“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(Last night, Tuesday, I went to bed while Jane was holding ESP class in the living room. It was about 11:30. As I lay dozing I gave myself suggestions that I would recall my dreams in the morning and write them down. Oddly enough, I didn’t mention “astral projection.”

(I slept rather uneasily, waking up several times while class was still in progress. Finally, I was hazily aware of hearing the cars of class members as they pulled out of the parking lot next to the house. Then I slept. Jane said later that she came to bed at 12:45 A.M.

(The next thing I knew, I was hovering in the air in our darkened bathroom. I was in a bodiless state without being at all upset.

(I felt no panic, no fear. My astral eyes were functioning. A weak light came through a narrow open window to my right. The closed door was in deep shadow, but I knew I was before it. Although my body lay sleeping beside Jane in the bedroom “behind” me, I wasn’t concerned about it. I didn’t realize that I was projecting at first — I didn’t have the presence of mind, say, to order myself to burst through the door into the living room. But that I was out of my body, and in this very pleasant weightless state, did slowly make itself known to me. I had no memory of actually leaving my body and moving into the bathroom.

(This was the first time that no element of fear was present in any of my rather infrequent projections. I believe my ordinary conscious ideas that doors can’t be penetrated held me back, though. I fell asleep again briefly after encountering the impasse posed by the closed door. When I became aware again, evidently a few moments later, I found myself floating just above my physical body as it lay in bed.

(It happened that I lay sleeping flat on my back with my arms down at my sides. My astral body was in the same approximate position, perhaps six inches above. My state was remarkably steady and pleasant: I felt awake, aware of what I was up to, and quite free and weightless. I heard myself snoring, without paying much attention to that fact — yet. I knew I wasn’t dreaming. I even remembered reading at various times that when projecting one knows the difference between that state and a dreaming one. This I could now attest to at firsthand. I was very pleased.

(I had a different kind of vision this time. In some fashion I was aware of my legs especially, suspended above my physical ones. I took great pleasure in wiggling them about, shaking them up and down, enjoying the marvelous sense of freedom and lightness they possessed. I knew my physical legs couldn’t move that freely, although they are in good shape. My astral legs felt quite rubbery, so loose and flexible were they — and somehow, from my prone position, I could see that they were light-colored and translucent from the knees down!

(Since my projection state seemed to be so reliable, I began to think it offered great opportunities. I felt no fear, again, only confidence. I thought that this would be a great time to do something. Now was the time for a fine adventure. I told myself I was willing to try anything — a visit to some other reality, a plunge through the door into the living room, a trip down the street in front of the house….

(All this time Jane lay beside me. She said afterward that I was snoring loudly when she came to bed. My attention now began to change its focus; for the first time I really heard myself. I was amazed at the loudness of the sounds that came from my physical head, just beneath “me.” I couldn’t possibly duplicate them while awake.

(Without success, I made several quite conscious and deliberate attempts to “get going,” and travel away from my body. My efforts didn’t break the projection spell; I merely remained hovering where I was. Then I had an idea: I would use the sound of my snoring as an impetus to send myself soaring off into other dimensions, leaving my body far behind me on the bed.

(Deliberately I began to snore even louder, if possible. I wanted to build up a massive sound-impetus that I would use as a propellant, although I didn’t know how this was supposed to work. The strange thing is, I enjoyed both the feeling of lying just above my physical body, and my ability to use the latter to produce sound. This implies a dual consciousness here, since I was aware of both bodies.

(Either I heard my snoring actually increase in volume, or I focused upon it even more acutely. My idea wasn’t working, anyhow. I don’t know whether I would have eventually succeeded in taking off, for Jane now said to me: “Honey, you’re snoring. Turn over,” as she usually does when she gets tired of listening to me. I heard her clearly. I stopped snoring at once, but didn’t move. I don’t remember rejoining my physical body. Finally I nudged her, and with an effort told her something of what had transpired. She thought I sounded as though I was still in a trance.

(I felt as though I might project again, so I kept trying while Jane lay quietly beside me. I had no success, although the very pleasant aura surrounding the whole episode lingered most definitely. The projection, small as it was, had seemed so easy and natural that I wondered why it wasn’t a commonplace. I knew all the while that much more was possible than I was able to accomplish — that just beyond my abilities of the moment lay wonderful possibilities if I could just break that… barrier. I never did feel any alarm, and at no time did I see, or feel, the “astral silver cord.” Finally I slept.

(The experience gave rise to a couple of questions which I added to the list for Chapter Twenty: 1. My own projection was so enjoyable, but more importantly contained so many potentials, that I wonder why Western man isn’t more aware of these abilities. 2. Why doesn’t he cultivate them and put them to use? I hoped Seth would comment tonight.)

You could have left the apartment indeed. The snoring was also, however, supposed to be a signal to Ruburt. You knew he would awaken you. This was the original motivation for it. If you did not like the experiment, you see, it would have been terminated. In the meantime, however, you were delighted, and decided upon the noise as a propellant, but Ruburt’s usual reaction to the snoring took place.

(10:00. Jane and I went over some of the remaining questions, but since she seemed to be tiring I suggested we end this part of the session. The rest of it was given over to personal material. End at 10:58 P.M.)