“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

[...] Instead we form matter in order to operate in three-dimensional reality, develop our abilities and help others. Physical matter is like plastic that we use and mold to our own desire, not like concrete into which our consciousness has been poured. Without realizing it we project our ideas outward to form physical reality. Our bodies are the materialization of what we think we are. We are all creators, then, and this world is our joint creation.

But as you will see, we form our physical reality not only now and after death, but through at least several lifetimes, as we learn to translate energy and idea into experience. We not only form our environment now, but ahead of time we choose our parents and circumstances. [...]

[...] You may not have thought of the question consciously, but each of us has an opinion and we guide our daily actions by it whether we realize it or not. By physical universe I mean everything with which we come into contact in any way at all—stars, chairs, events, rocks, flowers—our entire physical experience. [...]

Some people think that we are stuck in physical reality like flies in flypaper or victims in quicksand, so that each motion we make only worsens our predicament and hastens our extinction. [...]

(12:19.) “Some of the experiments with man-animals didn’t work out along our historic lines, but the ghost memories of those probabilities still linger in our biological structure, and in our terms can be activated according to circumstances.

[...] But then, for some years Seth has been reiterating that even in our terms there is no well-defined evolutionary path leading from our ancient state to our present one.)

“For a long time these varieties of ancient men shared our earth and history, in varying terms. Right now, though, in our time, all of the different kinds of consciousness that we might expand into are here with us … some of them appearing as pathological to us …

[...] Yet they shape our neurological history.”

[...] TV was on, advertisements for movies, and I asked her why our literature is made up of the bad in life — murder, mayhem, thievery, bribery, robbery, and so forth. I said our craving for such “entertainment” must reflect our basic social beliefs beneath our veneer of respectability — the conscious, negative fears of the unknown, meaning that we’ve created such a division in ourselves by shutting out our conscious awareness of our own true selves. We’ve now reached the point where our subjective lives are largely hidden, but continuously striving to show themselves against all pressures …

(While she ate I told her I’d called our lawyer this morning. [...]

[...] A most humbling suggestion for my wife and me — we’ve always prided ourselves on making our own way.

[...] The beautiful Glen is the first place I took her to after our engagement in 1955.

I am going to speak this evening concerning our dream reality, although I promised our guests earlier that we would discuss the God concept. However we took valuable time out in order to put our Ruburt in line, and so we are somewhat behind.

[...] This time I picked a negative I had taken during our vacation in 1964 at York Beach, ME. [...] It will be remembered that it was in the dancing room of the Driftwood that Jane and I saw the personality fragments we had ourselves created, on our vacation in York Beach in 1963. [...]

[...] Our friend, the Jesuit, will do well to read our dream material, for dreams are a reflection of the needs of a personality and of the abilities. [...]

Our dreams therefore occupy the same space as is occupied by the mind—no space at all. There still must be a connection with the physical organism, and here our chemical and electrical components enter in. [...]

[...] When we moved in to our present apartment, the kitchen held a stove and a small refrigerator that didn’t begin to hold all our food. We got a larger one for foods that we didn’t use every day, and this second refrigerator I put in our huge bathroom, a great old-fashioned tiled room that’s easily five times as large as the kitchen. [...]

[...] We were both to have our first out-of-body experiences, or “astral projections.” Our experiments in what Seth calls “Psychological Time” helped us develop our own psychic abilities. [...]

[...] Rob also sent him copies of a few sessions, including some of the information we had been given about our own past lives. [...] Our last lives were in Boston in the nineteenth century.

Sometimes we followed his council, to our advantage. Other times we didn’t go along, for reasons of our own. [...]

(Lately we have begun using the pendulum to “verify” the validity of our predictions, and our interpretation of them. To our surprise, we have discovered that the pendulum does not always agree with our conscious interpretations. At times it will agree with our predictions and our interpretations. At times it will not agree with our interpretation of what it calls a valid prediction. [...]

We will return to our regular sessions, and to a continuation of our discussions. [...]

