“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(I’ll preface the workaday notes for the first session of Mass Events with the following comments, just to briefly summarize the lifetime endeavor that my wife, Jane Roberts, and I are involved in with the Seth books. Seth is a highly creative “energy personality essence,” as he calls himself, who speaks through Jane while she’s in a trance or dissociated state. These notes, then, are written shortly after Seth finished dictating Mass Events in August 1979. I’ve discussed some of the same points while introducing earlier books in the series, of course, although on each occasion I did so in a different way for variety’s sake. At the same time, Jane and I want each book to be complete in itself, so that the “new” reader can begin to understand what’s happening from the very beginning. Details about some of the subjects I’ll mention here can emerge as this book proceeds, or others are referred to. And these notes will also free Jane to deal with other matters in her Introduction for Mass Events.

(By his own definition Seth is no longer a physical being, although he’s told us he’s lived a number of previous lives; thus, ideas of reincarnation enter into his material. Mass Events is the sixth¹ book that Seth has produced — all of them with Jane’s active cooperation, obviously, as well as my own, since I write down his material verbatim, then add my own notes. Often Jane has little memory of the information she delivers as, or for, Seth. She began speaking for him in December 1963, and shows no signs of slackening her output. At times her Seth voice can be very powerful indeed, with an accent I have yet to succeed in describing. When she’s really into her trance state, her blue-gray eyes become much darker, much more luminous and penetrating. Seth calls Jane “Ruburt” and me “Joseph.” According to him, these “entity names” mean only that in our present lives we identify more with the male aspects of our entities, or whole selves — which in themselves are neither male or female, but contain within them a number of other selves [of both sexes] to whom we’re related, or a part of, reincarnationally and otherwise.

(We usually hold two “sessions,” or meetings with Seth each week, totaling three or four hours, but we think that actually Seth could talk 24 hours a day for the rest of our lives, and still not cover all of the material he’s capable of tuning in to for us. [The only trouble is that Jane and I wouldn’t last long!] That astonishing creativity and energy in the sessions beckon us on constantly, then, regardless of what we think about Seth’s “reality or nonreality,” and even regardless of what he tells us about himself.

(Yet even producing the Seth books — along with a great amount of unpublished Seth material — doesn’t call upon all of Jane’s abilities, for she’s also written 10 books “on her own.” These include works of poetry, fiction, and psychic matters as experienced from her own conscious viewpoint. She has several more books in progress. It’s safe to note, however, that now all of her work bears upon that unique, still-growing view of consciousness expressed by Seth and herself. And so does mine.

(That’s saying a lot, really. We do intend to spend the rest of our lives studying the ramifications of that “unique, still-growing view of consciousness.” We still have a host of questions about Seth’s reality, his concepts, and Jane’s role [and my own] in all of this — that is, questions about consciousness itself, basically: consciousness getting to know itself in endless variations, as I’ve written before, and whether or not it’s couched in physical form.

(For now, let’s postulate that Jane and I think we understand better than we used to that our consciousnesses have no limitations except those we’ve imposed upon them through our individual perceptions and understandings. Consciousness creates all, or all that we know reflects the particularized creations of consciousness, then, and potentially those sublime mental and physical achievements are without end. The idea of infinity is implied here — a concept whose implications make us uneasy, for although Seth’s material can be said to imply infinities of creation upon the part of each of us, still we realize the conscious mind’s inability to truly grasp all of the qualities inherent within such a notion.

(At the same time, Jane and I are extremely grateful that we have the opportunity to study ideas about consciousness with Seth, and this opening up of our individual realities is something we couldn’t have conceived of before 1963. Our appreciation of life has expanded greatly — and if the Seth material did nothing but help us grow in that respect, it would perform a very valuable service. We hope others feel they’ve gained something from the material too. [Actually, I think that what I’ve learned has saved me from bitterness and disillusionment in later life. Jane has also been helped a great deal.] So our aim with the Seth books is to let Seth have his say, to add some thoughts of our own, and to trust that the feelings and meanings in all of this will evoke beneficial responses in each reader. It’s all we can do. I for one think that my own words are pretty inadequate tools of expression to convey the deeper, unspoken meanings within life that I sense but cannot really verbalize.

(I also think that Seth himself could have some pretty funny things to say here to Jane and me — some day I’ll ask him — words with which he’d humorously caution us not to take the whole affair too seriously, to leave room in our daily lives for the simple, uninhibited joy of creative expression and living even while we study his unending outpouring of material. But maintaining such a balance isn’t always easy. Seth has already offered Jane encouragement twice since he finished his part of the work for Mass Events in August 1979. He came through with the following quotations when Jane began to express a renewed concern about her responsibility for his material, and for the reactions of others to it. Her feelings had arisen in large part because of the ever-increasing mail response the Seth books have generated. Interesting, then, the way the Seth portion of Jane’s personality structure [whatever Seth’s reality may be] reinforces those other portions that are meeting all of the challenges embodied in her current mental and physical existence — and we are continually seeking to learn more about how Seth is able to do this. In these excerpts Seth also touches upon certain other points that we think of often.

