“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

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.”

From this, I went into a long dream sequence that involved the death of a young Italian man who was somehow connected with our landlord and another about the death of someone close to a student, Lanna Crosby. When I awakened, and wrote the dreams down, I wasn’t too happy. I’d hoped that my prospectus would be followed quickly by a contract; and the other portions of the dreams weren’t too cheerful either.

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.

In the future, Seth said, the ego and intellect will expand to contain, use and appreciate all the other portions of the self which they now mistrust. Individual identity will expand to include a greater variety of impulses and stimuli. … The ego will become more of an organizer, in general, letting in, literally, a barrage of experiences and forming them into meaningful patterns. Now it fears such experiences because it is not certain of its strength or of its ability to organize them. …

The size of the brain has little to do with this beyond a certain point. The number of electrical connections are important, however, and even the old portions of the brain are affected by them. The old portions are not the same as they were. Physical examination only discloses their condition in the present.

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.