“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(“Well,” Jane said, indicating two points in front of her as we sat waiting for the session to begin, “there’s book stuff there [to the left], and stuff on me there [to the right]. But that’s funny: I don’t think of Seth being over there — just the information. It’s as though I wait for the material to fall into a slot; then Seth, who’s here” — she touched her belly — “deals with it.”

(“I can sense the information outside of me, say, but I can’t get it in my regular state of consciousness. When Seth comes through he’s at the same level the material’s at, and he — or I — can then pull it in … It’s as though there’s a store of information there, but I have to go through a door of consciousness to reach it.”

The relatively insignificant example of probable events and their interaction just given (in the last session) provides a few important clues to the nature of probabilities in general. An organization is definitely present, but it is not the kind of order you are used to recognizing. This small private experience is repeated endlessly with different variations in all areas of daily living — that is, probable events constantly interact, and (intently) through their interaction you end up with one recognized series of episodes that you accept, called physical reality.

Underneath this recognized order of events, however, there is actually a vast field of ever-occurring action. These fields of probabilities are action sources for your reality; but your world-action is also a source for these other probabilities.

(“Can I ask a question?” I disliked interrupting the flow of material, but this was a good time to mention what had been on my mind since Monday night.)

I made it clear that the decision rested with Joseph and Ruburt. But more than that, the whole question of a house of that kind brought into their own lives questions of values and prerogatives that were of great importance. They needed to encounter their own positions on such issues. Joseph was unconsciously aware of the first house [of the two in Sayre], and could have chosen not to drive down that particular street, for example. Both he and Ruburt have thought relatively little about money or social status. They have lived an apartment life instead, with little care for appearances. Yet there is always pressure in your society toward the acquisition of fashionable homes, and material possessions are often considered the medal of ability.

(A one-minute pause.) The greatest scientific discoveries are always “accidents.” They come from intuitional creativity, when suddenly a new kind of significance is seen that was not “earlier” predictable. You accept all data that fit your theories, and ignore clues to the contrary. Yet underneath it all you are significance-making creatures, pattern-formers, immersed in time but basically apart from it, and so new insights come into your awareness and literally change the quality of any given reality at any given time.

(10:34. Jane, in a deep trance, had spoken for over an hour. I told her I thought “Unknown” Reality was excellent. “But I’m out of it on this one,” she said, explaining that she didn’t know it well consciously, had little idea of its structure, and couldn’t particularly say what was to come in it. In contrast, her involvement with Seth’s last book, Personal Reality, had been much more intimate during its production.

(We discussed the general implications of Seth’s material on my mother — that she was not only “alive” after her “death,” but that a portion of her was focused upon Jane and me. Jane had allowed Seth to talk about the whole situation in a more personal way than she usually does; the result is that we already have more data on Stella Butts than on the earlier deaths of Jane’s own parents [in 1971 and 1972], for instance.⁴ We knew that Seth wouldn’t continue describing my mother and her present reality indefinitely; such a study could easily grow into a book by itself. In addition, Jane holds deeply felt convictions about giving material on survival personalities; the information in Appendix 10 has a bearing here. I also think that Seth will be able to say more on the beliefs behind her feelings as this book progresses.

Joseph’s mother is not only alive in another level of reality, but still learning. She is quite aware, therefore, of his decision not to buy the [Markle] house.⁵ In her level of reality, she was aware of the fact that Joseph wanted the house strongly; that one portion of him thought of possessing a large home, even though this would require upkeep and attention that another part of him did not want to provide because he felt it would take too much time from his painting and our work.

5. A note added 10 months later: There were many house ramifications to come, though, concerning not only Mr. Markle’s place in Sayre but some here in Elmira, where Jane and I live. In ordinary terms, we could hardly have expected such a mass of “house connections” to develop. The events took place while Seth-Jane was producing Section 6 for Volume 2 of “Unknown” Reality, and are described there in some detail; they also provide nearly ideal links between the two volumes.