“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(I also think that Seth himself could have some pretty funny things to say here to Jane and me — some day I’ll ask him — words with which he’d humorously caution us not to take the whole affair too seriously, to leave room in our daily lives for the simple, uninhibited joy of creative expression and living even while we study his unending outpouring of material. [...] Seth has already offered Jane encouragement twice since he finished his part of the work for Mass Events in August 1979. [...] Her feelings had arisen in large part because of the ever-increasing mail response the Seth books have generated. Interesting, then, the way the Seth portion of Jane’s personality structure [whatever Seth’s reality may be] reinforces those other portions that are meeting all of the challenges embodied in her current mental and physical existence — and we are continually seeking to learn more about how Seth is able to do this. In these excerpts Seth also touches upon certain other points that we think of often.

(Jane had started doing some typing on the final manuscript for Seth’s The Nature of the Psyche: Its Human Expression a couple of days ago. [...] Yet I thought she needed the stimulus of Seth having something underway. There was more than a little irony in the situation, for I was the one who’d told her flat out, back in July 1975, that she was going to start Psyche, just so that she’d have a Seth book to play with. [I’d also wanted to see what she and Seth would come up with on demand.] But this time Seth fooled me and started Mass Events only a couple of weeks after finishing Psyche. [...] It’s always a pleasure to work on a Seth book, to explore with him his unique view of reality, and to try to put at least a few of his ideas to use in our everyday, “practical” world. I repeated my thought that it didn’t matter how many Seth books she piled up ahead of contract, or publication: That was certainly a more creative and exciting position to be in than if one didn’t have anything ahead. [...]

(By his own definition Seth is no longer a physical being, although he’s told us he’s lived a number of previous lives; thus, ideas of reincarnation enter into his material. Mass Events is the sixth¹ book that Seth has produced — all of them with Jane’s active cooperation, obviously, as well as my own, since I write down his material verbatim, then add my own notes. Often Jane has little memory of the information she delivers as, or for, Seth. [...] At times her Seth voice can be very powerful indeed, with an accent I have yet to succeed in describing. [...] Seth calls Jane “Ruburt” and me “Joseph.” [...]

1. In the order of their publication the five previous Seth books are: Seth Speaks: The Eternal Validity of the Soul; The Nature of Personal Reality: A Seth Book; Volumes 1 and 2 of the “Unknown” Reality: A Seth Book; and The Nature of the Psyche: Its Human Expression. All of Jane’s books, whether produced with or without Seth, are listed in the frontmatter of Mass Events, with publication dates.

(With Seth’s help Jane first encountered the idea of Seth Two in the 406th session for April 22, 1968. That important development in her abilities took place four and a half years after she began to speak for Seth, and once it opened up Seth Two came through in the next seven twice-weekly sessions. Most of that material hasn’t been published, although in Chapter 17 of The Seth Material Jane described Seth Two to some extent, including “his, hers, or its” intimate connections with Seth: the subjective pyramid or cone effects she experiences just above her head when contacting Seth Two; and the great energy she feels at such times. In Chapter 17 she quoted Seth Two from sessions 406–7, and from a couple of others that were held later in the year. The excerpts show not only something of Seth’s connections on the “other side” of Jane, but in one case her violent reactions of surprise and panic when she attempted to translate something of Seth Two’s reality in terms of our own camouflage world: She found herself deeply involved in an unexpected experience with “massiveness” — one of the subjects I want to refer to in these preliminary notes. And Seth Two — or our imperfect grasp of what such an energy gestalt can mean or represent — comprises at least one of the sources of the Seth material itself.

(Seth Two wasn’t dealt with in Volume 1 of “Unknown” Reality. In Note 1 for Appendix 18, I wrote that I wanted to at least briefly discuss Seth Two in another appendix for this Volume 2, “the idea being that that material can be taken as an extension of the Jane-Ruburt-Seth study presented here.” The few references to Seth Two in Appendix 18 were all meant to be resolved below, including my note that “Seth Two exists in relation to Seth in somewhat the same manner that Seth does to Jane, although that analogy shouldn’t be carried very far.”

