“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

Seth began the session, our 406th, by telling Rob the direction the material would take in following years. “You have been given a sketchy outline, but we have time to fill it in,” he said, smiling. “For that matter, the outline itself is scarcely completed. … We want to deal with the nature of reality as it exists within your camouflage system and within other systems, and to study the overall characteristics that pertain to it, regardless of any given materialization.

“Some of this material will automatically answer many questions with which you have been concerned—problems with which your scientists have been dealing. We will discuss the interrelationship that exists between all systems of reality, including certain points of contact that include them all. These various points can be mathematically deduced, and will, in some future of yours, serve as contact points, taking the place of space travel in some cases.”

I couldn’t tell Rob what I was experiencing, of course, but he began to suspect that something was happening. Seth became very emphatic, watching Rob closely for one thing. For another, Seth began to stress each word.

“If you keep these channels open and free, you will get material that is as undistorted as possible,” he said. “Ruburt’s range is an excellent one, and the plane of reality in which I have my existence is far beyond those to which persons in the physical system usually have access. … You and he must see to it that Ruburt does not color his experiences through reading material that is distorted. This [kind of material] has its purposes, and it does do some good, explaining reality in terms that people can understand, for the props and fantasies are familiar ones. There is no necessity for them here, however.” He continued, suggesting that I stay away from books that “deal exclusively with conventional religious subjects, interpreting reality in those limited terms.”

The voice became even more powerful. Rob thought of asking Seth to slow down, but he wasn’t sure what was happening, and thought it best not to interrupt.

“There exists what could almost be compared to a psychological and psychic warp in dimensions, and that corner of Ruburt’s personality is an apex point at which communication and contact can take place.”

Rob called me several times, getting no response. Then he touched my shoulder and I jumped rather violently. This interrupted the trance state. I didn’t know what was going on either. The powerful energy kept flowing through me. If I stood up I felt as if I’d go flying through the wall, propelled by this force. My head felt huge, as if my ears were out several feet. This last sensation wasn’t new; I’d had it in some Psy-Time experiences. But trying to contain that energy was something else.

I shook my head, “Wow. If I ever had any doubts … what-ever’s going on, it’s not coming from me, not from my own personality.” Later in my own notes I wrote, “… tremendous energy seemed to flow through me, with the definite certainty—thank God—that this was coming from beyond me, and was automatically translated into words at my end. I feel this is as significant a development—almost—as the original Seth session. The sense of contact was undeniably there. The feeling I had was that I really was in touch with some all encompassing reality.”

The voice became lighter, almost lilting. “The laws of the inner universe [which had been given to us by Seth] are not laws in some book. They are attempts to explain in words the nature of inner reality. I must disentangle concepts, unravel them, in order to explain them, and much is necessarily lost in the process.

“Each simple law of the inner universe that I have given you is in actuality a small inadequate statement in single-dimensional terms, yet it is more than most are given, and the best approximation that can be made of the basic facts beneath any existence, the best statement that can be made under the circumstances with which we must work. As words would give small hint of the reality of color or sound to someone who did not experience these, so words can only give insight into the nature of reality. I hope through the addition of subjective experiences of various kinds to give you the feel of concepts when possible.

“The Inner Senses, to some extent, will allow you to perceive the reality of inner existence, and in this new development Ruburt is using these in a more effective manner than before. There are some changes in the way connections are made. This gives Ruburt a feeling of strangeness.”

“The Seth personality has been an intermediary and a legitimate one. The information already given to you regarding the nature of personality gestalts should make this development seem a fitting one. Seth is what I am, yet I am more than Seth is. Seth is, however, independent, and continues to develop as I do. In the Spacious Present we both exist.

“There are reasons why these particular connections have been made. There are events that unite us and that have served as turning points in the development of our various personalities. In some strange manner, what I am now is linked to what you are.

“This communication, while taking place in your time, is nevertheless responsible in other dimensions for what you would call future developments in your own personalities which you can, in turn, contact. I look back on you as the selves from which I sprang, yet I am more than the sum of what you will be when you are finished with the dimensions and times that I have known.

“For I have sprung entirely away from you and would be alien in your terms. That you can even contact me is a most remarkable development. Yet had you not been able to contact me, I would not be what I am.”

Here the voice was very distant, high and clear, so unlike the usual Seth voice that Rob was still rather taken back. “I am more, however, than this portion of me that you contact, for it is only one portion of me that experienced that reality. It is highly important, then, that this material not be distorted, for most communications take place on far different levels than this—[levels] so closely connected with your own system that even the most ‘undistorted’ data is highly distorted because the communicators themselves do not realize that they create the realities which they then describe.

Rob nodded. Both of us felt almost sad, in one way. I think we were afraid that our regular Seth sessions were over, and that the new ones would take their place. “Besides,” Rob said, “what do we call this new personality?” We knew it was meaningless basically, but we felt we needed a name, a label. And how exactly was this new personality different from Seth? What could it do that Seth couldn’t? “I wish it were more masculine or feminine,” I said. “A neuter personality seems so strange.”

