“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

Session 906, in which Seth discussed viruses and the social aspects of many diseases, turned on Jane so much that the next day she wrote several additional pages on those subjects. The material came from both Seth and “herself,” and I added it to the notes for that session. [...] Perhaps Seth will develop it in another work. In putting together the Seth books most of my decisions concern what to leave out, rather than what to include.

Today Jane reread her recent sessions for Dreams; she wanted to resume work on the book tonight, and picked up on it from Seth throughout the day. [...] [She also relayed to me Seth’s comments about an article on bird migration that I read to her while we were having lunch, but I lost those too.] Jane called me early for the session—at 8:20, while I was still busy with Mass Events. [...]

1. These excerpts from the session for April 9 (which we hadn’t requested, by the way) indicate Seth’s response to discussions Jane and I had been having about our personal functions as artists, as well as the use of art generally in our chosen probable reality. As usual, Seth had added his own wider, penetrating views:

I had the same feelings of limitation concerning the session for April 9. In it Seth dealt with the creation of art: not only by “natural man,” but by other creatures—and yes, also the flora—of the earth.¹

3. Originally I’d planned a series of notes for this session, in which to explore Seth’s ideas on genetics versus those held by the scientific establishment. [...] If they knew about it, I expect that most members of the scientific community would disagree with much of the excellent material Seth gave in this session. [...] But Jane and I don’t try to bend others to our way of thinking; the reality that our species is creating is too big and varied for that; we believe only that we’ll have to explore questions like those involving genetics and consciousness in our own ways, and with Seth’s help.

(I was shaking my head no, grinning, before Seth finished asking his question. My amusement wasn’t directed at the seriousness of his material, but arose because of the intense scrutiny Seth directed at me. [...]

Nor do I think that establishment science will soon be interested in Seth’s ideas that exchanges take place involving our genetic systems, the environment, and cultural events like politics and economics; or that our genetic systems react to our thoughts and emotions—let alone that there’s any genetic planning for future probabilities! [...] Science could grant Seth’s ideas their own realities outside of the scientific framework, of course, and thus be free of them.

I’m sure that Seth would be the first to agree that consciousness obviously contains an unlimited number of viewpoints, regardless of which ones we humans may choose to call “true” at any particular time. Consciousness is just as amenable to having some of its physical manifestations scientifically studied, its parts manipulated through “genetic engineering,” as it is to encompassing Seth’s material. [...]

(“In these passages on hate, and elsewhere in this book, Seth goes more deeply into the nature of our emotional life than he has before. [...] One such instance is mentioned on page 248 of The Seth Material, when, in response to a declaration by a student in my ESP class, Seth took the conventional idea of hate for granted on the part of the student. [...] Seth’s main concern was to refute that concept.

(“In using the word ‘curse,’ Seth is not referring to swearing, but to directing hatred against another. [...] Also important in this context is Seth’s frequent reminder that the expression of normal aggression prevents the buildup of anger into hatred.”)

[...] (Jane, as Seth, patted her midriff.) The remark was meant symbolically. [...]

[...] She now told me that while delivering the World War II data for the book, she had been quite aware of another, unspoken, channel from Seth.

[...] Seth discussed computers and their future use; Wesley Swan agreed with the data. Seth also gave a good deal of personal data concerning a Brian Houlihan, a friend of Pat’s and some data concerning Claire and Pat, and answered questions from all of us. [...] One interesting bit: Seth named Claire’s birthday correctly—as falling on February 13, but missed the year by one. [...]

[...] Seth presented some very interesting material on flying saucers, time, other systems, etc. Peggy took notes that were somewhat incomplete because of Seth’s rapid pace. [...]

[...] I had been hoping Seth, or Jane, might come up with Caroline Keck’s husband, Sheldon, or her son Larry, who is named on the object itself. [...] Of course I was involved with another man, and this involvement Seth picked up—since my drawing was appropriated by Larry Keck, as noted on the object.

