“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(Recently Jane sent her dream book to Prentice-Hall. An editor rejected the book but wrote a very encouraging letter concerning the publication of the Seth material. Since we were somewhat confused as to what course to follow, a session was held this evening.

(“Good evening, Seth.”)

Ruburt is not fully familiarized with the material. He must be indeed fully committed to the experimentation and work in which we are all involved. He should be clear in his mind as to what I have said about myself, and what I have not said.

The very point of my material is precisely that it goes beyond ideas conventionally held in most, quote, “mediumistic circles.” It is a continuing experiment in that the material will become clearer as his abilities in the sessions grow.

I am what I have always said that I was, and I said it in as emotionally neutral terms as possible: —an energy essence personality. It is he who adds any other coloration here, and then reacts to those. I have reincarnated, as the material mentions, and so have you both. I have tried to explain personality gestalts and the connections that exist between us.

I must answer questions in the terms in which they are asked, or the questioner cannot understand what I say. I explain my material on various levels, therefore, when I am questioned. In our own material usually, I can deal with matters more as I would prefer.

On the other hand he is too suggestible to other peoples needs, in that your point made earlier is correct; for through the material many more can be helped. The students however, and here you were wrong, will accept certain changes now, for I have already laid the groundwork by telling them of the necessity of studying the material itself.

(Before this evening’s session I had said that publication of the Seth material could help many more people than Jane [called Ruburt by Seth] could help personally in her ESP classes, and that too much energy expended in the classes took away from that available for the theoretical material available to us in our regular twice-weekly sessions. I had also said that now that her ESP students were quite used to Seth speaking during classes, the absence of this would be resented by them.)

Now often in such circumstances you can help others and not help yourself, use your abilities to help others but not yourself, simply because you erect barriers. Whenever distortions appear in the material it is indeed a tip-off of a given area that is particularly touchy to Ruburt personally, or represents an area in which he is not sure; a lack of conviction.

Now. I prefer you see the vocabulary used in our sessions. He is not Cayce nor Montgomery, nor the woman with the crystal ball. There have been segments, not necessarily distorted, but given in different terms than I would have preferred; for at times I try to accommodate the material in order to get it through.

I have avoided it in order to steer clear of a stereotyped image. It was when Ruburt began reading other people’s material that the word began to appear. This does not mean that a God did not exist. It means that use of the term automatically limits the reality of All That Is by its very connotations.

His intellect is a fine one, and should have no quarrel at all with our sessions. It is only when he uses it falsely as a shield to hide behind that he is bothered, and an objective reading of the Seth material would show him that there is nothing in it of which he need be emotionally or intellectually ashamed. To the contrary, he does not have to see me as a white-gowned spirit. (Strong and emphatic.) I am not physical. But the picture of a white-robed spirit, with those connotations, is not one I have given him.

His work with the material can and should weld his emotions and intellect together in a strong powerful force, but not when he attempts to copy others, or on his own uses words that personally annoy him, to express or interpret the material to others.

(9:40—Jane sat quietly without opening her eyes, then said: “He was saying that I don’t have to use other people’s paraphernalia.” She slowly came out of trance, and briefly seemed about to cry. But this passed. Both of us, correctly it developed, attributed the crying feeling to regret at some of our past efforts that were not as successful as we had hoped they would be, regarding using the material to help others, to get it published, etc.

Now. He supposed he was being “good” in quotes, when he tried to follow the interpretation of others, and their idea of good. He felt inadequate, he felt two-faced only when he tried to squeeze the material into smaller molds that cannot hold it. This is perhaps one of the most important sentences in this evening’s session.

One of the main reasons for this was the old rigid childhood concepts, which were rearoused by his reading, not by our sessions. He began to think of himself in terms of a false priest, you see. This could water down the material considerably.

It is a springboard, and he needed the springboard. Unfortunately the subject was too tender. He could not allow undistorted material about it. Nor would it have been helpful had he known about it in advance. It was his problem and he worked it out in his own way. To solve it for him is never possible. Never in the long run possible.

(I believe that here Seth talks about predictions given some time ago that the dream book would sell; but I didn’t interrupt the session to check.)

You know that he worked through problems, then, both physically and creatively. Now I have told you this evening, or I have told him, the direction in which to move. I can do no more. Nor at this point could I do less. The material is his guidepost.

In our sessions and in the Seth material I utilize—I must—the best that he as a personality has to offer, and that is considerable. It includes both intuitional and intellectual faculties. He must be familiar enough, open enough, to be able to accept my ideas in sessions, to be a channel for them. But he must use for a standard the Seth material itself. Do you have questions now?

(Again Jane picked up the letter from Prentice-Hall.) The material in the dream book should be utilized here.

(“We’d like to get back to the theoretical material.”)

You should indeed, and may at once. I suggest that this summer Ruburt become much more familiar with the Seth material. It is his touchstone.

He does not have the material for what he plans, for one thing. For another he planned to use my ideas. He was getting the idea, you see, and those ideas can best be presented this way, now. (The letter again.) Other portions of the book he planned could have been written by anyone.

Frederick Fell has the book he wanted—the first one, and he will play it to the hilt, for him. (Pause.) I am trying to give you some undistorted material here. He thinks, Fell thinks, he is interested in the Seth material. He is playing around with it. He is afraid to take the plunge. He is afraid to say no also.

He is privately enthralled, but business-wise overly cautious. This is why his firm is small. The woman (editor for F.F.) has no feeling for the material, as you know, but is interested in Ruburt as a property; and as a property has no idea of how to handle him. She is afraid of me.

I can tell you, as you personally supposed, that this is the direction in which Ruburt should move. It is a direction now in which he wants to move, but he has been afraid that it was not a financially profitable direction, for he received no encouragement from Fell, no real encouragement, concerning the material; and he did not try elsewhere.

He took it for granted that the material would not be financially acceptable to a publisher, because he sensed this was Fell’s opinion. Do you have questions?

I believe I have mentioned this in past sessions. The overconscientiousness, all connected with conditioning. He understands more now, and tonight’s material should help him.

(“Yes. Good night, Seth.”

(10:55. Once again Jane’s trance had been a good one. She came out of it all right, if slowly, however. Once again she seemed about to cry, but did not. She did not remember what she had said, but had a feeling of sadness. She said she thought tonight’s material would be very helpful.)