“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.]

(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.

(Jane began speaking while sitting down and with her eyes closed. Her eyes remained closed for the entire session. Her voice was stronger than normal, and echoed somewhat in the crowded office. At times it became louder, but never approached the volume of the 158th session, for example. Her pace was rather fast, and she used many gestures while speaking as Seth. I had to ask Seth to slow down several times during the first part of the session.

(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.

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

(At 2:03 Jane came out of the trance state and opened her eyes. A discussion followed involving the sessions in general, the field of psychic investigation, proofs, etc. Jane went back into trance and resumed as Seth at 2:25.)

(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 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.)

([Dr. Intream:] “Okay, as far as it doesn’t interfere with your plans, Seth.”)

(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.

(The conversation then turned to the psychic societies, and to the director of the American Society. Jane and I received two brief letters from the director, concerning the Seth material, on March 23,1964 and April 23,1964. Jane then went into trance again, and began speaking as Seth in a strong and assured voice at 3:00.)

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

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

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

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

(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 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.