“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

[...] Rob took notes as quickly as he could. He didn’t know shorthand or speedwriting, so he took everything down in longhand and then typed it up the following day. He soon began to develop his own system of symbols and abbreviations, however.

[...] Rob had some questions about fragment personalities he wanted to ask: What did Seth mean when he said we could have turned into those images? Rob wrote the questions down so he wouldn’t forget them, and two nights later we sat down at the board once more. [...]

Later Rob told me that he had all kinds of questions, but he didn’t want to interrupt, and his hand was already tired from taking notes. [...]

[...] Rob was in constant pain, and though he didn’t complain, he couldn’t hide the sudden spasms. [...]

As Ruburt’s body becomes more responsive, it means also that he is becoming more responsive not just physically but in all areas. He thinks he feels uncomfortable with other people on such occasions because he is physically uncomfortable, sitting for long periods, or because he feels in an inferior physical condition. Instead, of course, he felt in such a position before the symptoms showed—as each of you felt, and were convinced in black-and-white fashion, that creative people were misunderstood, held in inferior position in the world, and were generally considered oddballs.

[...] Ruburt does not yet know what his response to the world will be—whether he wants, for example, television shows and so forth, or not—but he is now determined to respond, to be responsive, and not to simply retreat.

He has been searching for a key of that nature, something about which he could rally his forces. [...]

As he is using it, the word “responsive” will give him freedom to respond as he wishes to the world in general, so that the two of you can make decisions. [...]

[...] He, Ruburt, has more psychic power than he knows, and an uncluttered feeling is important. He has an inner sense of order which may not be apparent, and a strong feeling for what he considers sacred or private functions.

He operates very well until these basic needs are jeopardized. I will tell you the reasons later, but regardless of his flamboyance and seeming disregard, he needs space division of certain activities, and privacy from the outside world. He deals with the outside world in a very constructive manner, provided that a division is set up between him and it so that it cannot leak through. [...] He is extremely modest in strange ways; that is. [...]

As for another advancement you have made, beside dispensing with the material board—and this advancement has to do with the so-called flashes that Ruburt has received between sessions—he has achieved a state in which he can receive inner data from me more readily. But beyond this he is now able in some small way to contact me. [...]

I am now in contact with your parent’s entity and he tells me that subconsciously even his present personality, that is your father, appreciates this fact and loves you deeply. He himself, that is your father’s entity, feels no pain because of the present personality’s problems, since he is working out so many necessary kinks.

He believed in Moses more than he did Allah, and I did not know until the last moment which form I was to assume. He was a very likable chap, and under the circumstances I did not mind when he seemed to expect a battle for his soul. [...] He could not rid himself of the idea of force, though he had died by force, and nothing could persuade him to accept any kind of peace or contentment, or any rest, until some kind of battle was wrought.

[...] He hated the Jews, but somehow he was obsessed with the idea that Moses was more powerful than Allah, and for years this was the secret sin upon his conscience. He spent some time in Constantinople at the time of the Crusades. He was captured, and ended up with a group of Turks, all to be executed by the Christians, in this case very horribly so. [...] He cried to Allah, and then in greater desperation to Moses, and as his consciousness left his body, Moses was there.

I called upon Jehovah, but to no avail, because our Arab did not know of Jehovah — only of Moses — and it was in Moses he put his faith. Allah drew a cosmic sword and I set it afire so that he dropped it. [...] He saw leagues of followers behind Allah, and so leagues of followers appeared behind me. Our friend was convinced that one of the three of us must be destroyed, and he feared mightily that he would be the victim.

[...] He will see no continuity at all, and feel himself flung without rhyme or reason from one experience to another, never realizing that his own thoughts are propelling him quite literally.

[...] Now he rose above them. As you know, I do not make predictions, yet he has reached a point with his beliefs, and an efficiency with some methods of implementing them, that I foresee a dramatic change for the better.

You made some comments very important to him—further illuminating how his past beliefs colors his thoughts, so that he looked at the worst side of the given picture. You understood not feeling well at times, the difficulties he had been up against. [...]

