“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(In line with a policy of trying to keep abreast of topics brought up during sessions, I mentioned to Jane this evening that I would like more data from Van Elver via the “sepia” discussion, begun in the 424th session; and some data about Jane’s impressions concerning the dream book when it was at Parker. See The Early Sessions, Volume 8, pages 329-330, June 29, 1968.

Dimly, through what you would call a history, hardly remembered, there was such a state. It was a state of agony in which the powers of creativity and existence were known, but the ways to produce them were not known.

This is the lesson that All That Is had to learn, and that could not be taught. This is the agony from which creativity originally was drawn, and its reflection is still seen.

I was ready for our break.

(9:43. Jane left trance, which had been deep, easily. The call was from Bill Macdonnel in Santa Barbara, California. After she hung up Jane told me that before the session she’d had the feeling we would be interrupted in some way— probably through a visitor; but she hadn’t told me beforehand.

Yet the agony itself was used as a means, and the agony itself served as an impetus, strong enough finally so that All That Is initiated within itself the means to be.

This first state of agonized search for expression may have represented the birth throes of All That Is as we know it. There existed, and clearly, the possibilities of creation as we know it, but the means were not known. Pretend then that you possessed within yourself the knowledge, the sight, of all the world’s masterpieces in sculpture and art, that they throbbed and pulsed as realities within you, but that you had no physical apparatus, no knowledge of how to achieve it; that there was neither rock, nor pigment, nor source of any of these, and you ached with the yearning to produce them—and this, on an infinitesimally small scale, will perhaps give you, as an artist, some idea of the agony and the impetus that was felt.

(Jane was speaking so rapidly here that I could not keep up, and I asked Seth to wait. I missed a word or two, but that’s all. It was obvious Jane’s trance was a very deep one.)

(10:20. This proved to be the end of the session. It was by my estimate Jane’s deepest trance yet achieved. Her eyes closed, she finally said to me: “I don’t know if I’m here or there. I’m so far out... I’m sitting here talking and I can feel it in my toes.”

(It was fifteen minutes before she could open her eyes. It was difficult for her to snap loose, though at no time did she exhibit any worry or concern. It seemed to be a long way back for Jane. I suspected her sensitivity to heat and humidity might have contributed to the trance depth; before the session she hadn’t felt very active, but still wanted to hold the session.

(Twenty minutes after the session ended Jane was standing up, washing her face, etc., but still feeling the aftereffects of the trance. She went to bed and slept deeply in spite of the heat; it remained hot all night.)