“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

To say that my editor was surprised by the first eight chapters of my ESP book is putting it mildly. He’d had dealings with me before and knew me well enough to be personally interested. He wrote enthusiastic letters, but he was also worried about the book as it stood. My experiences proved that I’d been a medium all along without knowing it, he said, and this could invalidate the book’s premise—that the experiments would work for anyone to some extent, regardless of their psychic background.

“No, of course not,” I said. “But it sure would be a great help if he was.” Just the same, I went into another slump. I still wasn’t at all sure that I believed in the survival of personality after death, and if we didn’t survive, then from whom was I getting these messages? My subconscious? While I used that explanation as a handy whipping boy at times, I didn’t really believe that either: my subconscious was getting enough expression in my short stories and poetry—and without adopting other personality characteristics. A secondary personality? Perhaps, but Seth didn’t fit the picture of any of the case histories we’d read—and neither did I.

(It would be January 1966 before the next change in my trance behavior. After having sessions for a year with my eyes closed, I suddenly began opening them again, though the trance was even deeper than before. There was quite a noticeable alteration of muscle pattern and facial gestures—an overall personality change. The expression in the eyes was not only un-Jane-like. It definitely belonged to Seth. To all intents and purposes, Seth was comfortably ensconced in my physical body. This is our current procedure also, and apparently it gives Seth a certain freedom of expression. He often looks directly at Rob, for example, or at anyone else to whom he is speaking.)

In spring 1965, about a year after we wrote Dr. Osis, Rob wrote to Dr. Instream (not his real name), who was connected with a state university in upstate New York. Dr. Instream had been one of the nation’s foremost psychologists in his earlier years, and had investigated many mediums in the past. If Seth was a secondary personality he would know it, I thought. Again we enclosed a few sessions with one letter. Dr. Instream wrote back, expressing interest and inviting us to attend the National Hypnosis Symposium to be held in July 1965.

After greeting Dr. Instream, Seth said: “My field is education, and my particular interest is that these [seemingly paranormal] abilities of human personality be understood and investigated, for they are not unnatural, but inherent. … I am indeed aware of the difficulties which shall be encountered.

“I have said this often—I am no misty-eyed ghostly spirit, materializing in the middle of the night. I am simply an intelligent personality no longer bound by your physical laws. …” Seth went on to speak about the ESP tests that Dr. Instream had suggested in our earlier conversation. “I have some difficulties with Ruburt’s own stubborn attitude at times; but we must also take this into consideration, and so we shall … I will seriously endeavor to do what I can do, within our circumstances. My cooperation can be counted upon. It goes without saying that all of this cannot happen overnight, but we shall begin. In a regular session I will discuss what can be done. We can do much. Much we cannot do. But since we understand both the potentialities and limitations, then we can make the most of what we have.”

“Human personality is not innately limited. The waking state, as I have often said, is as much a trance state as any other. Here [in sessions] we merely switch the focus of attention to other channels. Consider all types of awareness as trance states. Consciousness is the direction in which the self looks. …

“We have many fields of common interest, you and I. The personality must always be considered in an elemental way as patterns of action. When you attempt to tamper with various levels, you change them. When you crack an egg to discover what is inside, you ruin the egg. There are other ways to go about it. We do not need a hammer to crack the eggshell. … I am an egghead, but do not need a hammer to be cracked.” Here, Seth was smiling broadly.

Before we finished with that visit, Dr. Instream told us unofficially that Seth had a “massive intellect” and certainly didn’t seem to be a secondary personality. He cheered me considerably by telling me that I appeared to be in excellent emotional and psychological health.