“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(Jane and I attended the Hypnosis Symposium at Oswego State University College at Oswego, NY, on Friday evening, July 9th, and on Saturday and Sunday, July 10 and 11, at the invitation of Dr. Instream, codirector. I had written to Dr. Instream on June 1,1965 and sent him sessions 138, 141, 142, 149, 153 and 154, plus lists of the inner senses and the basic laws of the inner universe as defined by Seth. [Jane calls the good doctor Instream in The Seth Material, C1970.]

(We had no real opportunity to talk with Dr. Instream until Sunday evening at his home, after the symposium was over. During our discussion Dr. Instream revealed that he had mailed the sessions listed above to his friend Dr. Gardner Murphy, at the Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Kansas, and asked for his opinion. Jane and I answered Dr. Instream’s questions as well as we could, and made an appointment to attend his Monday morning class at the college. This was to be followed by lunch with him before we left to visit my brother Bill in Rochester.

(To digress a moment: As predicted by Seth in the 168th session of July 7, Jane and I did find ourselves involved with three men in particular, one of whom is younger, at the symposium. Two of these men are physicians in their fifties, with whom we became rather well acquainted at lunches, etc., and exchanged addresses. The third man is a psychology instructor at the college, perhaps in his late thirties. On Saturday evening he leafed through some of the Seth material briefly, then pronounced it the work of a clever schizophrenic. This upset Jane briefly but she recovered well. During our Sunday evening visit, Dr. Instream demolished the young psychologist’s diagnosis rather easily.

(Seth also said in the 168th session that we would make an appointment, as we obviously did to see Dr. Instream privately. Over coffee Monday, Dr. Instream asked if we had read F. W. H. Myers’ Human Personality. Seth had said we would be asked to read a book, but Dr. Instream did not insist that we read this work. We also bought two books by Dr. Instream at the college bookstore Monday noon.

(We lunched with Dr. Instream at Howard Johnson’s, adjacent to the campus. This interlude was longer than we had anticipated, and after the talk had dealt with matters psychic for some little time Jane announced that she felt uneasy. She thought Seth could give a session. Dr. Instream then suggested that we go to his office where it would be private and quiet.

(This is but the second session we have held outside of Elmira, the other being the 89th, of September 19,1964, held at my brother’s home in Rochester, NY, before three witnesses. Jane was now a little concerned at having a session away from home and in daylight. At the same time she had wanted to hold a session for Dr. Instream, feeling this would explain more about the sessions than any other method could.

(This first part of the session is verbatim as usual, until the interchange between Seth and Dr. Instream began at 1:59. Here the pace began to speed up as the two talked back and forth, and in the interests of spontaneity, and because this was a new development in the sessions, I made no attempt to slow Seth down, nor to record every word Seth or Dr. Instream spoke.

(Instead I took down the gist of their conversation, key words and phrases, and thus captured most of what they said. No major topics of conversation, for instance, were lost. Jane and I also left with Dr. Instream at his home on Sunday evening, copies of sessions 150, 151, 158, 160, 162, 164 and 165.)

I would like to give my greetings to Doctor Instream.

(Dr. Instream asked Jane how much of the delivery she could remember, and Jane replied that she retained a generalized memory of what had been said. Dr. Instream said the voice effect was somewhat unusual, and questioned us about Jane showing fatigue afterwards. We told him that Jane had little if any fatigue after such displays, no matter how long they might last, and referred him to the 158th session as an example. This session was among those I had left with him Sunday evening.

(Dr. Instream said that Jane was in a light trance during her delivery, and that automatic speech was involved. Our conversation then turned to the matter of scientific proofs and related subjects. This was also one of the subjects we had discussed at lunch, leading of course to Seth’s subject matter in the delivery just concluded.

(Up until this point I had made a verbatim record as usual, and had thought the little session in Dr. Instream’s office ended. An exchange now developed however, that was new to us in the sessions, involving Jane, Seth, Dr. Instream and myself. The pace quickened to some degree, and as stated before I made no effort to interfere with the spontaneity of the session. Unless otherwise noted what follows is the exchange between Dr. Instream and Seth only, and reports the gist of their conversation as taken from the notes and quotes I made on the spot. Nothing is included here which depends on my memory alone.

(Times noted indicate when Jane was in trance and when she came out of the state. When she remained in trance while Dr. Instream was speaking she listened to him intently, sitting with her eyes closed and her head cocked forward. Her voice was fairly strong as before, and very briefly at times it hit a stronger volume. She resumed as Seth at 1:59.)

([Dr. Instream:] “Exactly... we must proceed carefully, without pushing....”)

