“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

She’s been most intrigued by Seth’s referrals to the concept of “master events” ever since he gave them in the final session for Chapter 8—preparations, she hoped, for his material this evening. She came to play her own conscious part in those preparations, too: Yesterday she’d received many insights from Seth on “master overlays,” and made notes. She typed some of her information after supper tonight, and I’m presenting this in Note 1, just to show how closely at times the body of the Seth material lies to her “ordinary” consciousness.)

Now the origin of the universe that you know, as I have described it, was of course a master event. The initial action did not occur in space or time, but formed space and time.

In your terms other universes, with all of their own space and time structures, were created simultaneously, and exist simultaneously. The effect of looking outward into space, and therefore backward into time, is a kind of built-in convention that appears within your own space-time picture. You must remember, then, when you think in terms of origins, that the very word, “origin,” is dependent upon time conventions, and a belief in beginnings and endings. Beginnings and endings are themselves effects that seem to be facts to your perceptions. In a fashion they simply represent beginnings and endings, the boundaries, the reaches and the limitations of your own span of attention.

(Pause at 9:31.) I said that in your terms (underlined) all universes were created (underlined) simultaneously—at the same time. The very sentence structure has time built in, you see, so you are bound to think that I am speaking of an almost indescribable past. Also, I use time terms, since you are so used yourselves to that kind of categorizing, so here we will certainly run into our first seeming contradiction (see the last session) — when I say that in the higher order of events all universes, including your own, have their original creations occurring now, with all of their pasts and futures built in, and with all of their scales of time winding ever outward, and all of their appearances of space, galaxies and nebulae, and all of their seeming changes, being instantly and originally created in what you think of as this moment.

Your universe cannot be its own source. Its inner mysteries—which are indeed the mysteries of consciousness, not matter—cannot be explained, and must remain incomprehensible, if you try to study them from the viewpoint of your objective experience alone. You must look to the source of that experience. You must look not to space but to the source of space, not to time but to the source of time—and most of all, you must look to the kind of consciousness that experiences space and time. You must look, therefore, to events that show themselves through historical action, but whose origins are elsewhere. None of this is really beyond your capabilities, as long as you try to enlarge your framework.

I hope, again, to stretch the reaches of both your imaginations and intellects in this book, to give you a feeling for events larger than your usual true-or-false, fact-or-fancy categories. Your existence as a species is characterized far more by your unique use of your imaginations than it is by any physical attributes. Your connections with that unmanifest universe have always helped direct your imaginations, made you aware of the rich veins of probabilities possible in physical existence, so that you could then use your intellects to decide which of the alternate routes you wanted as a species to follow.

In the terms of evolution as you like to think of it, ideas are more important than genes (quietly), for we are again dealing with more than the surfaces of events. We are dealing with more than some physical mechanics of being. For one thing, the genes themselves are conscious, though in different terms than yours. Your cultures—your civilizations—obviously affect the well-being of your species, and those cultures are formed by your ideas, and forged through the use of your imaginations and your intellects.

I am not here specifically blaming Christianity, for far before its emergence, your ideas (underlined) and beliefs about good and evil [were] far more important in all matters regarding the species than any simple questions of genetic variances, natural selection, or environmental influence. In man’s case, at least, the selection of who should live or die was often anything but natural. If you are to understand the characteristics of the species, then you cannot avoid the study of man’s consciousness.

In ordinary terms that challenge, that achievement, are Jane’s own, as she seeks to bring to consciousness information from the creative Seth portion (whatever its source may be) of her psyche, and unite it with her “usual” creative accomplishments. An exhilarating quest indeed, even given the limitations imposed by words, with “some matters being almost impossible to explain.”

2. This paragraph of Seth’s at once reminded me of some of his most evocative earlier material on animal consciousness. He gave it in the 832nd session for Chapter 5 of Mass Events (on January 29, 1979), and I quoted it in the Preliminary Notes to the Preface for Dreams: “Nature in all of its varieties is so richly encountered by the animals….”

3. I think that Seth’s insight here—regarding “the far more dependable behavior of the other species”—is excellent indeed. In an original way he stressed the interdependence of all life forms on earth. I like to keep such penetrating remarks before me, and wish the reader would too, for I often fear they’ll become lost from conscious view within his material. (As an example, I doubt if this one will be referred to in the index for Dreams.) But I also think that intuitively we know the truth Seth so briefly expressed here, and that it never has been or ever will be really lost.