(“Good evening, Seth.”)

(Afterwards we talked over Jane’s recent idea — to holding, say, a session per day for six consecutive days, to see how much Seth would get done on the book in such an arbitrary period. [...] The idea never materialized, however, even though Seth had expressed his willingness to try something like this back in March, when Chapter Three was underway. See the notes for the 10:31 break in the 519th session, and Seth’s subsequent remarks. [...]

(At the end of the last session, which was held the day before yesterday, Jane told me that Seth had the rest of Chapter Ten planned; tonight, now, she said she didn’t have the slightest idea of how Seth would continue his work on the chapter.

[...] Finally it began to rain hard, with thunder and lightning, at about 9. We wondered whether a session would be held, since Seth had told us some time ago that electrical displays interfered with trance states. Yet the session began as usual; Seth, at least, was apparently not bothered.)

[...] By now the storm was so noisy that Seth increased the volume of his voice.)

[...] Jane was fairly sure Seth was trying to get at this data; and she now felt that the 46 or 1946 data on page 96, and the 36 and 46 data on page 94, all reflected Seth’s attempts in this direction. Seth agrees after break.

[...] Seth didn’t help us out here and I neglected to ask him to after break, but in view of later data Jane and I believe this applies to the design on the Draft Beer can, furnishing the cap used as one of the envelope objects. [...] The card table we used had a plain brown top; but perhaps Seth referred to something else.

[...] This is not printing, although Seth has often intermixed the terms printing, writing, lettering, typing, etc. [...] Seth goes on from here.

[...] Seth has said before that he does not give any envelope data that could have resulted either from Jane’s sense of touch, or sight, and this has never been a problem in these experiments.

[...] Seth often did this — whether we asked him to or not — closing out book and/or general sessions with comments of varying length for Jane and me.

(“Thank you, Seth.”

(Seth nodded and closed Jane’s eyes.

(“I heard Seth’s voice, very loud and powerful, as I lay asleep in bed last night [Saturday]. [...] It seemed that Seth was really laying it on somebody. [...] Subjectively, I wasn’t aware of Seth’s presence in any way. [...]

[...] Seth returned — and stayed longer, probably, than she’d anticipated he would. [...] The more personal parts of Seth’s delivery aren’t given here, yet enough remains to show Jane’s main challenges some 11 years after she began speaking for him.

(11:46 P.M. All Jane could say the next morning was that she had no conscious memory of any contact Seth might have made with her in the dream state. Looking ahead a bit: In tomorrow night’s session, though, Seth does explain her weekend sleep-state encounter with his voice.)

3. In Chapter 14 of The Seth Material, Jane and Seth gave a humorous-serious account of her out-of-body encounter with a demon, or “black thing,” of her own creation.

Later, we were to learn about the distortions that could happen as Jane relayed some of Seth’s material; given the open-ended nature of time, and considering the idea of probable realities, we came to realize that simultaneously we could and could not be Seth’s “first lesson class.” [...] In the 15th session Seth told Jane and me: “I am giving you what may be considered a broad outline to be filled in.”

[...] See, therefore, Seth’s material on reincarnation in Chapter 4 (among others) of Seth Speaks; then see his material on probable selves in Chapter 16 of that book, and in Session 680 for Volume 1 of “Unknown” Reality.

4. Jane’s declaration of the “super-real” aspects of her ecstatic state, that “The world is so much more solid right now,” soon had me hunting for relevant material I remembered Seth giving, but couldn’t place. I found two sources in Seth Speaks. In Chapter 7, see the 530th session for May 20, 1970, at 10:02: “There are realities that are ‘relatively more valid’ than your own … your physical table [for example] would appear as shadowy in contrast … You would have a sort of “supertable” in those terms. [...]

5. So far in Volume 2, I’ve mentioned the inner senses (as described by Seth) in Note 5 for Session 709, and Note 6 for Appendix 18. Seth came through with No. [...]

