“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(Yesterday, in the magazine section of a leading metropolitan newspaper, Jane and I read a long article on the evolution of ancient man — “ancient” here meaning “true man” at least 2.5 million to 3 million years old. Aside from the question of whether “evolution” in ordinary linear terms has been scientifically proven [concerning which point Jane and I have many reservations], we were drawn to the article because we thought its “factual” information might eventually supplement some of Seth’s material for “Unknown” Reality. Both of us ended up more incensed than informed, however; it seemed to us that even on its own terms the piece contained many unjustified conclusions that were based on very flimsy evidence — and assumptions — at best.

(Portions of the article in yesterday’s newspaper, I should add, dealt with the recent discoveries of skeletal fragments in East Africa that indicate the coexistence of several varieties of ancient man and preman; the latter being creatures who looked rather human but whose brains, it is believed, remained apelike. This part of the article is approximately in line with the material Jane came through with some hours later. Her material, however, wasn’t influenced by the news story, for just about a year ago Seth-Jane delivered a session for Personal Reality on the mixing of animal and man: the 648th for March 14, 1973, in Chapter 12. I’d say that this evening Jane elaborated upon that session — especially upon the impressions she gave then during the 11:30 break, on “animal doctors … a bridge between animals and human beings.” But then, for some years Seth has been reiterating that even in our terms there is no well-defined evolutionary path leading from our ancient state to our present one.)

(While watching television last night we periodically discussed the trite thinking embodied in the article. Then, as we made ready to retire, Jane announced that she was “getting” information on the subject of ancient man — but not necessarily from Seth. She asked me if I wanted her to continue doing so. We were both tired, but I wondered if this could turn out to be an episode like the one she’d experienced before the last session, when she dictated material on the various neurological actions, or speeds, that she sensed. [See Appendix 5] Tonight’s opportunity, concerning a subject of such interest to us, implied something too good to pass by without investigation. I found a pen and some paper in Jane’s desk. We sat down at 12:10 A.M.

“For a long time these varieties of ancient men shared our earth and history, in varying terms. Right now, though, in our time, all of the different kinds of consciousness that we might expand into are here with us … some of them appearing as pathological to us …

([Bette:] “Now when you talk about ancient tonight are you talking about before consciousness, like the physical reality that we are now? Is this the ancient that you are referring to or are you talking about ancient time as we know ancient time?”)

([Bette:] “You just said something about ancient. Will you define what you mean by ancient? One time in class you said something about what we were doing was ancient now.”)

[...] You were indeed involved in a variation of an ancient ceremony in which you were all, in your terms, at one time involved. [...]

Not as you know ancient time. [...]

[...] You sit here with new youth and new vitality—new, but ancient—for there is no newness that does not have an ancient heritage. [...] The joys must be forever new—for they are new with an ancient heritage. [...]

[...] And when you hear me speak, it is not only my vitality that you hear, but it is also your own vitality—for I am also a part of All That Is—and if I am ancient and new, so are you ancient and new. [...]

[...] While the chants are indeed seeped in ancient knowledge inherent in the race, the knowledge itself when intuitively felt brings forth an experience of timelessness. [...]

[...] They were ancient the first time the first man chanted, or the first circle was formed.

[...] The ancient songs will follow when the practice of the new ones is complete.

(Here Seth means books on the ancient Sumari songs and on the new.)

THE ANCIENT DREAMERS

Dictation, to begin: New chapter (four): “The Ancient Dreamers.”

These ancient dreams were shared to some extent by each consciousness that was embarked upon the earthly venture, so that creatures and environment together formed great environmental realities. [...]

(Pause.) In a fashion those ancient dreamers, through their immense creativity, dreamed all of life’s creatures in all of their pasts, presents, and futures—that is, their dreams opened up the doors of space and time to entities that otherwise would not have been released into actualization, even as, for example, the units of consciousness were once released from the mind of All That Is.

(I’d just finished typing the last few pages for Monday night’s session, and I asked Jane what she thought of my final note: I’d speculated about any reincarnational connections that might tie her abilities to speak for Seth, without help of any modern kind, to the abilities ancient man had displayed, when, according to Seth, he’d been able to carry all of his history with him mentally. As ancient man had lived without the news media we’re so used to, so does Jane speak for Seth without all of that modern help. [...]

