“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(Seth gave Don Wilbur a few lines of information concerning a job change he was considering, and Don has a copy of this material. Seth told Ann Diebler he could not at this time answer her questions concerning a friend in Newport News, Virginia, because he has not yet established an emotional rapport with her. He did willingly answer many other questions asked by Ann, Marilyn and Don, questions mostly based on the material itself and the concepts involved.

(Peggy Gallagher, a feature writer for the Elmira Star-Gazette, is in Washington DC for a few days this week on business. Seth volunteered to give information about Peg’s activities while she is in Washington, and Jane also plans to tune in on Peg via psychological-time experiments. Both of these methods were used with some success during the Gallaghers’ vacation in Puerto Rico last October.

(“You will meet a woman dressed in green... A clock that doesn’t keep proper time... There are three men in particular with whom you will be associated... You will meet a man you do not like... You will have a grand view of an occasion... A turnoff that does not bring you where you want to go... An unscheduled social engagement, not in a private home but a public place... The number 5 and the number 321... Another room besides the one that has been planned.”)

Now, I told you that I would discuss two dreams in which you were interested. However, since we are going to devote some time to our cat lover, in Washington, I will not begin the discussion of those dreams now. I could not do them justice in a short period, and would like to devote most of one session to them; and so we shall very shortly. Instead let us speak briefly on time and action.

As I have told you, all action is basically spontaneous. Only your perception of it adds the illusion of time to action. You think, for example, that any given action consumes or devours or takes up a certain amount of time. Therefore you think of time as something that contains action.

The dimensions of action itself have nothing to do, basically, with your conception of time. Instead the dimensions of action have to do with intensities; not only the intensities of the electromagnetic components that compose them, but with intensities as they are translated into psychological terms. Therefore the psychological experience of a particular event or action has little to do with clock time.

For the actions are spontaneous basically, again, and the effects exist so swiftly that it is impossible to say that one occurs before or after the other, or causes another. This could be likened to some gigantic, spontaneous motion that happens very swiftly. When you viewed such a gigantic motion with a slow camera, then you would get the effect that you receive within your system, of a continuous time. Where actually perhaps a sudden explosion had taken place, you would see a slow progression of light and motion.

Your concept of time does not of course change time itself, but it does force you to perceive actions in a certain manner. Much of this is the result of the limitations of the physical organism, but much more is the effect of the development of the ego, which attempts to set itself up and apart from action.

The ego however is quite secure. It would exist regardless, now, of the particular theories of time which might be held, for it is strongly anchored as a specific manipulator of physical reality. And physical reality, believe it or not, is not dependent upon the theory of time as a series of moments.

Your institutions, both cultural and educational, may be dependent upon time as a series of moments, but physical reality itself is not.

(See the 149th-152nd sessions for the material on moment points and time. Once again, the material on time is woven through the sessions. Seth began discussing time in the 14th session. See the sessions 120-130 for material on the electrical field and time, in Volume 3.

(Jane has been reading J.B. Priestley’s book, Time and Man, recently. She is well aware that Seth often discusses her reading matter. She remarked that tonight Seth had elaborated on a few statements Mr. Priestley had made; that is, Seth was not paraphrasing, but carrying ideas further.

(We thought it might be time now for Seth to give some data on Peggy Gallagher and her activities in Washington, DC, since in giving the data on the Gallaghers in Puerto Rico last October, he had done so at 9:30 in each session. Jane now resumed with her eyes closed, and at a good pace. She was smiling. Resume at 9:35.)

Your physicists know that time does not exist, basically, as a series of moments, one following the other. Therefore my earlier remark that physical reality was not dependent upon time as a series of moments should be obvious. Physical reality is dependent upon your sensual perception of action, and that is all.

Obviously we have more to say here, and so we shall. For since you are operating still within time as a series of moments, we do not have time for that discussion now.

A measurement of abilities, though I do not know to what this refers. 14,000 in all attend, in all sections, though at various times.

(Break at 9:51. Jane was dissociated as usual. Her eyes remained closed. Her pace had picked up considerably by the time break arrived.

(It was now time for the 23rd Dr. Instream test. Once again Jane sat with her hands raised to her closed eyes. Her pace was not too slow, although broken by many pauses. Resume at 10:04.)

(Jane finished her comments by noting that there isn’t much she can do at the moment about being sidetracked by such personal associations, except to keep it in mind. She does believe that this knowledge has in itself prevented her from being led astray from Seth’s data a few times in the past, and that her ability in separating Seth’s data from her own will grow.

(There may be an outside chance that we can confirm this data. A friend of ours who lives in our apartment house knows the two dancers, who live together in the neighborhood. But we do not know them, and this was the first time Jane and I had been in the discotheque in over a year.)

My fondest wishes to you both, and to our Dr. Instream. I would suggest, incidentally, that you both if possible find time to do the yoga exercises daily, as they provide excellent discipline, and tend to unify various portions of the self. Also, during Christmas week, when I am giving you a vacation, I would suggest that Ruburt rest from psychic affairs entirely.