“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

A child who says, “I gave up my life for my parents and devoted myself to their care,” means, “I was afraid to live my own life, and afraid to let them live theirs. And so in ‘giving up’ my life I gained the life I wanted.”

(It’s estimated that Jesus Christ was born between 8 and 5 B.C., and died in A.D. 29 or 30.)

(Long pause, eyes closed, at 10:55.) The very term, “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 19:19, Mark 12:31), was an ironic statement, for in that society no man loved his neighbor, but distrusted him heartily. Much of Christ’s humor has been lost, therefore.

As I mentioned in Seth Speaks, the Christ entity was too great to be contained in any one man, or for that matter in any one time, so the man you think of as Christ was not crucified (See chapters Twenty-one and Twenty-two of Seth Speaks.)

Nor was the idea of self-sacrifice then involved. The myth became more “real” than the physical event, which of course is the case in many so-called important historical events. But even the myth was distorted. God did not sacrifice his dearly beloved son by allowing that son to be physical. The Christ entity desired to be born in space and time, to straddle creaturehood in order to serve as a leader, and to translate certain truths in physical terms.

Each of you survive death. The man who was crucified knew this beyond all doubt, and he sacrificed nothing.

The “substitute” was a personality seemingly deluded, but in his delusion he knew that each person is resurrected. He took it upon himself to become the symbol of this knowledge.

The man called Christ was not crucified. In the overall drama however it made little difference what was fact, in your terms, and what was not — for the greater reality transcends facts and creates them. You have free will. You could interpret the drama as you wished. It was given to you. Its great creative power still exists and you use it in your own way, even changing your own symbolism as your beliefs change. But the main idea is the affirmation that the physical being, the self that you know, is not annihilated with death. This comes through even in the distortions. The whole concept of God the Father, as given by Christ, was indeed a “new testament.” The male image of God was used because of the sex orientation of the times, but beyond this the Christ personality said, “…the kingdom of God is within (among) you” (Luke 17:21).

In a certain way the Christ personality was a manifestation of the evolution of consciousness, leading the race beyond the violent concepts of the times, and altering behavior that had prevailed to that time.

(11:18. Jane remembered only that Seth had talked about Christ and given some Biblical quotations. She knows little about either — or about the Bible itself. As an example, she didn’t think “…the kingdom of God is within you” was from the Bible, but I located several versions of this saying by Jesus easily enough later: “For lo, the kingdom…”; “…for in fact…”; “For behold…”

(A note added later: More information is available, however, in return for the investment in time necessary to receive it. Seth finished his part of the work on this book in mid-July. Not long afterward I came across an illustrated article about Jerusalem in a travel magazine. We saved it for possible reference. One of the photographs accompanying the piece was a double-page, full color aerial view of the entire city in its desert setting; Jane and I found this so evocative that I mounted it for easy study. Jerusalem’s arid environment, coupled with its incredibly complex and active history, led us to speculate anew about the mysterious forces of religious creativity that seemingly had always emanated from there, and were still doing so.

In terms of time — evolution as you think of it — emerging consciousness had come to the point where it delighted so in distinctions and differences, that even in small geographical areas multitudinous groups, cults and nationalities were assembled, each proudly asserting its own individuality and worth over the others. In the beginning in those terms, man’s emerging consciousness needed the freedom to disperse itself, to become different, to originate bases for various characteristics, and assert individuations. By Christ’s time, however, some principle of unity was necessary by which this diversification would also experience a sense of unity and feel its oneness.

Christ was the symbol of man’s emerging consciousness, holding within himself the knowledge of man’s potential. His message was meant to be carried beyond the times, but this interpretation is often not made.

He affirmed the reality of the individual over any organization while still realizing that some system was necessary. His whole message was that the exterior world is the manifestation of the interior one, that the “kingdom of God” is made flesh.

There are indeed lost gospels, written by men in other countries in that time, relating to Christ’s unknown life, to episodes not given in the Bible. These formed a quite separate framework of knowledge that could be accepted by people who had different beliefs than the Jews at that time. The messages were given in other terms, but again they reflected the affirmation of the self and its continued existence after physical death. Love was always stressed.

(11:52.) One of the Gospels is counterfeit — that is, it was written after the others, and the events twisted to make it appear that some of them happened in a completely different context than they did. Regardless, Christ’s message was one of affirmation.

(Jane, in trance, paused as I looked up questioningly. “I was going to ask which Gospel is counterfeit, because we’re sure to get letters about that.”)

It was not Mark’s or John’s. There are particular reasons why I do not want to specify now.

(Pause.) At the time, Christ united man’s consciousness in ways that reached out into history. The Christ consciousness was not isolated. I am speaking in your terms now. The same consciousness gave birth to all of your religions, therefore; the various frameworks through which the peoples of different times could express themselves and grow. In all cases the religions began with the beliefs prevailing, spoke through the dictums of the times, and then expanded. Now this represents the spiritual side of man’s evolution. The idea-frameworks of psychic and mental life were far more important than the physical aspects as the species grew and changed.

(After the session Jane tried a brief experiment. I explained the little I knew about the Gospels to her, and suggested that she attempt to psychically determine whether the “counterfeit” Gospel was that according to Matthew or Luke. In a moment, without trying too hard, Jane said it was Matthew’s. She didn’t know why she came up with that answer and she didn’t try to find out more — nor, she said, did her statement necessarily constitute a reply from or through Seth. It’s generally thought that the Gospel according to Mark was written first.