“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(Speaking of names, this is the time to remind all that Seth calls both Jane and me by male names: Ruburt and Joseph. Why does he speak of Jane as a male — and so as “he” and “him?” In Note 6 for Session 679, in Volume 1, I quoted Seth from the 12th session for January 2, 1964:) Sex, regardless of all your fleshy tales, is a psychic phenomenon, merely certain qualities which you call male and female. The qualities are real, however, and permeate other planes as well as your own. They are opposites which are nevertheless complementary, and which merge into one. When I say as I have that the overall entity [or whole self] is neither male nor female, and yet refer to [some] entities by definite male names such as “Ruburt” and “Joseph,” I merely mean that in the overall essence, the [given] entity identifies itself more with the so-called male characteristics than with the female.

(From the 27th session for February 19, 1964:) There is so much I want to say. When your training is further advanced, much further advanced, we may be able to take certain shortcuts. It is difficult for me to have to string out this material in words, and for you to record it. You see, it is possible in theory for you to experience directly a concept-essence of the material in any given night’s session.⁸

(From the 33rd session for March 9, 1964:) I do not bring about the trance state in the manner of which you [Joseph] are speaking. Ruburt switches on another channel, through which my essence can enter more readily. This certainly does involve a looking inward on his part, but it is not self-hypnosis in usual terms — merely a focusing upon an objective inner stimulus … Any such signs (as the powerful, deeper Seth voice) involve camouflage patterns, and do not actually represent direct experience. This is not my voice, for example. It is a representation or approximation of my voice for your edification. Furthermore, in your terms I do not have a voice. But it is a valid representation, and if I say so myself — that’s a pun — the voice is much like the one I would use….

(From the 83rd session for August 31, 1964:) Man sees not even half of the whole entity which is himself. It is true that on this journey [with the sessions] discipline, some caution and understanding, and much courage, is demanded. This is as it should be. I am helping you in this … You are both (meaning Jane and me) peculiarly suited for such a pursuit, with a combination of intuitiveness, basic psychic facility, and yet integrated inner identities … I also want to add that I am not a control, as mediums speak of controls. I am not, as I believe I have mentioned, a secondary or split personality of Ruburt’s. For example, I am not a conglomeration of male tendencies that have collected themselves into a subsidiary personality that struggles for recognition or release. I say that I am an energy personality essence, since that is what I am … My name for him is Ruburt,¹⁵ which happens to be a male name simply because it is the closest translation, in your terms, for the name of the whole self or entity of which he is now a self-conscious part.

(Jane was particularly bothered by people’s attitudes about Seth, for they often considered him as a “spirit guide” in conventional spiritualistic terms. Though almost eight years had passed since Seth had first come through, she’d known for some time that she wanted to explore the whole phenomenon more deeply. Jane believed Seth when he told us he was an “energy personality essence, no longer focused in physical reality” — she just wanted to know more about what he meant by that statement. She was certain, she wrote, that far more than Seth’s being a spirit guide was involved, that “in larger terms the abilities of living personality are connected with … other facets of creative consciousness.”

8. Even 11 years later, I’m certainly far away from experiencing the concept-essence of any given session, as Seth suggests may be possible. I’m expressing contradictory beliefs, obviously, but it seems unlikely that I can use my abilities in such a fashion, even though I tell myself I’d like to.

I do believe, however, that on occasion Jane has known a stepped-up awareness that almost equates with Seth’s concept-essence. One such instance is described in Appendix 7 for Volume 1: her reception of the material for a book called The Way Toward Health. At that time she tuned in to a different “neurological speed,” a faster one, so that much of the book was available to her at once. Jane’s pleasure at having the ability was strongly tempered, though — for while she “could feel the bulk and immediacy of the book,” as I quoted her in Appendix 7, she was “also frustrated that what I’ve got down is so little and sketchy — WHEN IT’S ALREADY HERE … If I could have immediately spoken the whole thing, it would have been done at once … I can’t tell you how frustrated — how blocked — this made me feel at the time.”

26. Although in that 1971 class Seth stressed his experiences with the human condition through reincarnation, in 1964 he’d had this to say: “To me this [reincarnational and family material] is all so obvious that I almost hesitate to mention it, but this is because I tend to forget what human experience on your plane actually involves.” (See the excerpts from the 27th session in this appendix.) In that early session Seth spoke to me alone; in class he faced a large group. I’d say that from his position or focus as an “energy personality essence” both attitudes are true, rather than contradictory — and that one or the other predominated according to the circumstances and subject matter of the session involved. I don’t think the time gap between the two sessions — seven years — was a factor.