“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(The regularly scheduled session for last Wednesday, July 14, was not held because Jane and I were on vacation.

(We had indicated to Dr. Instream last week that we would record a session upon returning home, and ship him the tape for his own use. Jane and I had not used our recorder much lately, so we practiced with it last night, establishing proper distances from the microphone, and volume settings. The session was recorded with the Gallaghers as witnesses, at their home, and turned out well. There follows the little talk Jane gave on tape before the actual session began:

(Jane had felt for several days that Seth would address the session to Dr. Instream, and so he did. Jane’s eyes remained closed for the entire session. She began the session while sitting down. More or less as I had anticipated, she began speaking too rapidly for me to take notes effectively, although at times during the session I was able to keep up with her. Peggy Gallagher also took notes. Thus this session is taken from the tape itself, largely, and necessitated replaying it several times.

(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.)

Now. In the dream state it would be impossible for the dreamer to prove the existence of the familiar street outside of his familiar door. His attention is momentarily directed toward a different sort of reality. The ordinary trees outside of his window do not exist for him. It would be highly difficult to ask a man while he dreamed to prove the physical reality of the bed in which he slept, or the bedside table which was at his head, or to prove the existence of the wooden floor upon which the bed rested. Highly difficult indeed, for such objects do not exist for our dreamer.

(Jane had slowed her pace somewhat, and I was now having some success in keeping up with her. Peggy Gallagher evidently was having better luck; she had been writing steadily ever since the beginning of the session.)

All right now. You may be interested to some degree, dear Doctor Instream, in the sort of personality through whom I speak. I wanted a personality who was at the same time both intelligent and intuitional. I wanted an ego which was well balanced, healthy and strong. Yet I also wanted a personality which would allow itself the spontaneity necessary, and the inner freedom, so that such communications could take place. A personality without basic stability would not serve my purposes, and a personality that was too rigid in its beliefs and abilities would not serve my purposes well.

(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.

(With the above paragraph Jane rose to her feet and her voice grew stronger. She did not move from her position before her chair, and thus the distance from her face to the microphone did not vary a great deal. I believe it increased a little. I know the angle changed somewhat, since we had set the mike on the table so it directly faced her when she was sitting down. Now she spoke from above it, but we believe the stronger voice more than made up for the increased distance, and was still able to show the variation in the volume of Jane’s voice as the session progressed. She took to her feet at about 9:50.)

(During this paragraph Jane’s voice really grew in strength and volume, although it was to become stronger later on. She began to approach the volume of the voice used in the 158th session. When these effects came on, Jane usually stood upright, with her head back to some degree; this made me think of a trumpet. Strangely enough however her mouth did not open more than an inch. And of course during these effects she displayed no evidence of strain. This voice is not a shouting voice, but simply an innately stronger voice.

I will now suggest that a break be taken, if you will bear with me once again; I look forward to the more friendly conversations which will occur between us in the future. For such formality indeed, and such mechanical limitations, do not allow me to achieve that friendly informal attitude that I would prefer, and I enjoy answering your questions, for in many ways you are indeed a man such as I was.

(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.

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.

(As before, Jane, on her feet again, stood just before her chair, threw her head back, and let the sound pour out. Much of the time the great voice was humorous. She smiled often while speaking, gesturing freely. She was obviously enjoying herself.)

I may not know what is right for it, but I certainly know what is wrong. What is wrong is your limited perception. What is wrong are the arbitrary limitations which you have set upon reality; and these limitations, while set by you, nevertheless operate as if they were absolute. I say again, if any small and simple treats of voice (louder again) will serve to make supposedly sane men stand up and listen (louder, strong, very strong; Jane’s head was thrown back as though to let the great voice out unimpeded) then so I will speak out in loud and hearty tones. (If possible, even stronger here. Then the voice began to soften. Jane displayed no strain or fatigue.)

(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.

(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.)

It would be unfair of me to back upon an elderly gentleman’s desire for immortality, and I would never stoop to such a practice. I was myself an elderly gentleman, and I understand too well the soul-searching aspects of such a reality. You may therefore be assured that I will not play on such human limitations. I will under all circumstances never take advantage in any such manner.

I say this only to let you know that I understand any innermost doubts that you might have concerning the possibility that others would so take such advantage. I thoroughly enjoyed our brief meeting. Our conversation indeed was most beneficial. I appreciated the give and take. This may not sound like a very scientific document, yet in many ways it may be more scientific than you imagine, for its effects will indeed be felt.

(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.

