“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

Various tribes in different parts of the earth would suddenly begin using new tools, say, not because there might be any physical communication among them, or cultural exchanges, but because separate conditions in their own environments triggered mental processes that activated the particular images of the tools required for a given job at hand. The information, which was nonphysical, was then transformed into practical knowledge either from inner visual imagery by itself, or through the state of dreaming.

(Long pause at 10:18.) In a fashion—and forgive me for using one of my favorite qualifications again—but in a fashion, cultures do not evolve in the kind of straightforward manner that is usually supposed. Of course, cultures change, but man instantly began to fashion culture, as for example beavers instantly began to form dams. They did not learn how to form dams through trial and error (humorously). They did not for untold centuries build faulty dams, for example. They were born, or created, dam makers.

Man automatically began to form culture. He did not start with the rudiments of culture, as is thought. He did not learn (pause) through trial and error to think clear thoughts. He thought quite clearly from the beginning. He did learn through trial and error various ways of best translating those thoughts into physical action. The first cultures were as rich as your own. In your terms, reading and writing are great advantages, but it is also true that in the past the mind was also used to record information, and transmit it with an artistry that you do not now use.

(Long pause at 10:34.) Man did not have to learn by trial and error what plants were beneficial to eat, and what herbs were good for healing. The knower in him knew that, and he acted on the information spontaneously. The knower is of course always present, but the part of your culture that is built upon the notion that no such inner knowledge exists, and those foolish ideas of rational thought as the only provider of answers, therefore often limit your own use of inner abilities.

I told her the material is fascinating in its implications. It’s an excellent point, I said, that in her ability to tap into a seemingly endless amount of Seth material, she strikes a parallel with early man and his capacity to carry all personal, cultural, and historical information within himself. As early man functioned on his own, without writing or any of the other modern conveniences of communication that we have, so does Jane function through Seth. I speculated about what reincarnational connections might exist involving Jane and ancient men and women. Seth has never discussed the subject, nor have we asked him to. His potential for oral history appears to be unlimited.