“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(The 44th envelope experiment was held during the session. See the copies of the objects on page 51, and note the copy on the back of one of them, above. These cards are mentioned on page 40 of the 243rd session; this gave me the idea of using them for an experiment. Jane had read the 243rd session recently but had not seen the cards. She hadn’t seen them since November 1962, in fact, for they had been in my files. I placed them between two pieces of Bristol and sealed them in the usual double envelope.

(Jane had an unusual experience late last week, and I had one earlier today; we hoped Seth would discuss them this evening. Here follows the material from our notebooks:

(Jane: Thursday night, March 24. I woke up sometime in the middle of the night and saw the form of a woman standing by Rob’s side of the bed, not mine. The room was dark but I saw that her dress was blue. She was rather thin and fairly tall. Her face was not clear at all but her dress was clearly visible—at least the color. It was one-piece, of moderate length. I do not remember her face at all. I do recall that our bookcase, behind her, showed up well; its cream color was clear although the rest of the room was dark. I believe her head was covered. As soon as I saw the figure it disappeared. I had the feeling that something was trying to make me forget what I saw, so I quickly woke Rob and told him what I had seen. The woman did not remind me of anyone I know, or had known.

(Rob: Monday, March 28, 5:45 PM. After doing my daily yoga exercises for about half an hour, I lay relaxed and in a drowsy state. I then became aware that I was hearing voices. They were speaking at a normal rate; I was aware of two men, not old, seated at desks. I think the desks were old and battered, a brown color. I heard their words with exceptional clarity, sentence by sentence, including the timbre of their voices, etc., and retained them briefly. I soon forgot them however. One of the men laughed, in a deep and pleasant, friendly way.

(I then realized I was also “seeing” one of the men, the one who had laughed. I did not see his companion as the voice exchange continued. The one in my vision was a thin man in shirt sleeves, perhaps in his late thirties, with thick straight brown hair combed straight back, a thin very friendly face with a generous mouth. His voice was deep and gentle. I thought the other voice belonged to an older man with glasses and white hair, though I did not see this person. I saw no details of their surroundings, not even walls. End.

(See page 280 for a description of my first experience involving strong visual and bodily data while in the waking state. Seth dealt with this in the 24th session and subsequent ones. See Volume 1.

(Jane now took a long pause at 9:13. Geography is not one of her strong points, as the next sentence shows, but she has an unerring sense of direction.)

Because of your state of mind, the people in that room subconsciously felt your presence. Had conditions been better it is possible that they would have sensed you more directly, or even formed a telepathic image of you, as you formed one of them.

In the past years you had a tendency to use them haphazardly and with no idea as to how they should be directed. They can and will transform your psychic and physical environment. The one main test to be applied to these sessions, to my advice and to the material is this: The sessions, the material and your new knowledge must transform your psychic and physical environment, your health and all aspects of your inner and outer life for the better. And I believe that we are doing this.

Now since this session is a rather personal one I have some comments to Ruburt before I discuss his experience. At least a year ago I suggested that a room divider be kept up to divide his working area. I specifically mentioned the benefits that could be expected from such an arrangement, and I now most strongly repeat my remarks, suggesting that the present arrangement be kept, or another divider substituted.

Either one should be permanent. Your home situation will be much more stable for one thing, and such an arrangement is really necessary for Ruburt’s efficiency. It enables him to direct his energy where he wants it, when he wants it. The divider may only be a symbol but it is a necessary one. It is the symbol for a discipline on his part that will enable him to override the vicissitudes of mood, and temporary inclinations.

Earlier this evening there was a meeting which both men attended. The visitor was tall and thin, dark, with glasses. Perhaps the frames were also dark. At least they were thick frames, rather than thin ones. His face narrow.

There is a connection with the man and a foreign country. Not a northern one. Some distant connection with the man and Milan, and a parent with an unusual occupation.

A connection with a family group, of one, five, three and two. A specific address. Connection with a fall, or something falling, and a formal rather than an informal affair.

(This is the second time I was able to ask more than one question about envelope material.

We will say that it is a letter, and we will say that it is from one of Ruburt’s parents. Now take your break.

(We made some connections ourselves, and Seth elaborated on others. At times during the data I wasn’t sure who was speaking—Jane or Seth. Sometimes when Ruburt was mentioned, I thought it was Jane saying so, rather than Seth. After the session Jane said she had no awareness along these lines, but one of confusion concerning the data. Knowing it was wrong somehow, she tried to be objective, to get back on the right track without knowing how to go about it. There was a confusion of levels, she said, that left her groping.

(“A connection with a merger,” We take this to be a reference to the “wife and self” written on back of one of the envelope objects; marriage, merger.

(“A date on it.” Both envelope objects contain dates. Note that Jane doesn’t distinguish between singular and plural here—one of the points I hoped would be brought out in the experiment.

(“I think of July or April.” At the bottom of one of the objects is a reference to Spring 1963. Originally both cards were the same size, and contained two paragraphs of information. For some reason I do not recall now I clipped the second paragraph off one of the cards. Whether this contained a July reference, for instance, I cannot say.

(“A connection with a family group, of one, five, three and two.” Both envelope objects refer to family groups. We are not sure what the numbers refer to. Types one, two and three polio vaccines are referred to on the cards, but this leaves the five to be explained. Nor do the numbers fit our family groups completely. In the phone book the school at which we received the vaccine on each occasion is listed by avenue, but no number is given.

(“A specific address.” The back of one of the envelope objects contains our address, 458 West Water Street, Elmira, NY, written there by me when we took Sabin Type I polio vaccine in October 1962.

(“Connection with a fall, or something falling,” Both Jane and I felt at once that this referred to my falling ill with the virus, on March 24,1965. Seth discusses the virus episodes that I became involved in, after taking the polio vaccines, in the 243rd session. See pages 40-41. I literally fell ill, falling in a faint upon arising one morning. In addition, Jane had a vivid dream in which I fell ill in the same manner, perhaps a week before the event. In reality I fainted in the bathroom; in Jane’s dream I fainted in the kitchen.

(“We will say that it is a letter, and we will say that it is from one of Ruburt’s parents.”

(Jane still didn’t remember the children’s drawings in the hallway of the school on one of the occasions when we took the vaccine, but I did—again, when Seth mentioned it.

(I reminded Jane that one of the questions we had asked Seth to answer, earlier, still hadn’t been dealt with: Whether or not the woman Jane saw, as a survival personality, was aware of Jane.

(I also hoped aloud that Seth would clear up the reference to the numbers given in “A connection with a family group, of one, five, three and two.” Unfortunately he did not do so. I didn’t catch the oversight until after the session.

Death brings a certain knowledge that things have changed, as on earth you know when you have walked from one room to another, but nothing can automatically make the survival personality understand or perceive clearly the new conditions.