“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

In following Seth’s dream recall instructions, we found ourselves collecting some excellent examples of precognitive dreams. Some were clear-cut and almost exactly matched the foreseen future event. Others were partially disguised in symbolism. Still others were so interwoven with other dream material that we just marked them as indicative of precognition and let it go at that. Sometimes dreams that seemed nonsense contained one clear, important image that shortly — within a few days — would appear in a different context entirely. In several cases, two or more future events would be condensed into one dream.

If possible, read your dream records at night, checking them against the day’s happenings. Once a week, check the whole series. Remember that symbolism is important. Often, you must learn your own way of handling dream symbolism to make sense of dream. Not every dream is precognitive, nor is there any reason to waste much time with interpretations that seem too nebulous. Some precognitive information will be in symbolic form. However, as a few of my own dreams will clearly show, if you do not know the meaning of a symbol, give yourself the suggestion that it will be made clear to you intuitively — thus trust your answer.

You don’t have to take precognition on faith. If you keep careful dream records, sooner or later you’ll find your own evidence of it. Each of my own precognitive dreams made a significant impression on me at the time and represented proof that I was moving in the right direction. Now I am much more interested in how precognition works, what triggers it and what translates into dream experience.

The following two dreams bewildered, confused and intrigued me. Each of them contains subconscious distortion, and strong precognitive elements interwound with other dream material. This type of dream may tell us more about the ways we interpret and receive precognitive information than dreams in which the forseen events and the physical ones are identical.

[...] It’s impossible to speak of time and precognition without considering probabilities. The following two chapters on probabilities and dreams contain some of the most intriguing material Seth has given us — and precognition must be seen against this larger perspective. First, however, here are some excerpts dealing more specifically with dreams and precognition.

This particular kind of dream is concerned with working out certain problems concerning physical reality. The dreams usually are not precognitive, although they might appear to be, since many of the dream events will later occur. They are not precognitive, however, because in a large measure they bring about or cause the later events.

Before I speak about some of my students’ dreams, I want to give some further samples of my own, showing how precognition in dreams can give us pertinent information about events in which we have deep emotional interest. [...] In a long series of dreams, over a three-year period, I foresaw the answers to my letters and inquiries.

In a strict sense, Claire’s dreams may or may not have been precognitive. She may have been accident-prone at that time in her life, and the dreams themselves may have acted as suggestion — as a sort of post-hypnotic suggestion that she could fight off for only so long. Or the dreams may have been legitimate glimpses into the future. [...]

This particular kind of dream is concerned with working out certain problems concerning your physical reality, and they are usually not precognitive. They might appear precognitive if you perceived them, because many of the events contained therein will later occur in fact. They are not precognitive however, for in a large measure they bring about, or cause, physical events.

One individual however is more important than you have ever dreamed, for the intensity and emotion and intent is important here. [...] In the dream state too, you see, leaders can be born and make themselves known. The people already know them in these mass dreams, before they are ever known in physical reality.

[...] There is nothing at all unusual in precognitive experiences. [...] However there are certain conditions necessary before precognitions can arise to conscious levels, and there are definite conditions that must exist before what you call apparitions can be perceived.

Now, your physical universe is obviously composed of shared perceptions, and mass dreams would of course be of the same nature. Mass dreams are indeed a reality. [...]

(Just before we sat for the session Jane finished reading my account of my “light of the universe” experience of last Sunday evening, September 21, and my account of the experience involving … clairvoyance … precognition … that I’d had at naptime today, involving my idea for a novel and an article in tonight’s Star-Gazette, Elmira’s daily newspaper. I describe both of these events in my dream notebook.

(I intend to copy a page or two of the session to insert in my notebook containing suggestions of notes for Dreams, Seth’s latest book. [...] I also thought we should somehow keep the session in mind, and not let it get lost in the files as the years pass — one of the reasons I want to use part of it in Dreams. [...]

[...]

(“I wish there were words to use besides clairvoyance or precognition,” I said, since I was somewhat reluctant to attach them to the newspaper experience. [...]

With some individuals some of these dreams may also represent personal symbolisms, but the original dream in the raw, unembellished, is a root dream. The embellishments are added after the dream is completed, just before the point when you remember it on a conscious level. The embellishments may be portions of other dreams, recalled now out of context, and attached to your memory of the original root dream.

Precognitive dreams therefore are precognitive only in line with your own accepted root assumptions. [...]

Dreams in which psychic instruction is given: here we have another example of a root dream. [...] Past life dreams are root dreams. This is not to say that upon awakening the direct experience is not automatically intermixed with other dream elements.