[...] Seth had remarked that the uncomfortable feeling came because she’d been afraid of hope. [...] Now we wonder what are the improvements Seth has said will be showing soon. [...]

[...] Jane’s Seth voice had once more been a bit stronger and deeper, but not at all loud enough to attract any attention. [...]

[...] Seth didn’t return. [...]

(I added that Seth’s remark about using the same energy for healing that she’d used to produce Rembrandt was another excellent example of obvious insights—once one was aware of it. [...]

(I can offer a connection, but cannot verify it with Seth until next session. After this session I remembered that the Wilburs are reading what we call Book One of the Seth material. [...] My introductory notes contain a reference to Jane and me borrowing a Ouija board from our landlord “in the fall of 1963,” which compares with the date given by Seth this evening, of September 10,1963. [...]

[...] Presumably Seth refers to the writings she has sent out recently. Her publisher, F. Fell, has written expressing interest in her book on the Seth material and on the poetry book described in the 232nd session, page 269. [...] Seth said the article would sell.

(Seth goes over the envelope results with us to some extent this evening, and answers a few questions pertaining to such experiments. First however there follows the connections Jane and I made with the envelope object, and Seth’s data on page 306.

[...] We wanted to make up for the Dr. Instream experiment we missed on Monday, however, so before tonight’s session we mentioned aloud that we hoped Seth would deal with this.

[...] Seth came through briefly several times, and very humorously, to handle certain questions himself. Among other things, he said that “there is no place for the Seth material to be kept,” that “you have to make a place for it, for it is unique.” [...] Seth did express his own willingness to have the material available to the public, but Jane and I are much less sure of that.

(Last night April 23, Monday, Rob suddenly got super-relaxed and really floppy before our scheduled Seth session. In the meantime though as I went into the john, I started to pick up some of the things Seth was going to discuss, and after Rob began his odd relaxation, I got more. [...]

[...] Jane began describing to me what she’d started to pick up from Seth about my condition. [...] Seth, Jane said, would explain the whole thing in the next session, whenever that would be held.

[...] Seth said this was good sense and impulse on my part....

(When Seth came through Jane’s Seth voice was the best I’ve heard it yet. [...]

[...] “I can feel Seth around, but every time I do, I start moving again.” [...]

(“Afternoon, Seth.”)

[...] I told her that for the first time I too had sensed that terrific potential in the Seth voice—another excellent sign.

[...] I should note here, first, a question I’d asked her yesterday, concerning a line of Seth’s that I’d typed up yesterday in Session 889 for Dreams. Seth had delivered this intriguing line on December 17, 1979. I’d made a note of it, and asked that Seth comment if we had a session yesterday: “Units of consciousness also form other kinds of matter that you do not perceive.” [...]

[...] As it turned out, Seth did answer the question—to some extent—tonight, when it had slipped my mind for the moment.)

(“The same to you, Seth.”)

(“Thank you very much, Seth. [...]

We could have presented Dreams as is, or at least have avoided mentioning certain less-than-advantageous circumstances surrounding its production by Jane and by Seth, the “energy personality essence” she speaks for while in a trance or dissociated state. [...] Since we’ve always wanted to make sure that our “psychic work” is given within the context of our daily living, I’ve undertaken to present in these essays intensely personal material relevant to the creation of Dreams. (The mechanics of Jane’s still-fascinating trance phenomenon have been described in some detail in the six previous Seth books she’s produced—with my help—and they’ll also be referred to, if briefly, in Dreams.)

[...] I did not look at Seth-Jane’s Dreams itself while writing the essays, in order to avoid having them overly influenced by work in the book. Instead, we want all of this preliminary material to show how we live daily—regardless of how well we may or may not do—with a generalized knowledge of, and belief in, the Seth material.

Seth, then, has finished his work on Dreams. I wrote the original version of the notes for each book session as he delivered it through Jane, and also began collecting other notes and reference material that might be used. [...]

