“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(Through last week, also, Jane had enjoyed a burst of painting activity after a rather long time away from it. She enjoyed herself doing these pictures very much, and we discussed them at length. She sensed a conflict between what she wanted to portray, and her limited technical abilities in getting the actual images on canvas. I thought her work was better than ever, surprisingly so, and that her ideas were good and her extremely personal handling of them in paint very fresh. Jane persisted in thinking of her paintings as childish.

(Here, I would like to call attention to my dream of September 18, 1964. See page 47. Seth has discussed this dream in considerable detail, without saying much about the opening sequence of the dream. In this opening sequence, Jane, Bill, the members of the Potter family, and myself, were gathered in a living room. I was pulling out some of Jane’s drawings and paintings and showing them to Bill, and Jane, Bill and I were animatedly discussed them. Particularly did we express surprise over their high quality. It then struck me this evening that the discussion between Jane, Bill and I, over Jane’s new work, bore some rather remarkable parallels to that opening dream sequence, and I wondered whether that portion of the dream could have been clairvoyant. Seth may comment on this in the next scheduled session. The main difference between the dream and “reality”, of course, is that the Potter family was not present this evening.

(It will be recalled that at various times Seth has said that Bill Macdonnel has much natural psychic ability, and that it is largely untrained. Seth stated that Bill was gifted in many lines of psychic ability, among them the perception of apparitions. Seth also stated that Jane and I did not see as much as we might because we were both too “fussy” about what we would allow ourselves to see.

(As soon as the session was over I began notes on it, and covered the range of material given. Since what follows is reconstructed from memory it is to some extent out of chronological order. I found that I could write out rather easily an abridged version of the material Seth covered, and did not miss any of the major points. Undoubtedly I missed some minor asides, and changed phrasing and punctuation. Yet I feel that what follows is a good account.)

I have been with you this evening for some time, as you no doubt knew. Notes are not particularly necessary to what I have to say; and Joseph, you should enjoy the rest.

What will be necessary is that, at least in the beginning, the three of you will be necessary for this to be possible. I hereby suggest that the three of you attend a session at least once every two weeks. In the beginning three will be necessary. Later two may be sufficient. And with the three of you we will need dedication and discipline.

Mark, you need discipline, but it is discipline that you will acquire in living. And here let me say that Ruburt’s strong feelings are correct. Ruburt knows what he knows. You should move into your gallery as soon as possible. You will be asked to give shows of your paintings by two people whom you should refuse; you will be asked to give shows by other people, whose invitations you should accept. It will be up to you to use your inner knowledge, your intuitions, in determining which persons to refuse and which to accept.

Also, Mark, you should not be afraid of your dreams. They do not mean what you think they mean. They are, briefly, part of your whole self. You have been in contact with other parts of yourself for a long time. You have learned more in the last year than you learned in the last fifteen. If you want to learn more about your dreams and what they really mean, I will discuss them in a regular session. But above all you should move into your own place.

The physical side of these sessions is accepted by Joseph. He knows what he sees, but perhaps we can aid in our Ruburt’s commitment. He demands proof of the validity of this material, his psychological time experiences notwithstanding. He demands physical effects and then freezes up. He questions everything that happens in the sessions, and sometimes I think he believes none of it.

But I will do my best, and it will be considerable. I will not parade any so-called effects for you tonight, however. I demand discipline and respect at my sessions, no matter what I said about Ruburt and discipline earlier. But we will have our effects, never fear.

(I did not think to note the time the session ended, but certainly it was within half an hour. Jane said Seth knocked her out quickly, and that it was her deepest trance except for the self-induced one of January 10, 1964. See Volume 1, page 83. Yet as usual she could hear herself speaking, although she could not follow the sense of what she was saying, nor did she try to.

(Seth mentioned the physical effects often throughout the session, hence my repetition of this. He did not say anything, however, about what kind of effects he would produce. Jane spoke at a somewhat faster rate than usual, although had I been taking notes I believe I could have kept up for the most part.)