“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

In this fourteenth session I spoke for Seth for fifty minutes straight, the longest period without a break up to that date. Seth began by advising us to have a more balanced social life—to go out more and mix with people—so as to counter the intense inner activity of psychic experience. Then he launched into his first discussion of the Inner Senses, a subject which was entirely new to us. It was to be elaborated upon in the future.

Here, as Seth, I pounded on the desk for emphasis, and suddenly began speaking in a stronger voice. At the same time the hoarseness disappeared. Word by word the voice grew deeper, more formal, louder. As Rob looked down to take his notes, he realized that a vocal metamorphosis of some kind was taking place. He wrote as fast as he could, so he could also look up now and then to see what was going on. Now I stood almost in front of him, the un-Jane-like open eyes staring at him as if to make sure he understood what was being said.

During the last passage the voice became louder and louder, as though it were trying to fill a good-sized hall. I’m reading that session, of course, as I write this chapter, and I’ve just come across Rob’s original notes, scribbled in between this passage and the next. They show his reaction rather clearly:

Here Rob started laughing again. Seth had spoken jovially but not maliciously about Frank Withers. The tone of his voice and broad smile softened the actual words spoken. Rob made a comment about Seth’s attitude and Seth said, “I’m afraid I haven’t learned humility yet. On the other hand, you knew me before I knew Frank Withers, and my vanity then was astounding. You were quite vain yourself, and as a woman, you certainly put your present wife to shame as far as vanity is concerned.”

As the give and take between Rob and Seth continued, Rob got used to the voice and really enjoyed himself, there being no doubt in his mind now that Seth was Seth, someone entirely different and independent.

The impression Rob got from the voice, gestures, and manner was that of an energetic, educated gentleman of the “old school,” in his sixties perhaps, extraordinarily intelligent but aware of his own foibles—a man with a highly developed yet old-fashioned sense of humor. As Seth I touched a begonia plant (one of my favorites) and said, “I like Jane’s plant. Green things are a touchstone of your existence. You notice that earlier I used the term ‘plane’ rather than ‘planet,’ because you do not have the whole kettle to yourself. …

Again, on reading the notes we were fascinated by the material, particularly since Seth told us that he was going to explain these Inner Senses more fully, and teach us how to use them. He was as good as his word, for as you will see shortly, he did give us instructions and we were to have all kinds of new experiences as we followed them. We didn’t know that this information was geared to our own level of understanding and quite simple in comparison with the elaborations that would follow.