“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

“A tiny point of light grew on the edge of the ring, but by moving my arm, I discovered I could make the light wink off and on. It was simply the red reflection from the candle, so I placed the candle behind the curtains where the light was diffused. Nothing happened as we stared at the ring again. I began to ask questions out loud, at random, but I did not address them to Seth.

“Slowly the hand regained normal shape. Jane still sat with her palm up. Now Seth really extended himself. The fingers began to elongate noticeably and to whiten. Then a second set of fingers began to rise up over Jane’s own fingers. Now it could have been easy enough for Jane to bend her own fingers into this position, but here the three of us now saw the second set rising up long and white. Moreover, this second set had the fingernails on top. Had they been Jane’s own fingers, the nails would have been on the undersides and invisible.

But as soon as the séance was over, I was appalled. Instead of being encouraged by Seth’s part in the events, we were upset. We all knew what we had seen. Rob had even touched the hand at one time, and Seth had given us many occasions to check effects as they occurred. We couldn’t accept the evidence of our senses, nor could we really deny such obvious evidence. Though we were trying the experiment for the book, we thought that seances were kooky, somehow unrespectable. We didn’t want Seth involved, and specifically had made a point of not asking for him.

My intellectual skepticism was aroused simply because the affair had been so successful. We argued back and forth as to whether or not suggestion could have been responsible, but we knew that this could not explain half of what happened. It could hardly explain the bumpy quality Rob had felt in my hand, or the second set of fingers, though we decided that it could perhaps have accounted for the odd mirror image.

For the first time Seth really “came through” as a definite other personality, laughing and joking. Rob just couldn’t believe that he was speaking to me, in any ordinary terms. But more than this, Seth’s long monologue on the nature of reality captivated and intrigued us. We had no idea that it was actually a highly simplified explanation, cleverly geared to our own level of understanding at the time. It made a tremendous impression on us nonetheless.

“Consider a network of wires, a maze of interlocking wires endlessly constructed so that looking through them there would seem to be no beginning or end. Your plane could be likened to a small position between four very spindly wires, and my plane could be likened to the small position in the neighboring wires on the other side. Not only are we on different sides of the same wires, but we are at the same time above or below, according to your viewpoint. And if you consider the wires as forming cubes—this is for you, Joseph, with your love of images—then the cubes could also fit one within the other, without disturbing the inhabitants of either cube one iota. And these cubes are themselves within cubes, and I am speaking now only of the small particle of space taken up by your plane and mine.

“Again think in terms of your plane, bounded by its small spindly set of wires, and my plane on the other side. These, as I have said, have boundless solidarity and depth, yet to one side, the other is transparent. You cannot see through, but the two planes move through each other constantly. I hope you see what I have done here. I have initiated the idea of motion, for true transparency is not the ability to see through, but to move through.

“This is what I mean by fifth dimension. Now, remove the structure of the wires and cubes. Things behave as if the wires and cubes existed, but these were only constructions necessary even to those on my plane. … We construct images consistent with the senses we happen to have. We merely construct imaginary lines to walk upon.

“Nevertheless, those walls are transparent. So are the wires, but for practical purposes we must behave as if both were there. … Again if you will consider our maze of wires, I will ask you to imagine them filling up everything that is, with your plane and my plane like two small bird’s nests in the nestlike fabric of some gigantic tree. …

“Consider that these wires are mobile, constantly trembling, and also alive in that they not only carry the stuff of the universe but are themselves projections of it, and you will see how difficult this is to explain. Nor can I blame you for growing tired, when after asking you to imagine this strange structure, I then insist that you tear it apart, for it is no more to be actually seen or touched than is the buzzing of a million invisible bees.”

It was in this session that Seth suggested we hold sessions twice a week, saying that a schedule was far better than spasmodic activity. He went on: “At one time or another, all of us on my plane give such lessons, but psychic bonds between teacher and pupils are necessary, which means that we must wait until personalities on your plane have progressed sufficiently for lessons to begin. Lessons then are conducted with those psychically bound to us.

When the material given above was finished, Seth stayed around, as if to emphasize an informal social period. He invited questions, gestured frequently, paused in front of Rob, looking right at him through my open (but un-Jane-like) eyes.

After having Rob describe the session, and after reading the notes, my attitude was one of simple astonishment. Rob and I are very informal; our friends are informal. The men don’t wear hats and suits, for example, but jeans and shirts or sweaters. I found Seth delightful, whoever or whatever he was. Who else did we know, so “old school” who’d even speak of tipping one’s hat, or refer to food as “good cuisine?” Anyway he certainly didn’t sound frightening, and the fifth-dimensional monologue was really provocative.

I was already beginning to study my own psychological behavior, though, and the question of Seth’s independent reality came more and more into my mind. Since I “become” Seth in some fashion, I’m never able to see myself as Seth in the way that Rob can, or that my students can in a class session, but I do know that he makes a definite impression on others. Who or what was he? I questioned Rob constantly. How did I look? How did he know someone else was speaking? What was there about Seth that so convinced him that Seth was more than a dissociated part of my own subconscious?

Far from looking for Seth in every corner, I guarded my mental integrity with all the determination of my nature. Then I felt silly, because Seth made absolutely no attempt to “invade” my normal working day. Worse, I felt that he was amused but understanding, and felt that my efforts, if basically unnecessary, were still important for my peace of mind.