“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.

I was disappointed, naturally, but again I sent the dream manuscript out; this time to Prentice-Hall, on April 2, 1968. On April 12, as I did psy-time, I received a strong impression that Prentice would give me a contract if I revised the book rather drastically. On April 19, I received a letter from Assistant Editor Tam Mossman, stating that the house might be interested in a book on Seth, utilizing parts of the dream book manuscript. I wrote back to see exactly what they had in mind.

First there was an extremely vivid dream in which Rob and I were in a little town in New York. Then I experienced a false awakening: I thought I was awake, and about to get up to write down the dream. The phone rang. I jumped out of bed, rushed into the living room. But as I reached the phone, it stopped ringing. At the same time, I felt an instant sense of strangeness. It had been bright and cloudless before I went to bed; now the sky was much too dark. A brooding quality filled the room, and outside the windows, everything was dimly lit as if it were suddenly the hour just before dawn.

Then I recalled my previous experiments with dream states and knew that I wasn’t normally awake as I thought, but was wandering out in the living room, in an out-of-body state and hallucinating. The phone had never rung. My body was still in bed. The darkness was an effect caused by the state of my consciousness. So, while I had the chance, I decided to do some more experimenting and went out the hall door, downstairs and outside.

There were several normal dreams. Then I saw a letter about my book from Prentice. It was on normal typing paper and requested, first, some further work on the book — either an outline of a projected book to include portions of the dream manuscript, but stressing Seth, or some sample chapters — before a contract would be signed. One sentence read, “Or better, send on some notes from the original Seth material, and maybe we can consider that as advance work for a contract.”

Again Rob assured me that I wasn’t dreaming, but now I was sure that I was and afraid that I was about to awaken. Rob handed me the letter. Hurriedly, I grabbed it. Later I forgot much of what I read, but I knew that a contract would not be given yet — there would be a lag. Some obstacle had arisen, but there was still hope. There was also something about my being fired from a job because I was notorious as a writer.

The following day, we learned that a young Italian man had died — a former neighbor who had lived in this apartment house some time before; hence, the connection with our landlord in the dream. From experience, I knew that if one element in a dream sequence is precognitive, then the others usually are, too — at least in my case. So I waited. The next day, I heard that a friend of Lanna’s had died. But still I heard nothing from Prentice-Hall.

Apparently Rob, too, has his dream eye out for my writing interests. Back in 1964, a national magazine accepted my short story, “Big Freeze.” Payment was to be on publication. As time went on, I heard nothing from them, and the magazine was not one that we regularly purchase. I made a mental note to write them but kept putting it off. Then, on October 21, 1965, Rob dreamed that my story, “Big Freeze,” had already been published. Rob told me about the dream and recorded it in the morning.

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.

Notice that his own death was not seen in the dream! But death dreams do not always foretell death, in any case. Some of them may simply allow us to release repressed wishes. Others may involve reincarnational data. Seth says that we use our inner perceptions as we use our outer ones — to discover more about things in which we are interested. If you are inclined to be pessimistic, most likely you will often have pessimistic dreams as well.

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.

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.

In telepathic, clairvoyant or precognitive dreams, exactly what is transmitted? I looked to my own dream records for some answers, but Seth discussed this point in Session 197 for October 11, 1965:

If we can see future events in dreams, does this mean that the theory of free will is a myth? Not at all. But in order to answer this question, Seth considers it along with the nature of time and probable events.

In such cases, it is necessary that the correct channel of probable events be perceived; ‘correct’ meaning the channel which will ultimately be chosen in your terms. The choice is dependent upon your choices in both past and present. These choices, however, are based upon your changing perceptions of past and present. Because I have a greater scope of perception than you, I can predict what may happen with better facility. But this is still dependent upon my prediction of a choice you will make.

The field of probabilities is quite as real as your physical universe. The experiences encountered there by other portions of the self are used by the whole self. The knowledge gained there is invaluable, not only in terms of overall experience, but as a means of training the ego and subconscious to choose between various activities.

This probable field seeds many other systems beside your own. It is composed of thought images, not physically materialized in your terms, but vivid storehouses of energy. Here is the material from which all pasts, presents and futures are made. It is far from a closed system. Not only does it feed the physical universe, but in it, many aspects of your own dreams become actual. Do you dream of an apple? The apple appears in the field of probability.

Any given personal association may originate from a dream event, as well as from a past waking one. Psychologists, generally speaking, have not yet accepted the theories of your own physicists, and they continue to consider time as a series of moments. The inverted time system recognizes the actual nature of time. There is room in it for a rather complete explanation of the mind’s associative processes. The mind, as opposed to the brain, perceives in terms of a spacious present. Therefore, it draws its associations not only from your present and past but also from your future.

Frederick may be reacting to an unpleasant event experienced in the dream state in which the upsetting situation was accompanied by the particular odor. [But] he could also be reacting to a future event of the same nature, for again, the mind does not break time into a series of moments. This is done by the physical brain.

The ego, as a rule, is not aware of this broader time experience, but the subconscious often is; and associative processes of the mind can and do react to the future. Therefore, it is possible for our Frederick to become ill this year at the smell of a particular perfume because, say, subconsciously he knows that in 1980 his mother will be wearing it when she dies. The associative processes work both forward and backward.

Under ordinary circumstances, data is received through the physical senses and then interpreted by the brain. When a clairvoyant event is perceived, the data is received by the mind, then given to the brain which then interprets it. The physical body becomes aware of it, but the senses have actually been bypassed. The interpretation is made, however, in the same way as it usually is. Otherwise, the information would not register for the physical organism.

Actually, of course, much information perceived directly by the mind does bypass the physical organism completely. In some such cases, the subconscious does receive the data. In other cases, it is not recorded in any way within the physical system but is recorded at deeper layers of the self.