“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(At 3:50 PM Jane told me that she’d just received from Seth a definition of cults. She repeated it as best she could: “....a closed, emotionally charged mental environment, in which the characteristics of individuality were purposefully undermined.” Then a little later she picked up some more material while doing her exercises. Some of it drew a comparison between the paranoid individual, and an organization that contained the same ideas. The individual would be called ill for thinking the world was against him, but the organization’s similar beliefs would be more unthinkingly accepted because of its sheer size and power in the society.

(In connection with that material, Jane wrote a paper on March 26, in which she briefly outlined the probable direction Seth would be taking in Mass Reality.

(While we waited for Seth to come through I read to Jane a couple of pages of rather disorganized material and notes I’d been working on this afternoon and evening. They’d been touched off by an article we’d just read in the March Esquire, having to do with the supposed difficulty the male and the female have adjusting to each other. For the most part Jane and I regarded the article as a distorted jumble of various negative ideas.

(I also asked if Seth could comment on my dream of Mrs. Johnson that I’d had last November, 1978. I showed Jane the pencil sketch of Mrs. Johnson that I’d done at the time. I’ve written my own longer notes explaining why I couldn’t find my account of the dream—I believe I simply forgot to write it down—but since I remembered it well I described the dream to Jane now. I plan to do a small oil painting or two of the sketch I’ve done of Mrs. Johnson, plus another image of her that I hadn’t drawn at the time, but retain well.

(I was surprised when Seth began this evening’s session with material on the dream—but also pleased. A copy of his material is attached to my own material on this dream.

(“Good evening, Seth.”)

(“Well, I’d called her Mrs. Johnson.” I reminded Seth. In trance, leaning forward, Jane stared at me, momentarily quiet.)

(I thought the substitution of the names was more interesting than if it hadn’t happened, I told Jane. “The ramifications may be endless. If I hadn’t corrected him, Seth could have evidently interpreted the whole dream from that viewpoint, that of Mrs. Patterson, and the result would have been just as valid—different, maybe, but I’ll bet with a lot of similarities.” I thought the idea fascinating, and commented on the unexpected opening up of a new field of inquiry that ought to be most rewarding to follow—if we had the time. On second thought, I said, there may be few if any similarities in the interpretations through the two names, although each analysis could still be good.

(A note: I must write that not only was I surprised that Seth opened the session with an analysis of the dream, but that I was even more surprised with the generous connotations he ascribed to it: I may love my fellow man, but often times feel that that feeling is compromised by events in our world, even though I fully acknowledge my own part in helping create that world in the most intimate detail. Seth’s interpretation of my feelings may be too generous. He may also be taking the larger view, as Jane often says he does. On that basis his material may very well express the content of that dream; from that wider viewpoint, I would feel the compassion he describes more openly. Perhaps it’s all another reflection of that curious dichotomy I’ve often felt: One may rail against the world in general, and the behavior of its individuals in particular. Yet as one gets to know each of the individuals in his or her world in particular, it becomes more and more difficult to blame them for the state of the world, or much else for that matter: One becomes too enmeshed with their individuality and humanness. An understanding on a more personal level of the forces in their lives that push and pull them in often conflicting directions makes it very difficult to actively blame people for very much on an individual basis....)

(“Good night, Seth.”)

(10:36 PM. “I’m a natural stewer,” Jane said. “I’ve just been wanting him to finish that chapter on the book. Maybe he can do one session a week on the book, and one on other stuff we want, or that comes up....” She’s mentioned having Seth get back to Mass Reality quite often lately, so we know that’s what will happen soon.)