“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

As far as Ruburt is concerned, there is no such danger. For one thing I am an extremely sensitive but disciplined, and sensible if somewhat irascible, gentleman, if you will forgive the term. None of the communications from me have been in any way conducive to a development toward mental or emotional instability. I may make bold to remark that I am more stable than you or Ruburt, or your fine doctor.

There is no danger, and I will repeat this: There is no danger of dissociation grabbing a hold of him like some black, vague and furry monster, carrying him away to the netherlands of hysteria, schizophrenia, or insanity… I have consistently advised contacts with the world at large, and I have advised you both to use your abilities to meet outside challenges. Withdrawal into dissociation as a hiding place from the world could, of course, have dire consequences. Certain personalities could, and have, fallen prey here, but with you, with Ruburt, this is not the case.

I am anxious to go into some further material, but I want to set your doubts at rest. When Ruburt is not aware of his surroundings during a session, he is still aware of his surroundings to some degree, and can return to them. Because you open a door, this does not mean that you cannot close it or open another door, nor does it mean that you cannot have two doors open at once, and that is my point.

It is true that the conscious mind must be relaxed to some extent, and that a state of apparent dissociation is necessary. Now, believe it or not, this will not always necessarily be the case. You can have two doors open at once. You can listen to two channels at once. But until you learn to focus in two directions, and this is simplified to a pathetic degree, in the meantime you simply turn down the volume of the first channel, while you attract your attention to the second. This process you call dissociation.

I was going to suggest if I may be so bold another innovation, but you have already adopted or returned to it. That is, it will be a good policy to arise at 7:30, and get your painting time in. I do not want to take up all your working hours, and you must have time to paint. I see no harm in sleeping until 8:00 the morning after a session, but a balance of schedule is important, and you can see that I wish to relate you to yourself and your work, and not to turn all your energies toward myself.

We have gone into this before, and I have no doubt that we will on endless occasions; and if I succeed in convincing you of my reality as a personality I will have done exceedingly well. It should be apparent, and I’ve said this before, that my communications come through Ruburt’s subconscious. But as a fish swims through water, the fish is not water, and I am not Ruburt’s subconscious.

About Ruburt’s subconscious again. You see, the slight but still rather remarkable evidence of telepathy I gave you with Philip had two purposes, or one large one.

I wanted to show you that telepathy did exist, and I wanted to show Ruburt that more than his own subconscious was involved. I wanted to build up his confidence. I am definitely a personality independent of Ruburt’s subconscious. Now, Ruburt assembles me, or allows me to assemble myself, in a way that will be recognizable to you; but regardless of this assembling, I exist in an independent manner, and with the past of which I have spoken.

I cannot simply appear in your midst, or make myself known in my own form. I have explained camouflage patterns to you, I have explained the way the vitality or stuff of the universe changes from plane to plane. Then why do you find it strange that at your end I must to some degree change essence, and find a point of entry, which happens to be Ruburt’s subconscious? It has enough camouflage pattern to enable me to make contact, but not so much as to distort me out of all recognition. I have described the effects of entry into your plane of the so-called flying saucers, and my entry into your plane is something of the same.

I am not Ruburt’s subconscious, though I speak through it. It is the atmosphere through which I can come to you, as the air is the atmosphere through which a bird flies, but the bird is something different from the air. A certain reassembly of myself is necessary when I enter your plane, and this reassembly is done partially by myself, and partially by the combined subconscious efforts of you, Joseph, and Ruburt. Will this satisfy you now?

Individual life, or the life of the present individual, could be legitimately compared to the dream of an entity. While the individual suffers and enjoys his given number of years, these years are but a flash to the entity. The entity is concerned with these years in the same manner that you are concerned with your dreams. As you give inner purpose and organization to your dreams, and as you obtain insight and satisfaction from your dreams though they involve only a part of your life, so the entity to some extent directs and gives purpose and organization to his personalities during their existence. And so does the entity obtain insights and satisfactions from his existing personalities, although no one takes up all of his own attentions.

That dream world has its own reality, its own time, which is different from your concept of time, and its own inner organization. As the entity is only partially concerned with its personalities after setting them into motion, so you are unconcerned with this dream world which you have set into motion. But it exists.

To a different degree it is filled with conscious semipersonalities. I call them semipersonalities merely to point out that they are not as developed as you are, as you are not as developed as your entity is. Nevertheless, that dream world experiences continuity. It is not aware of any break while, for example, you are sleeping. It does not know you sleep or wake. It merely exists to a fairly vivid degree while you sleep, and it sleeps but does not die while you are awake.

