“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(Pause.) There has been great discussion in past years about the survival of the fittest, in Darwinian terms,⁴ but little emphasis is placed upon the quality of life, or of survival itself; or in human terms, [there has been] little probing into the question of what makes life worthwhile. Quite simply, if life is not worthwhile (louder), no species will have a reason to continue.

The quality of life is important above all. Newborn animals either die quickly and naturally, painlessly, before their consciousnesses are fully focused here, or are killed by their mothers — not because they are weak or unfit to survive, but because the [physical] conditions are not those that will produce the quality of life that makes survival “worthwhile.”

There are also “trial runs” in human and animal species alike, in which peeks are taken, or glimpses, of physical life, and that is all. Epidemics sweeping through animal populations are also biological and psychic statements, then, in which each individual knows that only its own greatest fulfillment can satisfy the quality of life on an individual basis, and thus contribute to the mass survival of the species.

Animals as well as men can indeed make social statements, that appear in a biological context. Animals stricken by kitten and puppy diseases, for example, choose to die, pointing out the fact that the quality of their lives individually and en masse is vastly lacking. Their relationships with their own species is no longer in balance. They cannot use their full abilities or powers, nor are many of them given compensating elements in terms of a beneficial psychic relationship with man — but instead are shunted aside, unwanted and unloved. An unloved animal does not want to live.

An animal can indeed commit suicide. So can a race or a species. The dignity of a spirited life demands that a certain quality of experience be maintained.

Jane has great energy and power at her disposal when speaking for Seth, and I can often feel those qualities as though they form a collective palpable entity in itself. During our private and book sessions Seth’s voice effects are usually quite conversational in tone and emphasis, and he speaks slowly enough so that I can comfortably take notes. The Seth voice can be stunning in volume and rapidity of delivery, however, and can seemingly continue in those modes indefinitely: I’ve witnessed some truly remarkable demonstrations, lasting several hours. Such manifestations are practically never carried that far in our regular sessions, however. Nor is Jane ever exhausted by speaking for Seth — rather, she reports an infusion of energy, both subjectively and objectively. As she’s often said, she “rides” the Seth voice, or the energy behind or within it.