(I did not know exactly how many feet of tape were left on our recorder, due to inexperience, yet saw that the session would have to end before too long or we would run out of tape first. Although Seth/Jane started out in a relatively quiet manner on this last delivery, another voice display, perhaps even better, began to develop. Jane resumed the session while sitting down and with her eyes closed. Her pace was faster, and after a few sentences she rose to her feet once more. Resume at 11:29.)

(Jane’s voice had been slowly growing in volume since last break. Seth now pulled out more stops than ever before, I believe. The voice display now became deafening. My ears rang, off and on, for the next few paragraphs. I saw Peggy and Bill blinking. Jane merely stood in front of her chair, head thrown back. As stated before she exhibited no strain in producing these stunning effects. The electric eye on the recorder closed, meaning that it was recording, as far as I know, at maximum volume.)

(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:] “How was your voice?”

([BG:] “This is Bill Gallagher. I want to verify the fact that the 170th Seth session was held in my home on Holden Road, where it was witnessed by my wife and myself on July 19,1965, from 8:57 to 11:45. What you hear on these tapes has in fact occurred, and Jane was within view at all times; and I don’t know what else I can add, other than the fact that it was a very astounding presentation.”

([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.”

(Although Seth said to forget about notes, I found myself making a few after a few minutes, out of habit. Peggy also made some, and what follows is taken from these two sources; nothing is included here that is not touched upon in the notes. Seth talked at a normal rate, and neither Peggy nor I made a serious effort to get it all down. Some of the material was a repeat, in a more informal way, of what Seth had said during the session itself. During this exchange it was obvious that Seth was enjoying himself immensely. More than once he referred to Bill Gallagher as his favorite Jesuit, and this is getting to be something of a standing joke between Bill and Seth.

(None of us asked questions that might lead to totally new, unfamiliar material that we might wish later was recorded. Bill wanted to ask Seth to comment on the God concept, but thought this was a complicated subject. He settled instead for a question pertaining to a large wooden Tibetan statue he and Peg had purchased in Ithaca, NY. To our surprise this subject developed a few complications of its own.

(Seth was rather loathe to discuss the statue at first, but kept throwing out bits of information about it in between his protests. During this time Jane remained seated, her eyes closed. The statue, of a mythological or Godlike being in a sitting position with its arms upraised, did come from Tibet, Seth said—a small area in a southwestern corner of the country. I asked him for the name and he said he did not think Ruburt could pronounce it. The closest he could come via spelling was S-w-a-s-o-o-w-a-n. Swasoowan.

(The statue originated in the 12th century, and its name is not the same now as it was, Seth said. The statue represented the God of the Universe. There is some information on it in a book in the Elmira Library. The word Sense is involved here, Seth said according to my notes, although it may need translation. I do not remember why.

(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.]

(The statue was taken by an American from Hong Kong to San Francisco in 1905. Seth was not positive about the date. He mentioned 34th Street, and I believe referred to New York City. A man named Bryant purchased it in San Diego, for his daughter, and transferred the statue from there to New York by nefarious ways. Seth then called Bill a romantic Jesuit.

(I joked with Seth about the great voice effects, and Seth agreed that he had not yet reached the peak in voice effects, at least as far as volume went. Whereupon Jane rose to her feet again and treated us to a voice display that in my opinion exceeded to some small degree the voice effects we had taped this evening. This was a prolonged display that lasted more or less for the balance of the session, and seemingly could have continued until dawn without effort on Jane’s part, just as Seth said. The volume of sound hurt my ears at times.

(Seth said again that he considered such effects childish, but that it would be a small sacrifice to make if it helped to get the material across. Again he dwelt upon the difficulty of proving immortality. No matter what he did, people would say it was trickery. He still maintained that he could offer proof that would be sufficient, in time. He repeated again that he could not play on Dr. Instream’s desire for immortality in order to arouse his interest in the material.

(Referring again to the question of immortality, Seth said that all of us in the room knew what it was like to be old men, and that some of us had also been old women. He did not get more specific on this last point.

(In answer to a question of Bill Gallagher’s, Seth said Bill did well to refuse a promotion that would have necessitated his moving to Detroit. [Bill also works for the Elmira paper, in advertising.] Seth said that Bill was on the right track, that once he gets his physical problems straightened out, meaning his ulcer, he will be doing very well.

(There was more to this part of the session, but I believe that between us Peggy and I covered most categories discussed. End between 1:30 and 1:45 AM. Jane seemed as fresh as ever. The rest of us had had it.)