In the past at times you did get various symptoms when Ruburt began to improve, and because of his lack of confidence and the state of his beliefs, he backtracked. [...]

[...] Beside that, Ruburt was able to help you to some degree—while before you felt that he could not because of his concentration upon his own problems.

[...] When Ruburt throws anything old out, he does so because he feels he can afford to. He can afford for example to discard old ideas, even those for which he may have some sentimental attachment.

He may also ask your opinion as to whether or not he should ask his mother to live with him. Whether or not he asks, he has been strongly considering it. [...]

[...] Of course he is concerned over his own health. You are too guarded when he asks for recommendations, and Ruburt’s impulse there has been correct. He also looks to you for guidance, and basically (underlined) seeks your support.

He was shoveling coal up into buckets, very angry. [...] In your father’s anger he had wished that your mother was dead, or that she would leave and take her brood with her. [...]

He was a delightful old gentleman, and he did the best that he could, and he does not need a whippersnapper like you to comment upon what he tried so hard to do. He could not accept the results. [...]

([Joel:] “In one of the stories that Jane wrote, the guy went down to the beach with the wind chimes and (words lost) tree and he selected atoms and that somehow absorbed them through himself into another system until there wasn’t any physical world that we know of left at all, and then as I recall at the end he popped through his whole universe and isn’t that somewhat the same kind of thing? He was the black hole for awhile then he ran around the other side of the set and became the white hole and the whole transfer occurred through him and the whole thing may have been a symbol and that this occurs back and forth and constantly in all of us all the time.”)

At one time he was highly interested, and I went along because it was a sort of proof that he found extremely necessary. [...] When he attained it that took care of my end of it. [...]

[...] He quickly found, however, that that was not the answer, that people merely said, “He has the answers, and I have none,” that they projected upon him abilities that they thought they did not possess. And therefore he has changed that policy. [...]

[...] Often Seth remarked upon our rather childish desire for demonstrations; yet when I asked him if he would rather we refrained from such requests in the future, he said he understood the desire, that it was natural, and that if he felt like it he would comply.

(“And you,” he said to Bill, “have been twice a man and once a woman. [...] At the time he saw the apparition, Bill, who is a schoolteacher, had a summer job painting houses. He often worked from high ladders.

[...] I do not know.] But laughing, Seth told us plainly that when we had attained more proficiency, he would materialize a fully independent hand for us. He explained that he drew on all three of us for the psychic energy necessary to do this.

[...] To Bill, while he thought he sensed a change in the shape of Jane’s head in the mirror, there was little else to be seen. He did not sense an aura, for example, or receive any impression of an alien countenance.

The signals were picked up though he did not realize either that he had come to the realization that his work would change, nor that he had signaled so. I add to make him feel better (smile), and you also, that he could not have done —I am going slowly here so as not to offend his sensibilities—he could not have done earlier the kind of book he will do now. [...]

(I did this because in the last session Seth said he would resume his discussion of theoretical material at any point we chose. I thought he could pick from this selection. Jane was tired this evening, and said, “If Seth can get anything out of me tonight he’ll be doing good.” [...]

[...] He is somewhat in a state of shock, having been brought up short. He will quickly readjust however, for he now has faith in the new direction of his work. [...]

[...] You and he must see to it then (Jane pointed vigorously at me) that he does not color his experiences with me through reading material that ‘is highly camouflaged and distorted, even though the distortion is well-meaning.

A rich man who tries to be poor for a day to learn what poverty is learns little, because he cannot forget the wealth that is available to him. Though he eats the same poor fare as the poor man, and lives in the same poor house for a day — or for a year or five years — he knows he has his mansion to return to. [...]

He knew that he was ready to go on to other spheres of activity. Unconsciously, he looked about for the means and chose those immediately available. [...]

[...] He was not predestined to die. He chose both the time, in your terms, and the method, for reasons of his own.

(This session also contained the very interesting material that Seth gave concerning his own perceptions while he is addressing a group of people; that data is quoted in the 575th session, in Chapter Nineteen.)

