for granted that we would have our regular session this evening. [...]

And so, Joseph, should you. [...] You do not have to worry, Joseph, about isolation. [...]

[...] To protect your abilities both of you had to take certain steps, Ruburt by way of enforcing discipline, Joseph by way of enforcing isolation. [...] Joseph, you are secure, isolation is now a part of your framework. [...]

[...] Joseph has expanded to a large degree, and yet there is much room for improvement. Particularly, Joseph, in terms of selling your work. [...]

This ability is also growing on your part, Joseph, and with you I hope it will involve what you are pleased to call visionary data. [...] You, Joseph, translate communications into visual form. [...]

Something which you have forgotten makes you uncomfortable at Christmas time, Joseph, and Ruburt becomes uncomfortable in late winter if the space situation is not comfortable to him, so that your periods of psychic discomfort somewhat overlap. [...] You, Joseph, have come through the winter in excellent condition, considering last winter.

When you are tired we will break, or you may move about the room, Joseph. [...]

This was her name once long ago, as yours was Joseph. [...] Joseph and Ruburt represent the full scope of your earthly personalities, toward which you must grow. But in another sense you are already Joseph and Ruburt, since the blueprint exists. [...]

Boatlike vehicle carrying you to Joseph, as it once carried you away. Then Joseph goes about his business on other planes.

(“Was this the reason for the experiment in trance states involving Jane, Bill Macdonnel, and myself, some months ago-the night I saw Joseph and the wall?”)

[...] Joseph is an artist. [...] He asked Joseph what he would like for a gift, and Joseph more or less replied: “A book on Cézanne.”

[...] Hopefully in that book, through my dictation and through Ruburt’s and Joseph’s experiences, the reader could see the greater dimensions that touch ordinary living, and sense the psyche’s magic. That book required much more work on Joseph’s part, and that additional effort itself was a demonstration that the psyche’s events are very difficult to pin down in time.

[...] As Joseph did his notes, however, it became apparent that some events could hardly be so pinpointed, and indeed seemed to have no beginning or end.

(1. As we sat waiting for the session to begin, Jane told me that the face of Joseph, in my oil painting of Ruburt and Joseph,^* smiled down at her from its spot on the living room wall. [...]

In our demonstration, to which of course Joseph gave his permission, he allowed his consciousness to retreat, and to some degree began to cut off its physical expression. [...] As I spoke about the dimming of consciousness, Joseph then experienced it.

[...] Jane told me that Joseph, representing my own entity, smiled broadly at her in a way the painting actually doesn’t. The expression in the eyes changed first, the smile spreading from them down to the mouth. [...]

Ruburt and Joseph often watch old Star Trek reruns (humorously) as they eat their evening meal. [...]

As they sit thus comfortably ensconced (leaning forward with a smile), they observe dramas in which planets explode, and otherworld intelligences rise to challenge or to help the dauntless captain of the good ship Enterprise and the fearless “Spock” — but none of this threatens our friends, Ruburt and Joseph. [...]

Let us return to our friends, Ruburt and Joseph, watching Star Trek as each of you watch your own favorite programs.

(To Pete:) You did not know Ruburt nor Joseph in a past life. [...] He was on a journey from England to Boston, and stopped briefly at a Boston church where Joseph was then a minister. [...]

[...] Jane paused often while giving this material.) We will try here… Joseph… The name of the town was either S A C O (spelled), or this formed the main body of the name, you see.

[...] Ruburt or Joseph will explain the term to you. [...]

You, Joseph, though I speak softly, should also now be aware that my presence here is stronger.

[...] The components of Ruburt’s personality and of your own, Joseph, have changed since our sessions began. [...]

[...] You will still learn to give yourself, your intuitions, the upper hand in your work, Joseph, so that the form and the technique, so beautifully plastered, is secondary, and flows automatically from the idea.

Joseph can be glad that Ruburt now tosses furniture and not rocks, though the assault incidentally is not directed against any person. [...] This same energy is used in Ruburt’s writing and is extremely strong, powerful and stormy often; and he is not, Joseph, trying to get out of his room as I believe you mentioned earlier.

Good evening, my besieged Ruburt, my besieged Joseph.

[...] The situation from my viewpoint is rather hilarious, although my sympathies go out to you Joseph.

[...] Nor, my dear Joseph, are these explosions, though this is quite an exaggerated phrase, nor are these his alone; for he takes up also your hidden frustrations and angers, feels them deeply, though consciously he does not know this; and he then in these small explosions rather harmlessly dispels pent-up, small but potent emotional bombshells that belong to you both.

On a conscious level you, Joseph, are much more given to regularity, and therefore more concerned when Ruburt shows signs of irregularity. [...]

[...] If you were in Ruburt’s position, you would be more willingly regular than he; but my dear Joseph, your critical sense would block me much more than his, particularly in details. [...]

Now first of all Joseph, when I speak too quickly you simply must tell me so. [...]

You will not be pressured, Joseph, for I shall see to it. [...]

[...] I will for Joseph’s benefit here state that the material itself will in the future be closely studied. [...]

[...] I regret the necessity to keep Joseph so occupied. However I try to speak to you, Joseph, and answer the questions you would ask if you had the time to open your mouth.

[...] In his solitary nature he came close to being a mystic but he was unable to relate his personality as Joseph Burdo with the social world at large, or even to the other members of his family. [...]

[...] (Joseph Burdo died in 1948 at the age of 68. [...]