“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(To Rob:) We will begin with an explanation of your experience last evening. And our record-keeper over here (me) will also understand what you are doing.

And secondly, of course, what you experienced. You were not picking up anything regarding Ruburt’s father, as you thought. Instead you were indeed perceiving in your own fashion what was happening here for the entire evening. You are well aware of any changes that occur as far as Ruburt’s own abilities are concerned, or any offshoots, say, from our sessions or work; and so though you were not here physically, you did indeed participate.

The time makes little difference. Earlier, you were beginning to put yourself in that frame of mind, and physiological state, which would bring about the particular changes that bring you to the eye method. This time, however, you were aware of what you were trying to do: you were trying to use your ability in a particular fashion and so you did. You were dealing with an energy source, and it was this that you were trying to perceive, and the reason for the brilliance and also the concentrated area with which you were dealing; not an expansion, but a small concentrated brilliant area.

(To me:) Now, you remember, because of one of your experiences and something I said in a session—or, rather, another portion of me said in a session —having to do with the fact that Seth II, if you could perceive him, would be as small as a brown nut. (To Rob:) And so you were perceiving a core of energy that radiated outward and infringed upon this reality—intruded upon it: hence, the fragmented area about it, you see, and the seemingly jagged effect.

(A reduced version of the on-the-spot drawing I made of my vision after 10PM on Tuesday, November 23, 1971, as I sat typing in our second apartment across the hall from where Jane was holding her ESP class. My crude drawing can’t begin to reproduce the delicate, shimmering and transparent beauty of what I briefly saw floating before me.)

You will be able to do an approximation in an entirely different fashion, in several paintings. You will not see what you have done until some time after you have done it, because the difference in the product, in the painting itself, will be so divorced from the original vision that you will not see that they come from the same source.

You began the physiological procedure at approximately four o’clock yesterday afternoon. Now, Ruburt also knew what was going to happen and that you would be involved, simply because the eye effect frightens him and he is always aware ahead of time of such activities on your part. You are all Sumari.

(“What’s that?” Rob asked, grinning.)

It is what you are.

And you knew it is what you are, and what you will be; and as the other developments in the sessions also rose out of what you are and what Ruburt is, so did this one. It is the reason, again, why you participated in your own way, though you were not at class. And you will indeed receive the full story, in good time.

Now, such a vision is not only something that you see that intrudes upon this reality, but also something that has its effects upon this reality, and often effects that you do not perceive. You perceive the appearance of the image, but its other effects escape you. The concentration of energy itself, is highly important, you see, and changes the behavior even of the atoms and molecules within the neighborhood of its appearance.

Now, remember what I told you in the book about the black holes and the concentration of energy. Now, such occurrences allow you unusual exchanges of energy from one system to another. They are fountains, therefore, of new energy; and their very intrusion into your world activates that reality in a different fashion, usually in a quickening, stirring, transforming fashion—an activation, say, rather than a slowing down.

There are, incidentally, levels of motion so fast that they attain what seems to be a level of complete peace. Where motion is not perceived. Beyond such levels, the motion is perceived again and the period of peace seems over. Now, in the case of your experience last evening, the image itself by its appearance activates the air in the atmosphere. In that activation, however, it achieved, finally, a level of seeming peace where you do not perceive it, but in which it still exists. There is also a reason why you perceived it in the particular room that you did, you see.

(“I thought about Al’s father’s death last night,” Rob said, referring to Al Oberg, a class member whose father had died the Thursday before Jane’s father had. “What’s the connection?”)

Now. Give us a moment. (Pause.) There are alliances in all levels of reality—there are attractions that reach even bright space and time, groupings of consciousness, associations, psychic attractions that hold and mold various kinds of consciousness in a loose organization. There are personalities who come together for certain reasons, varying reasons, whose individual inclinations are somewhat the same, and purposes. You may think of the guilds in the Middle Ages, for example. These groups of consciousness range throughout history as you know it. In their own way, and according to their capacity and purpose, they change and alter the nature of the universe, sometimes by being born within your historical time, and sometimes by trying to reach those who are within your historical time. They are far closer in your terms because of their natural affinity than they are, for example, sometimes even to other portions of their own entity, as you might be closer to a strong friend than you are to certain members of your own family, though they may be of your own blood. It is a membership of choice, in other words, of attraction and respect, and usually this is bound by like purpose and endeavor. These are true families.

