“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.

In the meantime, my book, How To Develop Your ESP Power was released. In 1967, I finished the dream book manuscript, and did much more on the Seth Material. I wasn’t pleased with how I was handling that book, however, so I filed it away to look at later. It wasn’t until February 1, 1968 that I sent the dream manuscript out to a publisher. On February 17, I dreamed that it was returned and that the person to whom I had addressed it no longer worked there. On February 23, the manuscript was returned. The letter was dated the day before my dream and written by a different editor than the one to whom I’d written.

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.

Recently, I had one of very great interest. Let me give you a few details first, though. I usually spend every Sunday afternoon walking on the beach. It just so happened that I worked late Saturday night, January 17, 1970 and had the whole Sunday off, instead of just half the day. As a result I looked forward to spending the whole day on the beach.

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.

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.

Sometimes precognitive information will appear to be wrong. In some cases, this is because a different probable event has been chosen by the self for physical materialization. I have access to the field of probabilities, and, egotistically at least, you do not. To me, your past, present and future merge into one.

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.

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.

I have told you that each individual creates physical matter, including objects and his own image. Coherence, illusion of permanency, placement in space, mass and color are all arrived at and agreed upon in the ways already explained. Telepathic communication is one of the methods by which such agreement is reached.

There are many kinds of mass or shared dreams. For now, we will be concerned with mass dreams that have an almost universal nature; that is, dreams that are shared at one time or another by the majority of living persons on your planet.

One individual is more important than you have ever dreamed, however, for the intensity and intent are important. One man passionately willing good or evil can overbalance literally a hundred men. And in the dream state, also, leaders can be born and make themselves known. The people already know them in mass dreams before they are recognized in physical reality.