“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(In the 586th session, earlier in this chapter, Seth stated that by the year 2075 the third Christ — Paul or Saul — would have enacted the Second Coming, exerting of course a profound effect upon religion and world history. Jane thought a period of less than a century was much too short a time to encompass so many dramatic changes. She wanted me to ask Seth if she had distorted this data while delivering it.

(When, for instance, would the personality be born, in order to have time to bring about such tremendous changes? We supposed there was a chance distortion had occurred.

In any given historical period, one religious drama may finally emerge as the exterior representation, but there will also be many minor dramas, “projections,” that do not entirely take. These represent, of course, probable events. Any of them could supersede the actual exterior drama. In the time of Christ there were many such performances, as many personalities felt the force of inner reality and reacted to it.

There were probable Christs, in other words, living in your terms at that time. For several reasons that I will not go into here, these projections did not mirror inner events faithfully enough. There were, however, a score of men in the same general area, physically, who responded to the inner psychic climate and felt upon themselves the attraction and responsibility of the religious hero.

(Pause at 9:09.) Some of these men were too tinged, too caught in the torment and fervor of the period to rise sufficiently above it. The cultures used them. They could not use the various cultures as launching ground for the new ideas. Instead they became lost in the history of the times.

Now in answer to Ruburt’s question: The birth will occur at the time given; by the time given (the year 2075). The other changes will occur generally over the period of a century, but the results will show far before that time.

The final place of refuge was near Damascus. For some time the Lord of Righteousness tried to hide himself within the city. His identity was discovered, however, and he and a band of men took to caves that were between Damascus and another nearby town, much smaller, that had been used at one time as a fortress. They were heading there.

One small note for those interested. The Zealots, the sect, were also divided into two main groups, one splitting finally from the other main one. Other documents will be found that will clear several important matters concerning the historical times. (Pause.) During one short period of his life, Paul joined a Zealot group. This is unknown. It has not been recorded.

(I was finding Seth’s information intensely interesting. It was unavoidable in many cases, but Jane said she much preferred not to know anything about the historical period Seth would be discussing. She hadn’t read anything about the Dead Sea Scrolls, for instance, although I’d explained a little about them to her at various times. Nor is she familiar with the Bible.

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.

The Romans had no clear idea of the number of Jews in Rome at that time. They went by guesswork. The bells on donkeys belonging to the Zealots had upon them the symbol of an eye (Jane, as Seth, pointed to one of her eyes). They came secretly into town, hiding as much from other Jews as from Romans. They were good bargainers and often did me out of more than I deserved to lose.

— 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. I did not believe him. Nor at the time he told me did I know who Christ was.

At the time that Christ lived his existence was known to very few, comparatively speaking. To put it bluntly (and humorously) I knew that someone had the ball, but I was not certain of the person. In dream states, the situation finally became known to me and to many others.

(“Now: I had a large family — that is, I came from a large family, and I was ambitious, as all intelligent young men of that time were. I did not go for the military, so there was nothing to do but go to the church.

(“Unless I summon the self that I was at that time, the memories for details are not that clear. But as I now recall them, without directly checking on our friend the Pope, who has, you must understand, gone his own way, I am coming as close as I can. We did not have as many guards at that time, but we had many stolen paintings and jewels of great merit. Now some of these jewels, as well as the money, went for expeditions that you do not realize were adopted at the time, having to do with commerce and ships sent to Africa; and this interest had to do with my later life when I was involved with the oregano [as a spice merchant in Denmark, in the 1600’s]. My sniffing goes back for centuries.

(“There were two brothers strongly united in control of Italy at the time. Perhaps I should say two males, one in the higher capacity and the other his chancellor, with whom I was involved as Pope; and I sent armies to the north also.

(At this writing we do not know which pope Seth referred to. 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. The fourth century encompasses the years A.D. 301 to 400, since our modern computation of time is based upon the assumed date of the birth of Christ. The Encyclopaedia Britannica lists eleven popes and two antipopes between A.D. 296 and 401. Some of the reigns were very brief, some of the dates of tenure uncertain or estimated.

(Of course we would like to learn more about the incarnation in question. As Seth has already indicated, there is a wealth of information here waiting to be acquired. This brings up a dilemma Jane has confronted often: what to investigate out of the many possibilities available at any given time; then, the choice made, how to find the time to carry out the study.)

It is not my purpose to go into my past existences in any great detail, but to use them to make certain points. First of all, I have been many times both man and woman, and I have immersed myself in various occupations, but always with the idea of learning so that I could teach. I had a firm background in physical existence, therefore, as a prerequisite for my present “work.”

Using your historical reference, I returned at the time of the cavemen, operating as a Speaker. Now I have always been a Speaker, regardless of my physical occupation. I have been a spice merchant in Denmark, where I knew Ruburt and Joseph. In several lives I was black — once in what is now called Ethiopia, and once in Turkey.

My lives as monks followed my experience as a pope, and in one of these, I was a victim of the Spanish Inquisition. My experience in female lives varied from that of a plain Dutch spinster to a courtesan at the time of the biblical David, to several existences as a humble mother with children.

The times and names and dates are not nearly as important as the experiences, and they are too numerous to list here. However, I will see to it at some time that these are made fully available. Some have been given in Ruburt’s class sessions, and some, though few, have appeared in The Seth Material itself.

(Pause at 11:51. I now watched a transformation begin to take place in Jane, as our familiar Seth retreated and Seth Two began to come to the fore. At the same time I knew that subjectively Jane was experiencing the feeling of a “cone” or “pyramid” coming down over the top of her head. Jane has often told me that whereas she feels Seth come to her in a very warm and alive and friendly manner, she feels her consciousness going out of herself to meet Seth Two — “up the invisible pyramid like a draft up a flue.” She doesn’t know where she goes or how she gets back. Her body seems to be left behind.