“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

When you believe in a universe accidentally formed, and when you think you are a member of a species accidentally spawned, then private life seems devoid of meaning, and events can seem chaotic. Disastrous events thought to originate in a god’s wrath could at least be understood in that context, but many of you live in a subjective world in which the events of your lives appear to have no particular reason — or indeed sometimes seem to happen in direct opposition to your wishes….

What kind of events can people form when they feel powerless, when their lives seem robbed of meaning — and what mechanics lie behind those events?

(This evening’s session was of average length for recent ones — lasting about an hour and a half, including break — but Seth devoted only the first short portion of it to Mass Events.)

[...] I hope Seth comes through with more on the subject before he finishes Mass Events.)

The fact remains that there are probable past events that “can still happen” within your personal previous experience. A new event can literally be born in the past — “now.”

[...] If, in the present, one past event can be altered within your neuronal structure, however, then basically no event is safe from such change.

Yet at other levels this seeming solidity of events also breaks down. [...] A sudden contemporary belief in illness will actually reach back into the past, affecting the organism at that level, and inserting into the past experience of the cells the initiation of those biological events that will then seem to give birth to a present disease.

[...] It is not simply that past, forgotten, unconsciously perceived events will be put together in a new way and organized under a new heading, but that in that past (now not perceivable), the entire bodily response to seemingly past events will change.

Your stated universe emerged out of that kind of interval, emerging from a master event whose true nature remains uncaptured by your definitions—so there will be places in our book where I may say that an event known to you is true and untrue at the same time, or that it is both myth and fact. And in so doing I hope to lead you toward some psychic comprehension of a kind of event far too large for your usual categories of true and false. [Perhaps], then, you will let your imaginations play upon the usual events of your world, and glimpse at least in part that greater brilliance that illuminates them, so that it leads you intuitively to a feeling for the source of events and the source of your world. [...]

[...] You know how one association can suddenly in your minds connect you with a past event so clearly that it almost seems to occur in the present—and indeed, a strong-enough memory is like a ghost event. [...] These passageways are simply a part of the greater nature of events that you do not perceive.

[...] The terms of reality within your universe cannot hold or contain that vaster context in which such master events happen. Therefore, I must follow to some extent (underlined) the traditional references that you use to define events to begin with.

While I am doing that I am also trying to introduce you, intuitively at least, to a larger framework, in which events straddle the reality that you know. Nevertheless, we will begin with issues in which it is very possible that contradictions may seem to occur, since your own definitions of an event are so simple that they ignore larger ramifications—ramifications that would reconcile any seeming contradictions in an overall greater unity of structure and action. [...]

You are bringing into your consciousness traces of events that have not been registered in the same way that waking events are (emphatically) by the brain. The dream events are partially brain-recorded, but the brain separates such experience from waking events. [...]

In a manner of speaking the activity of your brain adjusts the speed with which you, as a physical creature, perceive life’s events. Theoretically, those events could be slowed down or run at a quicker pace. [...]

[...] It puts together for you in their “proper” sequences events that could be experienced in many other ways, using other kinds of organization. The brain, of course, and other portions of the body, tune into your planet and connect you with numberless time sequences — molecular, cellular, and so forth — so that they are synchronized with the world’s events.

The brain organizes activity and translates events, but it does not initiate them. Events have an electromagnetic reality that is then projected onto the brain for physical activation. [...]

[...] The story of the Creation, as Biblically stated, is the symbolic representation of a master event—a legend that became its own event, of course, forming about it whole arts and cultures, religions and disciplines. The same applies to Christianity itself, for all of the seemingly historical events connected with the official (underlined) Christ did not happen in physical reality. They happened at another level of actuality, and were inserted into your time framework—touching a character here, a definitely known historical event there, mixing and merging with the events of the time, until the two lines of activity were so entwined that you could not unravel one without unraveling the other (all very intently).

History happened in certain definite forms because of a belief in events that did not, in your world of facts, occur. The main, brilliant thrust of those inner events, therefore, splashed out upon the human landscape, propelling peoples and civilizations.

Such master events cause (underlined) physical events, but they do not emerge originally from them (all repeated as given, and once more very intently.

[...] Master events of that particular nature bring about a completely new interpretation of historic events. [...]

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. [...] 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.

[...] In your terms, for example, it would seem as if Joseph could not have seen that house for sale until after a given series of events had occurred. It would seem as if all of this was dependent upon earlier events: his mother’s prior meeting with Mr. Markle years ago, when both were young; her daydreams and fantasies in later years; her own death; Mr. Markle’s old age, and his own abandonment of the home.

[...] In much more basic terms all events exist at once, even as atoms and molecules appear at once in all probable positions. [...] So in that framework time was experienced — and using that organizational structure, time seems to unite those events.

