“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

Take a hypothetical case. Call Norma A the assertive part of the personality, and Norma B the passive partner. Norma A may go out dancing, go to a bar, then turn the entire proceedings over to Norma B, who finds herself in noisy surroundings, surrounded by people she does not remember, and with no idea how she reached her present destination.

Her trend of memory will go back to the last time that she was in charge of consciousness, and she will have — or may not have — any idea of the existence of Norma A at all. Norma A may enjoy action, sports, dancing and bodily activities, while Norma B may prefer reading, walking, or painting.

Norma A and B represent fairly simple examples of schizophrenic behavior, and indeed I have kept the story simple to keep the issues clear. Norma A may actually grow into a more and more assertive or belligerent personality, even displaying violent tendencies at times, while on the other hand Norma B might become even more timid, depressed, and solitary.

People may actually carry on such existences for years, until some event or another shows that something is amiss: one of Norma A’s friends might meet a friend of Norma B, for example, or the gaps in memory might finally become so frequent that it is obvious something is wrong.

[...] Peter and I had rather idly speculated that because of our common interests we could have reincarnational ties.² Seth’s naming Norma as being psychically affiliated with me was unexpected, however. Norma is a new member of class. [...] And Norma, of course, would turn all of this around and examine it from her own very independent viewpoint.

[...] Both of my other class counterparts, Norma Pryor and Jack Pierce, are themselves of a younger generation than Jane, Peter, and I. Jack writes novels, as yet unpublished. Norma does not. [...]

[...] Jane and I saw Norma socially one evening, along with a few other students as well as some people who were not class members. [...] That is, I made no effort to bring up the subject, nor did Norma as I waited somewhat curiously through the evening. [...]

[...] Yet I felt no strong surge of emotion, for instance, to learn that Norma Pryor [whom I’ve met but a few times], Peter Smith, and Jack Pierce are counterparts of mine — nor did they when I read Seth’s material to them during ESP class six nights later. [...]

Of my three class counterparts other than Jane, then, it developed that Norma Pryor and Jack Pierce soon embarked upon their own paths, which hardly ever cross mine even though we don’t live that far apart. [...]

[...] Norma Pryor is a counterpart of Joseph’s, and vice versa. [...]