“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

Why would anyone choose a life of illness or poverty? And what about children who die young, or servicemen killed in war? All of these questions came into our minds when Seth began speaking about reincarnation. As I mentioned earlier, when the sessions started I didn’t believe that we survived death once, much less many times. If we lived before, I thought, and if we can’t remember, then what good does it do? “Besides,” I said to Rob, “Seth says that we live in the ‘Spacious Present,’ and that there really isn’t any past, present, and future. So how can we live one life ‘before’ another?”

Some of the answers cropped up in readings given for others, where Seth was dealing with specific cases. I do not give readings or sessions for the public (nor do I charge fees or accept contributions), so the reincarnational readings were those we had for students, friends, or for those who had asked for assistance in a particularly tragic problem. For that matter, Seth doesn’t give such readings unless they have bearing on the matter at hand.

“I’ve only met Ray once,” I said. “He must have told you that I don’t give readings but concentrate on our private work and the Seth sessions.”

I waited a long moment, considering. “Well, this is a regular session night. If you want to come—”

“Still, I don’t want to go overboard in my reactions,” I said. “The Lindens only want to know about their little boy. Besides, I’ll let Seth handle it. It’s a session night, after all.”

“Oh, wow,” I said, and Rob put down the evening paper. “You mean you’re driving here for just one session? New York is full of excellent mediums.”

I said “Yes” in a sort of daze, and hung up. Rob was afraid that I’d feel under pressure, knowing that they were driving such a long way and back the same night for a session. I’d explained to Ann that I could give her no guarantee of any kind as to what would happen. Purposely I put the matter out of my mind and watched television during the early evening. Then to top it off, at about eight Phil dropped in, explaining that he was in town for the night and would like to attend a session!

Seth devoted the very last part of the session to Phil, and it was well past one in the morning before we were finished. Jim and Ann went away convinced that their son’s life and death had a meaning, that there was sense and purpose in their lives, and that even this seeming tragedy operated for a greater good.

I felt pretty humble when the whole thing was over. Jim and Ann were almost transformed, and before the session, I had been so dubious that I hesitated. (The thing is, when I consciously think in such a limited fashion, my intuitive inner self rises up and shows me that much more is involved than the ego. Actually I think that these abilities flow through us as the wind flows through the branches.) Ann wrote me a letter shortly after, telling me that she and Jim no longer felt the tremendous sorrow that had burdened them earlier.

More and more I have seen how reincarnation makes sense out of such apparently senseless tragedies, and provides an inner structure to situations that would otherwise seem chaotic and unjust. I was so pleased to be able to help Ann and Jim; and that session and others like it have helped me also by showing me the value of ideas that originally I could not accept. The same thing applies to Seth: I am literally amazed at his capacity to help others, at his psychological understanding, at all the abilities he draws upon and focuses in our sessions.

Another similar case, involving the death of a child, concerned a woman who attended a few of my classes. Her fifteen-year-old adopted son had drowned a few months earlier. Seth said in a session that the boy had been a sailor in several past lives and still regarded death by water as preferable to dying on land. The boy had been related to his foster mother in another life, and also returned to help her gain needed inner development. He died early so that his death would make her question, and search for answers. She had been running from medium to medium, trying to contact the boy. In no uncertain terms, Seth told her to stop this practice and to work for inner development instead.

Again I felt this strong desire to help, and again I was filled with doubts. Suppose—just suppose—Seth held a session and suggested treatments or medicine that made Sally worse? I was Jane Roberts, not Edgar Cayce. And how could some stranger have such faith in Seth and my abilities when I was so often filled with doubts myself?

Over a period of two years we’ve had several sessions for Jon and Sally. In that first session, though, Seth gave some excellent advice that is helpful to anyone whenever illness strikes. Before he went into the reincarnational background, which was important in this case, he emphasized the importance played by suggestion and telepathy in the sickroom. Because this has such great general application, I’ll include portions of that passage here:

Notice that Seth did not mention other topics until he gave the above advice—and that it was for the husband and those caring for the patient rather than for the patient herself. At the end of the first session, Seth said, “There are past life connections operating. Right now it is not as important for you to know these as it is to take the steps I am outlining.”

Between the two sessions, Jon wrote telling us that some improvements had been noted, and that he was following Seth’s instructions. He also told us that he did have a room like the one Seth mentioned, and that Sally had been moved into it.

The second session for Jon was entirely devoted to reincarnational influences, and it is an excellent example of the way these can affect health patterns. The session also contains some general advice and answers some specific questions applying to the relationship between past lives and present health.

Now, over two years later, Sally is still alive but in poor condition. Seth said that she had solved the challenges she had set for herself, but in so doing had damaged her physical body to such an extent that she had decided to discard it. As of this writing she is in coma. Jon wanted to know what was happening to her in this state. “Is she really conscious someplace else? Or just dreaming? And what happens after death?” In a recent session Seth answered these questions. Many of the answers apply to death in general, so I’ll include some excerpts from this session in the next chapter, and also go into Seth’s ideas on reincarnation more thoroughly.