(I’ve already cited Jane’s experience, as given in Chapter 17 of The Seth Material, showing that on rare occasions Seth Two and her feelings of massiveness can go together; but she can also be in an altered, massive state of consciousness without having a session, or she can be speaking for Seth. Seth or Seth Two — obviously, when either of those qualities combine with her massive perceptions, then Jane knows a multifaceted trance state. In Volume 1, Seth devoted much of the 681st session to a discussion of probabilities, or, in sum, All That Is, and interwound Jane’s psychic and physical experiences with that material: “The cellular consciousness experiences itself as eternal … Part of Ruburt’s feeling of massiveness² comes from the mass [life-to-death] experience of the body, existing all at once. [...]

Seth is what I am, and yet I am more than Seth is. Seth is, however, independent, and continues to develop as I do … Simply as an analogy, and only as an analogy, I am what you would refer to as a future Seth, as Seth in a “higher” stage of development. [...]

I was already beginning to study my own psychological behavior, though, and the question of Seth’s independent reality came more and more into my mind. Since I “become” Seth in some fashion, I’m never able to see myself as Seth in the way that Rob can, or that my students can in a class session, but I do know that he makes a definite impression on others. [...] What was there about Seth that so convinced him that Seth was more than a dissociated part of my own subconscious?

“Seth now had this cold inner light suffuse Jane’s wrist and palm to an even more remarkable degree. [...] Then to end this part of the demonstration, Seth had Jane place her hands side by side on the table, so that we could plainly see the difference between the two. Gradually the hand returned to normal, and Seth instructed us to take a rest period.

“After the break, Seth told us to shut the door leading to the bath. The living room side of the door holds a full-length mirror, and Seth told us to look into it. [...] Her voice dropped considerably in volume and I really had the sensation that she was indeed speaking for someone else (rather than for a subconscious personality, for example, who just called itself Seth).

[...] Instead of being encouraged by Seth’s part in the events, we were upset. [...] Rob had even touched the hand at one time, and Seth had given us many occasions to check effects as they occurred. [...] We didn’t want Seth involved, and specifically had made a point of not asking for him.

We didn’t realize either that the emergence of the Seth voice completed the psychic structure through which we would receive the Seth Material, and through which Seth’s personality would express itself. [...] Much later, Seth told us that this psychic energy can be translated into sound like this, or it can be used for other purposes. Now when Seth gives clairvoyant material, for example, the voice is seldom loud. [...]

Seth’s personality was expressing itself much more freely now that it was released from the board, particularly after the surprising fourteenth session. [...] I was nervous before we started, wondering whether Seth would come through or not. [...] Besides, I wasn’t even aware of how I knew when Seth was ready. [...]

[...] I knew that he was concerned about me, but also tremendously interested in the material Seth had been giving. Besides this, as Seth, I had been extremely active, making funny remarks now and then to break up pages of serious monologue. [...] While we were talking, Rob had wondered aloud about the meaning of time; when we resumed, Seth started discussing this question.

[...] Seth had spoken jovially but not maliciously about Frank Withers. [...] Rob made a comment about Seth’s attitude and Seth said, “I’m afraid I haven’t learned humility yet. [...]

(It turned out that the wife claimed her husband was not trying to capitalize on Seth, that they both respected highly the Seth material, and that as we had suspected he had written Jane several years ago telling her about his Seth. Jane had told him then that he wasn’t speaking for her Seth. Jane told Carole that it was okay to use the Seth name as long as claims weren’t made that the two Seths were one and the same, especially the Seth who was producing the Seth books. [...]

[...] When Jane called him the lawyer told Jane that his client was a 27-year-old schizophrenic who’d confessed to killing a certain woman he’d met in a Seth class both attended some years ago. [...] Jane didn’t ask for details on the case, but instead explained to the lawyer something of Seth’s ideas so that the attorney could use that material in his defense, making it clear that above all Seth was not for violence, even though the prosecuting attorney was evidently trying to make the defendant sound as though it was okay to kill because reincarnation was a fact: Since we all lived other lives, no one could really kill anyone. [...] Interestingly, in the small town of Roseburg he’d been able to buy James and Cézanne and ESP Power, but no other Seth books. [...]

