“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

As human beings we live suspended between life and death. We share this with the animals. It is a condition of our existence. But animals, as far as we know, do not anticipate their own death, or wonder about their status before birth. Their present is the moment.

And what about the future? Perhaps it consists of events already in existence in this Spacious Present; events that we have conveniently decided not to contend with “as yet.” According to Seth events are not concrete in any case, but plastic, and initially they are always mental. Some we form into physical realities, in which case we follow through with the process mentioned above. Others we do not handle at all in this dimension. They never even enter our past, present, or future reference.

Are we biologically unable to perceive any of these events, or do we have psychological blind spots as defense mechanisms to prevent our being overwhelmed by reality as it actually is? Our nervous systems allow us to perceive only so much; true, but beyond this limitation, my guess is that some psychological element causes us to block out much information that we could otherwise perceive.

I can hear quick emotional objections. “No, if we could do all that, we’d know when we were going to die!” But suppose we saw beyond the point of death, discovering to our surprise that we were still conscious—not only of ourselves as we “were” but of other portions of ourselves of which we had been unaware? Suppose in fact that Seth is correct: we only inhabit the flesh, existing within it but independent of it?

We identify with our bodies, as indeed the psychologists tell us that we must. But this identification is based upon the idea that without a body there is no self. It also supposes that all knowledge comes to us through the physical senses. Obviously, according to this idea, we couldn’t perceive anything if we were out of our bodies. In fact, there would be no self to get out to begin with, since our consciousness would be the result of our body mechanisms. This is the orthodox view of many scientists and psychologists.

In a way I was just as bad: I questioned myself and my experiences at every corner, and still do. But at least I didn’t let outdated concepts dictate what portions of my own experience I could accept as real, and what portions I must reject. But if I had not been affected by such ideas, I could have accepted my initial psychic experiences more freely and examined them wholeheartedly. Instead, particularly in the beginning, I was as much appalled as delighted with each new development.

“In ways, Ruburt is turned into a vitalized telegram. When you send a communication or telegram, you merely send words. I send portions of myself. My entire essence need not always be involved. I need not be entirely focused within your dimension, in other words, but I am sufficiently focused to meet our appointments. The psychological bridge of which I have spoken serves us well, however, and this exists on Ruburt’s part as well as my own.

“As I have told you, projection is involved to some extent, both on my part and Ruburt’s. Your [Rob’s] own presence is also important, whether or not you are present at any given session. … Now when you watch, say, educational television, you see the teacher, and he speaks. He may or may not actually be speaking at that time, for you may be watching a film. But the teacher exists whether or not he is speaking at that time, and his message is legitimate. So now see Ruburt as my television screen. … It makes no difference whether or not I am myself speaking within Ruburt now … or whether I did this last night in his sleep, and tonight is a film or playback.

I have many questions myself. For example: How conscious is Seth when he is not speaking through me? If he is my window into other realities, am I his window into physical life? My idea is that Seth is fully conscious, but of—and in—other dimensions of existence. But this only leads to the question: What is nonphysical life like?

Seth has promised to write his own book, dictated during sessions, in which he will answer some of these questions: “In my book I will show the personality from the inside out, so to speak. … To some extent it will relate my own experiences, but I hope it will give a picture of the nature of reality as seen by someone who is not imprisoned within the three-dimensional system.

“The book would involve a study of mediumship, not from the viewpoint of the medium, but from the viewpoint of the personality for whom she speaks. It would involve an examination of your system of reality as it appears to me. …

“Such a book would have nothing to do with Ruburt’s own writing, which would progress at its own rate. … The book would bear my name, but I would dedicate it to the both of you,” he said with a broad smile.

“Now whether or not a medium is in a trance that is as deep as the Atlantic Ocean, the medium will not be a pure channel. The ego simply will be bypassed, but the other layers of the self, and the neurological structures particularly, will continue to operate as always. They will be altered by the perceptions that pass through them.”

“The words I speak to you transmit information, but the words are not the information, only the verbal carriers of it.

As Seth continues to explain the nature of perception, it becomes obvious that physical perception itself shapes reality into certain forms. Even extrasensory perception must be translated into physical terms, if we are to be consciously aware of it. The Seth Material reveals what is beneath the normal reality that we know, but the very translation into words must necessarily distort the meaning.

Since he is responsive, he must be affected by his relationship to us (though perhaps not to the extent that we are affected by him!). There is no doubt that my own personality has grown as it accommodated itself to the Seth experience. I had to learn to handle more stimuli than ever before, and to maintain overall stability as I learned to develop latent abilities. This certainly involved strains and stresses as well as rewards: but none that couldn’t be resolved with a sense of humor and some common sense. When I feel I need a rest, I take a break, which Seth respects with good grace.

“In the terms of other systems, that kind of destruction does not exist—but you believe that it does, and the agonies of the dying are sorely felt. A vivid nightmare is also sorely felt, but quickly over. It is not that you must be taught not to destroy, for destruction does not actually exist. It is that you must be taught and trained to create responsibly. Yours is a training system for emerging consciousness. …

“The training will serve you for existence in a variety of interrelated systems. If the sorrows and agonies within your system were not felt as real, the lessons would not be learned. The teachers within your system are those who are in their last reincarnation, and other personalities who have left the system but have been assigned to help those still within it. …

“Humanity dreams the same dream at once, and you have your mass world. The whole construction is like an educational play in which you are the producers as well as the actors. There is a play within a play within a play. There is no end to the ‘within’ of things. The dreamer dreams, and the dreamer within the dream dreams. But the dreams are not meaningless, and the actions within them are significant. The whole self is the observer and also a participator in the roles.”