(Those two excerpts from Seth contain inspired thinking — especially portions about the power of value fulfillment, and the joy and spontaneity involved in creativity. As I typed his material I was reminded of the notes I wrote and played with the other day:

(“There really isn’t anything else like the sessions going on in the world today. Even now, while I’m thinking about how to put Mass Events together for the reader, last night Seth came through with new material that he said will be part of another book. I should always remember that each time Jane and I sit for a session, it’s a unique event in the world.

(“That isn’t nearly as conceited a statement as it seems to be, of course, for each thing each person does is also unique in the world. Yet, at the same time I mean that the sessions are truly original and significant, with their contents offering new creative insights and hope to the human species in a way that most endeavors do not do. In that sense the Seth business is a remarkable achievement on Jane’s part. I do believe that prolonged study of the Seth material would yield great results toward our understanding of ourselves….”

(And now for the notes I wrote in April 1977, opening the first session for Mass Events. Although I’ve added to my notes for Seth’s book since he finished dictating it, I’ve done so very briefly in order to keep them as contemporary as possible.)

(One might say that Mass Events had its origins two Seth books ago — way back in Volume I of “Unknown” Reality, which Seth finished dictating in June 1974. At 10:14 in the 697th session for that work, he made this statement: “I will have more to say concerning illnesses, epidemics, and mass disorders in this book.”

(It wasn’t until I was checking the page [or printer’s] proofs for Volume 1 last week that I realized Seth hadn’t followed through on his promise. I’d also forgotten to remind him to do so. I asked Jane if Seth could devote the next session to that subject matter so that I could insert it in Volume 2 of “Unknown” Reality as a note or an appendix, since I had plenty of work to do yet for that second volume. She agreed; we thought some very interesting material would result. We also thought it was a good time to pose questions for Seth — for just two weeks ago, in the 800th session, he’d finished dictating his own fifth book, The Nature of the Psyche: Its Human Expression.²

(We gave up our regularly scheduled sessions last week, and spent a great deal of time correcting the proofs for Volume 1 of “Unknown.”³ In fact, I didn’t finish my part of the job until midnight Sunday; then early this morning I mailed the whole thing to Tam Mossman, Jane’s editor at Prentice-Hall. By now both of us were bleary from all of those days and nights of concentrated labor, but still we wanted to hold the session. I sat opposite Jane in our quiet, softly-lit living room, working on these notes while I waited for her to take off her glasses and go easily into trance. I felt a familiar sense of anticipation as I thought of recording the excellent session to come. And that’s when Seth surprised us.)

(“Good evening, Seth.”)

(Our young tiger cat, Billy, had been sleeping on a nearby chair. Now he woke up, stretched, jumped down and walked over to Jane as she spoke for Seth. Billy crouched to jump up into her lap. I picked him up and headed for the cellar door. Jane remained in trance.)

(“Yes,” I said to Seth over my shoulder. In a recent session Seth had remarked that Billy was “a sweet creature.” And he is. I put him in the cellar, where he sleeps each night.)

(Jane came out of her trance in a sort of amazed silence — which meant that she had some idea of what Seth had been talking about, as sometimes happens.

(Jane had started doing some typing on the final manuscript for Seth’s The Nature of the Psyche: Its Human Expression a couple of days ago. She was also working on her own The Afterdeath Journal of an American Philosopher: The World View of William James. Yet I thought she needed the stimulus of Seth having something underway. There was more than a little irony in the situation, for I was the one who’d told her flat out, back in July 1975, that she was going to start Psyche, just so that she’d have a Seth book to play with. [I’d also wanted to see what she and Seth would come up with on demand.] But this time Seth fooled me and started Mass Events only a couple of weeks after finishing Psyche. I was all for it, though, I told Jane enthusiastically. It’s always a pleasure to work on a Seth book, to explore with him his unique view of reality, and to try to put at least a few of his ideas to use in our everyday, “practical” world. I repeated my thought that it didn’t matter how many Seth books she piled up ahead of contract, or publication: That was certainly a more creative and exciting position to be in than if one didn’t have anything ahead. Jane agreed, while still worrying about what we were going to do with all of the material as it accumulated year after year. At this time there’s no way we’re going to see it all published.