(9:01.) Ruburt’s intuitions, his nature, his creative abilities, and his intellect, have led him into a study of the nature of reality, as, again, he sought to find a larger framework of reference. And he has pursued that course vigorously even when he did not consciously see the continuity of such a project at any given time. [...]

[...] Many of Ruburt’s current attitudes, for example, will at least make more sense to him as he sees that they originated in response to situations against which a child had no recourse. Ruburt did not tell anyone about his mother’s lying, for example, not until he was in his teens, and he was too ashamed of how his mother often treated him to tell anyone. [...]

(9:21.) That treatment reinforced his beliefs that he must indeed be a wicked or sinful person. [...] Where he felt he was expected to behave in an almost supersaintly fashion—for you have of course two completely different versions of the self there, each unreasonable. [...]

[...] There is no doubt that he was mistreated. [...] He could not be satisfied with an answer like, “That is what life is,” or with a simplistic denouncement of man’s basic nature. [...]

When he is not at all concerned with the chair, he does not bother to construct it. He could be miles away, suddenly imagine this room, and instantaneously construct the chair. If he did, and if someone else were present in the room, they would not see it, for you are only aware of your own constructions.

[...] As he has done before occasionally, he gave a loud cry and jumped at Jane’s ankles as she paced back and forth. He nipped her. [...]

I might mention that Ruburt handled the situation with his father’s mistress in a much more intelligent fashion than he would have, if it were not for the insight he has gained as a result of these sessions.

[...] Finally as Jane began dictating he cornered a larger insect and then began to play with it about the living room floor. At first Jane stepped around him; finally, just beside my chair, she knelt, brushed Willy aside, and tried to pick up the insect he had been toying with. [...]

While Ruburt tells himself he is weak or sick, he causes the organism to behave in that manner. [...] He can tell himself that his dream self becomes his physical image. He knows his dream self is real. [...]

[...] In physical reality a man in a desperate frame of mind is more apt to emphasize horrible aspects in the news, for example, and to see desperation rather than joy in the faces of those he meets. He will ignore the contented playful child on one side of the street, and notice instead a dirty ragged boy even though he be further away. [...]

[...] He wanted to see if he could become aware of your form.

[...] If Ruburt knows he is projecting he should try to remember you, and to rouse you astrally. [...]

[...] Ruburt saw you and he standing in the middle of an infinite plain of sand. [...] To the left he saw people approaching the sands upon which he stood. [...]

[...] You and he were about to step out upon the plain, and he held back because he did not want to disturb the messages.

Two things in the dream held him back: a gigantic nostalgia for the writings in the sand that had remained for so long, the jottings of children—and for a moment he did not want to be part of anything that would wipe them out. He wondered aloud in the dream whether or not you and he should really be there: what credentials you had that would give you the right to make new footprints.

[...] In other terms and on another level Ruburt felt that symbolically at least he was between birth and death, that egotistically speaking the way of darkness had been parted; and in these terms the mountain to the left represented death, from which he had come, and birth, for he emerged through birth from death; and the mountain to the right represented the death that in your terms has not yet come.

The artist who paints such a scene may do so for several reasons: because he hopes through portraying such inhumanity to awaken people to its consequences, to make them quail and change their ways; because he is himself in such a state of disease and turmoil that he directs his abilities in that particular manner; or because he is fascinated with the problem of destruction and creativity, and of using creativity to portray destruction.

[...] He is learning to use them efficiently and well. He uses them to exist. [...] Within that framework, individually and as a whole, mankind may seem to make errors, to bring ill health, death or desolation upon himself, but he is still using those abilities to create a world.

Through observing his creations he learns how to use these abilities better. He checks on his inner progress by seeing the physical materialization of his work. [...]

[...] A great painting of a battle scene, for example, may show the ability of the artist as he projects in all its appalling drama the inhuman and yet all-too-human conditions of war. [...] In the same way, man is using his abilities, and they are apparent when he creates a real war.

(Long pause at 11:22.) Give us a moment… Speaking historically in your terms, man first identified with nature, and loved it, for he saw it as an extension of himself even while he felt himself a part of its expression. In exploring it he explored himself also. He did not identify as himself alone, but because of his love, he identified also with all those portions of nature with which he came into contact. [...]

