PREFACE BY SETH

(Jane first mentioned a couple of weeks ago that Seth, her trance personality, would start another book of his own soon. The idea had just “come” to her after supper one night. We hadn’t taken it very seriously, since we’d finished proofreading Seth’s first book, Seth Speaks: The Eternal Validity of the Soul,¹ only last month; certainly we weren’t prepared for the fact that he was quite capable of launching another such project so quickly. Nor did Jane have any conscious thoughts about subject matter, or a title, for any projected Seth book.

(However, in last Wednesday’s regularly scheduled session Seth had confirmed her anticipations in so many words — but without setting a date:

(“Now: Ruburt [as Seth calls Jane] is quite correct. We are preparing for another one, and giving you a rest in between.

(“Yes,” I’d answered, whereupon Seth had discussed other matters for the rest of the evening.

(As we sat for tonight’s session, Jane said, “Well, Seth’s all ready and I’ve got the urge to get going. Maybe he’ll start his book….” She hasn’t been dwelling upon the subject particularly — or at least I don’t remember her saying much about it.

(The energy at Jane’s command still impresses me, especially when I consider that she weighs less than ninety-five pounds. Given her permission, Seth can come through very powerfully indeed. Her delivery now though was average. By this I mean that when she speaks for Seth her voice drops in register, becomes somewhat stronger, and acquires Seth’s own deliberate but unique accent and rhythm. Jane took off her glasses and placed them on the coffee table between us. The next moment, her eyes much darker, she was in full trance.)

(“Good evening, Seth.”)

(10:00. Jane was out of trance easily. “I’ve got a feeling,” she said, “that that’s the start of Chapter One.” Her impression stemmed from the way Seth had called his material an “essay” tonight — which is something he hasn’t done before. It developed that she was partially correct. Resume at 10:07.)

(“Thank you very much, Seth. Good night.”

(End at 10:47 p.m. Jane’s delivery as Seth had been quiet but rather fast, considering the modest speed I can attain while taking verbatim notes in my homemade shorthand. “I think I’ve got half of the title,” she said as soon as she was out of trance. “It’s The Nature of Personal Reality — hyphen or colon — then something else, but I didn’t get that part. All of a sudden I’m exhausted,” she added, laughing, “but don’t write that down.”

(A few notes, added later: Six months were to pass before we learned the rest of the title for Seth’s book. While Jane was resting before supper on October 25, 1972, the full name popped into her conscious mind: The Nature of Personal Reality: A Seth Book. We held the 623rd session, bridging Chapters Four and Five, that evening.

(We never did ask Seth for an outline, per se. Once the book was under way we realized it wasn’t necessary. This decision also gave Jane as much freedom as possible.)

1. The Seth Material was published by Prentice-Hall, Inc. in 1970. Seth Speaks was published by Prentice-Hall in 1972 and by Amber–Allen Publishing/New World Library in 1994.