[...] I use a similar system in presenting all of the published Seth material. [...]

(Being individualists, then, as I wrote in the Introductory Notes for Volume 1, we don’t concentrate upon whatever parallels exist between Seth’s concepts on the one hand and those of Eastern religious, philosophical, and mystical doctrines on the other; while we know of such similarities, we’re just as aware of how different from them Seth’s viewpoint can be, too. I added that even though we have no interest in putting down other approaches to inner reality, still we’re firm believers in the “inviolate nature of the individual consciousness, before, during, and after physical existence, in ordinary terms.”¹ So, here, we leave it up to the reader to make the intuitive and overt connections between Seth’s philosophy and the material Jane wrote today. [...]

2. From any of Seth’s books — let alone Jane’s — I could cite a number of comments that question much of the thinking behind different Eastern systems of religious thought. Seth, for example, in the 642nd session in Chapter 11 of Personal Reality: “You will not attain spirituality or even a happy life by denying the wisdom and experience of the flesh. [...]

[...] Jane’s quick and impassioned response through her own writing, as presented below, reflects feelings deeply rooted within her mystical nature, and also illuminates important aspects of the body and direction of the Seth material as a whole. [...]

For ourselves, and even considering Seth’s concept of “camouflage” (in Volume 1, see Note 3 for Appendix 11), Jane and I certainly believe that our physical existences and mental experiences are quite “real” in themselves. [...]

[...] Waking up now, he stretched, jumped down, then up into Jane’s lap as she spoke for Seth. [...] Seth spoke as I carried the cat to the cellar door.)

[...] But Seth continued with his material on the behavior of our species, even while bringing Psyche to a close.)

(“Will it?” I tried to egg Seth on a bit. [...]

[...] As soon as I sat down again, Seth finished the sentence he’d begun before Billy’s interruption.)

(This afternoon Jane told me that in her sleep last night she’d had bleed-throughs from Seth about the material to come next in his book. She described it to me — and tonight Seth followed that subject matter very closely in the first part of the session. [...]

[...] For whatever reasons since holding the 709th session, she hasn’t had to wait for that certain, more “difficult” kind of trance to develop before launching into Seth’s book material; see the note at 10:55 for that session. [...] For other contrasting examples, in Volume 1 see the notes closing out sessions 688 and 703, as well as related material in Appendix 4, wherein I wrote about the translation challenges she’s often faced since beginning “Unknown” Reality: “— hence her talk before many of these sessions … about attaining that ‘certain clear focus,’ or ‘the one clearest place in consciousness,’ before she began speaking for Seth.”

(And added a year later: Seth also discussed the will in a personal session that was held just six months after he’d finished dictating “Unknown” Reality in April 1975. [...] Seth:)

3. The 453rd session, for December 4, 1968, is printed in its entirety in the Appendix of The Seth Material. In that session, I think, Seth came through with one of his most evocative conceptions: “You do not understand the dimensions into which your own thoughts drop, for they continue their own existences, and others look up to them and view them like stars. [...]

(After this our conversation turned to what Seth might say about the origins of Bill Gallagher’s ulcer. [...] Jane announced that she felt the rapport in our group was favorable, that Seth could hold a session now if we requested it. [...]

[...] Actually, I was just about managing to keep up with her speed of dictation, but disliked interrupting to ask her to slow down since Seth was obviously in a rare mood—as witness his hopping, almost excitedly, from one topic to another. [...] Certainly Seth, or Jane, felt a keen enjoyment.

[...] I hesitated to interrupt, remembering Seth’s comments about the value of spontaneity. [...]

[...] Seth has remarked in the past about the special value and character of unscheduled sessions.

[...] Of course, we noticed that Seth had said that Jane’s discomfort was only partially caused by her fears that she cannot heal herself. [...] Jane said later that she thought Seth would indeed return. [...]

(“Good afternoon, Seth.”)

[...] She felt Seth around again. [...]

(“Good afternoon, Seth.”