“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(Late last week Tam Mossman called Jane to tell her that he’s begun work on her contract for the publication of If We Live Again. I wrote Tam this morning, asking questions about what long-range plans Prentice-Hall may have for the 15 books Jane and I have sold to the company. [That total includes Mass Events, God of Jane, and the poetry book, all of which are yet to be issued.] In the private session for September 22—one of his series on the magical approach to life—Seth had told us that our work is “protected.” I’ve been curious about that statement ever since, and mentioned it to Jane today in connection with my letter to Tam.

She was quite upset after our nap this afternoon because we’d overslept; she regretted the lost time. We had to eat supper later than usual. This evening, however, Seth used my interest in the question of protection beautifully as he discussed a facet of Jane’s abilities that’s strongly related to his concept of value fulfillment. Because of that relationship, this session fits very well into Dreams even though it’s not book dictation.)

(Pause.) Some years ago, Ruburt had an experience in which he glimpsed in the center of the living room a strange form. He sensed that the form was composed of energy that was definitely predisposed to come to his assistance, or to do his bidding.

He also realized that at least to some extent this energy had accumulated as a result of his own good intentions, and his desire to help others. He called this “Helper,”¹ and he never saw the form clearly again. The form represented (long pause) the personified, accumulated positive energies that were working to his advantage at that time, that provided him protection, but that also automatically worked to the benefit of his life and projects.

Then somehow our conversation led me to wonder whether our cat, Billy, is color-blind, as we’ve heard most animals are. So far Billy had spent the session beside me on the couch, alternately napping and preening himself. I’d been admiring the loving care with which he’d addressed himself to each portion of his body. In the light from the lamp above and behind my right shoulder on the room divider, his greenish eyes were so beautifully colored, yet mysterious, that I found it hard to believe he can’t see color. I also asked Jane about what use the gorgeous colors of Billy’s luxurious fur are to him if he can’t appreciate those patches and stripes of sienna, black, warm gray, and pure white. Or do his colors serve other purposes for him that we’re unaware of? Intuitively, I felt that more is involved here than questions of camouflage and protection—that at the very least there must be connections between Billy and his colors in this reality and his source in a nonphysical one.⁴

Jane was interested in our talk—mine, mostly—but finally she revealed that it was better for her when Seth didn’t take a break: “I like it when he zooms right through to the end.” I replied that my questions carried no hints for material from Seth. “Yes,” she said, “I guess if no one had anything to say, we’d sit here like dummies.”

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.

Seth didn’t return to the material on reincarnation, schizophrenia, and possession that he began discussing last Wednesday evening in the 921st session.)