“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(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.

(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.

In dreams you often personify portions of the self. And meet them as if for the first time. Your Mrs. Patterson represents your own love for your fellow men and fellow women (with gentle emphasis), and expresses a deep compassion for the situation of your species at this time.

Those characteristics are set in the form of an elderly woman whose pace bespeaks wisdom. She has no arms. However, her concern, her love and understanding, are seen only in the expression of her eyes and face. She cannot embrace the world, and so she is armless. Her concern and understanding also have a mental quality, as your own deepest feelings in those regards are expressed through art or writing indirectly, rather than through direct contact with others.

The table is the one physical item, representing the domestic reality with which each person must deal. You could not have made the same points to yourself as well had the image been male, because of the beliefs that are ingrained in you. The portrait does represent then a portion of yourself—and a portion that understands you quite well, and took that form for your edification.

It was created and interpreted according to your own individuality, but it will also remind others that within themselves they possess, each of them, the wisdom, compassion and understanding that exists, whether or not it is expressed in usual terms through physical acts.

(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....)

In closed mental environments such expression is vigorously denied, and the very foundations of selfhood are attacked. I will use my own definition of a cult here, saying that a cult exists whenever a group forms a closed, emotionally charged mental environment in which the foundations of individuality are systematically and purposefully undermined.

Such systems distort the very nature of idealism by placing the ideal in such an exalted position that it can never be attained, for by giving up the self you have you are to attain instead a wholly pure, wholly loving, idealized, spiritual self. This self will love each other fellow being without reservations, distinctions, or judgment. This self is to miraculously appear as the old self is annihilated. The “annihilation” is accomplished by turning the will over to the authority. To act contrary to your own wishes or inclinations is considered a virtue. You are told not to make decisions, and to give yourself completely to the system of the cult.

(Pause.) The concentration upon self-righteousness and evidence of corruption leads to its own fulfillment, and in that dark light the expression of the good appears powerless.

He still does not have all of the implications of the resolutions, but they will come to him. It is important that he and Eve not feel martyred, taking in the father, but I believe they both understand their positions there, and recognize they are forming their own realities and considering an act of kindness for its own sake.

The husband does not want it to seem that he is giving up too soon, however, which he seems to think would involve a loss of face. She is aware of her children, yet likes to appear younger than they are now for her own loving amusement.

(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.)