“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(Jane, while trying psychological time on Tuesday, 5/26 at 11:15 AM, tried to project herself to Bill Macdonnel’s hospital room. She achieved a very brief glimpse of his face, eyes closed, nodding yes in answer to her question: Do you hear me? Checking with Bill later at the hospital, we learned he was asleep at this time. His condition is much improved and he is due for discharge Saturday.

(By 8:45 no witnesses had appeared. Up from her nap Jane felt both nervous and sleepy. The thought had come to her that Seth would discuss the self and the notself tonight. As session time approached our cat Willy put on one of his performances, persistently diving at Jane’s legs and ankles; as usual he calmed down as soon as the session began.

As I have said, there are gentle, imperceptible gradations between what is called self and what is called notself. Your idea, or psychologists’ idea of environment for example, will come close to what I mean. The self indeed however reaches out in many ways to form, mold and construct his own environment, even as it in turn reaches out to affect his core of self.

Therefore a thought, surely one of the most intimate possessions of a self, does not remain within the self. The thought belongs to the individual from whose mind it sprang, and yet he does not really possess it. He can keep it but he cannot keep it. He can hold it as his own, and yet he cannot prevent it from passing on to others, though he presses his lips tightly and does not speak it aloud.

An individual or a self also cannot hide from others his own basic intent. It is his and yet, though he possesses it, he still cannot prevent others from sensing it. Along these lines there is much to be said in that many intangibles, considered most secret by the self, do not remain within the self. No skin or bones or skeletal cage can keep the thought of the self from going outward.

Each self is therefore not only ejecting almost in missile fashion such energy from his own core, but he is also constantly impinged by such energy from others. He chooses to translate whatever portions of this energy he so chooses, back into forms that can be picked up and understood by his own mechanism.

The choice involved is of course determined by his own personality, its particular leanings, potentialities and limitations. We will discuss this later on in connection with illness, good health and treatment.

“I am myself” simply does not mean the same thing to a child, an adolescent, a young adult and an old adult. Though the individual may seem to be the same, and though he retains his memories, he is not the same; and, even his memories are colored by the various differences in what “I am myself” comes to mean.

Again, may I say that I look in on you now and then. Ruburt’s idea of taking the children’s classes at the gallery is a good one. I have not had the opportunity to go into her Mrs. Masters but I shall do so. The salesman’s ability of Ruburt’s will serve him well in the children’s classes. I am rather surprised that he and his Mrs. Masters have managed to get along as well as they have. I would caution him to be very calm at the gallery during the next two weeks. And now good evening.

(End at 11:15. Jane was dissociated as usual. Jane felt that Seth was in one of his expansive and friendly moods, and would have continued but for the late hour. Neither of us exhibited any hand phenomena during or after the session.)