(“My mind works in sneaky little ways,” she said. “I don’t tell you everything. I was thinking of something like a question-and-answer format for a book, if we did a new one.” Even that idea was a revelation to me, since she hadn’t mentioned a book, period. Seth returned briefly as we talked:

(“But I’m really surprised. I had no idea of this tonight,” Jane said as soon as she was Jane again — thereupon emphasizing anew some of our endless questions about the Seth phenomenon: What portion of her personality, or entity, whether that portion might be called a Seth, or whatever, had been busy planning — organizing — this new endeavor? And how could such a creative process take place without her having at least some conscious intimations of it? What were the limits of human accomplishment?

(11:57. The telephone began to ring. The sudden noise was a shock, so deep was our mutual concentration. Yet Jane didn’t come out of trance. As Seth, she stared at me; I stared back, making no effort to take the call. Fortunately, the ringing soon stopped.)

(12:12 A.M. After giving a few lines of material for herself, Jane abruptly came out of a very deep trance without saying good night as Seth. “I haven’t any memory of anything since break,” she said. We were tired.

(I don’t know yet how I’ll go about producing my part of Mass Events, of course, but the reader, picking up the finished work, will be able to tell at a glance all the decisions I made: whether the session notes are long or short, numerous or scarce, how often I referred to the other Seth books, and whether or not I added any appendix material.

(“Well,” I told Jane as we went to bed, “right now my idea is that we’ll have only short notes and no appendixes. Doing things that way will speed up the publication date.” I’m all too conscious of the great amount of physical time I’m spending on the two volumes of “Unknown” Reality; I often feel responsible for holding up publication of Volume 2 especially, since Seth finished dictating it almost exactly two years ago. See the chronology of our activities in Note 2.)

1. In the order of their publication the five previous Seth books are: Seth Speaks: The Eternal Validity of the Soul; The Nature of Personal Reality: A Seth Book; Volumes 1 and 2 of the “Unknown” Reality: A Seth Book; and The Nature of the Psyche: Its Human Expression. All of Jane’s books, whether produced with or without Seth, are listed in the frontmatter of Mass Events, with publication dates.

2. I don’t mean to confuse the reader by using the titles of Seth’s “old” books, but rather to show how Jane’s and my work encompasses a number of projects at once. That is, we have yet to manage to work on just one book of any kind at a time; that would be too simple! There’s always a long slow rate of turnover in our labors, it seems: As one book or project is finished, another rises almost effortlessly to take its place, and everything rolls along together until the next large change comes about.

Note that even though Seth finished dictating Volume 1 of “Unknown” Reality almost three years ago (in June 1974), and I completed my own notes and appendixes for it six months ago, we’re just now coming to the end of the long, complicated process involved in following the manuscript through the editorial and production stages necessary to get the book out into the marketplace. Checking the page proofs is the last stage we go through before publication, and Volume 1 is due to be marketed this summer — probably in July.

In physical terms, three years is an important portion of one’s life span. What were Jane and I each doing all that time? We were involved in a whole group of endeavors. I’ll recap the major ones in order to place the beginning of Seth’s latest book, Mass Events, in context. I do this for my own sake as well as the reader’s, since I like to know exactly where I am in time, and what I mean and feel when writing even a short note for one of the Seth books.

This reconstruction of the past can be both fascinating and frustrating as I compare dates, session numbers, and our daily activities. Somehow, immersed in all of that minutiae of the past, I revive it so that it becomes part of the present once more — and that coexistence then reminds me of Seth’s idea of simultaneous time; perhaps, outside of dreaming, it’s the best approximation I can make of the paradoxical notion that all exists at once, and that all changes together, for each time I regard one of my past moments from the present, I change both that past and the present.

Another purpose is involved in presenting Mass Events in context, though: I plan to use current professional and personal events from our lives as a sort of background or framework for the book as Jane delivers it for Seth. But right now, here’s a chronological list of our activities from June 17, 1974, when Seth finished his share of the work on Volume I of “Unknown Reality” to April 18, 1977 (today) when I mailed the corrected page proofs for that volume to Jane’s publisher.

Beginning in June 1974, then, while writing notes and appendixes for Volume 1 of “Unknown”, and taking Seth’s dictation for Volume 2, I spent eight months producing the art work for Jane’s Adventures in Consciousness and for her book of poetry, Dialogues of the Soul and Mortal Self in Time; I finished all of those drawings in January 1975. In the meantime Jane completed Adventures in August 1974, and started Psychic Politics that October. In March 1975 we took time out to move from the apartment house in downtown Elmira to our “hill house” just outside the city. Jane finished dictating Volume 2 of “Unknown” for Seth in April 1975, and I started my notes and appendixes for it. In July 1975 Seth began The Nature of the Psyche: Its Human Expression, and in December of that year Jane initiated work on her own The World View of Paul Cézanne: A Psychic Interpretation. She finished Politics in February 1976, and Cézanne in September; Politics was published that September also. I completed my own writing for Volume 1 of “Unknown” in October. Our 16-year-old cat, Willy, died early in November, and two days later we obtained a kitten, Willy Two (or Billy, as we soon came to call him), from an area humane society. I finished typing the manuscript for Volume 1 late in November, spent December checking it, and mailed it to Prentice-Hall early in January 1977.

