“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

Dreams are not just psychological events. There is a dimension of reality (an “objective” dimension, if you prefer) in which all dream events happen. [...] We have to learn what root-assumptions govern dream reality. I know that we can on occasion manipulate dream events; my students and I do this frequently. If we follow certain “rules” given to us by Seth, we will get more or less predictable results in the dream state — an indication that an “objective” dream dimension exists quite independently of us or our dreams, a dream dimension in which my dreams and yours have their being.

People who have always remembered many of their dreams may be less than impressed with the idea of recording dream activities, but others for whom sleep means oblivion will find dream recall a fascinating endeavor and the variety of dream acts almost astonishing. Even those with good dream-memories will find that persistant dream recall experiments are invaluable. As we discovered later, it is the effort required to remember dreams, and the resulting stretching of consciousness that finally opens up dream reality.

Records of individual dreams are not enough, nor are studies of the physiological effect of dreaming. Most psychologists would not admit the existence of a definite structured universe in which dream acts, rather than physical acts, happen. Therefore, at this time, they will not consider dreams in this larger context. Seth maintains that we will understand ourselves as dreamers only if we are also aware of the larger environment in which dreams take place, that we interact in the dream state as we do in the waking one and that we form mass dream events as we form physical events on a mass basis.

Third, we were involved in vigorous subjective activity as we began to experiment with Seth’s psy-time regularly and to follow his suggestions concerning dream investigation, recall and utilization. When we began, neither Rob nor I really suspected that there was a separate dream dimension in which dreams happened. Though Seth told us that the experiments in dream recall would automatically make our consciousness more flexible, his real meaning didn’t come through to me until I found myself manipulating dreams and later having out-of-body experiences from the dream state.

Yet, even when we admit the inspirational and supportive nature of dreams, even when we learn to recall dreams and apply them to daily life, we still only begin to glimpse their multidimensional reality. Dream interpretation is important to our three-dimensional mentalities, for example. We believe in utilization; if dreams can’t be useful, then what good are they? Dreams can give us consistent, valid information about our motives, needs and decisions. [...] But this is only a portion of any real exploration of dream reality.

The number of remembered dreams should be much higher than your present system allows. … I also suggest that the first recalled dream for any given evening be compared with the first recalled dream from other evenings, and that the second recalled dream from any one evening be compared with the second dream from other evenings, and so forth.

[...] The very self-suggestions that will enable you to recall dreams will also change their nature to some extent. [...] Again, we want the dreams in the sequence in which they occur. If you do not want to wake up after each dream of the evening, then the suggestion should always include ‘I will recall the first three dreams … or the first five dreams, or whatever.’

[...] The material on dream locations particularly intrigued me. Seth had told us to leave room in our dream records to note the locations and advised us to examine them carefully. I was quite surprised at the different kinds of dream locations in my own dreams and made up the following list of them. Look for these when you examine your own dreams:

In fact, the bulk of my dream locations in this study was equally divided between completely unfamiliar places and locations too indistinct to recall. Only seven dreams found me abroad. Most interesting of all, however, I found that most of my precognitive dreams happened in locations that were unfamiliar at the time of the dream. For this reason, I suggest that you pay particular attention to unfamiliar dream places.

Chapters Fourteen to Twenty will show you the value of dream recall and illustrate how dreams may be used to promote health, solve problems and strengthen identity. Besides exploring our own dreams and our dreaming selves, there is also the adventure of discovering the greater dimension in which all dreams take place.