“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(“The recorder is operated by my husband. It is a Sears Silvertone. The Tone and Volume One controls are set as far to the left as possible during recording. The Volume Two control has been set at 4, and unless otherwise noted this setting will not be changed for the rest of the evening, whether I am speaking as Seth or myself. I am sitting between five and six feet from the microphone, and will keep this position throughout the session. The entire recording is being made on Monaural One, Side One and Side Two.

(Jane actually began speaking at 8:57. Her voice was stronger than usual from the beginning, her manner active. The recording was begun with the footage set at 000 prior to Jane’s introduction, on Monaural One, Side One.)

Therefore it is not overplaying the point to say that all psychic phenomena is caused by suggestion. For my dear doctor, without suggestion, without automatic and continuous suggestion, no human being would breathe one breath. I am indeed happy to be able to speak to you in this manner. There are several points that I would like to cover this evening, for I have you here now, you see, where you cannot talk back to me.

I shall of course take advantage of the opportunity, but then you will have time to speak to me at your leisure. There are many points to be considered, and these matters certainly cannot be covered in one evening such as this. I hinted at our last discussion that it is indeed within the ability of the human personality to become aware of other realities while still keeping contact with physical reality. Manipulation in the physical universe is of course a necessity, but there are ways by which the human individual can become aware of other quite valid realities, and still maintain balance and control within his own more usual field of activity.

(Break at 9:12. Jane had been dissociated as usual. Her eyes had been closed and she had remained seated for the entire delivery. Her voice had been stronger than usual, and she had spoken at such a rapid pace that I had not been able to keep up with her in my notes. The bulk of the above delivery is thus taken from the tape. The delivery ended with the footage registering 333 on the recorder, Mono One, Side One.

Therefore it is also highly difficult for me to prove my own existence to you, for you are not focused within my field of attention. You are focused within the physical universe. I will indeed go along with this endeavor. It is nevertheless a difficult one. I understand most thoroughly, my dear Doctor Instream; I know, again, with whom I am dealing. You, at this point in our acquaintanceship, have little to lose by being so kind to me, and so permissive and sympathetic in your attitude. I say this because we understand each other very well.

I realize only too well that reincarnation is a shady subject by far, most unpopular. I assure you however that in any discussion with your psychologists on this matter, I shall hold my own. Again, the attention, the energy of all human personalities, as a rule, are severely focused in one scope of reality only. They are indeed in a trance.

(Break at 9:35. Jane was well dissociated as usual. Her eyes had remained closed, she had remained seated. Her voice had been strong and expressive, if somewhat on the same keel throughout the session so far. The voice effects began to show themselves after this break. Footage at break was 552, Mono One, Side One.

(The massive voice effects continued from now on in greater or lesser degree; they will not all be listed. One will have to listen to the tape of this session to really achieve any idea of the voice range Jane displayed.)

Again, if I stood clear as day in the middle of a meeting room, with twenty fine and sturdy, respectable fuddy-duddies, what would this prove? They would swear that they were under the effects of suggestion. I will, I will for my own amusement, give you in the future many—not one but many—clairvoyant effects. Again, for my own amusement.

For though we do have the same interests there are many areas in which we do not now agree. But I will see if I cannot bring you around; and if you will forgive me my dear doctor, this humility of yours is indeed overdone. There is nothing of what I have said that you do not understand, your comments to the contrary. You pretend with yourself. If you will forgive me, for I am speaking to you as one old crony to another, you are too sly to stand up straight and say who you are, and what you are, and accept the responsibility for your own abilities. You do not want the world mad at you.

(Break at 10:06. Jane was dissociated as usual. She remained standing until break, with her eyes closed. Her voice was strong, quite loud at times, somewhat slower, and at times had humorous overtones. Footage 762, Mono One, Side One.

(I now had to resume the session on Mono One, Side Two. I made a brief announcement of this on the tape. I also announced the times of breaks on the tape. Jane resumed while sitting down and with her eyes closed, and in a good voice, at 10:18.)

What you have needed, and if you have the sense to perceive it, and I think you have, was a situation where both logic and intuitions were allowed full play. We will have much to do with each other, my dear doctor, and you know already that this case is one for which you have long waited.

(Break at 10:40. Jane was dissociated as usual, she said. She had remained standing until break, with her eyes closed. She felt no fatigue from the voice effects. Her pace of dictation had been somewhat slower and I had been able to keep up with her. Footage at 412, Mono One, Side Two.

If I did not feel such a rapport with you I would not bother, for it is nothing to me one way or another if my existence be accepted or rejected. My concern is with the material I am presenting.