(The other event concerned a medium in Hollywood, California, who claims to be speaking for Seth, and who gave a well-advertised seminar at a Holiday Inn there. He’s been doing such speaking in trance since the early 1970’s. The literature a fan sent us last week made it seem that the medium claimed to be speaking for Jane’s Seth. More arrived today from the same fan—and the quotes given seemed like copycat material of Seth’s, down to calling himself an “energy-essence,” and so forth. [...]

[...] We did agree that there must be a least unconscious cheating going on, on the medium’s part, else why keep the Seth name all these years and speak so cleverly in imitation of Seth, who has garnered at least some sort of reputation, thus making the road easier for any other Seth? [...]

(Everyone present is sympathetic to the Seth experience of course, and as stated I felt Jane and I had given permission for Seth to speak. More often than not after such an experience we wish it hadn’t taken place; at the same time we feel that such sessions are another facet of the Seth experience, and as such should take place at least to some extent.

[...] Playing the tape was an attempt to answer some of their questions, and in this Jane and I were following Seth’s advice of the 246th session. During that session Seth suggested Jane and I do all we can to inform others who are interested in matters psychic. [...]

[...] Seth came through after some of the stronger voice effects on the tape had been played. The stage had been set through conversation and the use of the tape, and I thought Seth made his appearance with the subconscious permission of Jane and me. [...]

(Seth reiterated some of the earlier material he has given us, concerning proofs, apparitions, etc. Once again he went into the reasons why it was possible for Bill Macdonnel to see Seth’s apparition during the 68th session for July 6,1964. [...]

“The Seth personality has been an intermediary and a legitimate one. [...] Seth is what I am, yet I am more than Seth is. Seth is, however, independent, and continues to develop as I do. [...]

“So I am the Seth that is beyond the Seth that you know. And in me the knowledge and vitality of that Seth still rings. In your terms, I am a future Seth, but the terms are meaningless to me.

Seth’s voice continued to get stronger. “I am the Seth that I say that I am, but I am also more. The Seth personality that is part of me is the portion that can most clearly communicate with you. [...]

Then, to Rob’s surprise, Seth told him to end the session. [...] (Just lately I had begun going into particularly deep trances compared to earlier ones, and Seth had suggested that Rob call my name three times.) Seth said, “This evening you have reached somewhat beyond the personality by which I usually make myself known to you. [...]

Certainly Seth is saying that Jane’s books (and his) represent her acknowledgment of and search for an ideal. [...] (See Seth’s material on “ideals set in the heart of man” in sessions 696–97 for Volume 1 of “Unknown” Reality.) Apropos of such concepts, I’ll close these introductory notes by quoting from a personal session Seth gave for Jane and me, in which he reiterates the importance of the individual and the pursuit of the ideal. Seth initiated the following passages by talking to me about “the safe universe” that each person can create, and live within. [...]

Seth also presented the entire work in such a way that the events of our daily lives were intimately connected with his material, serving as personal examples of how his theories actually work in everyday experience. He hadn’t been delivering “Unknown” Reality for long, then, before I realized that I’d have to devise a system of presentation that would handle his material, my own notes (which I could see were going to be considerably longer than they are in Seth’s other books, Seth Speaks and The Nature of Personal Reality), excerpts from Jane’s ESP classes, appendixes, and anything else that might be included.

Seth often advances his ideas by weaving together several themes into a complex pattern in any given session, or throughout a body of material. This process can also result in a similar approach on my part when I discuss his dictation, so I’ll initiate a summary of Volume 1 by using four sources presented by Seth himself: a key passage from his Preface; the headings he gave for the three sections that comprise Volume 1, along with a few elaborations of my own; a brief description of the appendixes which I assembled over a period of time; and a passage from the 762nd session, in which, eight months after he’d finished “Unknown” Reality, Seth speaks further about his purposes in producing it.

Volume 1 of “Unknown” Reality concludes with 11 appendixes compiled from Seth sessions related to the book’s subject matter. These are supplemented by notes regarding the relationship involving Seth, Jane, and myself, and by other pertinent material that throws light upon the larger framework in which these sessions take place. I also provided a certain number of cross references, directing the reader to connected passages in Seth’s and/or Jane’s other books.

And so the unification of more facets of the Seth material continues. I trust that I’m offering enough intriguing hints in this essay to keep readers interested in pursuing Jane’s and Seth’s and my loving work. [...] Jane and I used to marvel at their endurance.) Rick recorded and has produced many audio tapes of Jane and Seth speaking in those classes; at this time he’s also producing an additional group of tapes. Then there’s Jane’s business and personal correspondence; much of her poetry; her journals; her unfinished autobiography; several novels she wrote before publishing the three Oversoul Seven books; the later essays she dictated to me, while in the hospital, about Seven’s childhood; her family history as far back as it can be researched; an objective biography of her physical and creative lives including her two marriages, and Jane’s and my struggles to survive before the advent of the Seth material. [...]

In 10 of the sessions between the numbers 314 and 325 in Volume 7 we see how, with Jane’s need and consent, Seth was reaching into deeper, more penetrating material involving her conscious and unconscious lives. [...] We deeply appreciated Seth’s insights and suggestions about Jane’s and my visible and invisible psyches, the challenges we had chosen to create for ourselves in our present lifetimes. With the publication of Volumes 7 and 8 I’d like to hear from readers about benefits they may have derived from experimenting with Seth’s ideas. [...]

Not that those personal sessions in Volume 7 represent the beginnings of Seth’s efforts—always with Jane’s and my permission, indeed encouragement—to offer his understandings of our challenges. [...] (Only then a personality fragment of Seth’s, named Frank Watts, was speaking to us. Seth himself didn’t announce his presence to us most definitely until December 8, in the fourth session. [...]

Seth’s personal material was startling in its unexpected clarity, although always quite brief. [...] We didn’t know enough to do so, for in ordinary terms we had no way to anticipate the breadth, the depth, of the material Jane and Seth were to produce. Sometimes in those early sessions Seth would mention a current relative or friend of one or the other of us—or both of us—as being involved in our personal material. [...]

So I am the Seth that is beyond the Seth that you know. And in me the knowledge and vitality of that Seth still rings. In your terms I am a future Seth. [...]

(Note: Some of Seth’s voice effects were very loud—I heard Seth rather clearly through two closed doors—after I had retired. [...]

(All of the following is by Seth’s entity.)

Yet what you are is now, and what your friend Seth is is now. [...]

Seth was all of myself that could come through to you. You are in contact with a larger portion of Seth’s reality. [...] Your first Seth is independent, and I am independent. [...]

(She said she remembered none of the material until “he” asked if we wanted to hear from Seth. Then she was subjectively aware of the Seth voice and the change in personality, without remembering what Seth said.

(Once again Jane began speaking in the light, pleasant, high but not falsetto voice, that we had been told represented the larger personality beyond, and encompassing, Seth. This voice is distinctly not the heavy and strong and amused or acerbic Seth voice. [...]

You are going beyond Seth, to a part of Seth you do not know.

Although my confidence had risen with the two out-of-body episodes, I felt that I was putting Seth and myself on the line with each test session. [...] (This never happened, incidentally, though the impressions given were not always as specific as we would have liked.) Actually I didn’t care what was in the envelopes—I just wanted to know if Seth could tell us, and I wanted him to be absolutely right each time. [...] Now I wonder that Seth was able to do anything with me at all in those days, but most of the time he managed to do very well indeed.

All in all, Seth gave twenty-four impressions. [...] For example, Seth said: “Connection with black, symbolic of death; and with a tournament, again symbolic, as of a crossing of swords.” [...] The bill did have numbers on it, and in a series that began with 0 (this seemed unusual to us), but not in the order given by Seth. [...]

[...] Then Seth said: “The feeling of something hanging over, threatening or overhanging, on the upper half of the object, and dark.” As I spoke these words for Seth, a rift seemed to open up—a doubt as to the information’s interpretation. I knew that Seth wanted me to narrow this down myself, and that this was part of my training.

Here Seth’s impressions had been quite literal, as if the words on the bill were coming to life and being described as objects instead of as words describing objects. Later I was to do much better when Seth left some impressions up to me, but this kind of training was invaluable. Even though I didn’t do a very good job, we learned something about the nature of perception, which was Seth’s intent. [...]