[...] On one level dreams deal with objects and dream images. [...] At deeper levels however in the dream state there is direct experience, and objects are not used.

In physical terms you may want a new city, so now you begin urban renewal, colon: Architects draw plans that first were dreams, of course; inside their minds, preparations are begun, buildings torn down. In very simple terms the architect’s dream can be called a precognitive event, inserted from a probable future into the present. [...]

[...] There is a great organization of consciousness involved on such occasions — sometimes creative cataclysms, in which, again from its own precognitive information, nature brings about those situations best suited to its needs. Such biological precognition is firmly based in the chromosomes and genes, and reflected in the cells. As mentioned earlier (in the 684tb session), the present corporal structure of any physical body of any kind is maintained only because of the cells’ innate precognitive abilities. [...]

[...] Instead, the species is precognitively aware of those changes it wants to make, and from the “future” it alters the “present” state of the chromosomes and genes² to bring about in the probable future the specific changes it desires. [...]

[...] On the one hand as a species your present forms your future, but in even deeper terms your precognitive awareness of your own possibilities from the future helps to form the present that will then make that probable future your reality.

“I think that I brought my magical insight into consciousness also because of some of my recent dreams, that seem to contain precognitive and/or clairvoyant elements. The Brenner dream is one of those. Jane has been doing invaluable work for me recently, interpreting those dreams. Indeed, she’s the one who’s dug up many of the dream and real-life connections.

“Rob’s dream states quite clearly, precognitively, about the pollution of the Brenner property from the supermarket just up the street. Many of Rob’s dreams have involved a nostalgic view of the past, plus questions of safety and danger. I think he picked up on the precognitive element to show himself that his pictures of the past were too idealistic.

(9:15.) The dream made its point, whether or not you read the article that later appeared (in the Elmira paper). The dream made its point, in fact, whether or not you remembered it, though you did. [...] The portion of you that formed the dream knew of the pollution; but also knew of the award, the newspaper article, and of your habit of reading the evening’s paper. [...]

You are also somewhat idealizing the past, however, so you did not simply get the information “straight on,” but you received it in such a fashion that it made its own psychological points also, and was furthermore wound into other action not only within that dream, but in a series of dreams.

Now we do not have any precognitive dream. [...] There is a reason the dream comes at this time. [...]

(Seth begins his discourse on Harvey McIntyre’s dream. [...]

[...] Later, some people more stubborn than others might try to “prove” that some events are definitely precognitively perceived—but the point is that all events are precognitively perceived (intently), and that you actually step into an event, become part of it, reject it, accept the certain version you have “picked up,” or exert yourself to make certain changes that affect the nature of the event itself.

(Seth discussed generalized sinful-self material in only one of the five private sessions Jane has held since she came through with the 931st session for Dreams three weeks ago.¹ In some respects lately she’s felt a bit more at ease.²

[...] More is involved than the simple question: Did he perceive the visit precognitively? [...]

[...] As the origin of your world did indeed emerge from the “world of dreams,” so the true root of all events lie in such subjective activities, and the answers to individual challenges and problems [...]

Jane’s first published material on dreams (precognitive and otherwise) can be found in chapters 4 and 5 of The Coming of Seth (original title: How to Develop Your ESP Power).

She quotes Seth on dreams in Chapter 14 of The Seth Material, and to some extent he discusses them directly in Seth Speaks and Personal Reality. However, we’ve accumulated quite a bit of unpublished Seth material on dreams, and I’ll start looking for chances to insert some of those data in the rest of “Unknown” Reality.

[...] She had dreamed the recording part of the experience.)

1. Seth’s material here about dream solutions reminded me of a few lines just about all that were saved — from a poem Jane wrote when she was 17 years old:

[...] If you dwell on ideas of danger or potential disaster, if you think of the world mainly in terms of your physical survival and consider all those circumstances that may work against it, then you may find yourself suddenly aware of precognitive dreams that foretell incidents of accidents, earthquakes, robberies or murders.

If this information becomes available in the dream state you may then say, “I am frightened of dreams. My bad dreams so often come true.” So you try to inhibit memory of your dreams. [...]

It will often neglect any clairvoyant or precognitive material that comes into the conscious mind from the deeper portions of the self. [...]

If you think the paper will give you tomorrow’s weather, and only an issue of whether or not to carry an umbrella is involved, then you do not feel the same impetus, or a precognitive dream about the weather. Farmers still have such dreams more often than others. [...]

