“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(The 34th envelope experiment was held during the session. The object was the front of a recent letter to Jane from her publisher’s secretary. I folded it once, put it between two pieces of board and sealed it in the usual double envelope. Jane did not know I had saved it. I thought this object simple enough, while containing some good emotional charges, but as will be seen Seth picked up many connections. The experience turned out to be a complicated one. There were unexpected hits, and one not used.

(Marian now wondered if she had been subconsciously aware of the woman’s impending death, etc., and had tried to offer solace. Marian knows of the sessions but has not witnessed any; she has read some of the early material.

It is not the time he spends working, necessarily. He should understand this by now, but the effort, energy and concentration that is expended. Now, it is to be expected that he expend energy and that he concentrate with some thoroughness, but at times he becomes emotionally weary as a result of expending huge amounts of energy within a small amount of time, comparatively speaking.

On the other hand as I have told you, your past continually changes. It does not appear to change to you, for you change with it. You are not aware of the changes that have come about. The question of clairvoyance however is not at issue with information given concerning your past. Your future changes as your past changes. But clairvoyant information deals with the future, that is, precognitive clairvoyant information, and it is here that the issue shows itself.

These choices however are based upon your changing perceptions of past and present. Because I have a larger scope of perception than you, I can with much greater facility predict what may happen. But this is dependent upon my prediction as to which choice you will make, and the choice is still your own.

Once more, the field of probabilities does not consist of imaginative fancy, nor of nebulous activity. It is quite as real as the physical universe. The experiences that are encountered there by other portions of the self are used by the whole self, and the knowledge thus gains is invaluable. Not only in terms of overall experience, but also as a means of training the ego, and the subconscious, to choose between various activities.

This probable field seeds many other systems beside the one physical system with which you are familiar. The probable field is strongly composed of thought images, not physically materialized, but extremely vivid and actual storehouses of energy. Here is the material from which all pasts and presents and futures are made.

It is far from a closed system in any way. Not only does it feed the physical universe, but in it many aspects of your own dreams become actual. Do you dream of an apple? Do you dream of a child, who has no existence in physical reality? Often these exist in the field of probability.

(It was now time for the 40th Dr. Instream experiment. Jane sat with her right hand raised to her closed eyes. She used many short pauses but her pace was average in between. She was not smoking. Resume at 10:09.)

The items have been kept in a box. Also the impression of a small ceramic sculpture, of two people, and colored. The figures upright, with some gadget on top. This is only an example now, but a gadget like a handle, for example.

Twelve people in a group, listening to him. A special group in which he is highly interested. A letter from an F W. Findings that are surprising to him, involving somehow X’s and Y’s. Perhaps on the third, thirteenth or twenty-third of this month. I am sure of the three but not of the other figures.

A connection with a grand view. A package. (Jane gestures.) Ruburt’s association is with something that did not arrive on time, but let that one pass.

A note—there is some confusion here—that was not sent, or did not arrive. This leads Ruburt to think of a note he wrote but did not send, to Father Martin. I mention this for your information.

(During the half hour that break lasted we made what connections we could, but most of our time was spent puzzling out the four letters, etc. Seth discusses the experimental results to some extent. On some points we did not see or get explanations.

(“Ruburt’s association is with something that did not arrive on time, but let that one pass.” After break Seth tells us he hoped to make this clearer, but could not. Jane and I thought this was a reference to the fact that F. Fell left for Florida on January 24, Monday, before reading Jane’s letter #1, of January 20, the previous Thursday. Letter #1 would not have arrived at his office by the next morning, Friday. Thus letter #1 was acknowledged in letter #2, written by F. Fell’s secretary, Rhoda Monks, on Tuesday, January 25.

(“Three people in particular.” Three people wrote the four letters involved. Jane wrote letters #1 and #4, Rhoda Monks wrote letter #2, Emma Hesse was responsible for letter #3. But I did not ask Seth for clarification and so we are not certain.

(“A note—there is some confusion here—that was not sent, or did not arrive. This lead Ruburt to think of a note he wrote but did not send, to Father Martin. I mention this for your information.” There is an interesting example of association at work here. Jane saw it before I did. Father Martin is a monk in a nearby monastery close to Elmira, and the author of letter #2, possibly enclosed by the envelope object, is Rhoda Monks.

(Jane did write Father Martin a letter on December 2,1965 that she never mailed. In the 212th session for November 29,1965 Seth discussed various measurements that could be taken from Jane just before, during, and after sessions by a doctor. Father Martin was a doctor before entering the religious life; he knows of the sessions but has not witnessed any or read the material. We considered asking his help in the matter of getting some data on Jane’s physiological states, but did not go through with the idea because of lack of time.

(Jane has the habit of making such doodles, but as it happens letter #3 is the only one of the four letters involved that has doodles on it. Nor, for the record, does Jane’s unmailed letter of December 2,1965 to Father Martin contain any doodles. The doodles from letter #3 are reproduced below as tracings from the originals, and are not in the same position as on the original, standard-size 81/2 x 11 inch typing paper; the doodles are scattered over the page.

(We now come to an impression that Jane had while giving the experimental data this evening, but to which she did not give voice. Naturally, she was considerably vexed to learn that it was a legitimate one, and pertained directly to the object. See the tracing of the experimental object on page 289. Note that the word “bread” is written upon it as part of a grocery list. As soon as she opened the sealed double envelope and saw the object, Jane realized she had had an impression of bread. She did not have an image of a loaf of bread, for instance, but the words “a loaf of bread,” rather quickly. She does not know why she didn’t give voice to them, other than that the next impression came along quickly. This has happened before, she said. Then succeeding impressions crowd out memory of what has been left unsaid, until later. In this instance, Jane could not recall very accurately what part of the data she was giving voice to when she had the bread impression, except that she was sure it wasn’t toward the end.

(Jane resumed with her eyes closed, but opening occasionally, at 11:01.)

(Seth slipped up here, we believe. Rhoda Monks did author letter #2, but letter #3 was written by a woman, also; it is this letter that concerns Jane’s social security number.

Most of them are legitimate enough, but far from specific enough. Ruburt’s concentrated work on our test data today simply resulted in his strained efforts on my behalf. This is all right, and sometimes to be expected.

The impressions which you caught were indeed legitimate. I asked you to let the one impression pass because I hoped to make it clearer, but was unable to. Even when conditions are not the most beneficial, we are not too far off, you see.

(Seth is correct, and after he mentioned the twine connection Jane and I remembered it. This took place not on January 25, however, but on February 10, when the manuscript on the Seth material and the poetry book were mailed together. But Jane wrote letter #4, concerning the Seth material, on January 25. We did not use twine on the package, incidentally, but did use it on the package containing the tape recording Jane made of some of the poems in the poetry book. This was also mailed February 10. See page 269 of Session 232.)