“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

I’m dealing with this subject, the nature of physical matter, first, because it is basic to any understanding of Seth’s theories. Seth says that we form the physical universe as unselfconsciously as we breathe. We aren’t to think of it as a prison from which we will one day escape, or as an execution chamber from which all escape is impossible. Instead we form matter in order to operate in three-dimensional reality, develop our abilities and help others. Physical matter is like plastic that we use and mold to our own desire, not like concrete into which our consciousness has been poured. Without realizing it we project our ideas outward to form physical reality. Our bodies are the materialization of what we think we are. We are all creators, then, and this world is our joint creation.

These are Seth’s ideas as simply as I can put them. We are not at the mercy of events. We form the events to which we then react. Look at it personally: You are not at the mercy of your childhood environment or background, unless you believe you are. You merely cooperated with your parents in forming it.

Seth says that not only do we form our own reality now, but we will continue to do so after physical death, so it is of the utmost importance that we understand the connection between thought and reality.

Seth explains exactly how we translate thoughts into physical reality. To our knowledge, this explanation is original with the Seth Material To say the least, the supposition that we actually create matter gives rise to all kinds of questions, and Rob and I have considered many of them at one time or another. Was Seth saying that we created tables and chairs as well as events? And when we were ill, were we creating our own disease? If we create reality to begin with, then can we change it for the better?

Seth answers these questions and many we hadn’t even considered. I thought that the whole subject was fascinating when he began, but I didn’t expect a demonstration in the middle of our living room, which is exactly what happened in the 68th session (July 6, 1964). Seth was describing the intimate connection between expectation and perception—what we see and observe—to Bill Macdonnel, when the incident took place. It was a session none of us would ever forget. Before I give you the high points of that episode, however, here are a few excerpts from immediately previous material:

Session 68 was held on a very warm night. All the windows were open. We were drinking iced coffee, and as the session started, my glass sat on the wooden table. At that time I still paced the room as I spoke for Seth, my eyes open with the pupils dark and dilated. As usual, Seth addressed us by our entity names, referring to me as Ruburt, and Rob as Joseph. Bill Macdonnel he called Mark. (As I mentioned before, these names refer to the whole personalities of which our present selves are only a part.)

Shortly after the session began, I picked up the abandoned glass and held it out to show to Rob and Bill. At the same time Seth’s voice began to grow deeper and stronger, with the masculine tones starting to creep in. Then Seth began to use the glass as a point around which to build his discussion.

Here Seth’s voice really boomed out. Bill was sitting in the rocker in the middle of the room. He moved the chair closer to see better. Rob was taking verbatim notes as usual, and looking up to watch whenever possible.

“Now, Mark, you cannot see Joseph’s glass, nor can he see yours,” Seth said. “This can be proven mathematically, and scientists are already working with the problem, though they do not understand the principles behind it. Now there is an infinitesimal point where Mark’s perspective and Ruburt’s overlap. Again, theoretically, if you could perceive that point, you could actually each see the other two physical glasses.

“Physical objects cannot exist unless they exist in a definite perspective and space continuum. But each individual creates his own space continuum … I want to tie this in with the differences you seem to see in one particular object. Each individual actually creates an entirely different object, which his own physical senses then perceive. Since we have here this evening such an elegant and welcome guest,” Seth smiled, “Let us then perceive him in terms of a slight discussion of matter, in which he will be our guinea pig.”

At the time, no one thought anything in particular about Seth’s last sentence. For one thing, Rob was so busy taking notes that he didn’t really pay much attention to what was being said, beyond making sure he took Seth’s words down accurately. As far as I remember, I wasn’t even aware of speaking them.

From my writing table at the right of the entrance to our bathroom, I could easily look at Bill as he sat in our Kennedy rocker, facing the bathroom entrance itself. … As Jane continued her delivery, I noticed that Bill was staring quite consistently into the open bath doorway, yet I didn’t pay any particular attention to this. I just took it for granted that Seth’s remark about using Bill as a guinea pig meant that he was to be a topic of conversation.

