“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(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.

(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.

(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 am somewhat concerned. When Ruburt’s book is published the fact of the sessions will be known. We have not had to deal with this in the past. I make no effort to direct Ruburt’s writings in any manner. What Ruburt has said in his book has been up to him, and therefore we have to deal with the results.

(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.)

[The other director] is too much concerned with his own personal image. He does not want to be involved with anything that may fail... this is a personal concern of his. His ego is such that it makes him, in a strange manner, often prevent the sort of effects that he seeks. He asks too much, and receives too little. He will always be that way.

That sweetness allows for spontaneity, and explains why many of his cases succeeded. But for entirely different reasons Dr. Rhine also gets too involved, and the end result is the same... we can get effects, but the laboratory atmosphere will not help us.

I will now let my friend Ruburt have his cigarette. I would myself prefer a cigar.

(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.