Yet we think now that such extensive notes have served their purposes for Seth’s material, at least for some time, so those books-in-the-works will carry minimum notes — as they do, say, in Seth Speaks. For one thing, as I write this Epilogue, Seth has finished The Nature of the Psyche, and has already begun still another book. Psyche, as Jane and I call it, contains some excellent new material, such as Seth’s first discussions of sex — including lesbianism, homosexuality, and bisexuality — as well as other related subjects that we know, from our correspondence, to be of intense general concern. [...]

Whatever or whoever Seth is, or whatever the nature of the Seth-Jane relationship, we long ago decided that we could learn from it. No need to dogmatically insist upon reincarnation as being a “fact,” or upon the existence of Seth’s counterparts or the families of consciousness. [...] I deal with some of the material we’ve acquired about the Seth-Jane relationship in Appendix 18 for Session 711, in Section 4; but here I want to stress our overall interest in knowledge, whatever that knowledge may be, and wherever it may lead us.

In one way or another all of Seth’s books are elaborations of that basic message, stated nine months after his sessions with us began in December 1963. It should be obvious that the two volumes of “Unknown” Reality are further ramifications of that thesis, for here Seth shows us the usually invisible psychological dimensions that underlie the known world. [...]

It seems clear now that Seth knew all along that this would happen. [...] As I type its pages for the final time, I’m back at our old Water Street apartments, and in our new “hill house” at once; I’m referring to 1975 sessions and recording Seth’s dictation on his latest book as well. [...]

(“Good night, Seth. [...] Jane left trance easily, saying Seth left an emotional feeling behind him. [...] Jane had forgotten Seth’s data but remembered it when I mentioned it.)

Seth gave him the information in a dream. He was afraid of Seth but not of the information.

He is forced in one way to reach further into inner reality, for I do not come as immediately to you as Seth as you knew him did. [...] Seth is always there between us to help in this procedure.

(Jane said that when she speaks for Seth’s entity “it’s like I’m emptying myself out up there someplace,” and that when Seth speaks “he fills me up.” [...]

Obviously I’ve avoided calling Seth a spirit and leaving it at that. [...] I am not saying that Seth is just a psychological structure allowing me to tune into revelational knowledge, nor denying that he has an independent existence. [...] Seth is at his end, I am at mine. I agree with Seth here. [...] I do think that Seth is part of another entity, and that he is something quite different from, say, a friend who has “survived” death.

[...] I consider my psychic experiences, the Seth sessions, and my entire relationship with Seth as a learning adventure—a continuing one. I think that the Seth Material contains insights and information concerning the nature of reality that are sorely needed. [...]

As to who or what Seth is, his term “energy essence personality” seems as close to the answer as anyone can get. I don’t believe he is a part of my subconscious, as that term is used by psychologists, or a secondary personality. I do think that we have a supraconscious that is as far “above” the normal self as the subconscious is “below” it, though Seth maintains there are no real levels to the self—the terms just make things simpler. [...] It may be that Seth is the psychological personification of that supraconscious extension of my normal self.

The matter of Seth’s sex also arises here. [...] If Seth were just my higher intuitive self, I would expect him to be feminine or to be the pseudomasculine type of male character so frequently created by women writers. [...] While Seth is not “blatantly” male, in his actions and speech he is more a man’s man than the woman’s man type. [...]

[...] We did exactly as Seth told us to; often, for instance, I wanted to reach out and grasp Jane’s hand while it was in metamorphosis, but I did not touch it until Seth said to. During the whole time, Jane-Seth spoke constantly. The dialogue, while unmistakably Seth, had the added fillips of an almost macabre wit and a biting sarcasm. Often Seth remarked upon our rather childish desire for demonstrations; yet when I asked him if he would rather we refrained from such requests in the future, he said he understood the desire, that it was natural, and that if he felt like it he would comply.

(“For a first attempt I’m doing beautifully”, Seth said. [...] “Now the hand changes again,” Seth said. [...] “Frank Watts had a hand like that,” Seth said. [...] Frank Watts was a fathead,” he said with obvious satisfaction, even though Frank Watts was a personality fragment of Seth’s own entity.

[...] It was a command, and I knew Seth was with us. [...] Seth-Jane talked constantly from then on. [...]