Give us a moment … Those events then arise into significance³ because of the peculiar kind of organization chosen. Other quite-as-valid events do not seem significant — they do not rise into perception, or reality. [...]

Children experiment with the creation of joyful and frightening events, trying to ascertain for themselves the nature of their control over their own experience. [...] They are in fact fascinated by the effects that their thoughts, feelings, and purposes have upon daily events. [...] By the time you are adults, it certainly seems that you are a subjective being in an objective universe, at the mercy of others, and with only the most superficial control over the events of your lives.³

The results, appearing initially in that now-yellowed handwritten script, made him initially see that he had chosen the events of his life in one way or another, and that each person was not the victim but the creator of those events that were privately experienced or jointly encountered with others.

Dictation: In connection with the creation of the universe, and with the creation of public and private events alike, let us for a moment consider a different kind of myth.

[...] And most certainly, it may appear, no scientifically pertinent data about the nature of events can possibly be uncovered from such a source.

[...] Events that you do not perceive as conscious experience are (pause) a part of your unconscious experience, however, to some extent. This applies to the individual, and of course en masse the same applies to world events. [...]

Like the entire American hostage affair (in Iran), any physical event serves as a focus that attracts all of its probable versions and outcomes. [...] Everyone involved was consciously and unconsciously a willing participant at the most basic levels of human behavior, and it is of course no coincidence that 1980 is immediately foreshadowed by that event. [...]

Your TV and news systems of communication are a part of the event itself, of course. It is in a way far better that these events occurred now, and in the way that they have, so that the problems appear clearly in the world arena. [...]

Do not personally give any more conscious consideration, either of you, to events that you do not want to happen. (Long pause.) Any such concentration, to whatever degree, ties you in with those probabilities, so concentrate upon what you want, and as far as public events are concerned, take it for granted that sometimes even men are wiser than they know.

[...] It is the ego that insists upon separating itself from events, preferring to imagine itself a spectator above events, rather than a participator in events.

Physically speaking now, there are mechanisms that interpret physical events. [...] The methods by which emotions, concepts, and energy are projected out from the individual to form the physical environment and events, mainly occur in nonphysical terms, but there are nervous system connections that aid in this projection. [...]

[...] The entire circle consists of those projections outward that form events, as well as the mechanisms by which the events are then physically perceived.

[...] What seems to be a perception, an objective concrete event, independent and apart from you the perceiver, is instead the physical materialization of the perceiver’s own inner emotions, energy and mental environment.

[...] Certain events in the present will remind you of past ones, for example, and sometimes your memory of the past will color present events.

Association or no, physically you will remember events in time, with present moments neatly following past ones. The psyche deals largely with associative processes, however, as it organizes events through association. [...]

Thoughts are indeed events therefore. Wishes and desires are events. As you know, wishes and desires also influence those actions which will be perceived by you as actual events in the physical universe. The human system responds fully as much to these events as it does to physical events. In the dream state often portions of these probable events are experienced in a semiconscious manner. [...]

[...] Take for example probable event X. This so-called probable event or action will be experienced by the various portions of the self in their own way. When it is experienced by the ego you call it an actual physical event. When the event is perceived or experienced by other layers of the self, the ego does not know of it.

[...] For action is action whether or not you perceive it, and probable events are events whether or not you perceive them as such.

The event is actual all the same, and is experienced in variation. The whole self therefore perceives and is affected by probabilities, and experiences these as action, regardless of whether or not the ego has chosen to accept any given event as a physical occurrence.

(9:30.) In greater terms, it is impossible to separate one physical event from the probable events, for these are all dimensions of one action. [...] There are always inner pathways, however, leading between probable events; since all of them are manifestations of an act in its becoming, then the dimensions between these are illusions.

In terms of probabilities, therefore, you choose certain acts, unconsciously transform these into physical events or objects, and then perceive them. But those unchosen events also go out from you and are projected into these other forms. [...]

[...] You are used to thinking in single-line thoughts, so you think of events that you know as complete things or actions, not realizing that what you perceive is but a fraction of their entire multidimensional existence.

[...] The mind, which is the inner counterpart of the brain, can at times perceive the far greater dimensions of any given event through a burst of sudden intuition or comprehension that cannot be adequately described on a verbal level.

Association is not clearly understood, because psychologists, at present, believe that it works only in connection with past events. They also underestimate dream events, for many associations are the result of events that happen in the dream state … where the mind continues its associative processes.

If we can see future events in dreams, does this mean that the theory of free will is a myth? [...] But in order to answer this question, Seth considers it along with the nature of time and probable events.

Frederick may be reacting to an unpleasant event experienced in the dream state in which the upsetting situation was accompanied by the particular odor. [But] he could also be reacting to a future event of the same nature, for again, the mind does not break time into a series of moments. [...]

