“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(Seth has suspended dictation on his book for the last five weeks. Two weeks of this went for our vacation, but otherwise we’ve been very busy. Of the four regular sessions held in the remaining time, large portions dealt with matters growing out of the September 4th publication of Jane’s own book, The Seth Material, and a projected radio and television tour.

The time of choosing is dependent upon the condition and circumstances of the individual following transition from physical life. Some take longer than others to understand the true situation.

Others must be divested of many impeding ideas and symbols, as explained earlier. The time of choosing may happen almost immediately, in your terms, or it may be put off for a much longer period while training is carried on. The main impediments standing in the way of the time of choosing are, of course, the faulty ideas harbored by any given individual.

A belief in heaven or hell, under certain conditions, can be equally disadvantageous. Some will refuse to accept the idea of further work, development, and challenge, believing instead that conventional heaven situations are the only possibility. For some time they may indeed inhabit such an environment, until they learn through their own experience that existence demands development, and that such a heaven would be sterile, boring, and indeed “deadly.”

Then they are ready for the time of choosing. Others may insist that because of their transgressions they will be cast into hell, and because of the force of such belief, they may for some time actually encounter such conditions. In either case, however, there are always teachers available. They try to get through these false beliefs.

Either state, however, puts off the time of choosing and the next existence. There is one point I would like to mention here: In all cases, the individual creates his experience. I say this again at the risk of repeating myself because this is a basic fact of all consciousness and existence. There are no special “places” or situations or conditions set apart after physical death in which any given personality must have experience.

Obviously, however, these conditions are also impediments to the time of choosing. It goes without saying that an obsession with earthly concerns also acts in the same manner. In such instances, often the personality will insist upon focusing his perceptive abilities and energies toward physical existence. This is a psychic refusal to accept the fact of death. The individual knows quite well that he is dead in your terms, but he refuses to complete the psychic separation.

Now: There are instances of course where the individuals concerned do not realize the fact of death. It is not a matter of refusing to accept it, but a lack of perception. In this state such an individual will also be obsessed with earthly concerns, and wander perhaps bewildered throughout his own home or surroundings. The time of choosing will, of course, necessarily be postponed.

Even a belief in a time of judgment is a useful framework in many instances, for while there is no punishment meted out in your terms, the individual is then prepared for some kind of spiritual examination and evaluation.

As you form your physical existence individually and collectively, so after the time of choosing, you join others who have decided upon the same general kind of experience. A strong cooperative venture is then begun as preparations are made. These will vary according to the type of existence chosen. There are general patterns, therefore. No individual’s reality is identical with another’s, and yet there are overall groupings.

Most individuals from these stages who communicate with “living” relatives, have not reached the time of choosing as yet, and have not completed their training.

At the time of choosing, therefore, the personality is already preparing itself to leave for another existence. In your terms of time this in-between period can last for centuries. It can last only a few years. Again, however, there are exceptions. There are cases in which a personality goes very quickly into another physical life, in perhaps a matter of hours. This is usually unfortunate, and is caused by an obsessive desire to return to physical life.