“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(I was typing the first portion of last night’s session when I heard President Reagan giving his anxiously awaited first address to Congress; he spoke on economic issues mainly. I took a break at 9:15 to watch some of his speech on TV. Jane was relaxed on the couch as usual. Eventually, however, she surprised me by saying she’d try for a session. Earlier today she’d said she would have one tomorrow night instead.

(The president finished speaking. As the minutes passed and we sat waiting, I asked Jane what she was thinking about. She said she’d decided to hold the session because she “should” have it—whereas last night’s session had been quite spontaneous: she’d wanted to do it. Which raised some intriguing questions about the sense of responsibility she would still feel—indulging that very quality we’re supposed to be so on the lookout for. On the other hand, given our present work orientations the sessions would have to happen sometime during the week—at least twice—and it didn’t seem reasonable to think that Jane would have every one of those on the spontaneous spur of the moment. Somehow, somewhere along the line, some sort of responsible decision to have them would be made....

(I’ll note my question here so that it won’t be forgotten, although actually I mentioned it to Jane after tonight’s session had been held. Simply, I thought it would be a good idea if Seth would tell us about what good things we’ve managed to accomplish through the years as far as Jane’s symptoms go. It would be nice to know what hassles we’ve surmounted, that no longer apply. This would seem to imply that others had come along, or been developed by us, to take their place—at least something had been created to take their place. But surely we’ve accomplished some beneficial things too.

(Jane’s delivery as Seth was quite animated and brisk.)

He had always enjoyed being somewhat disreputable—had seen himself and you prowling around the edges of society (as Jane had said earlier today)—not simply observers of it but to a large extent apart from its foibles, and certainly not mired in all of its conventional misunderstandings. He enjoyed dealing with it by sending the written word out into the public arena. He insisted upon that—the publication of his work. The books were to be his public platform.

(Yes. And one that Jane and I soon became aware of even on that first very limited tour we took to help publicize The Seth Material.)

(10.55 PM. Jane thought the session had been short. She was surprised to learn that an hour had passed. She’d also been “a little more comfortable” in her chair.

(I intend to now begin compiling a list of questions for Seth that grow out of his recent sessions—hence his remark above about such a list. We’ve talked about this a number of times, and I’ve also mentioned it in session notes. Coupled with this will be my compilation of brief quotes from the sessions—making points for Jane’s quick perusal that I think are especially good. This list can also be used as a guide to refer us back to the body of material from which any particular quote is taken.)