(And now Seth incongruously told us that Bill Macdonnel’s entity name was Mark, and that Seth, Bill, Jane and I had all known each other in previous lives.

(There is no doubt that Seth “comes through” much more clearly when the voice “turns on”. [...] Perhaps this volume is a method I have chosen subconsciously to click Seth in? [...] Had Rob asked questions about the room, or had someone asked again about the young man’s mother’s maiden name [asked earlier] I am certain that Seth could have given the information—that “I” would have gone out after it while he spoke and controlled the mechanism. I was in no condition to offer or indeed to make any critical judgement at the time, and Seth was fully focused in delivering the statement to the students, however. [...]

[...] Here Seth mentioned a boy who sat there. [...] No one asked Seth to do so and, of course, all this time he was speaking through me in this voice of his. [...] I was aware though Seth didn’t say so, that the last seats were usually empty.

[...] Who was in the classroom, Seth or me? One possibility here is that I do the projecting while Seth controls the physical body and uses the vocal cords to speak and to give verbal expression. [...]

[...] I must react to need in this respect—and it seems necessary at this point that I feel perfectly comfortable and safe before I allow Seth to take over so completely. Yet it is not Seth’s taking over that concerns me for when he does take over I am not afraid at all. [...]

She quotes Seth on dreams in Chapter 14 of The Seth Material, and to some extent he discusses them directly in Seth Speaks and Personal Reality. However, we’ve accumulated quite a bit of unpublished Seth material on dreams, and I’ll start looking for chances to insert some of those data in the rest of “Unknown” Reality.

2. I’d say that when he talks about the “unused portions of the brain,” that physical organ, Seth means qualities of nonphysical mind as well. [...] As an analogy, the innate knowledge of probabilities that Seth postulates here may be related to the brain in the same way that memory evidently “happens” throughout its parts, instead of being localized in just one of them.

[...] And in Chapter 21 of Seth Speaks, Seth briefly mentions the eventual activation of “new areas” in the brain to “physically take care of” past-life memories. [...]

(“Thank you, Seth. [...]

1. For more extensive material on Seth Two, see Chapter Seventeen of The Seth Material, and Chapter Twenty-two of Seth Speaks. In the latter Seth tells us: “Seth Two stands relatively in the same position to me as I stand to the woman [Jane] through whom I am now speaking.”

(It’s supposed to express my views of the Seth experience, and how it has influenced or changed my ideas on art, life, and so forth. Then, as Jane told me about all of this, she announced that Seth was coming through right away — a most unusual procedure as far as our regular sessions are concerned. [...]

[...] And I can see Seth’s portrait on the back cover.” She pointed over her right shoulder to where the painting — which is reproduced in The Seth Material — hangs on our living room wall just in back of her rocker.

2. Jane referred here to the deleted part of tonight’s session, and Seth’s discussion therein of the work we are to do in translating early Speaker material: “The Speaker manuscripts are in your future, and will involve as I told you considerable work — a labor of love.” [...] Also consult Chapter Seventeen in Seth Speaks.

[...] After it was over, and our salesman friend left for his motel in a nearby town, Seth came through with a few personal remarks for Rob. [...] Standing there, silently, I felt Seth near. [...] I knew that I felt that Seth was near, but, intellectually, I was full of questions. Had Seth really read Mark’s mind, or had Mark just wanted that to happen and convinced himself that it had? Did I feel Seth, or was I indulging in fantasies of a highly dangerous nature?

[...] I was in trance, of course, but, knowing him, I can well imagine how he must have stared at me as I strode back and forth speaking in that deep Seth voice and talking to Rob in such a manner. When Rob explained briefly about Seth before the session, he’d asked Mark questions he’d like answered. [...] Now, almost immediately, Seth said:

But that night, Mark insisted that Seth had read his mind and listened spellbound as Seth told him about the inner senses. None of us suspected that Seth would give Mark detailed information about the inner organization for which he worked, or help him understand personal problems, or delight in telling him what had gone on at sales conferences that Mark had already attended — or with a great rush of humor tell him the exact amount of a new raise he had just been given. [...]

[...] Then, as if to break the mood, mentally I heard Seth make a joke to the effect that Joseph was not to get a big head just because Seth had apologized. Then all feelings of Seth vanished, and we went to bed.