“You, Joseph, perceive Mark sitting in the chair,” Seth continued. “He sits in his own chair which he has constructed in his own space continuum and personal perspective.

For one who felt poorly at the start of the session, Jane now said she felt fine. Seth had “knocked her out quickly,” she said. Our cat, Willie, now became active. He began to stalk through the apartment, crying out. He behaved in quite a scary fashion, looking all about him, though there were no bugs about, or unusual sounds to upset him.

Here Jane, as Seth, pointed at Bill as he sat in the rocker, working on his second sketch. Then she pointed at me. In the meantime Bill kept staring into the open doorway. As before, I could see nothing from my position at the table. The open door completely blocked my vision. I did not want to risk moving around, since I had to continue taking notes to make certain that our record was complete.

Seth-Jane ended the monologue with a laugh at Bill. Now I asked Bill exactly what he had seen. He said that the dark open bathroom doorway turned a foggy white. He then saw the form of Seth’s apparition stand out against this lighter background. The form was mainly a silhouette, Bill said, without strong detail, and yet during the first monologue he got a good look at the face. The effect was rather like that of a photographic negative. Bill added that the face of the apparition was about six feet above floor level. A copy of his sketch is included in the notes [see illustrated section].

Rob’s hands were tired from taking notes; we took a break. I was somewhat bewildered. Bill swore up and down that he had seen the apparition for nearly an hour. It was not as solid as an ordinary body, but it was far from transparent. Seth had made numerous comments about it. Yet I had seen nothing. Rob hadn’t been able to leave his chair, so he had seen nothing. The lights had all been lit, but I just couldn’t accept the idea of an apparition.

We resumed the session, with all kinds of questions in our minds. Bill told us that he still sensed the first apparition, sometimes quite strongly. He had made two sketches, and was still making corrections. Since the session began at nine and lasted until midnight, I won’t attempt to include it all. The deep masculine voice was to last for the entire session, becoming more and more Seth-like as the evening continued.

When the session resumed, as Seth I picked up Bill’s second sketch and said, “This picture represents an outward transformation as Mark attempted to construct an accurate replica of material that he sensed with the Inner Senses, and as such it is a reconstruction of what I am.

Seth explained that the apparition’s appearance was distorted by Bill’s own ideas, though. The high forehead represented Bill’s interpretation of great intelligence, for example. Bill interpreted the available data in his own way: this was the Seth that Bill saw, regardless of Seth’s own appearance.

Seth then continued, in a rather amusing fashion, giving “advance information” to Bill concerning a vacation trip he was going to take the following week. He described people and events that checked out perfectly on Bill’s return.

At this time Rob and I were thinking of buying the house mentioned earlier. That very day we had gone to look it over again, and were surprised to find the back door wide open. Now Seth told us that we had opened the door ourselves, using psychic energy to do so, and that this was just one instance of mind influencing matter.

I didn’t know what to think. When he was finished with the discussion, Seth began joking with Rob and Bill and showed such high spirits and vitality that Rob had trouble taking notes—he was laughing so hard.

Here are some later excerpts explaining how we project our ideas into events and objects. I’d better mention at this point that Seth says that telepathy operates constantly, providing inner communications to back up all sense data.

This material was given while we were still having the Instream tests. Later, when we had dispensed with these, Seth had more time to answer our questions. Rob wanted to know what other parts of the body were responsible for this creation of material—if any. Here is part of the answer we received:

Throughout the centuries many people have recognized that mind and matter were related, but the Seth Material specifically gives the ways and means by which mind is translated into the reality that we know. Exactly what force is beneath the smallest units of matter, for example? How does the breakthrough into matter occur? In order to do justice to these questions, I deal with them separately in the Appendix.

And what is the point of all this? Seth says: