“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(Actually, the affair is a perfect example of much of the material Seth has been going into in his latest book on the mass culture and mind. To Jane and me, it seemed as if his material was being enacted in real life as the ideal demonstration of Seth’s material. The tragedy, if one wants to call it that, would make an excellent book in itself, and many probably will be written about it. It certainly furnishes ideal subject matter for the media. We also think that these books-to-come will not manage to penetrate the forces behind the phenomenon nearly as well as Seth could, but that Seth won’t be carrying out such a project, either.

Capitalism has its faults, and democracy has its potential dangers, as has any kind of government. Often mere lip service is given to the beliefs, but they exist. There has been a strong distaste among your people for the blind following of public figures. Your politicians are scoffed at as often as they are honored, and their human failings are examined sometimes with glee—overall, a good healthy policy on the part of the people.

They were bitter—but more. They were frightened. They could not free their native abilities—many, now. Jones seemed to be their key to the establishment. He was the opener of doors. He had his picture taken with celebrities, and because he was “a religious man,” the establishment took it for granted that his aims and policies were good, and that he spoke for those who had no voice otherwise.

(I might add here that the Jonestown affair reminded me at once of the mass suicide of the defenders of the Jewish stronghold of Masada, in the First Century AD, in Israel. But those people had a strong uniting religious faith and tradition behind them. But wait—it gets tricky; The Jonestown people didn’t? A death is a death, regardless....)