“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(Jane came down with her cold while we were in Maine. Strange to say, she believes it began on the evening of Tuesday, Aug. 18, while we were dancing at the Driftwood Lounge at York Beach, which is the hotel bar where we saw our projected fragments, described by Seth in the 9th session [in Volume 1], page 43.

(For the record, we reached York Beach on Monday, Aug. 17, and spent the evenings of the 17th and 18th at the Driftwood. We did not see the fragments of last summer, nor indeed any person even remotely resembling them. We saw the same hostess, who did not remember us although we remembered her, and the same members of the band. The bar had been redecorated to some extent, but enough of the old remained to make it seem quite familiar. Nevertheless the more modern look it now had did not appeal to us as much, and the first night we were there Jane remarked that she didn’t like it as well. The 19th and 20th we spent dancing at another place.

(I like the part-time arrangement I now have at Artistic very much. It gives me time for myself in the afternoons to paint—an arrangement that I have learned is very necessary, even vital, to my well-being both physically and mentally. Recently, talking it over with Jane, I decided against expanding my working hours at the plant. I also decided it to the extent that if management insisted I increase my hours, I would leave the plant and try developing some other recent ideas I have acquired on making a living, one of them being teaching art by, perhaps, starting my own school on a small scale at first.

(When Harry requested that I put in more time I declined, and he accepted my answer with his usual good grace. I thanked him for offering me the extra income. There was no unpleasantness. I did not base my decision concerning working hours on the Seth material, although the information Jane and I have received on expectations played a part; it has done much to increase our confidence in various fields of endeavor other than our arts.

(It will be recalled also that in the 63rd session, Seth gave a date of Aug. 12-15 for Miss Callahan, our neighbor in the front apartment. Miss Callahan and her illness, and her connection with Frank Watts, who purportedly was the first psychic contact Jane actually achieved, have been dealt with at length in various sessions. Seth did not specify the meaning of this latest date for her, and Jane and I saw Miss Callahan the day after our return from vacation, looking quite well. We had left Elmira on the morning of the 15th.

(I would like to mention here another rather halfhearted experiment I tried while on vacation. Driving up to Maine, I noted that our car, which is an old one, was using quite a bit of oil. I did not keep an exact record because I did not have the experiment in mind at the beginning of the trip. However, by the time we left York Beach, I had tried to suggest to my subconscious, in line with the material we have obtained to date on the value of expectation, that the car would consume less oil than on the outward journey. Again without keeping an exact count, I arrived home with the definite feeling that the car used at least two quarts less oil. Twice, stopping at stations along the way, I was somewhat surprised to be told by attendants that no oil was needed, or that it was down so little that there was no point in adding more. I did not tell Jane of my little effort until we were home. Again, if tonight’s session developed, I thought I would ask Seth whether I was correct, or merely the victim of some overoptimistic wishes.

(Both of us were busy as session time approached. During the day–Jane’s vacation has another week to run, while mine ended today–Jane had remarked several times that she doubted there would be a session tonight. At 8:45 I laid out my notebook in case we did have one.

(At 9:01 Jane said, “I have a vague feeling he might come through for a few minutes. I’m not sure, though.” I took my usual place at the writing table. Jane began to dictate at 9:02, smiling quite amusedly as she did so. Although she had been coughing a lot, she delivered the following material without strain or interruption, in a quite voice. Her pacing was slow, her eyes dark as usual.)

(Jane smiled broadly.)

(Once again as she has been doing in recent sessions, Jane removed her glasses.)

(Jane smiled again.)

(The irony here being that I had been making efforts, consciously at least, to convince myself that I would not catch Jane’s cold, after she developed it last Tuesday. I came down with it, actually, on the evening of Saturday, Aug. 22, while Jane and I were sitting in a drafty bar with her father, in Saratoga Springs, NY, while on our way home. It was a cold and rainy evening.)

(End at 9:16. The time is an estimate, since I forgot to note down the actual ending time. Jane said she was not very well dissociated, although she had no trouble receiving the material. Her voice did not bother her while dictating.

(We have been resting from trying psychological time since August 12th. After the session tonight we tried a few experiments but achieved nothing, with the exception that at one point when Jane announced she might achieve a certain result, I felt my old familiar thrilling sensation wash over me quite strongly. It might be noted that although Jane’s hand rested in mine at the time, she was not aware of any change in feeling or sensation on my part.)