“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(Just before the session was due, I mentioned two things I hoped Seth would discuss: his dates for Miss Callahan, and the car experiment on my part, described on page 302. [Our car is an ancient, rusted-out Ford station wagon.]

If this is the case then the seemingly desired end is not really either desired or expected, and subsequent manipulation of matter will fall short of success. When Ruburt heard from you that the servicemen seemed not to know what was the matter with the car, he instantly remembered what I had said about expectation. Consciously he decided to expect that the car would be fixed, despite your truly gloomy semipredictions.

(This car incident discussed by Seth refers to one I had forgotten already, though at the time it affected me strongly; and as I look back upon it, I recall it was the main reason for my own experiment with the car’s oil consumption.

(It took place on Friday afternoon. We were due to leave on vacation Saturday morning. As a precaution I took the car to our regular gas station and left it for an oil change. This was at 1 PM; I was due to pick it up at five, then meet Jane at the gallery to drive her home.

(Walking down to the garage at the appointed time, I saw the car still up on the lift. The assistant mechanic told me there was something wrong with the filter cap and that it could not be tightened sufficiently to prevent an oil leak. His boss was busy and asked me to stop back later, after he’d had a chance to look at the car. Of course I realized how Jane would feel if we could not leave on vacation in the morning should the car not be ready. Watching the assistant, as he struggled to tighten the cap, I had the distinct feeling he didn’t know too well what he was doing, and that the amount of force he was using could strip the threads and really delay the trip if a new part had to be found, then replaced. It meant dismantling part of the steering mechanism.

(Making my feelings plain, I thought, without saying much actually, I left the garage and walked down to tell Jane, who by now had left the gallery and was waiting for me outside. I had time during the walk to give some thought to using positive expectation, but had not calmed down enough to try it effectively. Jane immediately announced that the car would be ready when we went back for it, and asked me not to think about it while we went out for supper.

(We ate quietly and slowly, then walked back up to the garage. While two blocks away, I thought I could see a blue and white car parked outside it. Jane said it was our car, though I was sure she could not see it, actually, well enough to know for sure. But it was our car, ready for us. Jane told me then that all through the meal, she had concentrated as hard as she could on the fact that the car would be fixed and waiting for us. She was, she said, determined to go on vacation Saturday morning.)

I will also cover your achievement, as when you actually increased your car’s efficiency on your return trip. This was somewhat different, though basically the same as Ruburt’s achievement. And I will also explain why Ruburt did not conquer his cold psychically, although he tried.

(Seth’s confirmation that I had at least some success with my car experiment prompted me to suggest to Jane that when we drove to Rochester to visit my brother William Richard Butts, that we should both concentrate on keeping the car’s consumption of oil to a minimum. The distance, perhaps 120 miles each way, would be long enough for an accurate measurement to be made, coming and going.