“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(Over the weekend I had devoted some time to trying to sort out the contradictory Frank Watts material given by FW in the first two sessions. I had meant to try this for some time, knowing part of it was contradictory, before asking Seth to straighten it out. Jane and I had been talking about trying to check out some of this material, since presumably records concerning Frank Watts would exist locally; and possibly people who knew him, other than Miss Callahan, and a co-worker of Jane’s at the gallery when the sessions began, Mrs. Borst, might be found who would help us verify any data Seth gave. [See Volume 1 of The Early Sessions.]

(Just before the session was due, Jane remarked that she hoped Seth would discuss the Frank Watts material, thus saving me the trouble of asking the question during the session. She had no idea beforehand of the material the session would cover. She began dictating on time in a voice a bit stronger than usual, at a fairly fast rate. Her pacing was also rather fast, her eyes dark as usual.)

(Break at 9:26. Jane was fully dissociated—far out, as she puts it. “Seth came through loud and clear.” In spite of this state, she did remember the material, especially the part about the material making its way around the world.

Nevertheless, much of the Watts material was valid. The distortions, too numerous to mention here, were the result of inexperience, not only on Ruburt’s part, but also on the part of the personality who did live and was called Frank Watts.

He was a personality from my entity, entirely independent from me and from my control, as I have explained that such personalities are. Ruburt’s abilities were only beginning to show themselves, and had what we may refer to as a low-range frequency. There was an affinity to begin with, but Ruburt simply could not reach far enough, or within and through the inner senses enough, to contact me directly; and there are what you may call for simplicity’s sake, conventions of conduct which I would not break.

Frank Watts was closer, and acted as an unconscious relay station on the one hand, while on the other hand his unconscious gave consent. The material which came through was extremely garbled, some distortions resulting from Ruburt’s inexperience, and some simply in translation.

This was the reason for the rather abrupt switch from the Frank Watts identity to my own. This is why I did not give my name to the initial endeavors, so that I could cast them adrift. Nevertheless, they represented a necessary beginning in these endeavors, and a beginning for which no apology is needed on your part or on mine.

The material partially was picked up or initiated by Ruburt on a subconscious level from Mrs. Borst, who was I believe at the gallery during that time. There was a Frank Watts. Mrs. Borst did know of him, and he did exist as an independent personality.

–that I knew what I was doing when I abruptly and rather strongly, I admit, suggested that Ruburt leave the gallery, two full days before he was given his precious assistant directorship.

Now. He blocked some of that material. However the urgency was apparent; since it was given in a sudden unscheduled session that much came through. I knew he would leave in any case. I wanted him to leave before he was offered the position. It may not, the position may not really mean much to him, but its acceptance by him was taken as a sign of his willingness to accept conditions at the gallery, and his resignation will not be as understandable to those there as it would have been earlier.

(Break at 10:01. Jane was again fully dissociated. She ended the session on a note of high good humor. Her voice was now quite normal in range and volume, and she resumed in the same manner at 10:03.)

However, I will add one other note. Ruburt also had a dream which gave him clear warning of trouble, the dream in which he was at the home of the art gallery president. He, Ruburt, opened a strange door to find a threatening male figure therein.

The final culmination of the dream, when he did scream and run away, represented his subconscious giving him its solution. The position was threatening because it represented a possible dilution of his energies from his main objective of writing, into a superficial ego satisfaction, which would have left him basically not only unsatisfied but personally betrayed.

The material dealing with the house was undistorted. I expected too much, and that is my fault. Notice, however, the difference in urgency given in the various suggestions. I know this is difficult to take. The fact is that had you moved, the traffic simply would not have bothered you, in your enjoyment of other features.

I was not pressing the point, as I was with the gallery suggestion. Ruburt will improve, and is improving, as far as distortions are concerned; because, again, we are not using a deep trance state, because we are working in cooperation. The process may take longer but it is much more advantageous in the long run, and you forget that this is only the very beginning.

(End at 10:28. Jane was dissociated as usual. Both of us remember the dream of Jane’s that Seth discussed. It was a very vivid one, and quite unpleasant, and Jane told me about it as soon as she awoke. She also immediately wrote it down, in detail, in her dream notebook. She had the dream on the night of Sunday, August 30; and the next day she was given the assistant directorship at the gallery.)