“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(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.

Now. (Pause.) About your dream and drawing.

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.

(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.

(Return at 9:51 for a little more on the dream.)

(Pause.) Give us a moment.... When the dream gives you such an image, and the image becomes objectified, then you are of course showing a new part of yourself in the physical world, and bringing into expression through your physical hands the emotions that otherwise could not be expressed.

I have just interpreted for Joseph a dream of his, in which he was able to express emotions of a rather profound nature, and I want to stress here that you are above all an expressive (underlined) species.

(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....)