When an individual clairvoyantly ‘sees’ an event, this is what happens: First he forgets the concept of continual moments that usually hampers perception. His perception changes focus so that he is aware of an event that otherwise would seem to be in the future. [...]

(Long pause.) It is as if bits and pieces of any and all probable events exist in a jigsaw-like fashion throughout the minds of men, throughout the consciousnesses of plants and all natural things, wanting to be put together—and each individual consciousness has its part to play in directing which of those events occur or do not occur—but the processes involved in the formation of those events are hidden from the conscious mind. [...]

(All of this began when at break this morning I asked Jane is she knew her true feelings about the Mass Events affair. [...] I personally resent a great deal the poor connotations that now have attached themselves to Mass Events; if the material has any validity, this has happened, and would be picked up by readers, even if counterbalanced by other good feelings. [...]

(Pause.) In ways really difficult to describe, your bodily processes, and what you think of as, say, cultural or national events, are highly connected and a part of each other. Events are indeed also processes, partially physical and partially not physical. [...]

(Notes: Today Jane called Tam about the continuing hassles over the disclaimer for Mass Events, and learned several important things—among them that the legal department is now “drafting” a letter to us, explaining their position in the matter. [...]

[...] So there were in those days some rather disconnected events that served as the focus point for great psychic activity: People wanted to believe, and their belief changed the course of history. It doesn’t matter that the events never happened — the belief happened. [...]

[...] For I was embroiled in trying to produce a note relative to a passage of Seth’s in Mass Events about Christ’s resurrection and ascension. [...]

[...] But the material is excellent, as usual, and I will be working with it while doing the note for Mass Events.)

[...] The resurrection and the ascension are indeed, however, the two parts of one dramatic event. [...]

[...] All I recall was bewilderment that the world and everyone in it thought that the events were taking place now, while they weren’t in my time scheme at all. [...] Finally I decided that I’d just have to go along with the mass belief that the events were happening now and act as if they were, even if I knew better....

[...] That day we watched the events on television. [...]

(After watching the televised events from all over the world, Tuesday night I dreamed that in the future all households would be connected to interconnecting computers, keeping track of all inhabitants, actions, goods, and so forth. [...]

[...] For some time, however, young children utilize a remarkable imaginative freedom, so that, for example, they can experience “alternate” events with as much focus, strength, and vitality as that with which they experience ordinary life. A potent daydream may, in fact, appear far more real than the other daily events that surround it. [...] The child’s body will often reflect those conditions and reflexes that would be elicited if the so-called “play” events were real.

Give us a moment … When children play, often the play events seem as real or even more real than ordinary physical events that are experienced outside of the play framework. [...]

[...] Like the child play-acting, however, events occur within events, all dramatically real and vivid, all eliciting specific responses and actions, and each one possessing its own private living area (intently).

None of the unfortunate situations discussed in this book have any power over you, however, if you understand that events do not exist by themselves. All events and situations exist first within the mind. [...]

[...] Jane plans to write an introduction for Mass Events next month, as summer draws to a close. [...] Now she reminded me that “a lot of God of Jane is written as my own response to stuff Seth gives in Mass Events.” [...]

(While I’m doing my own work on Mass Events we’ll hold the sessions for Seth’s Dreams, “Evolution,” and Value Fulfillment, of course. [...] This would certainly be a luxury for me; in my notes for Mass Events I’ve shown how complicated affairs could get for Jane and me when I had to juggle several projects at once over long periods of time.

[...] Nevertheless, we knew that Seth would soon finish Mass Events; he’s been very neatly summing it up in recent sessions.

Examine the event as you know it. Then try to trace its emergence from the thread of your own past life as you understand it, and project outward in your mind what other events might emerge from that one to become action in your probable future. This exercise has another part: When you have finished the procedure just given, then change your viewpoint; see the event from the standpoint of someone else who is also involved. [...]

[...] See the particular chosen event as one that came into your experience from the vast bank of other probable events that could have occurred.

[...] Aspects of the event that did not appear before may be suddenly apparent. The dimensions of the event will be experienced more fully.

[...] In your mind follow what directions that self would have taken, as you think of such events. [...] In such ways probable events can be attracted to your current living structure.

(Long pause.) The same sort of thing operates in the actualization of any event in which you are involved. [...] Again, you are each your own artist, and your inner visualizations become models for other situations and events. [...] The images in your mind draw to themselves all the proper emotional energy and power needed to fill them out as physical events.

[...] Yesterday, the theft was one of innumerable probable events. [...] In one way or another, through your conscious thought you attracted such an event, and drew it from probability into actuality. [...]

(With a smile:) Probable dictation: What you must understand is this: Each of the events in each of your lives was “once” probable. [...]

[...] During your life, any event must come through your creaturehood, with the built-in time recognition that is so largely a part of your neurological structure; so usually there is a lag, a lapse in time, during which your beliefs cause material actualization. [...]