“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

On February 12, 1966, I dreamed that I was on a bed, with Rob on one side of me and another man nearby. There was no pain but a movement in the pelvis, and I delivered a baby. But then a doctor held up two infants and I thought with a laugh, “Oh, no! Twins. Really, this is too much!” — meaning that after having no children, two at once was really something. Then the doctor reassured me that only one baby was involved. The hospital was in my own childhood neighborhood. I was pleased that the delivery was easy and painless.

Ruburt’s dream represented several layers of information. On a superficial level, it represented his inner knowledge that he is not physically afraid of childbirth. On another layer, it represented the knowledge that a future endeavor would at first seem to be two separate ones — two accomplishments, but on later examination, it will be seen that they are unified. These have not yet come to pass and they represent a new birth — from the unconscious. This spring will be the time. I am one of those represented in the dream, as Joseph is the other. The affair will be beneficial from many viewpoints and represents a creative endeavor. Again, he will think that two are involved and will realize that one unified product has been achieved instead. He saw a female baby because the product will be intuitive and psychic rather than born from logic. It will begin about the time of his own birth date, another reason why birth symbolism was used.

At the time, I had just begun two books — an initial draft outlining the ideas in the Seth Material and a manuscript on dreams that I thought of as my “dream book.” It didn’t occur to me that these two manuscripts could have anything to do with the dream interpretation because they were in the present rather than in the future. They were definitely two books, each with its own identity, and covering different subjects.

In the end, I combined portions of the dream book manuscript into a new book called The Seth Material, which was published by Prentice-Hall in September, 1970. That book was one project, then, that seemed to be two entirely different ones. I had begun it on May 9, one day after my birthday. Seth’s interpretation of that first dream, some three years ago, had been correct. In a series of dreams, I also knew that the unused portions of the original dream manuscript would appear in another book — and they are — in this book you are now reading.

I’m making good progress with the suggestions for dream recall. Now I can remember at least one dream every two days. [Previously, he’d recalled dreams very seldomly.] It’s unfortunate that I can’t keep a notebook in the service, but I do make a quick note of dreams when I can.

I couldn’t have known about the attack through any normal information, of course, and there was no talk around the base about rockets or anything in the past to suggest the dream — except that such a possibility existed. We’ve only had two such attacks in the nine months I’ve been here, though, so they are hardly everyday occurrences.

Sometimes we seem to tune into unfortunate events that do not even concern us. On June 20, for example, Virginia Mallery, one of my students, told our class the following dream: “I saw freight cars on the ground by the railroad viaduct. … I think the Gray Street viaduct in Elmira, though I’m not sure. They had fallen off the track. No one seemed hurt, and the cars weren’t smashed badly. As I remember, two were lying down, and one was up on end. I don’t recall seeing any automobiles.”

On January 25, there was a train wreck in Elmira. Two freight cars fell off the same viaduct that Virginia had seen in her dream but a few blocks south of Gray Street. No one was hurt, the cars were not badly smashed and no automobiles were involved. Two, rather than three, freight cars had turned over, one on its side and one flat.

Clair McClure, a friend, had the following dream several times from June 26 through June 29. She saw herself having an automobile accident at an intersection. Two other cars were involved, though only one hit Claire’s car. On the corner was a Mobil gas station. The dream upset her, since she was planning a trip to New York on June 30. During the trip, she was very careful, and she told her dream to her family, to me and to a friend in New York. Three days after her return, she was in an accident just outside of town. Everything, including the Mobil gas station, followed the dream events.

But is the future predetermined? Seth says no — that time is being changed at each point. It’s impossible to speak of time and precognition without considering probabilities. The following two chapters on probabilities and dreams contain some of the most intriguing material Seth has given us — and precognition must be seen against this larger perspective. First, however, here are some excerpts dealing more specifically with dreams and precognition.