JANE’S SKILL AS ANCIENT AS MAN IS.

[...]

Now: Ruburt’s skill is as ancient as man is, and indeed all of your arts, sciences, and cultural achievements are the offshoots of (pause) spontaneous mental and biological processes.

Any and all of his doubts can be alleviated by the complete realization that he can indeed trust the physician within, and the ancient wisdom of the body. [...]

He needs you at times to remind him that he can trust the body’s ancient wisdom—otherwise he would be in as good physical condition as you are. [...]

[...] The Akkadian form, Bel, was used in ancient Mesopotamia. Baal — lord — was the name or title of a number of local deities of ancient Semitic peoples. [...]

(Ten sessions after this one, Seth told Jane and me that we had been Speakers also, although he said nothing about dates or countries, or whether Jane, Ron, or I might be renewing acquaintances made in other, perhaps very ancient times. [...]

(Today I looked over a Time-Life book on the ancient civilizations of the Americas—the Aztecs, Incas, Mixtecs, etc, and once more was impressed by their amazing abilities as far as architecture, carving, weaving, astronomy, etc., went. [...]

—you have been reading about ancient American civilizations. [...]

In those ancient times, mentioned earlier, one civilization cared not a whit about any other whose existence was known. [...]

3. Each morning in bed or after breakfast Rob to remind me to trust the physician within and the ancient wisdom of the body—those words.

[...] There were changes, but in general the religions of the Egyptians and the ancient Greeks are cases in point. The longevity of those religions and their effects upon those ancient civilizations are certainly not taken by “modern men” as proof that those religions had any basis in fact. [...]

Historically speaking, the ancients understood man’s psychology, his psyche, far better than you do now, for they were far more aware of its context. [...]

(12:09.) Like I said before you went out, I feel as if some ancient swarm of wasps’ nests (long pause) have finally been touched upon or stirred up—or of angry energy that had been stored in those portions of my body. [...]

[...] (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 came across them in one of the books on ancient history that Shirley Bickford, one of Jane’s students, brought for us to consult on the very ancient civilization, Sumeria, in Mesopotamia, from 4,000—2,000 BC, I believe, without consulting dates.

[...] Dr Sagan was also quoted in Otto’s article, regarding the ancient Sumerian-Akkadian legends and UFO’s, to our surprise. [...]

[...] The living ancient Sumerians pass the modern tourists without seeing them. [...]

[...] Your own consciousness is contemporary with the ancient Sumerians (spelled) as well as with your current selves in your terms.

[...] The seasons spring up, formed by ancient feeling-tones, having deep and abiding rhythms. [...]

These ancient aspects lie, now, deeply buried in the psyches of all species, and from them the individual patterns, the specific blueprints for new differentiations, emerge.

So does the human individual rise up in victorious distinctiveness from the ancient and yet ever-new fountains of its own soul. [...]

[...] You did not know that there was a deeper, older, or richer tradition—a more ancient heritage, to which you belonged, because you found no hint of it in your society. [...]

The sessions I give you, in usual (underlined) terms, are a new extension of that creativity—but again, that extension has an ancient heritage. [...]

(After the session Jane asked me what country ancient Persia was now. [...] [Actually, according to the dictionary, the present country of Afghanistan was part of the ancient Persian Empire.]

[...] In connection with Seth’s material here, however: In the United States alone there have been many discoveries of human (and/or humanlike) tracks, both large and small, in very ancient rock formations. [...]

How does the human data from such very ancient times fit in with the comparatively modest dates — of “only” 50 million to 30 million years ago — that Seth cites for his mutated forms at the beginning of this session? [...]

Once again, his attempts are at the point of success, so it is highly important that he trust the physician within, and the body’s ancient knowledge, and I know he has begun again to use those suggestions.

[...] In dreams, however, you use the true ancient language of your being.

[...] Many ancient religions held the belief of one god above all others. [...]

[...] In many ancient, now-forgotten tribal religions, recourse was also made to the gods to turn nature against the enemy. [...]

Some ancient tales have come down through the centuries that tell of various gods and demons who guard the gates, so to speak, of other levels of reality and stages of consciousness. [...]