“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(After Monday’s short session Jane visited Miss Callahan, but was unable to learn from her of anything unusual or significant that might have happened to or with her during the time mentioned by Seth in the 63rd session. Miss Callahan, though frail, appeared to be in good spirits.

(Jane’s cold was not much better, and as session time drew near she said that unless Seth helped her considerably there would be no session, for she was having difficulty talking.

(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.]

(Jane was not nervous before the session. She began dictating in a quiet voice; she had been coughing a lot, but as soon as the session began the coughing stopped, except for a very few isolated single coughs she gave at widely separated intervals. Her voice sounded dry, however, but not hoarse. Her pacing was slow, her eyes dark as usual.)

I am insistent that Ruburt have a vacation, at least to some degree, and will not go deeply into these matters until our next session. There is much to be explained. Needless to say, emotional impetus was at the base of success at both occasions; and lack of emotional impetus was the main reason for your failure when the both of you tried to move the ring, using your psychic energies the other evening.

(Here Seth surprised us by referring to one of our little efforts of last Monday evening, after the session. In this experiment, we sat at a bare table in the dimly-lit room. On the table lay Jane’s ring, an inch from an ashtray. Our objective was to focus our psychic energies together and move the ring until it struck or touched the ashtray. From various information Seth has given us, I believe such things are possible at times, and Jane agrees. This time however, Jane quickly became impatient for some reason, and literally commanded the ring, mentally, to move. Of course it did not.)

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.

Because his conscious desire was based strongly upon inner emotional need, and not opposed to it, and because the emotional need at that time was powerful, that is his need to leave on vacation, and because he remembered our discussion on expectation, he was able to utilize both conscious and unconscious energies. In other words, to consciously focus his subconscious psychic abilities to perform toward a definite, material end.

(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.

(Break at 9:31. Jane was dissociated as usual. She ended the monologue with a laugh. Her voice bothered her not at all during delivery; and since I kept actual count, I can report that while presenting the above material she gave but four single coughs throughout it.

(Break at 10:00. Jane was dissociated as usual. She coughed at break, but had not coughed during the above delivery. When she resumed her voice was quieter, at 10:04.)

Now. Prayer once enabled the intelligent man to focus his psychic abilities, because the hard fact, taken for granted by all in Western civilization, was the belief in such a God. The so-called hard fact has changed.

The truth behind the myth still exists. Mankind has been engrossed in dreams of a god who is like himself, except that he was considered to be superior and possessed of the highest qualities that man admires in himself.

What he is now is not what the religious think he is. Yet once he was only what they think he is now. For in fact he did evolve, and was not complete, but represented–

(Break at 10:30. Jane reported that she was fully dissociated—far out, as she puts it. She recalled parts of the material she had delivered, but was unaware of her surroundings, whether she smoked or not, etc. She had smoked, but coughed only a few times. She resumed in a normal voice at 10:32.)

(End at 10:55. Jane was again fully dissociated. She did not recall the material. She had done no coughing. My writing hand was somewhat fatigued. Jane said also that her throat actually felt better than before the session began.)