“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(After holding the first session for this chapter, Jane wrote intently on Oversoul 7 and did some work on a long-range project that she tentatively calls Aspect Psychology. Then, just before we were to resume work on Seth’s book, the great flood of Friday, June 23, 1972, took place.

(Jane and I decided to remain behind when, finally, last minute requests to evacuate our section of Elmira were made before dawn. Our decision, of course, contained deeply symbolic meanings for us that we still only partially understand. The Chemung River passes less than a block from our apartment house on its way through the center of the city, but since we lived on the second floor we thought we’d be secure. The house was solid, we decided. The neighborhood emptied itself except for us, and became extremely quiet.

(The water, thick with topsoil, exuding a near-suffocating odor of petroleum effluents, became one foot deep in the yard, then three, then five…. Jane and I found ourselves experiencing a drastic new world, and although Seth hasn’t said so yet, I believe that to be one of the reasons we stayed. We sipped wine and used light self-hypnosis to take the edge off our tension, but as we watched the water crawl up the side of the old red-brick house next door, our new reality threatened to turn into a terrifying one indeed. Had we made the right decision?

(By now escape was probably impossible. I suggested that Jane “tune in” psychically to see what she could learn about our situation. “It’s hard to be calm when you’re really scared,” she said, but began to compose herself. Gradually she attained a very relaxed state. She told me that the water would reach its highest level late that afternoon; incredibly, it would become almost ten feet deep in the yard and reach halfway up the first-floor windows of the house next to ours. We would be safe as long as we stayed where we were. Jane sounded awed, though, when she said that the Walnut Street Bridge would “go.” I was awed too, since the old steel bridge crossed the Chemung River less than half a block from us. We couldn’t see it because of the houses across the street.

(As soon as Jane had “picked up” this information we began to feel better. We ate, played cards, and periodically checked the water level. Several hours passed. The flood crested within fifteen minutes of the time Jane had given, and within three inches of her projected high-water mark. We slept that evening knowing that the water was dropping quickly. The next morning I walked over to the Walnut Street Bridge. It had been destroyed; several of its spans had been washed out.

(We were lucky compared to many others in the city. We’d lost our car, but we had a place to live and had all of our paintings, manuscripts and records, including the fifty-three volumes of the Seth material, intact. Since we occupy two apartments in order to have enough living and working space, we had room to take in a couple who had been flooded out. The weather was cold and rainy. Our days became a routine of actions devoted to survival, although Jane finished Oversoul 7 early in July, and resumed her classes. This book was put aside for a long time.

(In August Jane held one session on the flood — in which Seth had time to just touch upon the reasons behind our personal involvement in it — and late that month and in September we had several house guests in connection with psychic work. One of them was Richard Bach, author of the very successful book, Jonathan Livingston Seagull.³

(When she felt it was time to resume work on Seth’s book, Jane discovered to her surprise that she was somewhat nervous about it. Yet, speaking for Seth, she resumed dictation so smoothly that it seemed there hadn’t been any such thing as a three-month lapse….)

(“That’s a good idea.” By mail and telephone, Jane has been getting more requests for help than she can handle.)

(I paused, considering the late hour, then asked Seth for his opinion about the recent visit of a young scientist from a Western state. Jane, both as Seth and as herself, had made a good start at tuning-in on certain technical information. I felt however that a great amount of time and effort would be needed, on a regular basis over a period of years, probably, for Jane to make full use of her abilities in such specialized endeavors.)

(End at 11:32 p.m. Jane was quickly out of an excellent dissociated state. “I’m glad Seth’s working on his book again,” she said. “I know it’s silly, but I feel a lot better. I was even wondering if my own attitude was holding the thing up now, after all of those other interruptions….” And so, like Seth Speaks, this is really two books in one: It’s not only about the nature of personal reality, but the circumstances surrounding Jane’s production of the material and the many ideas she has concerning it.

2. A note added later: The Seth Material and Seth Speaks contain some references to the reincarnational connections that Seth postulates involving himself, Jane, and me. Such personal data is outside the scope of this book; but in Chapter Nineteen, Seth does go into his ideas on reincarnation, time, etc., in a more objective way.