Our Wednesday evening session may well be somewhat longer than usual, since for this one I was mainly concerned with discussing the practical problem at hand, since it is important that the air be cleared in this respect.

(“How about the way we use the pendulum to check our predictions, after the event? [...]

[...] I give Ruburt a break after our impressions, and I shall do so now. [...] Add the number 103 to our information concerning the location, and there is the whistle of wind.

In our next session we will return to our basic material. [...]

[...] The pointer’s loss however was quite embarrassing because the board did not belong to us, but to our landlord, James Spaziani. We never did get around to buying our own.

[...] These objects are at the limits of our observable universe according to our instruments, yet are many times too bright and emit much too much energy for their size, according to the laws of physics. [...]

[...] I do not want to interrupt our data concerning probabilities and time, however, to get involved in any long involvements on other matters. [...] At our next session we shall return to our previous subject matter.

(For a time we held sessions in the back of our apartment to avoid such interruptions, but Jane prefers them held in the large front room. [...] We then engaged in a half-hour’s conversation with our neighbor.

(As early as the 6th session Seth told Jane and me that we were living the last of our physical lives, and that both of us had chosen to become entities. Because of this, Seth said, it is very necessary that we develop all of our abilities as much as possible in this life. [...]

[...] Jane agreed; as session time drew near tonight she said she thought Seth would discuss the storm, and our weather in general. [...]

“Other species of consciousness gain their experience at different ‘levels’; often we encounter such consciousnesses in the dream state, then interpret their actions in the wrong order of events … according to our own camouflage³ system … Our bodies are the focuses for only the physical part of our consciousnesses … My latest dreams are giving me a picture of the nonphysical inner wonderworks …”

[...] It is the … creative product, en masse, of our individual and joint dreams … Our world is a dream level for some other types of consciousness; it’s shared to some extent, then, and can serve as a meeting point.

“Creative expression, from its intuitional spark to objectification, mirrors in our private realities the way the universe was [and is] constantly created.

“The ways in which dream material becomes real, the processes involved, are the same ones by which the universe itself becomes objectified to our views and experience. [...]

Often spontaneously we had class sessions, and as you noticed he would miss our next session. [...] Our regular sessions will always be the primary source of the material, and the stress will always be laid upon them. [...] They are a subsidiary or offshoot, but they are not meant to supersede our own work.

And good evening to our friend here, and I will take due note that you (Carl) are smiling this evening. Now: We are going to resume dictation on our book, so (humorously to Carl) you can see an author at work — an authentic ghost writer if you prefer.

[...] There were natural changes occurring in our work, and overall Ruburt has done well in handling them. The unevenness in the timing of our sessions was a result of the fact that often three regular sessions were being expected from him, rather than two.

Our two sessions should always be maintained, with the class sessions added as long as they do not drain Ruburt’s resources. [...] On certain occasions, using your own discretions, you may have guests at our sessions, but these will be very occasional, and will not be a problem if you follow the procedure I have outlined.

[...] We had changed our schedule, and our earlier hour of rising has made itself felt by session time. [...]

What I am actually giving you this evening is an outline for our next session, since you are not up to par this evening. Now, the strange sensation experienced by Ruburt just before this session was a taste of our seventh inner sense, but only a small portion. [...]

[...] While she was talking to me our cat Willy lay purring on her lap. [...]

I had planned to go into some material concerning this particular portrait, as a camouflage construction, but here for now I will merely mention this in passing and go into it at our next session.

Seth insists that there is only one way to learn what consciousness is: by studying and exploring our own awareness, by changing the focus of our attention and using our own consciousness in as many ways as possible. [...]

The Inner Senses are not important because they release clairvoyant or telepathic abilities, but because they reveal to us our own independence from physical matter, and let us recognize our unique, individual multidimensional identity. Properly utilized, they also show us the miracle of physical existence and our place in it. [...]

[...] That sort of material serves a need, but our material demands that you intellectually and intuitively expand.”

