“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

Proofreading involved work on Rob’s notes mainly, as he made them more presentable. In some cases, material not a part of the book was included if it seemed relevant, cast sidelights on the method of presentation, or gave insights into Seth himself. As Rob’s notes also show, Seth began dictating the Appendix as soon as the book was finished. Rather amusingly, I didn’t realize that Seth had already begun the Appendix, and I spent several days wondering just who was supposed to take care of it — and if Seth was, when he would begin.

Reading the finished book was a delightful experience. As a whole it was completely new to me, though each word had been spoken through my lips, and I had devoted many evenings in trance to its production. This was particularly strange to me since I am a writer myself, used to organizing my own material, keeping track of it, and hovering over it like a mother hen.

It was extremely difficult to choose a few excerpts on any given topic from Seth’s growing body of work. As a result, The Seth Material necessarily left many questions unanswered and many topics unexplored. Two weeks after it was finished, however, Seth dictated the outline for this present manuscript, in which he would be free to state his ideas in his own way, in book form.

During the time that he was working on his book, I was writing four hours a day on a book of my own, conducting my weekly ESP class, and finding myself swamped by the correspondence that followed publication of The Seth Material. I also began holding a weekly class in creative writing.

(10:11.) While I was not literate, I was shrewd and lively of mind. [...] While I was a Roman and a citizen, my citizenship meant little except for providing me with minimal safety as I went about my daily way, and in my business I encountered as many Jews as Romans. I was not too far above them socially. (This was Seth’s first bit of humor in the chapter.)

— who was, as clearly as I could figure out at the time, a “sacred” assassin. He was drunk the night I spoke to him in a stinking stall outside of Jerusalem. It was he who told me about the symbol of the eye. He also told me that the man, Christ, was kidnapped by the Essenes. [...] Nor at the time he told me did I know who Christ was.

In the historical time of Christ, I was a man called Millenius, in Rome. In that life my main occupation was that of a merchant, but I was a highly curious gentleman, and my travels gave me access to many different groups of people.

[...] I was later one of these, and because of my nationality was never trusted. My part in that drama was simply to acquaint myself with its physical foundation; to be a participant, however small, in that era. [...]

[...] (Pause.) There was a conspiracy in which Judas played a role, an attempt to make a martyr out of Christ. The man chosen was drugged — hence the necessity of helping him carry the cross (see Luke 23) — and he was told that he was the Christ.

He believed that he was. He was one of those deluded, but he also himself believed that he, not the historical Christ, was to fulfill the prophecies.

Mary came because she was full of sorrow for the man who believed he was her son. Out of compassion she was present. [...]

Each reader, however, should in one way or another sense his own vitality in a way quite new to him, and find avenues of expansion opening within himself of which he was earlier unaware. [...] As this book was conceived and written by a nonphysical personality, and then made physical, so do each of you have access to greater abilities and methods of communication than those usually accepted.

The original man may have been assassinated, another taking his place, carrying on as if there had been no change as far as the populace was concerned. Poison was the usual method, and even those who suspected the truth would not dare speak out.

You must also understand that politics was a legitimate hand of the church in those days, and a churchman was expected to be an excellent politician. [...]

[...] The affair was a great success.

[...] When I wondered if I was right in thinking it likely that Seth’s papal incarnation took place in the fourth century, Jane said she “got” the year A.D. 325. [...]

[...] Then she told me Seth was “around” and that the session would begin in a moment. When she took her glasses off and placed them upon the coffee table before her, she was in trance. Her pace was quite slow at the beginning.)

When my children laughed I was overwhelmed with delight, and despite our privations, each morning was a triumphant surprise that we had not died in our sleep, that we had not succumbed to starvation. [...] I was too cushioned. [...]

[...] It involved the two of us and was very optimistic; I was sure that in symbolic terms it dealt with our work. [...]

I was once a mother with twelve children. [...] This was around Jerusalem in the sixth century. [...]