“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

Seth began dictating the book in our next Session 511, January 21, 1970, and finished it in Session 591, August 11, 1971. The intervening sessions did not all involve book dictation, however. Some were devoted to personal matters, some given for specific people who needed help, and some were in answer to philosophical questions not connected with the book. I also took several “little vacations.” Despite such layoffs, Seth always picked right up, precisely where he left off dictation.

Rob has always taken verbatim notes of the Seth sessions, using his own shorthand system. Later in the week he types them and adds them to our collection of Seth material. Rob’s excellent notes point up the living framework in which the sessions take place. His support and encouragement have been invaluable.

Seth also appears frequently in the dreams of my students, giving them instructions that work — either involving methods of using their abilities or of achieving certain goals. Almost all of my students have frequent “class dreams,” also, in which Seth addresses them as a group and initiates dream experiments. Sometimes they see him as he appears in the portrait Rob painted of him. On occasion he speaks through my image, as in normal sessions. I have awakened many times, when such dream sessions were taking place, hearing Seth’s words still lingering in my mind.

Seth’s dictation is given as we received it, in order, with no paragraphs added or deleted. He certainly knows the difference between spoken and written language. His class sessions are less formal, with a good amount of give and take. This book, though, is much more like our own private sessions in which the body of the material is delivered. The emphasis is more definitely on content, the stress on the written rather than the spoken word.

(At the supper table this evening we had been speculating about the times Seth had given in connection with his life as a pope, both in the ESP class session for May 25, 1971, and the 588th session in this chapter. [...] To our further surprise, Seth added to the data concerning that life in tonight’s session.)

(The session began late this evening because Jane and I first attended a twenty-fifth wedding anniversary surprise party for a member of ESP class. [...]

(10:55 P.M. This proved to be the end of the session.)

SESSION 590, AUGUST 9, 1971,
10:05 P.M. MONDAY

(We were ready for the session early this evening, for a change. [...] Seth did analyze the dream at the end of the session, so that material is deleted from the dictation on his book.

[...] She remembered how, in early sessions, Seth had talked about a minimum of three reincarnational existences for most entities — and how “scandalized” she’d been later when she began to realize that Seth had lived many lives. [...] When the sessions began, Jane was especially bothered by what she called the trite and popular ideas about reincarnation, mixed up as they were with ideas of good and evil, punishment, etc.

(“I go along wholeheartedly with Seth’s statement that reincarnation is as much a myth as a fact,” she said now, referring to an ESP class session. In that session, for May 4, 1971, Seth said in part: “So what you understand of reincarnation, and of the time terms involved, is a very simplified tale indeed…. [...]

[...] Then she told me Seth was “around” and that the session would begin in a moment. [...]

(Seth first referred to his incarnation as a minor Pope in Jane’s ESP class session for May 15, 1971. [...] The session was recorded, so the quotes that follow are verbatim. [...]

[...] When I came to type up this session I wondered if Seth-Jane’s mention of the third century might be an error. [If so, I hadn’t been quick enough to catch it; I could have asked about it at once.] Since Seth gave A.D. 300 in the class session for last May, I personally think it more likely that his papal incarnation followed this date, taking place in the fourth century. [...]

[...] When I feel that Jane might choose to continue a session, I ask for a break instead of ending the session. [...]

[...] Some have been given in Ruburt’s class sessions, and some, though few, have appeared in The Seth Material itself.

(Again, this was a short session. [...] But now… “I almost don’t want to hold the session,” Jane said as we waited for 9:00. [...]

[...] We made various joking remarks about what would come next in the sessions, but I could see that Jane didn’t really feel humorous. Actually, Seth’s own book contained so many ideas for future sessions that our problem would be what to explore first — and we would have the unaccustomed opportunity to carry out these studies at our leisure.

Now: I will end our session for the evening. [...]

We will have a private session next time.