“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

At this point, I look up and see Seth sitting on some crates, very much heavier-looking than in the portrait Rob did of him — swarthier, in dark khaki clothes and boots.

Here Seth turns to me and to some others who now appear in the room. Neither Jane or Rob see Seth or the others, although Seth is gesturing and his voice is audible, at least to me.

‘The last books are on the Seth Material,’ I continue, watching them. ‘Do you know about Seth yet?’

Jane lights a cigarette and tries to be flippant. ‘Isn’t that funny!’ she says. ‘Just today Rob was on the phone, and had to hang up. He said, “Seth is coming, have to hang up.” Then he didn’t know what he meant. We figured that it was a slip of the tongue of some kind. But we wondered about it.’

‘Has there been any contact with Seth?’ I persist. They seem reluctant to discuss it but finally Jane nods. Her eyes are very alert and bright.

In the meantime, one of the other people with Seth speaks with him. One is a large, jolly-looking monk. I also notice that Rob’s back seems much more comfortable than at our first meeting. ‘You’ll go on and develop your own way in this probability system,’ I say. Affection seems to well up among us.

Jane then hands me a manuscript, a novel based on the August 11th dream encounter we had, from her perspective, but it includes this present dream experience also, the Seth breakthrough and someone named Michael J. Anthony. It seems to read well as I look it over, but I realize that the time sequence is confused here, in reference to me anyhow, and the story is mixing me up. ‘I’m sorry. It’s good, but I’ve got to go now,’ I say quickly. With a last look at the two of them, sitting together on the edge of so much, I wake up fully and alert, sitting up in bed.

The whole series of experiences concerning probabilities raised many questions. Seth answered several in a class session held several days after Sue’s last dream. Speaking to her directly, Seth first mentioned the headache that had been plaguing her all day:

The following excerpts from the Seth Material will explain probable systems more clearly, and relate probable selves with dream experience.

This probable self has operated in each reincarnation, in each materialization of the personality, and has at its command literally millions of probable situations and conditions upon which to make value judgments. Of itself, however, it does not make the decision as to whether or not a particular event will be made physical. It merely passes on the information that it has received through experience.

Again, these portions of the self exist in each reincarnation. In the materialization of personality through various reincarnations only the ego and layers of personal subconscious adapt new characteristics. Other portions retain their experience, identity, and knowledge. The ego, in fact, receives much of its stability because of this retention. Were it not for experiences in other lives on the part of deeper layers of the self, the ego would find it almost impossible to relate to other individuals, and the cohesive nature of society would not exist.

So far, we’ve experienced two main types of dreams that seem to involve probabilities. Sue’s, given earlier, represent the personally-oriented dream in which we seem to perceive probable events that could have happened or could happen in the future in our normal environment. Other kinds of dreams involve the “bizarre environments” Seth mentioned and show societies or civilizations quite alien to us, but built up around elements at least recognizable.

We swim about the apartment. An older woman comes into the kitchen. She is dressed normally except that her dress is of a strange metallic material. She looks surprised at our costumes, but I see a paper and pen on the kitchen counter and write a brief explanation. She glances at our flippers. I take one off and show her my foot. ‘Just like ours,’ she says, surprised. Her voice is clear but very high-pitched.

According to Seth, children actually try out in dreams the various courses open to them. Speaking to Rob in Session 282, August 31, 1966, he said:

Seth told us that Rob’s doctor probable self was a Doctor Pietra. As mentioned in my earlier book, we tried to contact him — so far, without success. Some years ago, Rob did do some medical artwork and was astonished at his success. He has no conscious knowledge of wanting to be a doctor as a child, but in painting he always emphasized body structure and form.

But what is the point of all these probable selves? What do they have to do with the development of personality as we think of it? Seth is still discussing probabilities in his own book, so we don’t have all the answers, by any means. One night, Rob asked Seth how our own egos had changed as a result of our sessions, however, and Seth used the question as an opportunity to give us more information about personality and probable selves.

Events, then, are materialized in your time from their origins in ‘no time.’ There is no end to the source or supply of probabilities, therefore ‘no time’ is not a static, completed storehouse. Each event you form from any set of probabilities automatically gives rise to new probabilities.