“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

“The growth of ego consciousness by itself set up both challenges and limitations. This automatically meant that emerging man, in that framework, must let go of a certain kind of animal comprehension that was extremely valuable overall, but could inhibit ego growth … For many centuries there was no clear-cut differentiation between various species of man and animal … There were also, of course, parallel developments in the emergence of physical man. Again, for many centuries, there were innumerable species of man-in-the-making, in your terms; various postures, and even types of manipulation, as well as alterations in brain size and activity. In some, different kinds of senses predominated. At the same time a great give-and-take was occurring at all levels — including vegetation, for example — so that together the creatures and the earth worked out the kind of stability best suited for the particular kind of developments that were to emerge.

(She added that her situation this evening was like the one mentioned by her in the material presented in Appendix 5. She was open to my suggestions: If I prompted her, she could go right into a session and get the information. She continued:)

(While watching television last night we periodically discussed the trite thinking embodied in the article. Then, as we made ready to retire, Jane announced that she was “getting” information on the subject of ancient man — but not necessarily from Seth. She asked me if I wanted her to continue doing so. We were both tired, but I wondered if this could turn out to be an episode like the one she’d experienced before the last session, when she dictated material on the various neurological actions, or speeds, that she sensed. [See Appendix 5] Tonight’s opportunity, concerning a subject of such interest to us, implied something too good to pass by without investigation. I found a pen and some paper in Jane’s desk. We sat down at 12:10 A.M.

(12:27 A.M. Jane paused. She said she could continue, but we decided to end her dictation here, if somewhat regretfully. I hadn’t suggested that Seth come through, so we could see what she’d produce otherwise. “Well,” she commented, “I gave the material while I was in an altered state of consciousness, but I don’t know where it came from. It seems Seth-like, but also really strange. It’s like the stuff I got the other day. Maybe I’m opening up now so that I can get part of the information this way, as well as through Seth. An odd experience …”

(There were welcome similarities between our sighting of today and that of last March: Again, the weather was very warm for this time of year; again, a fine rain was falling. [...]

[...] (Pause.) This method is even more effective if you choose from your past a scene in which a choice was involved that was important to you.

[...] Therefore, the so-called egotistical consciousness was not given complete sway. [...] An exterior separation had to occur for a while, in which consciousness forgot, egotistically speaking, that it was a part of nature, and pretended to be apart.

It was known, however — and unconsciously written in the cells and mind and heart — that this procedure would only go so far. When man’s consciousness was sure of itself it would not need to be so narrowly focused. [...]

(12:04 A.M. Jane was soon out of her trance, but it had been a very good one nevertheless. [...]

[...] But this time, she thought, she’d been alert: When she realized that the material was “running through her,” as she often puts it [meaning she isn’t aware of Seth’s presence], she sat up, turned on a night light, and began to record the data on the pad she keeps on her bedside table. [...]

1. Seth’s material here about dream solutions reminded me of a few lines just about all that were saved — from a poem Jane wrote when she was 17 years old:

I was unsectioned,