“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(To begin tonight, the four of us sat at our small coffee table, holding hands. The room was lit by a candle within three feet of us on another table, and by reflected light from the kitchen on one side of the living room, and from the bedroom on the other side. Jane began speaking, asking if anyone was present. I had hesitated to speak, because on a previous occasion while trying this procedure I had inadvertently brought in Seth. See the 129th session, witnessed by Judy and Lee Wright.

(This time however Jane brought Seth in herself. We had clustered around the coffee table for perhaps five or six minutes when Seth came through. We broke our handclasps and relaxed for an informal exchange that lasted until 1:23 AM, with rather frequent breaks.

(I made no attempt to take notes, nor did Peggy. What follows is my reconstruction from memory, made immediately after the session ended. I kept my notebook beside our bed also, and whenever I thought of something to add I did so, up until noon of the next day. Jane then read the notes and suggested any corrections she happened to remember. Peggy and Bill did most of the talking during the session. They are reading the early sessions now, and so what developed was a rather condensed review of some of the main tenets of the material, for their benefit.

(Much of the session was a kind of review, as the 162nd session was, which the Gallaghers also witnessed, with Lorraine Shafer. The material on the construction of matter was gone over. Seth talked a good deal on the cooperation of all living things in maintaining our universe, and of how it’s so very wrong for civilized human beings to kill. He dwelt upon this at some length. I believe a remark Bill made before the session began, about animals, led to this.

(There were a few new bits and pieces of information throughout the session. One is to the effect that although Seth’s contact with Jane and me is his first venture into education on our plane, [which he had told us many sessions ago], he is also in contact with other groups on other planes. These other groups are not physical in our terms. Seth said that these other groups also have their wrongs, as we have ours. Killing is not one of them however, nor are wars.

(A new physical effect concerned the candle, standing on the table against the wall perhaps three feet from our group. All the windows in the apartment were closed with the exception of one kitchen window, because the night was extremely windy; this wind aggravated my hay fever. The candle burned with a low flame, one perhaps a quarter-inch high. Seth, talking about physical effects, said that he could probably have levitated the small coffee table we sat around tonight, with Ruburt’s help. But Ruburt still needs to develop his abilities further, Seth said. Abruptly the candle flame shot up to a noticeable degree, at least twice its previous height. The increase in brightness was plainly noticeable, causing all of us to look at the candle. Seth then said he had caused the flame to grow. It stayed brighter for several minutes as he continued talking, then died down. Bill confirmed my own thought at the time, that a stray burst of wind had affected the flame. We had no way of knowing if wind was responsible or not; the kitchen window was perhaps fifteen feet away, and around a corner. Seth went on to say that the candle flame would not grow higher again, because Ruburt was alerted to the effect now, and was watching it.

(Seth said he had unfortunately been involved with some other groups on our plane, in seance gatherings. He spoke very harshly of such “idiotic” gatherings and personalities. At the same time Seth stated he was not a spirit, although if he materialized in the middle of the floor we would pay more attention and not take him for granted.

(During his discussion on the creation of matter, Seth used the coffee table and a wineglass in making his points about how each of us creates his own world, with its own atoms and molecules. This led also into a discussion of the consciousness of each atom and molecule, etc., and our agreement telepathically on such things as the placement of objects in space. See sessions 66 and 68 in Volume 1.

(Speaking of the fact that civilized man should not kill, Seth said the whole idea of killing is fallacious to begin with: an enemy who is “dead” is far more harmful than one who is still alive. Here he was dealing with the basic unity of all consciousness again. Killing is not thought of as an end in itself on other planes, he repeated. But it is wrong to kill on our plane when we do consider it an end.

(Seth told me that tests similar to our envelope tests, or perhaps involving objects, could probably be held here in the apartment when others such as the Gallaghers are present. Ruburt’s confidence is the big factor. This restriction to home grounds is a very temporary one, and later Ruburt can deal with objects at a greater distance.

(Just before the Gallaghers left, Seth/Jane’s voice began to grow very loud just for a sentence or two. We all clapped our hands over our ears, and Seth had mercy on us. The voice was somewhat unusual, Seth told us; he himself was not interested greatly in physical effects or proofs, but realized they might be necessary to us, or scientists. He was interested, he said, in effects like the voice, or Jane’s facial changes. There was much that he and Ruburt could do; there was also much they could not do. It depended upon Jane’s confidence to a great extent.

(End at 1:23 AM. Jane felt fine in spite of the length of the session. Indeed, it was she who initiated it during our casual conversation, after the Gallaghers had been here for a while. Her eyes had remained open for the most part until the end, and she had been dissociated as usual.