“We taught man to speak before the tongue knew syllables. We adopt whatever personality characteristics seem pertinent, for in our own reality we have a bank of complete inner selves, and we are all Seth. We attempt to translate realities into terms that you can comprehend. We change our face and form, but we are always the one. Many of us have not been born in flesh, as I have not been. In one way we have seeded ourselves through endless universes.

“Physically you would find me a mass smaller than a brown nut, for my energy is so highly concentrated. It exists in intensified mass … perhaps like one infinite cell existing in endless dimensions at once and reaching out from its own reality to all others.

“I told you that Ruburt’s personality acts like a warp in dimensions. In certain coordinates it exists at particular points that serve as entryways. The personality in general is formed from components existing in many realities and is an apex point. A window cannot see through itself, but you can see through a window. So Ruburt’s personality … is transparent in that respect.”

The voice said: “You are like children with a game, and you think that the game is played by everyone. Physical life is not the rule. Identity and consciousness existed long before your earth was formed. You see physical bodies and suppose that any personality must appear in physical terms. Consciousness is the force behind matter, and it forms many other realities besides the physical one. It is only because your own viewpoint is presently so limited that it seems to you that physical reality is the rule and mode of existence.

“The source and power of your present consciousness has never been physical, and where I am, many are not even aware that such a physical system exists. The physical system is an illusion, but you must accept it and from its viewpoint try to understand the realities that exist beyond it. The illusions are real since they exist. Your [reality] is simply not one that I have pursued, and one of the purposes of my participation in these sessions is to acquaint the one called Ruburt with inner travel. He must leave the physical system, and in so doing set up habits and paths that can be used to advantage.”

I came out of trance easily enough once Seth came through. We sat chatting for a few moments and then the session resumed, letting me in for one of the most remarkable experiences of my life. This is rather difficult to describe, so first I’ll quote what the “other” voice was saying.

“The inner portions of your own identity and reality are not known to you, for you cannot objectify them, and therefore you do not perceive them. So much of your energy is used in these physical productions that you cannot afford to perceive any reality but your own. Again, like children playing with blocks, your focus of attention is upon physical blocks.

“Other shapes and forms that you could perceive, you do not. Even in explaining other realities to you, I must use the words ‘shapes’ and ‘forms’ or you would not understand me. You have your mathematics from us; a shadow of true mathematics, for here again you have insisted upon hemming-in realities. Your idea of progress is building larger blocks. Yet none of us would think of kicking aside your block constructions in ire, or telling you to put aside your children’s toys, though one day you will do so.

When the personality compared physical reality with children’s blocks, he made a remark about individuals returning in our future to peer into physical reality like giants squinting down to watch children play with blocks upon the floor. (As the voice spoke, my eyes were closed, of course, and I don’t remember what the voice said, but have checked Rob’s verbatim notes of the session.) In here someplace, suddenly I saw a giant’s face peer into our living room, its face filling up the entire window.

“The blocks of physical reality appear very real to you when you dwell within their perspective. Your Ruburt experienced a transmigration of systems. It was not meant to be unpleasant. This was his subjective interpretation. First he was involved in a microscopic adventure. Consciousness does not take up space—you must understand this. Then he reentered your own system of physical blocks, and by contrast that system then appeared huge and monstrous.

During the above monologue my subjective experiences continued. Again, I wasn’t aware of what the voice was saying, and only afterward did I realize that my experiences paralleled the meaning of the passages. Here are a few quotes from my notes:

That session was well over a year ago. Our usual Seth sessions still continue, and only now and then does this other personality speak. We refer to it as Seth Two. Often these sessions involve me in some kind of subjective experience, though now I am learning how to handle myself when this happens. Once during a rest period, for example, Rob wondered what it was like to be nonphysical. When the session resumed, I felt myself seemingly suspended, fully alert and aware—but bodiless—in space. I had no form as far as I knew, but I possessed complete freedom of motion—something like conscious air. This time I wasn’t frightened, realizing that we were getting an answer to Rob’s question. During this experience, the emotionless, lilting, distant voice explained what nonphysical existence was like.

“Now, these characteristics are mine, and I am who I say I am. And yet the Seth that you know is but a small portion of my reality … the part that has been physical, and can understand your problems.

“But beyond that self there is another self and still another self of which I am fully aware. And to that self, physical reality is like a breath of smoke in air … and that self does not need the characteristics that you know and think of as mine.”

The voice had been vibrant and full, booming and loud. Then there was a pause. And for the first time the other personality came through in class. All of Seth’s gestures and mannerisms vanished. Instantly that high, distant, asexual voice began to speak. It is almost musical, without inflection, like single notes. “And that self tells you that there is a reality beyond human reality and experience that cannot be verbal nor translated in human terms. …

“Although this type of experience may seem cold to you, it is a clear and crystal-like existence in which no time is needed for experience … in which the inner self condenses all human knowledge that has been received through various existences and reincarnations … for all this has been coded and exists indelibly. You also exist now within this reality. …

“We gave you mental images and upon these images you learned to form the world that you know. We gave you the pattern by which your physical selves are formed. We gave you the patterns, intricate, involved, and blessed, from which you form the reality of each physical thing you know.

“The most minute cell within your brain has been made from patterns of consciousness which we have given you. The entire webwork was initiated by us. We taught you to form the reality that you know.”