“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(The last session we presented in Mass Events, the 841st, was held on March 14. On the 19th we received from our publisher for checking, the proofs of the index for Volume 2 of “Unknown” Reality, then two days later the proofs for the front matter of Psyche arrived. Going over these two sets of material was routine; nothing had to be returned, and in each case Jane called Tam Mossman at Prentice-Hall to give her approval and to make a few suggestions for changes. She’s worked each day at her third novel on The Adventures of Oversoul Seven, and has heard often from Sue Watkins about Sue’s progress with her book on Jane’s ESP class: Conversations with Seth and with all of her other activities. Jane has held four sessions since the 14th: two personal ones, and two [842-43] on matters other than book dictation.

(Our region is supposed to be outside the danger zone—yet we see conflicting newspaper reports about whether the prevailing wind currents would make us vulnerable to the aftereffects of a meltdown. Even now local civil defense officials monitor the air several times daily with radiological survey meters—equipment similar to Geiger counters. Jonestown was far away, remote in another land, I said to Jane, but the potential mass tragedy of Three Mile Island hovers at the edges of our personal worlds. The whole affair has a sense of unreal immediacy, because there’s nothing to see, and because I don’t think most people really understand the probabilities involved. It would hardly be a coincidence, I added, that the mass events at Jonestown and Three Mile Island took place within less than six months of each other, and that they represented the two poles, or extremes, of mankind’s present main belief systems: religion and science.

(Actually, the session might better be called a Jane/Seth session, in that Jane’s own consciousness was often uppermost, riding upon Seth’s underlying and steadying influence. This rather unusual situation came about because after lunch today she wrote excellent analyses of two dreams I’d had recently. As we sat at the kitchen table discussing her work, Jane felt that she could go into a trance state that was her own for a change, instead of being in “just” a Seth trance. She began delivering the material at a measured pace in her usual voice. As soon as I realized that she wanted to have a session I asked her to wait until I found my pen and notebook. Then Jane proceeded to come through with much evocative material on dreams—our second reason for excerpting the session for Mass Events. Some of the more generalized dream material is presented below; some of the more individualized portions [which, in fact, came at the start of the session] are given in Note 2.

(2. Much of Jane’s trance material on how individuals use dreams personally came through in answer to a question of mine that we’d often speculated about lately: If most people do not remember their dreams most of the time, of what use can their dreams be to them? The question was really based upon our belief, indeed our certainty, that everything in nature is intentional and useful; therefore dreams must fulfill important roles in peoples’ lives—but how, in ordinary terms? Here are quotations from the answers Jane gave while in trance:

(Jane finished her typing the dream material at about 3:30 PM today. Next she got on her stool to do the dishes. As she sat at the sink she began to get more dream material, this time from Seth. She called me as I wrote my own dream material in my writing room. In the kitchen, she began to quote to me the first paragraph of what she was getting.

(I tried hard to focus on what she was telling me, so that I could write it down at once, but as she continued I saw that I’d inevitably lose a lot of it. I asked her if she could repeat her material if I got my notebook. She said yes. While I made ready for dictation she sat in her chair at the kitchen table. Neither of us had expected a spontaneous Seth session, but that’s what developed. Jane started over. The first paragraph below substantially repeats what she first told me. She always kept her “own” voice, and spoke in a conversational manner throughout. Her dictation was a little fast, so that I scribbled notes at times. Although I worried about deciphering them later, I anticipate no problems.

Even if you don’t consciously remember your dreams, you do get the message. Part of it will appear in your daily experience in one way or another—in your conversation or daily events. Our discussion about the Gallaghers not liking animals—really not liking them, was the exterior part of the dream (of March 31, involving the dogs). It brought up the same kind of questions, and Bill was in the dream (on March 29) before the one of the animals.

(Approx. 4:22. Jane took a little break. “I was Seth then,” she said, “but it was half and half there for a while. It was really funny,” she laughed. “So I went into a Seth thing. It was more me topside, but he was definitely there at the end.”

(Yet Jane had kept her own voice throughout, and I could tell that she, rather than Seth, was “in charge” of the session.

One was that because objects just originate in man’s imagination anyway, there’s always a strong connection between objects and man’s dreams. They act as symbols of inner reality, so it’s only natural that whether he’s aware of it or not, man perceives objects in such a fashion that they also stand for symbols that first originate in his dreams.

The Christ drama is a case in point, where private and mass dreams were then projected outward into the historical context of time, and then reacted to in such a way that various people became exterior participants—but in a far larger mass dream that was then interpreted in the most literal of physical terms. Even while it was, it also got the message across, though the inner drama itself was not recalled, and as the dream merged with historical events, and as it was interpreted by so many, its message also became distorted—or rather, it mixed and merged with other such dreams, whose messages were far different.

Look at your nuclear reactor troubles at the plant by Harrisburg (Three Mile Island). The entire idea of nuclear power was first a dream—an act of the imagination on the part of private individuals—and then through fiction and the arts a dream on the part of many people. Instantly, probabilities spun out from that dream in all directions with vast potentials and dangers.

It was hardly a coincidence that this particular situation arrived in the social climate first of all portrayed in a movie.

(The movie is The China Syndrome, of course, with Michael Douglas, Jack Lemmon and Jane Fonda, which opened to rave reviews perhaps two weeks or so ago. The short story referred to above was reported on a TV program about Three Mile Island: Jane and I caught a glimpse of, I believe, a local newspaper or magazine in the Harrisburg area that had printed a short story about a nuclear accident at that plant, on the same day that the troubles began at Three Mile Island. We hadn’t heard of the story. If I’m in error and the story was printed in a national magazine, for instance, we still haven’t heard of it. Nor have we heard or read about this amazing “coincidence” since seeing that one mention of it on that TV newscast.

There was a tie-in, and it’s that the Christ drama happened as a result of man’s dream, at least, of achieving brotherhood—a quiet, secure sense of consciousness, and a morality that would sustain him in the physical world.

(End at 4:47 PM. “Okay,” Jane said. “I knew there was some connection between the Christ thing and what’s happening in the world today, and that was it. I like it when it’s fun, and that was fun. That was a nice smooth state of consciousness.”

(“I should mention a couple more things, though. This happened at a time of day when I’m not usually at my best – around four in the afternoon. And I’ll often get things like I did the first part of this session, when I was busy with the dishes. I’ll notice it, then say to myself that I’ll tell Rob later.... So I wonder how often I’ve missed out on some good stuff by doing it that way, especially when I even forget to tell him about it.”

(“This afternoon I interpreted some of Rob’s latest dreams, one in particular involving me, beating a black-haired dog on the head. The dog was my spontaneous self according to my interpretation.”

(“I finished the dreams and did the day’s dishes. Suddenly I got some material on dreams that I knew was from Seth. I called Rob, and when I told him what I had, a spontaneous Seth session began—most enjoyable from my standpoint.... My consciousness seemed to be riding on top of his [Seth’s] in a funny way.”

(“Later when I took a brief nap I mentally imagined myself beating the black-haired dog—and my mental right arm really went bang, bang, bang, banging wooden blocks on the dog’s head really fast, and for a minute I couldn’t stop it. Finally I did, and saw myself petting the dog, brushing it, and telling it I was sorry....”