In January we obtained an unlisted telephone number, because we could no longer handle the 600-or-so calls a month that were coming in. Later in the month, Jane started writing James. In February 1977 we received from Prentice-Hall the copyedited manuscript for Volume 1 of “Unknown” Reality. (Copyediting is one of the earlier editorial stages a book goes through on its way to publication, and is meant to study all of the work that Jane and I and her editor, Tam Mossman, have already done on the manuscript: Before it’s set into type, a reader who works independently of the publishing firm carefully checks the manuscript for grammar, contradictions, facts, consistency, and so forth, and makes suggestions for whatever changes he or she thinks are desirable. Jane and I are free, of course, to reject any alterations we don’t agree with.) In March we checked the copyedited manuscript for Cézanne. Seth finished dictating Psyche early in April. A few days later we began correcting page proofs for Volume 1 of “Unknown.”

At this time, I’m still working on the notes and appendixes for Volume 2 of “Unknown,” even while Seth has begun Mass Events. Jane and I have already planned our approach to Psyche (which Seth has just finished), and it’s to be published shortly after Volume 2 is. To top off our activities of the moment, we’re having the front porch of the hill house rebuilt — with a new raised floor and screening all around, so that Jane can write there in the summertime. The workmen swarming around all day, and the noise involved, are both exciting and distracting. But I have a feeling that the front porch affair isn’t the end of our construction odyssey: Jane has a certain speculative look when she notes that we have but one car — she doesn’t drive — to occupy the large two-car garage attached to the rear of the house. What better idea than to convert half of the garage into a writing room, with sliding glass doors, and add a screened-in porch there also? After all, she commented recently, the porch would protect our back door, too, especially from all of that winter weather….

3. Seth’s delivery is remarkably clear and unambiguous, but once in a while he’ll come through with an awkward sentence (as we all do), or one that combines the singular and the plural when one or the other should be used throughout, or he’ll repeat a certain word too often. On such occasions Jane and I may recast the sentence slightly while maintaining the syntax, or add a clarifying word or phrase in brackets [like this].

If I catch anything amiss in Seth’s delivery I’ll ask him about it. He may omit a word, or I may misinterpret what he says while I’m concentrating on my notetaking. In these cases Jane always spots the error at once when she reads my typed session transcript. But except for such minor alterations, or in the case of personal information, which we may delete, Seth’s material is presented as received, and we never arbitrarily eliminate any of it — occasionally to the pain of others, I’m afraid. We think it important that these sessions be given just as Jane delivers them, for after all the manner of that presentation, and its organization, are vital parts of the whole Seth phenomenon. So is the speed of delivery, for that matter. I want to remind the reader that the Seth books are spoken books rather than written ones, and that ordinarily Seth has no chance to revise his copy.

4. I’m especially interested in Seth’s material on inoculations, since on two separate occasions I underwent severe physical reactions after receiving them. Jane has also had some unfavorable experiences with inoculations.

As for myself, I took both preventative “treatments” before Jane began speaking for Seth in 1963. One led to a strong serum reaction that incapacitated me for two weeks; the other resulted in a partial paralysis lasting several days. I accepted the vaccines because I yielded (if somewhat reluctantly) to conventional parental and medical pressures, as well as my own beliefs of the time: I was “supposed” to take the inoculations; they would be “good” for me. Even now I must carry a warning card in my wallet. It bears a description of my reactions to at least some vaccines, as well as the most emphatic statement that if I’m found unconscious for any reason — after an accident, say — I must not be given an injection of any kind because I might have a fatal reaction to it. I haven’t had a “shot” since living through those very unpleasant experiences, nor do I intend to. I no longer believe I’d succumb to one of the forbidden vaccines — but at the same time I don’t want to find out what might happen, either!

Still, it would seem to be almost impossible to do without inoculation programs in our society — they’re such a strong part of our national and private medical belief systems. I’m sure that Seth will elaborate upon the whole subject of mass inoculations as he proceeds with Mass Events.

5. Seth referred to evolution in both volumes of “Unknown” Reality. As it happens, I’ve just finished writing a rather long dissertation on the subject for Volume 2. It will be presented as Appendix 12.