“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

The man and the woman in the York Beach dancing establishment, sitting across the floor alone at a table. They were fragments of sour selves, thrown-off materializations of your own negative and aggressive feelings. Jane’s were even stronger than yours, since the woman was fatter than the man. She almost recognized them because of the circumstances and your illness, and because of the peculiar vitality of your conflicting emotions at the time.

(“Seth, why did I make Jane get up and do the twist with me in that dancing establishment at York Beach?”)

Your dancing represented the first move away from what those images meant, and violent action was the best thing under the circumstances. Because your personalities were momentarily disconnected from their usual physical and psychic environment, and because the ordinary physical duties were not necessary, it was all the more easy for you to release these energies into the formation of the images you saw. However, you very nearly drained your energy reserve in forming these images. The energy you used dancing came from psychic reserves, saved subconsciously for emergency.

(Break at 10:30. This York Beach dancing establishment was actually a ground floor room in one of the older beach hotels there. It was a rectangular room, lined with tables and chairs in rows. The ceiling was very low, and it was dimly lit. It was not a large room, and the dance floor was quite small; fifteen couples would be forced to stand elbow to elbow. The bandstand was at the end of the dance floor, and when the trumpet blared the noise was deafening. Both times we were there, it was very crowded, blue with smoke.

(The couple in question sat at a table for two directly in front of the bandstand; a most peculiar spot, I recall thinking, for an older pair who did not smile, did not dance, who caught our eyes occasionally, who did not seem to care about the drinks before them. I also recall that at the end of our stay there, Jane pointed out to me the fact that they were smiling. This was after we had been dancing for a while. Part of the time while dancing, we had been so close to their table we probably touched it. Truly, we had kicked up our heels in their faces. Jane resumed dictation at about 10:40.

(“Seth, who left the dance hall first—Jane and I, or the projected fragments?”)

(Rob surprised me by asking me to dance, insisting even, though the dance number was a twist, and we didn’t know it. Reluctant, I agreed. We found ourselves on the other side of the floor, shoved next to the couple’s table, dancing very close. The woman smiled. I do not remember them leaving. We just looked up much later and they were gone. I am very poor at visual imagery yet their faces came to mind often during our stay at York Beach, and for months later after our return.)