([Dr. Instream:] “I’m out of my depth here, Seth... spontaneity is important....”)

([Dr. Instream:] “Yes... the trouble is our human limitations... our methodology is important to us here... if we are to get others to listen to us....”)

([Dr. Instream:] “Yes....”)

Irregardless of our particular interests, I look forward to long conversations with you on less formal topics... like yourself, I am independent. We have many fields of common interests... the personality should always be considered in an elemental way as patterns of action. It is never stable. When you attempt to tamper with various levels you change it. When you crack an egg to discover what is inside you ruin the egg. There are other ways to get inside the egg, and they are not too difficult to do... you have the sort of mind, Dr. Instream, that will be of great benefit to us here. We do not need a hammer to crack the eggshell. I am an egghead, but I do not need a hammer to be cracked.

([Dr. Instream:] “ We’ll get insight on this... I’m human, I need to learn... we need proof.”)

([Dr. Instream:] “Some evidence we already have is difficult to deny... we must conduct a methodical investigation of these things.”)

([Dr. Instream:] “I’m in over my depth... need time to consider what we can do, what your ideas are.”)

(Jane came out of her trance at 2:32, discussed her voice effects during sessions briefly with Dr. Instream, then went back into trance as Seth at 2:33.)

([Dr. Instream:] “You’re quite right.”)

(Jane came out of her trance at 2:35. Since we do not have a phone we gave Dr. Instream the number of our neighbor across the hall, Leonard Yaudes.

(Dr. Instream talked of bringing a couple of others into the sessions but did not mention them to us by name. He stressed that it was best to be very careful about inviting others to participate. Also he mentioned that he would like an example of voice effects on tape, as long as we had a recorder, and we discussed mailing the tapes to him from Elmira. Jane then went back into trance as Seth again at 2:48.)

(Jane came out of her trance at 2:53, ending on a humorous note. Dr. Instream said that the impression he had of Seth was of a very mature and capable mind. He was interested in getting this impression on tape because the Seth voice itself reinforced this feeling. Seth, he said, possessed tremendous insight.

([Dr. Instream:] “That tickles me, Seth.”)

([Dr. Instream:] “You can take care of yourself.”)

([Dr. Instream:] “We’ll get better acquainted.”)

(Dr. Instream now commented upon the fact that Jane had no apparent fatigue while using the Seth voice.)

([Dr. Instream:] “Some very interesting possibilities here....”)

(Dr. Instream now asked Seth about the possibility of bringing some other people in on the sessions.)

([Dr. Instream:] “Yes, I agree....”)

(Dr. Instream agreed again; and Seth/Jane’s voice, strong to begin with, took on a note of mock horror.)

([Dr. Instream:] “I will try to be most careful... it can be a matter of gradual unfolding.”)

([Dr. Instream:] “It’s too bad Elmira is 120 miles away... you have no telephone....”)

(Dr. Instream said that he had been thinking of the possible damage that publicity could do to the sessions.)

([Dr. Instream:] “I can help Ruburt meet such problems... some people get steamed up over this subject. The criticisms could hurt if you weren’t prepared... but we can ignore such critics.”)

(Dr. Instream said it was best to pursue a policy of denying nothing, to ignore the criticisms and go our own way. We should avoid personal polemics in the field and not get involved; just as he has always gone his own way. Jane, as Seth, sat listening intently. She nodded.)

([Dr. Instream:] “No, that’s all right, it gives me insight... tells me who I’m dealing with. The book will be criticized... a barrage of criticism. It can’t be helped... but Ruburt must be rendered unsusceptible....”

(A case in point, Dr. Instream continued, was our meeting with the young psychologist on Saturday evening. See my notes on page 132. Dr. Instream said to forget such encounters. Jane again nodded in agreement, and her voice again became stronger briefly.)

([Dr. Instream:] “Yes... we’ll act as a buffer.”)

(Dr. Instream said that people often do get hurt, when instead they should be protected. He knows Dr. Rhine and another director personally, and voiced suspicions about their methods.)

(Dr. Instream agreed.)

(Again Dr. Instream agreed.)

([Dr. Instream:] “Yes.”)

(Dr. Instream agreed with Seth’s brief sketches of Dr. Rhine and the other director. He said that Dr. Rhine’s sweetness had led him into traps where his controls were not rigid enough during experiments, that his disposition was of the type that would not make him crack down. On the other hand, the other director was too strict. Dr. Instream used these examples to point out how important the correct methodology was in trying to obtain proofs in psychic investigations.

(As we said good-bye, I offered to send Dr. Instream a copy of the session.)