[...] It is true to say, then, that a portion of you figuratively walks with this other person as he or she goes about separate from you in space.

[...] He lived at an intense peak of psychic and biological experience, and enjoyed a sense of creative excitement that in those terms only existed when the species was new.

[...] A person, then, looking out into the world of trees, waters and rock, wildlife and vegetation, literally felt that he or she was looking at the larger, materialized, subjective areas of personal selfhood.

If he knew later of the plane’s fate, he thought “How lucky for me that my plans were thwarted.” If he never learned of the crash, he might think that he was simply beset by distractions, and that his efforts went nowhere. [...]

(We had two questions for Seth, since we’re trying to get into the habit of writing such down as they occur to us: 1. Jane wanted Seth to comment on why he’ll take off on something she’s read, and reinterpret it his own way, or carry it further; her question came up because he did this Monday while she’s reading Fred Hoyle’s book, Ten Faces of The Universe; 2. Jane wanted Seth to give information on her “significant” dream of last Saturday morning, July 1. She couldn’t remember any details from it, but has talked about it often; she thinks it had something to do with health.)

[...] He was beset by difficulties. He missed his plane—the plane crashed.

[...] He will of course have other and more extensive such experiences, but overall the mental work is now beginning to be strong enough in your framework, so that more and more results, in your terms, will show themselves.

“These mass suggestions include not only those given to him by others, both verbally and telepathically, but also those he has given to himself, both in the waking and dream states. If an individual is in a state of despondency, this is because he has already become prey to negative suggestions of his own and others. Now if you see him and think that he looks miserable”—Seth looked at Joan sharply—“or that he is an incurable drunk, then these suggestions are picked up by him subconsciously, though you have not spoken a word. [...]

[...] He equates it with lack of discipline. Seth calls this man “the Dean,” with affectionate humor, because he’s one of my best students, and the others listen to his psychic adventures with a good deal of interest. But he’s very much a community man also, and the word “spontaneity” can be like a red scarf to a bull, at least as far as he is concerned! [...]

[...] Seth was quite serious and not as jovial as usual, and at the time I thought that he was being rather hard on her. Now I see that he was trying to impress her with the necessity of changing her attitudes and reactions. He stated his ideas on health as clearly and directly as possible, dealing with their practical application. [...]

[...] “He’s my problem. He’s the one who makes me feel nervous.”

He himself took drugs under controlled conditions several times, first small doses and then larger ones. He encountered some particularly frightening material. The doctor suggested that he face himself by taking another massive dose, and though he did not want to, he acquiesced.

The experience was so shattering that he pleaded for a counter drug, knowing as he did so that this was against all the rules. [...] He said that he was glad that he was forced to see the thing through, yet grave doubts brought him here, and will finally lead him into other areas away from such therapy.

He had been working with the drugs in a therapeutic framework for some time. Before this he had wandered through India, finally following a guru. He left the guru to follow the doctor. Like many young men all through the ages he was on his individual journey, looking for truth, overturning all stones in an effort to find those methods that would help him discover — in capitals — THE WAY.

He saw the sick, unhappy and neurotic brought to this new temple of truth in which chemicals take the place, say, of communion of bread. He felt that some good had been done, yet he also feared that some unnecessary and dangerous tampering might also be accomplished.

“These sessions themselves involve the highest levels of creative productivity, at many levels, so he should refresh himself painting or doing whatever he likes, for that refreshment adds to his creativity, of course. He will finish his book (God of Jane), and do beautifully with it. He should follow the rhythms of his own creativity without being overly concerned with the time. [...]

[...] He has been doing very well, and he tried to approve, but since he lost work time yesterday, his approval barely went skin deep (louder).

“When you mentioned his ink sketches he instantly wanted to play at painting again, but felt, guiltily, that he should not. He forgot, once again, that the creative self is aware of his entire life, and that his impulses have a creative purpose.

“Because he did not approve of his own relaxation. He put brakes upon it.”