“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

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.

The product will not come from pain, so he felt none. It will be the result of psychic motion. This simply represents another creative endeavor which he will deliver with our help. Now, my fondest regards to you both, from your own valentine.

“The same to you,” Rob said, with a smile. He’d forgotten it was Valentine’s Day.

Three weeks passed. Finally, I called and discovered that my dream had been correct. There was some resistence. Tam, with whom I had been corresponding, had to sell the idea to his boss — a woman. Tam asked me if I would consent to having a well-known psychic writer tell my story for me because of the built-in publicity his name would lend. Thinking of my dream, I refused. Now I understood the reference to losing my “job” and the connection with the “notorious” writer. Tam said he had great faith in the book and would continue to work on my behalf. And there it rested.

That day, in the art department where Rob works mornings, a co-worker told Rob that he had just read my story and liked it. It had appeared in the current issue of the magazine, then on the stands. The magazine had just come out and Rob had not seen it. I wrote them and received payment and their apology for the “oversight.” In mentioning the dream during a session, Seth told Rob that he had also translated the title into the sensation of feeling chilly upon awakening — a fact that Rob had forgotten.

A friend, Jim Lord, realizes how helpful dreams can be, because one literally saved his life. Jim had only just begun dream recall experiments when he was sent to Vietnam. Just as I started working on this chapter, I received a letter from him:

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.

According to the rest of Jim’s letter, if he’d been on the beach as usual that morning, only a miracle could have saved him from death. In this case, he had been given information of the greatest value — and he acted on it.

I mentioned in your last session that your scientists do not realize that man has, indeed, evolved since the development of the brain. For it has learned to form millions of new connections, meanings and concepts, new gestalts that have made man something different than he was. All of these are new electromagnetic patterns which are now indelibly a part of the race. …

Take an example: Frederick Y. becomes ill whenever he smells a certain perfume. He does not know the reason. A psychologist might explain the reaction by presuming that some unpleasant event from the past was connected with his perception of the perfume. The explanation is a good possible one; however, it is often the only one that would be considered.

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.

When an individual clairvoyantly ‘sees’ an event, this is what happens: First he forgets the concept of continual moments that usually hampers perception. His perception changes focus so that he is aware of an event that otherwise would seem to be in the future. Unconsciously, as always, he constructs material objects in line with the available data.

It goes without saying, then, that he helps to form the clairvoyantly perceived event, just as he helps construct any event in the present. The agreement as to physical dimensions is reached in the same manner as usual. …