“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(Tonight’s session began at 9:50 PM. After supper this evening Jane expressed a desire to vary the routine, although she did not want to skip the session. On impulse I invited her out for a beer. There were go-go girls at the neighborhood tavern we went to, and both of us enjoyed the break in routine. Jane, very amused, commented every so often that she received little “messages” from a certain party, expressing approval of our actions, and merely suggesting that we do get to the session at least a few minutes before the Instream material was due.

(As mentioned by Seth in the last session, I have begun keeping a record of outside weather data from our television weather channel. This includes humidity, barometric pressure, etc., as detailed on page 97. This record is for session nights only; I do not know whether it is necessary to insert the data into each session. When we begin our dream experiments with the recorder, we will also keep a daily weather record, again as suggested by Seth.

(The session was held in our front room. With the windows closed traffic noise was not a problem. Jane began speaking while sitting down, in an average voice and at a good pace from the beginning. Jane’s eyes opened wide immediately after Seth’s greeting, which is most unusual. They were very dark. Seth/Jane was quite pleased and amused, and spoke with a smile. Jane was smoking.)

It is perfectly all right now and then to vary your schedule in this manner, and probably all in all most beneficial.

You probably also came to this conclusion by yourselves, and while I would not make the habit of beginning our sessions later than usual, occasionally such tardiness is more than justified. The use of the different room is also beneficial, to vary the routine.

There were a few remarks that I intended to make concerning the Christmas season, and perhaps I shall make them now.

If it seems to you that there is a great gap existing within Christianity, between ideals expressed, and actions, then let me tell you that conditions would indeed be far worse if these ideals had not initially been expressed, and if they were not yearly reaffirmed.

As you both suppose, enough constructive psychic energy is generated during the holiday season to recharge psychic batteries, so to speak, for quite some time. Were it not for this your whole race would be in much more serious a predicament.

One of the reasons, Joseph, for your own lack of festive spirit in the past has been the result of your realization that this gap between idealism and action is great. You could not therefore enter into what you felt to be the hypocrisy of the season. All the more since you have no particular conviction, anymore than Ruburt has, concerning the historic existence of a Christ.

To some extent I have explored some of this, but it will do you well to join wholeheartedly into the very necessary spirit of the time, for it is constructive and most beneficial. And in so doing you help yourself and others.

Now. There was no historic Virgin Birth, and no historic Crucifixion. This does not mean that these do not represent symbolic realities.

(It was now time for the 22nd Dr. Instream test. As usual Jane sat with her hands raised to her closed eyes while giving the data. She used pauses but all in all her pace was not particularly slow. Her voice was quiet. Resume at 10:03.)

Again it seems, as I believe one time before, he is in a room that is at least partially below ground level. With chairs, many chairs in it, of the straight-backed variety.

(Pause.) Whether or not this is a cafeteria I do not know, but he and others seem to be drinking coffee. (Pause.) He is dressed in a business-type suit this evening, with shirt and tie, standing up and talking to two other people.

He finds the conversation in some way inadequate. He is trying to get definite answers from a man who does not seem able to give them. The man is taller than Dr. Instream, somewhat younger, but not in the same department at the university.

He made a trip to his office, and spoke briefly with one man there. (Pause.) Again, some sort of connection with a small black box, very small. The top is black. I do not know about the bottom half.

(It was 10:15. This is the 19th envelope test. As usual I handed Jane the sealed double envelope. She held the envelope quietly, her eyes still closed. She took a sip of milk, then sat with her left hand to her face.)

Ruburt here thinks of a photograph of the two of you, taken at Marathon. (Pause.) A border. Horizontal lines that are similar to each other. A late spring, or a spring or summer month.

A strip, and a connection with an event that was not particularly pleasant. Light and dark, with shadow shapes. A connection with another individual, a male.

(See the tracing of the test object on page 101. All in all the envelope test results were much superior to the previous two tests, and Jane was pleased. “A connection with water” can be our Elmira, New York address, 458 W. Water Street, or that both Ormond Beach and Daytona Beach, Florida, are on the ocean.

(“One, two, three, or three of a kind,” can be the July 3 postmark date on the envelope. The envelope is addressed to Jane and me, “yourself and Ruburt,” but we do not particularly see where “afternoon” comes in. I remember the photograph of Jane and me taken at Marathon, Florida. “A border” regarding the test object does not ring a bell, but “Horizontal lines that are similar to each other,” are the postmark cancellation lines. The letter was mailed in July, “a spring or summer month.”

(Jane insists that “A strip” refers to the beautiful long beaches at both Daytona and Ormond, which adjoin each other. Without going into personal details, we can say that Seth is correct when he refers to “A connection with an event that was not particularly pleasant”; this involved us and Jane’s father in Florida.

(We do not see a connection with “Light and dark, with shadow shapes” particularly. Jane’s father, who addressed the envelope, can be “A connection with another individual, a male.” Jane’s father is of course “someone who visited here,” but we do not know what “A photograph” means, particularly, in the test data, since Seth did not elaborate.

(Usually now we do not ask Seth to explain every reference made in a test if we do not see any connection. We list what we see as connections, and have noted that if we are really puzzled about any test data, Seth will say something about the problem after break.

This feeling that Christmas represented hypocrisy has been one of the main reasons for your own low spirits during the season, for it represented a rather deep disillusionment with the culture in which you were nurtured.

The legend of Christ is of great psychic import however, and is intrinsically true. This does not mean it is based in historical fact. In many ways it is more true than historic fact, for man himself created that which had not been provided. The creation nevertheless happened in quite real terms, and is part of mankind’s inner recognition of the pyramid gestalts of which I have spoken.

This was as close as man could come in his imagination to that which is, and this is all right. The basic idea behind Christmas is definitely important, whether or not the intellect is able to see its significance.

Now. Psychologically alone this is beneficial, for it acts against those feelings of despair that can creep up during the winter season. And by reminding men of a birth and a resurrection it hints at the innate abilities of the race to transcend physical time and space.

The getting out of oneself that is involved is excellent therapy, and therapy that does others good, as well as the self involved. There is much more here, however. Culturally speaking, there is a strong connection with pagan intuitions, deep and meaningful, that found newer and broader expressions.

The character of Christ as it is portrayed is an excellent one, since it stressed human rather than specifically male qualities. Or should I say it stressed human qualities rather than those unfortunately considered male qualities. It stressed the best qualities of the race as a whole.

The personality of Christ is an idealization, and a clue to the entity of which each individual personality is composed. And as far as prayer is concerned, though I realize that neither of you pray in those terms, someone does indeed listen. The self who prays listens, and makes necessary adjustments and improvements. For the individual is part of All That Is, and therefore partakes of the abilities of the psychic gestalts of which we have so sketchily spoken.

I will now close our session, with my fondest good wishes to you both, and I believe that we have set Ruburt back on a fairly steady line.