(9:59. During break, we discussed what had been said and then somehow got to joking about a reincarnational drama-scene that Rob and I had played out a few months ago, in which he had apparently been a teacher of mine and an exasperatingly thorough record-keeper. Jane had. just made a remark that sent me convulsing with laughter when Seth came through again, loudly and emphatically:)

(Long pause.) I am trying to find words that will not offend our friend, and sometimes it is difficult. This group, therefore, has always been involved in the kind of work in which you are now involved, and on a grand scale. They never forget their members. There are indeed initiates, but all of you passed that stage in another layer of reality, in your terms, some time ago. Their main activities take place in other levels of consciousness. You are on missions, in certain terms. You do attend meetings, when you are in the sleep state, between lives. You work through many layers of reality at the same time. Now, these are the people, for example, that you (me) were speaking of, the strangers that you see in your dreams. You are affecting each others’ realities, but you have always done this to some degree.

Now, this is different from the speakers. A speaker may or may not be a Sumari. Some speakers are Sumari, and some are not. There are bonds of affection and understanding that unite this group, and a speaker may or may not be one. The relationships, however, go between realities; you can be closer, then, with another Sumari than you are with a husband or wife, particularly if you do not like the husband or wife overwell. It is not true to say that this is a religious group in any way, but it is true to say that this is a very strong alliance. And the alliance is of a kind that is difficult to explain. Whole, for example, may work. Together, and have, to initiate certain discoveries on various worlds, or to prepare the groundwork, in your terms, for future events. They interweave, not only through your centuries as you understand them, but through other realities. They are great coordinators.

Now, many are efficient in one particular reality, and devoted to it. But the Sumari coordinate very well, and move within a freedom that is denied to many. It is simply their nature.

(“What brings a group together?” Rob asked. “I know I’m speaking of beginnings and endings, but what causes a group of Sumari to congregate?”)

In their strong psychic alliance and in their coordination abilities, and the agility with which—the agility with which—they can manipulate between systems, consciously, with purpose, and with some exuberance. They are communicators in that they spread knowledge from one system of reality to another. They are given much more, for example, to ideas rather than to the various camouflage realities within systems. Many groups, you see, deal exclusively with the camouflage reality between systems, with building it up, with its maintenance.

(“Then the Sumari have experienced the various kinds of physical realities,” Rob suggested.)

Initiate and nourish, in his particular case. The Sumari, however—and they all initiate—initiate the birth of systems. They constantly carry communications between systems, and they deal with the initiation and communication of ideas, from one system to another. Because they are initiators therefore, they are creators. They are, however, comparatively speaking, like those who create and then are satisfied to go on to other creations. They want someone else to take care of what they have created. They do not want to hang around to now the grass, in other words. But those who mow the grass could not create it.

Ruburt is quite correct. He will learn how to translate those realities.

It is not indeed. I want to go into, and I will at a later date, the connections between this kind of reality and the astrology that is now popular.

(“What were you going to say about the connection between Jane’s father and Al’s father and this?”)

(Break at 10:30. Jane came out of trance and told us that she knew Seth had said something about astrology because she had had a conceptual experience, which she simply couldn’t put into words, involving the positions of the planets and the vastness behind their symbolism. We discussed the idea of Sumari and what might be their connection with the “class dreams.” If class could correlate their dreams, we might be able to find a common theme or purpose, with each individual remembering his own part in it. Break lasted for a half an hour and Rob was wondering if the session was over when Seth resumed at 11:02.)

The session is not over. Now. There are several reasons why the personal last evening appeared feminine in the first instance; and this is a matter again of translation. The Sumari are initiators and creators. They are filled with feelings of abundance; they have great energy, you see. There is not a word in your vocabulary to explain what I am trying to get at. The word “graciousness” as used last evening comes faintly close. The feminine seemed to apply, therefore; it was a way of getting these characteristics across. It was also a way that Ruburt used to translate the idea of the particular kind of creativity involved; the idea, indeed, of birth, for this is the birth or a system, of a new kind of reality, that this group is involved with.

These were then, the voices of your people coming to you in ways that you could understand. They were coming from personalities. The transmission however, is of a different kind; therefore, though the messages were coming from personalities, the entire term involves a translation that escapes you. We translate the word “personality;” we translate what we are into a term that you understand.

There will be no doubt if they trust their inner reactions. You first have to be aware that the group exists. Now, what about our friend over here (me)?

(Jane came out of trance at 11:20 and we sat and talked about what had been said. During the past hour or so, however, the first syllables of a word—“grund...” or “gruna...” had been going through my head, and I had the idea that it was related to these “families”. “I wonder what some other family names are,” I remarked. “I keep getting this word like Grundoon or something.” At that, Seth was abruptly there.)

(“What?” Rob said. The tape was off, and I switched it on in a hurry. “What was that?” I asked. “One more time, Seth,” Rob said.

(“Oh?” I said—Rob and I were both laughing—“What do they do?” Seth stared at me in that penetrating way of his for several moments.)