“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(The session was held again in our front room, and was not interrupted. The windows were closed to dampen traffic noise. Jane began speaking while sitting down and with her eyes closed, but they soon began to open for brief intervals. Her pace was rather slow, and she was smoking as the session began.)

You have perceived them. They do not exist in the space which you know, but neither are they nonexistent, merely imaginative toys of the dreaming mind, without substance.

Now. In reality the possible system does not achieve its order through subjective association, but the term, subjective association, is the nearest that I can come in approximating the basic causes for this order.

You withdraw yourself to a large extent from the physical field of actuality, but you do not only withdraw from the physical system. You enter other fields of actuality. Sleep is far from a negative state. In the sleep state there are as you know several stages. Some of these you call dream states, because the ego is aware upon awakening that some kind of mental activity has occurred.

But there are other states which the ego does not recall, states of activity that are presently beyond the reach of current scientific endeavors, and these states we shall discuss rather thoroughly.

The ego is only one layer of the self that has self-consciousness. Being self- conscious, the ego attempts to be conscious only of itself. Self-consciousness results in an intense, but necessarily limited focus. It necessitates boundaries. It depends upon some sort of inner psychological decision as to what will be considered self, and therefore accepted by consciousness, and that which will be considered notself, and not accepted by consciousness.

Now, my dear friends, your self-consciousness is the self-consciousness of the ego which you know, and which you consider your self. But where this self -conscious self ends, another self-conscious self begins. The two selves, being self-conscious selves, cannot be aware of any reality but their own.

Each layer, or each area of the whole self, imagines that it is the center of awareness, and that the whole self revolves about it. So far you have had little experience with these other “centers”—you may put that in quotation marks—but before too long we shall give you some ideas so that you may become at least slightly acquainted. Initially this will be done through suggestion on a subconscious level.

There are other self-conscious portions of the self however, with which the ego is not at all familiar, but of which the subconscious has intuitive knowledge. These self-conscious portions of the self exist in different reality systems. Before we go into our Dr. Instream material, let me remind you however that there is a whole self, composed of these various self-conscious selves, and that a portionof the self is indeed aware of the unity that exists to form the whole psychological gestalt.

(Break at 9:58. Jane said she was dissociated more than usual. Her pace had slowed somewhat but been very emphatic, and her eyes opened many times. She had smoked, and sipped wine occasionally.

Fairly heavy in weight for its size. The edges of the object would ordinarily be sharp, it seems, but they are somewhat blunted. I get the numbers one eight eight eight, in connection with this.

Also a connection with flowers. Either they are represented somewhere on the object, or somehow connected with it, and small leaves. The flowers could be violets. The object is not full size. That is, it is not a soldier’s shield of full size, but a representation. And a connection with jewelry.

It has a connection with a clock, but is not a clock. It has hands but it does not tell time. The numbers four, three, six are connected here, and also a schoolhouse, and a bell, such as one that is rung to some children to school.

Terwilliger. This is not correct, but take it down, the Terwilliger.

(How much of this data on page 305 might pertain to the Instream object we do not know, but Jane had intuitive feelings that a bleed-through had occurred involving the envelope object. I go along with her in that such feelings are legitimate, since the basis of these experiments, as Seth has told us many times, is emotional.

(“The edges of the object would ordinarily be sharp, it seems, but they are somewhat blunted.” Jane was perhaps more definite concerning this impression, than any of the others. She feels the sharp edges is a reference to the beer glasses depicted on the coaster: one can think of glass ordinarily as sharp-edged, but to be useful as a drinking vessel the material would have its edges smoothed, or blunted.

(“Four, the number four, having to do with several of a kind.” There is a connection here but we did not see it at the time. Seth reminds us of it later in the session.

(“An enclosure.” We thought this a reference to the dining and dancing establishment we visited last Saturday evening, February 19, where I picked up the envelope object. Not to the establishment itself, but to the particular table we sat at with the other two couples. Its location, in one corner of the place, is unique; it sits on a raised platform perhaps two feet higher than the other tables; the dance band is on the left, the fireplace on the right, with an excellent view of the dance floor in between. The table itself is round, and backed up by a wide circular leather-covered divan-type of seat. In short, it’s the best seat in the house.

(“February.” I picked up the object on February 19, but this is too general.

(“A connection with round colored objects,”. I thought this might be a vague reference to the fact that Marilyn found in her handbag, Saturday night at the establishment, a group of miniature plastic castings of animals that she had made for her two-year old son. They were translucent, of different colors, tiny horses that were not round as a marble is round, but with rounded simple lines. We toyed with them throughout the evening.

(“and a person who was not familiar to you personally.” The connection here is tied in with the “grassy lands” data, but Jane and I did not see it during break.

The date is pertinent, but I will let you figure this one out for yourself.

(I can offer a connection, but cannot verify it with Seth until next session. After this session I remembered that the Wilburs are reading what we call Book One of the Seth material. This consists of the first 26 sessions. The first formal session was held December 2,1963. My introductory notes contain a reference to Jane and me borrowing a Ouija board from our landlord “in the fall of 1963,” which compares with the date given by Seth this evening, of September 10,1963. The notes refer to our attempts to use the board early in November 1963 also, without success.)

(I had been wondering lately if an occasional question might not produce more specific results. At times I’d had the distinct feeling that such questions would provide enough of a nudge to bring forth more data, but had hesitated because I didn’t want the questions to be considered leading.)

A simple one-word question would probably not be harmful, but it is best for now to wait until the end.

No I did not. Our progress will be clear to those who read our records. There will be fluctuations. As larger areas are perceived more training is needed on Ruburt’s part, to give us specifics. But we shall get a hold of these specifics.

On occasion he is in somewhat deeper a trance state, and our results are better, but this does not teach him what I want him to learn. The light trance state is ideal for my purposes. For with this training he will be able to give specificinformation, but he will also have some knowledge of how this comes about. Do you have any more questions?