“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(We’re still in the process of checking the copyedited manuscript for God of Jane, although we’re nearing the end of that job. Today Jane told me that she thought Seth would go into the famous—or infamous—disclaimer that Prentice-Hall wants to attach to Mass Events. We’d received a formal letter about that from the legal department of Prentice-Hall last Friday; today Jane had been “picking up” on it. I didn’t ask her what she’d learned; I thought it better to get the material in a session, if possible. Just before the session, Jane said that she thought Seth was “rather cavalier” in his attitude, and that my own wasn’t very good. She was only half joking.

(Softly:) Your existence is protected, your works are protected. Those statements are self-evident to me, while you of course are still in the process of thinking them over, and trying to fit them into the context of life as you know it. To that extent, then, of course our attitudes would be different. In any case, when you were first working with Frameworks 1 and 2, you saw many examples of Framework 2’s activities, as they impinged into your reality, and you were quite pleased. Your living experiences often gave you clues one way or another that added to the thematic material.

Now: any disclaimer would not insult me. The entire idea of the disclaimer is a living example of the book’s thematic material. It shows the elements of the society that we have criticized in action. It becomes almost an exterior extension of the book itself. Certainly it shows why the ideas in the book are so important at this time. I consider such a disclaimer as a mildly amusing case in point: a living example—almost as if indeed you had requested one—a proof of the pudding.

(9:05.) There is more involved. Our work has achieved enough notice so that it is indeed considered to have some effects upon your society. (Pause.) Otherwise, no disclaimer would be considered. That means that we have made inroads, that we are reaching people, and that even the Prentice legal department is aware of our readership.

In other words, the books are considered to have some social life. (Pause.) You are, or we are, certainly criticizing many of the aspects of your society. In that particular book (Mass Events)—rather powerful honored aspects, and criticism will (underlined) meet criticism. At the same time, as the book’s criticism has a good import, so is the disclaimer in its fashion a creative example, again, of the book’s premise, and also would serve for that matter in a way that may not have been anticipated: with the disclaimer the book may well sell more copies by far than it would otherwise (humorously), for people will be curious about what such a volume might contain that will be dangerous to the public good.

(Long pause.) The disclaimer is also Prentice’s way of allowing itself some freedom thematically, without getting its feet wet in any possible court actions. The company, as stated, is in its fashion a capsule of your society and its present climate. (Long pause.) The disclaimer in no way lessens the power of impact of the book. It only manages to stress many of the pertinent issues, and in its way it would point out the situation quite clearly. No one is seriously concerned about the possibility of a person dying of a disease because they followed any of the advice given in the book. They are afraid to some extent of being sued for such a purpose because they themselves dwell in a mental situation in which threats are everywhere, in which all precautions must be taken.