“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(In this noon’s mail Jane received from her editor, Tam Mossman, an early printer’s proof of the book jacket for The Afterdeath Journal of an American Philosopher: The World View of William James. This is the first time we’ve seen the design, and we like it very much: The long title, along with Jane’s name and Introduction by Seth, are well arranged in subtle pastel colors against a deep blue background. However, this proof doesn’t contain the copy that Tam will prepare for the inside flaps and the back of the jacket.¹)

(The following isn’t dictation, of course, but concerns instead a very vivid dream Jane had the day before yesterday, and Seth’s interpretation of it this evening. We’re presenting that dream material here because it contains elements of general interest, and covers points some readers have touched upon in their letters to Jane [and Seth]. Jane’s dream made me a little envious [even if an element of fear might be involved in such an event], since I don’t recall ever having had one like it. She wrote:

(After taking several minutes to cover some other material for Jane, Seth said good night at 11:10 P.M.)

1. Speaking of books: Even with all of the help Jane has given me lately on Psyche and Volume 2 of “Unknown” Reality (see the opening notes for sessions 821 and 823, respectively), I’m still only too conscious of the work I have to do to finish the notes and other material for both books, and put together their manuscripts for the publisher. I often discover the overall commitment, or plan, lingering in my mind on a distant conscious level — a pressure toward accomplishment that seems bound to accompany these long-range projects. At times this feeling can beset me, and I may find myself trying to estimate the number of weeks it’ll take me to finish Volume 2 first, then Psyche.

But naturally, I told Jane recently — again — I chose to become involved with the whole Seth phenomenon in the most intimate ways. I did so because I knew from its very beginning (in late 1963) that this process of discovery with Seth was more than worth it. I still think so. I added that I’d certainly choose to do the same thing again, and that I hoped to stay involved with the Seth books indefinitely. Granted that Seth’s material may “only” be bringing into our conscious awareness knowledge we already possess and use on other levels, still it’s a fine thing that his material makes us aware of that inner comprehension — and so new dimensions of consciousness become available to us. I “drew” a rough analogy with painting (to make a pun): The artist may start working on a blank canvas, yet each physical brush stroke he or she delineates is built upon inner knowledge and experience; in the painting these qualities are objectified in new combinations, which in turn add further to the artist’s conscious comprehension. And when the painting is finished, the artist contemplates a new reality of his or her own creation.

I mailed the last chapter of Emir to Prentice-Hall just a month ago (on February 8). Because of various delays, Jane is still waiting for news of the book’s official acceptance, even though she knows that Tam and other executives there like it very much. Emir, however, is of an in-between length — shorter than a novel, far longer than most children’s books — and she wonders: Is that fact going to complicate Prentice-Hall’s presentation of Emir as a story for “readers of all ages”? There’s talk of publishing it in two shorter volumes. Jane doesn’t know what to think. In the meantime, see the opening notes for Session 814.

3. Seth’s material on individual creativity at once reminded me of a certain passage of his in the private, or deleted, portion of the 580th session for April 12, 1971. I came across it recently while looking for some other references he’d made to Jane, or Ruburt. (The regular part of the 580th session, incidentally, was for a book, too: Chapter 20 of Seth Speaks.) I like the following quotation so much that I’ve made copies of it for us to keep where we can refer to them — in my case, pinned up on a wall in my studio. This little affair is a typical example of how something good can get lost in the constantly growing mass of Seth material; even with our attempts at indexing, it’s very difficult to keep track of single paragraphs like this: