“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(I’ll open this appendix by referring to a pair of short notes I wrote for Volume 1 of “Unknown” Reality. First, Note 6 for Session 686: “We’re still acquiring information about the psychic connections between Jane and Seth, of course. Even now, more than 10 years after Jane began speaking for Seth, one might say that each session we hold represents another step in this learning process; we fully expect it to continue as long as the sessions do.” Then, Note 3 for the 688th session contains my statement that in an appendix for Session 711, “I assemble from various sessions information on the complex relationships involving Jane-Ruburt-Seth [and also Rob-Joseph].”

(Seth, then, would be a message from the source self except that in this case the messenger is the message, formed into a richly “worded” psychological structure instead of into dry words on, say, a telegram. Seth in sessions would stand for Jane’s Seth Aspect, who does indeed exist in a different kind of reality than ours. But that “invisible” Seth would send out an actual psychological structure that takes over in place of Jane’s, as her own structure voluntarily steps aside during sessions. Earlier in this appendix, see the excerpts on the psychological bridge from the 242nd session.

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.”

“The psychological bridge can transmit, you see, and to some extent translate, but not interpret. I am dependent in a large measure upon Ruburt’s own knowledge, and lack of it, in that I cannot force from him, from his speech mechanism, concepts with which he is entirely unfamiliar. I must introduce them step by step … as I explained moment points (see Note 11 for Appendix 12) to you … It is not as simple a thing as it might seem, for there is no coercion involved, Ruburt always consenting to let me push concepts at him, which he interprets speech-wise with my assistance.

25. Jane held her first ESP class on the evening of September 12, 1967, although she didn’t let Seth come through within that format until the following December, so cautious was she in taking that psychic step. She had no personal experience or other precedent to go by; her How to Develop Your ESP Power had been published in 1966, but she was still experimenting with her own abilities (even as she is now). It could also be said that at issue was the whole question of firsthand public interaction with, and acceptance or rejection of, Seth and his material. Classes were quite small for some time, although they’d grown considerably by the end of 1969. After The Seth Material was published in 1970, class became well known enough to start attracting visitors from various parts of the country. It still does so.