[...] We will also use words better ourselves to communicate our inner feelings since we will know what those feelings are. [...]

The unseen self is not a dungeon of repressed ideas and feelings, dangerous to behold, but the fountainhead of individual existence, upon which our present physical survival is dependent. Beyond this, it is our pathway to creative expression, inspiration and wisdom — a doorway to our own greater identity. [...]

Peg and Bill Gallagher, friends of ours, attended the next session in which Seth continued with his suggestions for our dream experiments. [...] Of course, I welcome our Jesuit and cat-lover, as always. (Seth always referred to Bill as “The Jesuit” because of his quick, inquiring mind and to Peg as “the cat-lover,” humorously, because of her strong dislike for cats.) After a few more personal remarks, he launched into the discussion.

[...] Dream reality is only one aspect of this inner universe, in the same way that our planet is only one of many others in a physical sky. Before our experiments began, I used to think that dreams were relatively chaotic productions, with a few subconscious insights thrown in for good measure, now and then — a nightly retreat into idiocy for the tired brain. [...]

[...] Dream interpretation is important to our three-dimensional mentalities, for example. [...] Dreams can give us consistent, valid information about our motives, needs and decisions. [...]

Some new developments should also occur in our sessions, as our reluctant medium finally comes to terms with me. [...]

Now surely to our friend Philip, Ruburt has certainly appeared committed enough to our ventures. [...]

Good evening indeed to our friend. [...]

I had some pertinent remarks to make this evening, and since Philip (Seth’s entity name for John Bradley) is indeed a friend, I shall feel free to make them, although they are somewhat of a personal nature, and directed to you and our reluctant medium.

(In the beginning the four of us sat on the floor, grouped around our coffee table and holding hands as suggested by Seth in the 125th session, and as we had done before. [...] We had been using our recorder earlier but were not recording these monotonous inductions, and as will be seen this was a mistake on my part.

[...] Our idea was that our receptive state might make it possible for one of us to speak for another personality should one be present, or for another level of the self. [...]

(This of course startled our guests, but they listened without interruption. [...] Indeed, she displayed much more animation than she has for any of our regular sessions since she began to deliver the material from a sitting position. [...]

[...] I asked some questions designed to keep the material on the level of reincarnational data, since our guests had done some reading on the subject. [...] This reminded me that Seth had given similar data for our friend Bill Macdonnel; he too had been a sailor in a Denmark contemporary existence, but as I recall I did not ask Seth whether Judy and Bill had known each other in that life. [...]

(I explained all the aspects of our situation as best I could, and asked some good questions. I think I made clear our current ideas about insurance, our work, the need for privacy, our opinions of various doctors and the medical establishment versus the lack of psychology they often display, and so forth. [...]

(She has talked with Andrew Fife, and so knows at least something of our situation. She at least appeared, I told Jane, to be quite open to our way of thinking. The point I stressed—politely—was that at this time I wouldn’t make a move without legal advice, and that I wasn’t going to do anything that would compromise our position versus the insurance company.

[...] Who she may tell about our interview, I don’t know. [...]

[...] [Jane later said Fred Kardon might have mentioned this some time ago; I don’t recall.] Madeline Sullivan said we were well off as far as our insurance goes, and I laughed and said, “Yes, only we can’t collect.” [...]

Many in the United States now feel that our country looks the fool before the rest of the world. [...] A few of our European allies, however, have expressed concern and sympathy. Our President’s main challengers for his office haven’t publicly criticized him, but neither have they defended him from foreign and domestic censure—and today our Secretary of State resigned in protest of the rescue mission. Our government is supposed to have begun preparing for the rescue shortly after the hostages were seized more than five months ago. [...]

From our viewpoint, it’s almost as though our country has become transfixed by its involvements in the Middle East. I even think that the dust storms the American helicopters had to struggle through to reach Desert One were not only symbols but conscious manifestations of our challenges there. The failure of our rescue mission represents another learning step as we grapple with some of the “modern” convolutions of religious and secular forces. Actually, the proliferations of consciousness on our planet are seamless: In those terms, the overall challenges are ancient indeed.