(Jane stood up once more before her chair. Her eyes were closed. She was smiling and gesturing. Now as she spoke she leaned forward some of the time, as though getting restless at merely standing upright in one spot. And again her voice began to display pyrotechnics, first loud, then soft; partially indicated in the following paragraphs.)

Now. Quite practically your personal and practical interest in immortality will give the impetus, the emotional impetus that will indeed allow me to deliver what you want. This is perhaps one of the most important statements of this evening’s session. Emotions are more important than you suppose. There is no fraud in me. There is no fraud in Ruburt or Joseph. They are not stupid and they are not gullible. You are not stupid nor gullible. They are not caught up in pseudoreligious nonsense. This will serve us well.

However I do not sincerely believe that such will be the case, and I can assure you that I am not one to dillydally. I am deeply aware of my responsibilities to Ruburt, through whom I speak, and I will endeavor to protect this personality from undue or unnecessary bother. But I will in all manners cooperate in any sincere effort that will add to the knowledge of the human [species] in general.

(Break at 11:18. Jane was dissociated as usual, and was not displaying any undue fatigue from the long session. She remained standing until break, her eyes closed all the while. Her voice had been good, yet quieter than the really strong display of the earlier delivery, and I had been able to keep up in my notetaking. Peggy had no trouble either. Footage at 686, Mono One, Side Two.

They are not humble where their own work is concerned, but they find it difficult to accept the possibility that they are involved in such a venture as this one. We have here merely a conglomeration of excellent circumstances, and we shall take advantage of them, Dr. Instream, you and I. Our purposes somewhat complement each other. (Loud, very loud and strong.)

I am no secondary personality. There is no case of multiple personality here. What you have if you take advantage of it, is Ruburt’s personality, which with Joseph’s help is capable and willing to perceive more than one reality at once. You will not, my dear doctor, get a second chance in this endeavor.

Let it not be said that I do not cooperate; and before twenty psychologists, my dear friend, we shall be most willing to comply. But we have our conditions, and if your conditions shall be met (very loud here, to slowly subside) my dear friend, then so shall mine. (Loud again.) We will give and take. I shall not give and give. If you consider this display a childish one, then let me remind you that I consider your requests in the same manner.

(This point was abundantly made, for although we did not know it at the time, the session was due to resume at midnight. At the moment the footage scale on the recorder read 860, Mono One, Side Two. We had a little tape left, so I decided to use it to demonstrate for others the fact of Jane’s immunity to voice fatigue. The following is taken from the tape verbatim, and includes a statement from Bill Gallagher, who witnessed the session with his wife Peggy. It was made immediately after the end of the session; perhaps a few minutes were lost here when I made a false start on the recorder, due to inexperience, and had to start the exchange between Jane and myself over.

([RB:] “This is Robert Butts again, speaking two days later on July 21st. I would like to add that the 170th session, which you have just heard, and which formally ended at 11:45 PM last Monday, July 19, resumed that night at midnight. It involved an informal exchange between Jane, Seth, Bill and Peggy Gallagher and myself, and lasted until about 1:30 AM. Our tape was almost exhausted and so it was not recorded. Seth also stated he did not care particularly to have it on tape, or have notes taken. During this exchange Seth was in an excellent good humor. I joked with him about the voice display, and he responded with another which was both stronger and longer-lasting than the one on tape here. Our ears rang, really, before it was over. And when it was over at last, and we were all weary, Seth, or Jane, was as capable as ever. Jane had no voice strain or fatigue that we could detect. Seth said he could continue until dawn, and I believe it quite possible. Jane just threw her head back and let the sound come out.”

(Seth said that originally the statue was accepted as a gift by a missionary, a Father Hogan, in payment for healing the daughter of a chieftain. Father Hogan was 46 years old. It was carried by him to a shop in Hong Kong and sold. Father Hogan was a Jesuit. Seth said the statue is not an original dating from the 12th century; this one dates from the late 18th century. [Bill Gallagher later verified this, telling us that a professor of Tibetan art at Cornell University, in Ithaca where they had bought the statue, had so stated. Ithaca is some 35 miles northeast of Elmira, NY.]

(What I think could be a very important point now came up when Peggy asked Seth about the question of proofs. Seth said that proofs she would accept would not be accepted by science. One proof to come, he said, would involve very strong facial changes in Jane during sessions. When I asked if these could be photographed he said yes.

(The Seth endeavor is well worth our while. Seth said he would arrange things so that I spent no more time writing up the material than I do now. He also bellowed that he would one day speak in an auditorium filled with psychologists.