“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(On Saturday evening, May 4, Jane briefly came through with some trance information of her own. At least Seth wasn’t overtly present. The last time she’d done this had been early on March 4; her material then was on parallel man, alternate man, and probable man; Seth mentioned it that same evening in the 687th session, and it furnished the basis for Section 2 of this volume. [The material itself is presented as Appendix 6.]

(We discussed the data given above as we waited for tonight’s session to begin. “Seth’s book reminds me of an old-fashioned diary,” I remarked, “but with a new twist — that of probabilities.” I continued that I was somewhat concerned because the notes for Unknown” Reality were running considerably longer than they had for either Seth Speaks or Personal Reality. Yet I felt there were reasons for this, and had chosen to go along. Jane agreed. She said the notes were intended to furnish a mundane account of our lives that would “parallel” Seth’s more complicated data on probabilities and other concepts. She thought he would have more to say on the subject of notes later in the book.

(Right after this exchange ended tonight at 9:03, Jane told me that she was going to dictate additional material “herself.” She asked me to write it down:

(At 9:15 I read the last session to Jane from my notes, since I hadn’t started typing it yet. She was in a most relaxed state as she listened, yet intended to have a session. “I’m just waiting to get it clear …”)

Now: Take another photograph of yourself at a different age than the first one you chose. Ask yourself simply: “Am I looking at the same person?” How familiar or how strange is this second photograph? How does it differ from the first one you picked this evening? What similarities are there that unite both photographs in your mind? What experiences did you have when each photograph was taken? What ways did you think of following in one picture that were not followed in the other one? Those directions were pursued. If they were not pursued by the self you recognize, then they were by a self that is probable in your terms. In your mind follow what directions that self would have taken, as you think of such events. If you find a line of development that you now wish you had pursued, but had not, then think deeply about the ways in which those activities could now fit into the framework of your officially accepted life.² Such musings, with desire — backed up by common sense — can bring about intersection points in probabilities that cause a fresh realignment of the deep elements of the psyche. In such ways probable events can be attracted to your current living structure.

When you see a picture of an animal in its environment, you often make connections that you do not make when you see a picture of a human being in his or her environment. Yet each location is as unique as the habitat of any animal — as private, as shared, as significant in terms of the individual and the species of which that individual is a part. Simply to stretch your imagination: When you look at your photograph, imagine that you are a representative of a species, caught there in just that particular pose, and that the frame of the photograph represents, now, “a cage of time.” You, from the outside looking down at the photograph, are now outside of that cage of time in which your specimen was placed. That specimen, that individual, that you, represents not only yourself but one aspect of your species. If you hold that feeling, then the element of time becomes as real as any of the other objects within the photograph. Though unseen, time is the frame.

Now: Look up. The picture, the photograph, is but one small object in the entire range of your vision. You are not only outside yourself in the photograph, but now it represents only a small portion of your reality. Yet the photograph remains inviolate within its own framework; you cannot alter the position of one object within it. If you destroy the photograph itself, you can in no way destroy the reality that was behind it. You cannot, for instance, kill the tree that may be depicted in the picture.

As you are looking at one photograph in your personal history, that represents your emergence in this particular reality — or the reality that was accepted as official at the time it was taken — so you are looking at a picture of a representative of your species, caught in a particular moment of probability. That species has as many offshoots and developments as you have privately. As there are probable selves in private terms, there are probable selves in terms of the species. As you have your recognized, official personal past, so in your system of actuality you have more or less accepted an official mass history (see Note 2). Under examination, however, that history of the species shows many gaps and discrepancies, and it leaves many questions to be answered.

(Break was over at 10:45.)  This is the beginning of the next section —