“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(No session was held Monday, since Jane needed to rest. She was very sleepy and relaxed before the session this evening also, but she wanted to hold it. Once she began speaking for Seth, however, her manner turned fairly active; her voice became very clear and precise, and slightly loud.)

Let us begin with the normal waking consciousness that you know. But one step away from this is another level of consciousness into which you all slip without knowing. We will call it “A-l.” It is adjacent to your normal consciousness, separated from it very slightly; and yet in it very definite effects can appear that are not present in your usual state.

You can request that the thought content of your mind be translated into an intense image, symbolically representing individual thoughts and the overall mental landscape, then take out what you do not like and replace it with more positive images. This does not mean that this inner landscape must always be completely sunny, but it does mean that it should be well balanced.

(This material was another instance of how Seth developed an idea in an original way. At first I wondered whether his A-1 state would merely repeat the alpha data given to us by Patty Middleton, but it soon developed that he was using alpha only as a takeoff point. Already he was well beyond it.

Or it may be used as a step leading to an adjacent level of consciousness; two steps away, therefore, on the same level from normal reality. In this case it will lead you not into a deeper examination and perception of the present moment, but instead into an awareness and recognition of what I will call alternate present moments.

You will be taking steps aside from the present that you know. This leads to explorations mentioned earlier in this book, into probabilities. This state can be extremely advantageous when you are trying to solve problems having to do with future arrangements, decisions that will affect the future, and any matters, in fact, in which important decisions for the future must be made. In this state you are able to try out various alternative decisions and some probable results, not imaginatively but in quite practical terms. (Pause.)

In like manner you explore the mental and feeling aspects, then you turn your attention “outward,” toward the environment that results from this alternate present. Mentally, events will appear to you. You may experience these strongly, or merely view them. They may become so vivid that you momentarily forget yourself, but if you maintain your contact with this level of consciousness, this will happen seldom. As a rule you are very aware of what you are doing.

(Pause.) It is not as easy for the ordinary individual to enter, and it deals with group presents, with mass probabilities, racial matters, the movement of civilization. It is one that would be most beneficial to politicians and statesmen, and it also can be used to probe into probable pasts as well. Here it would be of benefit in learning of old ruins for example, and vanished civilizations, but only if the specific probable past were probed in which these existed.

The first state, A-1-a, is the most practical and the easiest for you, but often you must still have a good feeling for the A-1 level before you are willing to take that next adjacent step. It allows for great expansion, however, within its limitations. Using it, you can discover for example what would have happened if “I did this or the other.” Remember, these are all adjacent levels, going out horizontally.

There is still relation to environment, however, and awareness of it. This may be purposely blocked off for greater efficiency, but it is not necessary. In many cases the eyes may be open, for example, though it may be easier to close them. Here sensitivity is quickened. Without necessarily following the methods given in A-1, the mental, physical and feeling aspects of past personalities will appear.

(10:59 P.M. Jane’s trance had again been very good. She had experienced many images, but couldn’t put them into words now. My writing hand was lame; because of this we didn’t resume the session, much as I wanted to.