“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(Rachel had been discussing a story on astral projection which told of a man seeing a black shape trying to sever the silver cord so he could not return to his body.)

This was a warning given by the personality himself. He frightened himself into returning to his body for he had been away from it too long. He was dilly-dallying where he did not belong, and he was getting into realities that did not concern him. He was like a truant so he caused the hallucination so that he would return to his body. Now the nature of the hallucination was his own doing. He used his own fears to cause the hallucination. He was not discriminate. He was not using his common sense. He knew it was time to return to the body, and he decided to stay out of it despite the nature of inclination to return, and so he made a nightmare for himself to frighten himself home like the errant boy that he was. And in almost all cases this is what occurs.

Now bodies are not at such a high premium. They are not as valuable as you may suppose. There are simply not that many personalities anxious for physical existence. You put a very high premium upon your physical life. In many cases, however, those who have left it are glad to leave it behind. They are not all that anxious to get back in.

Now, as Ruburt mentioned earlier, we have some strong elements present. You can, indeed, be involved in some group out-of-body endeavors. Now all of you can be involved to some degree or another but you must want to be involved. You must desire the experience or you will not have it. It does no good to tell yourselves that you will leave your body fifty times before you sleep, if in the back of your skull you are thinking, I am terrified. The inner self will put up a caution light. You are not ready.

Creativity cannot exist in the midst of fears that are prohibitive. Fears are restrictive and they hold you back. On the other hand, if you allow yourselves freedom, if you give your inner selves freedom, then, indeed, you can leave your bodies happily, safely and easily. Some of you are ready, and this has nothing to do with the amount of time you have spent in class. It has to do with your sense of inner freedom.

I could not have put it more simply if I tried. Now, I will tell you what I will do. I will see to it that you have a very vivid out-of-body experience from the dream state. With your permission.

There is a point I want to make, however. Now in my book, my own book, there are two chapters in particular. One is called “Death Conditions in Life”’ and in it I make several points that will somewhat answer your questions. First of all, when you sleep, in your terms, you are as dead as you will ever be. You are operating in out-of-body conditions. You are experiencing other dimensions of reality. You are quite as busy as you are in your daily life but because you do not remember in the morning, it seems to you that you are largely unconscious. In this state, therefore, you are learning. You have every opportunity to study, to look upon your past lives, in your terms, and benefit from them.

All of our regular students attend classes, whether you know it or not. I get you here once a week, as a rule, but I also get you in other dimensions of reality. You all have tasks to perform. Some of you do help persons who have immediately left this system to acclimate to the new conditions. You are smarter when you are asleep than when you are awake. You are learning as much then, therefore, as you do between lives. That is a point that I wanted to make. In your waking existence you are simply focused upon physical reality. When the body sleeps you are no longer focused within it, instead you embark upon other adventures and, in your terms, you advance your own education.