“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(By 8:59 Jane was a little nervous, but nothing like she used to be in earlier sessions. She had no idea of the subject matter for the session. Our cat Willy had become very frisky just before the session was due, as he has done lately, so to forestall interruptions Jane deposited him in another room.

(Jane began dictation at 9:01 in a quiet voice, at a comfortable rate as far as my writing speed was concerned; her pacing was also moderate, and her eyes darkened as usual.)

(Break at 9:26. Jane was dissociated as usual. During break we discussed the situation at the gallery where she works part time. With the departure of Dee Masters as director, a new director is trying out for the job; the situation is thus unsettled, and Jane is not in favor of some of her new duties and is thinking seriously of leaving the job. This situation has also interfered with our consideration of house-buying.

The main point, before I get sidetracked, that I was building up to, is that matter is action utilized by the inner senses and perceived by the outer senses.

The situation will not be of basic or long-lasting confusion. You have both learned too much for that. I mentioned earlier that the art gallery experience was a necessary one. This requirement has been settled.

(It will be remembered that Seth stated an art gallery experience was in the cards for Jane many sessions ago—back somewhere in the beginning sessions. At the time Seth also said that had we settled in Miami, Florida, as we considered doing a few years ago, Jane would have worked in a gallery there. He gave some street locations with this information, but we did not try to check it out.)

The rebellion is caused by the restrictions. He was more used to an independence of motion, and greater leeway in using his own judgment. The conflict arises because he tries to balance this, which grates against his grain, with the hope of, or against the hope of, future possibilities of gaining more independence, and using creative abilities in teaching the children’s classes.

In the past he stayed at the gallery despite some natural disadvantages, because of the independence which he enjoyed there, because of the commitment mentioned earlier, and because of innate interest in paintings which surrounded him. But the fair amount of independence allowed was the main point.

The one exception here would be taking down verbatim the words of someone who Ruburt was convinced had superior creative ability or knowledge.

(Break at 10:05. Jane was dissociated as usual. She said that Seth had fooled her, that after drinking the wine and relaxing because of it during last break, she realized Seth wanted her to.

(My hand was somewhat tired. Jane resumed in the same manner at 10:10.)

Ruburt was not projecting other difficulties to the gallery situation, as both of you thought probable, but was reacting to the limits set upon independence.

(Break at 10:26. Jane was dissociated as usual. She finished this delivery with a good deal of spirit and humor, particularly the final paragraphs. My writing hand felt little fatigue.

Consideration of the house did enter into Ruburt’s situation, adversely however, because of both of your fears over finances, so it was well for this reason that the move be temporarily suspended, though it does not have to be this way.

Ruburt’s remark to you was indeed unfortunate, because it aroused your own fears. Independence is extremely important for both of you. You merely show it in different ways.

(I thought I knew, but wanted to make sure, and it turned out I was correct.)

I am going to end the session early. I consider it a most fruitful one. However, much of it was given to personal situations, and there is not time in any case for me to launch into other data on material this evening.

(End at 10:51. Jane was dissociated as usual. My writing hand felt little fatigue.)

(“What was your wife’s name?”)

(“Why was it so easy, Tom Roberts, for you to contact us tonight?”)

Delmer was with you.

(Yes). He was friend.

(“In what country was he a friend?”)

(I was groping on the spur of the moment. What I meant of course was that if Thomas Voghler and Tom Roberts were friends, and if Seth now knew Tom Roberts, then Seth would also know Thomas Voghler, or at least of him.)

(Three times the pointer moved to the above word on the board. Both of us were surprised. Joking, I asked Jane what she was doing to the pointer.

(This time, the pointer did begin to move, quite slowly. It gradually picked up speed while Jane wrote down each letter it paused over. No sense emerged from the series. It might be added here that out of a whole page of strings of letters, there were no instances of accidental spellings of words—not even short words like to, as, but, is, on, etc. It was almost as though either the pointer or myself deliberately chose to produce nothing at all recognizable.

(Later, I heard an unidentified voice say from below the field of vision of my right eye, “George, Allan is quite concerned—” or words to that effect. The sentence was left unfinished; at least I didn’t hear it all.

(Later, I was standing just inside a doorway watching myself walk out of the doorway. I let the screen door swing shut behind me with my right hand. In my left I carried an 9 x 12 manila envelope. I wore a cap, a T-shirt and khaki shorts. [I have a pair.] I said, as I walked out the door: “Well, Bob, I’ll be seeing you. I don’t know just when, but...” Again the voice trailed off. I tried to question myself but got nothing.

(At times during this experiment my legs felt bent and somewhat drawn up at the knees, although intellectually I was quite aware that they were still flat upon the bed. Also the feeling of elevation was quite pronounced in my forearms and hands, although my hands lay on a level with my back in actuality. A peculiar feeling of being simultaneously on two levels, this, but most pleasant once used to the feeling.

(Then, I was directly above a parked car, an older type of sedan with a rounded gray roof. Looking down upon this car, I saw a wiry youngish man in a white shirt with the sleeves rolled above his elbows; hurriedly, he was circling the car, going all around it and peering into the windows. I could not see if the car was on a highway, in a driveway, or where.

(My correspondent had thick brown hair, a slim muscular build, a wide generous worried mouth, a squarish jaw. Each time he spoke to me, I saw him all alone, as on a large milky-white screen. The screen cut him off at the waist, and was large in proportion to the size of the man. Each time he spoke, he seemed to lean into view on the screen from the lower right, and remained leaning somewhat as he spoke. My viewpoint had also lowered itself, though not to his level.

(Things began to get vague, as though I was having trouble focusing on the situation any longer. It became very difficult for me to speak, and I recall trying very hard, almost desperately, to finish what I wanted to say.

(In an effort to jog my memory, I have consulted a road map altas. Two town names in the northeast corner of Louisiana seemed familiar to me: Columbia and Cameron. Yet later, out for a drive with Jane, it popped to mind that the town name I wanted was Sheridan. During the experiment I then recalled thinking that the name George Marshall gave me was a reasonable one for a town, and that it was the same as a town [or city] in Wyoming.

(Jane: Sat. 7/4, PM: I looked up at a tall tree and felt as though I was going to levitate up to it. A strong jerk of my feet snapped me out of the state. I then heard Rob’s mother say approximately these words: “You’re taking me back with you, whether you know it or not...” Then I heard “The investigation,” in an unidentified voice.)