At this time Jane and I think the missions failure is a blessing: Based upon our limited knowledge of the factors involved, we do not see how it could have succeeded. We mourn the dead servicemen and wonder how many more Americans—military people and hostages—would have been killed had our commandos penetrated to the American Embassy compound, and the Iranian Foreign Ministry, in the heart of Tehran.

Over the centuries, in our terms, there have been numerous religious and secular (or worldly or nonreligious) consciousnesses at work and play in the Middle East. [...] I also referred to our own country’s entanglements in that section of the world. [...]

(“We have our hassles like everyone else, of course. Seth ‘never promised us a rose garden,’ and we have our good days and our bad days as we encounter life’s daily challenges, joys, adventures, and misadventures. In this large group of sessions, Seth addressed himself to several of our individual problems: Rob’s occasional bouts of indisposition when he felt ‘under the weather’ generally, or was bothered by a variety of minor but annoying symptoms; and my own long-standing troubles with severe stiffness. [...] This personal material did help give us a much larger perspective on our various challenges, and we’ve made some inroads in overcoming them. [...] The thing is, often we’re so busy getting the material and preparing it for publication that we don’t have the time to really study it as our readers do. [...]

[...] Some of those sessions were devoted to our private beliefs, but usually Seth put such beliefs into the larger social context. [...] Since then, we’ve voiced our hopes often that Seth will go into the entire Jonestown affair in Mass Events; he can’t but help be aware of our wishes! [...] Certainly he tried his best, and any failings are on our parts.

[...] In connection with our feelings about the long intervals that have materialized several times during the production of this book, see my opening notes for the 815th session — especially those concerning simultaneous time, and my statement that “We do not plan to ask Seth when the book will be done.” I’ll continue our chronology here, then, by describing many of our professional activities since last March, and follow it with Jane’s own account of at least some of the reasons for the long interruption in book work.

(Resuming our chronology: On October 24, 1978, Jane worked out the Table of Contents for Seth’s Psyche, and started her Introduction for it on the 26th; we mailed Psyche to Tam in sections as we put the manuscript together, and finished with that endeavor on November 9. On November 14 Eleanor Friede visited us to renew an old friendship and to go over Emir with Jane. No sooner had she left than Tam arrived, two days later, bringing with him the copyedited manuscript² of Seven Two for us to check; on the 20th, our work completed on it, I sent it back to him at Prentice-Hall. [...]

I also welcome our new student (Mimi) and, as always, my friend Areofranz. I welcome also our new bride (Emma); I have looked in on you and I will have more to say to you tomorrow, and to you. [...]

[...] I will let our friend take back his class. In any case, he has told me that he is treating me like a goody in that he does not feel you appreciated our last session. [...]

Now, I am here to welcome back a certain member of our group who had to leave the group for several reasons—and read me correctly in this particular instance where my friend Ruburt did not read me correctly (addressed to Rachel). [...]

[...] Our Areofranz (Matt) read you quite well and that does indeed include the interpretation that he gave concerning your malady (The malady: Rachel’s ailing foot). [...]

(Long pause at 7:51.) Our vitality wants to express itself. [...] Old ideas of the survival of the fittest, conventional evolutionary processes, gods and goddesses, cannot hope to explain the “mystery of the universe”—but when we use our own abilities gladly and freely, we come so close to being what we are that sometimes we come close to being what the universe is. Then even our most unfortunate escapades, our most sorrowful ventures, are not dead-ended, but serve as doorways into a deeper comprehension and a more meaningful relationship with the universe of which we are such a vital part.

Certainly our lives and the lives of others have been strongly influenced by the Seth material, changed for the better. Certainly our comprehensions have deepened as a result—yet in the face of that great promise, what was I doing barely able to leave my chair? [...]

[...] We live in a world slung between our dearest hopes and greatest fears, while seldom encountering either in their pure form.