The part that translates inner data sifts it down through the subconscious, which is a barrier and also a threshold to the present personality as it operates on the camouflage plane. I have mentioned many times how vitality changes as it approaches and forms various planes. I have said that the topmost part of the subconscious contains personal memories. That beneath these are racial memories and so forth. Things are simply not layered in the way I speak of them. But continuing with the necessary analogy, on the other side of (or beneath to you) the racial memories, you no longer exist within your plane, and look out upon another with the face of this other self-conscious part of you. This part receives inner data, is in contact with the entity, to some greater degree than you are in contact with your dreams, and actually directs all the important functions that you think are either automatically controlled, or unconsciously controlled.

When such abilities as telepathy occur, this telepathic function is carried on continually by this other self-conscious part of you, but as a rule you act upon such data without the knowledge of the conscious self with which you are familiar. I wanted to at least get into this material this evening, because while it may sound complex to you now, it is really basic. And it is knowledge that you must have before we can go further.

There is also a corresponding, but lesser, self-consciousness that connects your present personalities with the dream world, which is aware of its origin and communicates data from you to it. Again you are no more aware of your dream creations, and no less aware than your entity is of you, but in the last analysis you are aware and connected with your entity through this self-conscious part of you that faces another plane.

(Jane laughed.) There is of course an apparent contradiction here, but it is only apparent. It is certainly to you contradictory, your dilemma being this: if you have another self-conscious self, then (with a laugh) why aren’t you aware of it? (Laugh.)

At the same time imagine that these creatures are really one creature, but with definite parts equipped to handle two entirely different worlds. The subconscious therefore, in this truly ludicrous analogy, would exist between the two brains, and would enable the creature to operate as a single unity. At the same time, and this is the difficult part to explain, neither of the two faces would ever see the other world. They would not be aware of each other. And yet each would be fully self-conscious.

Otherwise everything is fine. Ruburt should be satisfied. I suggest the bookcases as a permanent arrangement. These are, after all, only logical suggestions to make your daily living more comfortable, and therefore free your energies. Ruburt can calm down now. I never saw such stirrings and slammings and carrying-ons. The suggestion of a chair for reading or relaxation, or a small desk in the bedroom, is merely so that our wandering Ruburt can have one other place in another room where he feels he can go. It is merely a safety valve, but I do not make any of my suggestions lightly, though from Ruburt’s vehement reactions I shall certainly keep my suggestions mostly to myself.

Manipulation of camouflage patterns actually opens up inner abilities. You know by now that I am never suggesting time should be taken from your necessary art work. I am certainly glad that we are back on schedule. I do not mean to be fussy, and Ruburt did get a rather embarrassing flash from me before the session. I blush to admit the fact, but at one time I did call you Yoyo.

(End at 11:35. Jane was quite dissociated in the beginning of this monologue, but she reports that as it drew to a close the state grew less.)

(The next day, Jane visited Miss Callahan, to ask for the use of her telephone since our television set was not working, and we needed the help of a repairman. Jane had not seen Miss C for a month. Jane was very surprised when Miss C, apparently quite upset, told her that she had just learned from her doctor that she needed operations on both of her eyes, for the removal of cataracts. But Miss C had to wait for some weeks or months yet, until the cataracts progressed to a certain point before the operations could be done. Miss C then asked Jane if she would bring in the mail, etc., while she was in the hospital.

(Jane mentioned her dream to Miss Callahan, but she did not tell Miss C she had seen her crying, or dressed in black. In her notes on the dream, Jane wrote that she hoped the black did not symbolize death for Miss C. Jane was quite relieved to learn that while Miss C did have to go to the hospital, it was for a more or less routine operation, and nothing more serious.

(This was to the effect that Jane’s dream, back in July of 1963, had been correct, but that Jane had been too eager to put a less serious implication upon it. The real meaning of the dream was that, rather than go through the operations on her eyes, Miss Callahan had decided subconsciously to die; and that she had reached this decision at the same time that Jane dreamed it.

(While typing up the above material, I had several mild instances of my particular sensation, which Seth has called the feeling of sound. The sensation, a rich tingling or thrilling, began in both feet at the same time, and worked up my legs. I waited for it to spread, but it rather quickly dissipated. Though now, as last time, remnants of it linger.)