The physical explorations of your planet followed such dream information in one way or another. [...] In the dream state information is not immediately checked against the environment. It may be raining in a dream but your sleeping body remains dry. Your dreams largely involve conditions that were physical, or conditions that might be physical. [...]

In the past, farmers used dreams to plant their crops, and weather dreams were very popular—that is, people actually dreamed about the weather in the past because of their concern and their more intimate relationship with the natural environment. Times of famine were indeed predicted in dreams and guarded against. [...]

Cultures of diverse natures communicate in ways impossible otherwise, and all of the great explorations of one country by another have involved prior dream contact.

(4:38.) Your dream, Joseph, as you supposed, represented a state of mind and of confusion. It was not, for example, precognitive, but it did inform you — using images and feelings — of the picture that was sometimes painted in different terms by your conscious thoughts. Ruburt could have had the same kind of dream, for example.

(My dream Seth referred to took place yesterday morning, and was so vivid I lay awake for an hour after having it. [...]

(It sounds almost as though Jane and I had our worrisome dreams in tandem. We agreed that they represented fears on our parts — that they weren’t literal or precognitive in any sense.)

(As I drifted off into my nap at 5:15, after finishing my dehypnotizing massage of Jane, I remembered the dream I’d had last night. [...] I’d dreamed, in color, that Jane rebroke her right leg several times in the same place. [...]

(After a few minutes, Jane said the dream could have been related to the injuries the nurse’s aide had suffered to her own impaired leg — the one that had been stapled inside that I described in a recent session. [...]

(Then Jane told me that she, too, had had a negative dream last night. [...]

Many so-called precognitions are something else entirely different. Some, however, are entirely legitimate but oftentimes, the suggestion involved in a dream then brings about the event, and so it seems when the dream becomes real, that you have looked into a future that already existed. [...]

([Molly Pearson:] “Should we not believe in precognitive dreams?”)

[...] Now, I tell you to remember your dreams and in your context, I tell you again, not only to remember your dreams, but to learn to come awake in the middle of your dream and realize that you can manipulate within it, and that you form it, and that it is yours not something thrust upon you in which you are powerless. [...]

Now, through all of this you must realize that you are not powerless and physical reality is a dream. [...] You can come to yourselves, therefore, through psy-time and remember also, that this dream is a dimension of experience and reality even if it is, in contrast, a dream in a higher level of reality in which you have your larger consciousness. [...]

“Humanity dreams the same dream at once, and you have your mass world. [...] The dreamer dreams, and the dreamer within the dream dreams. But the dreams are not meaningless, and the actions within them are significant. [...]

[...] The facts should be clear to any person who has ever experienced a valid precognitive dream, clairvoyant event, or telepathic communication.

If we could remove these blind spots and enlarge the focus of our attention, I think that we would become aware of these other events, and that telepathy, precognition, and clairvoyance would be normal, practical methods of obtaining information. [...]

Since the publication of my first ESP book, many people have written me to tell me of their own instances of telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, or projection. [...]

Projections continue in the waking state, beneath it, as they continue beneath the dreaming state, you see. Now you have learned the methods at least that allow you to become aware of some projections that occur during the dream state. [...]

[...] Precognition requires projection, though here as with clairvoyance the projection itself may not be remembered.

It can only be achieved as a rule after some proficiency has been gained with recalling dream projections. [...]

[...] This is almost like working backward, for directly beneath the thoughts and impressions of waking consciousness, you will glimpse dream images like those that appear just as you fall to sleep.

[...] Those other background stimuli are now quite difficult for you to identify, but they are always there in the [hinterland] of your waking consciousness, like dream chatter way beneath your usual associations.

Electrons in your terms are precognitive, and so is your cellular consciousness. [...]

If you remembered such a dream, therefore, you might think that it was precognitive, and that the event would become physical. Instead, the whole portent of the dream event would be an educational one, bringing your fear into clear focus. In such cases you should think of the dire dream situation as a shadow, and look for its source within your mind.

When you awaken with a dream photograph in mind, it may appear meaningless because it does not seem to correlate with the official order of activities you recognize. [...] Using your dream camera, you can with practice discover the history of your own psyche, and find the many probable decisions experienced in dreams. [...] There is some finesse required as you learn to interpret the individual pictures within your dream album. [...]

The same applies to dream reality, for the dreams that you recall are indeed like quick pictures snapped under varying conditions. [...] You should write down your description of each dream picture, therefore, and keep a continuing record, for each one provides more knowledge about the nature of your own psyche and the unknown reality in which it has its existence.

When you, a dream tourist, wander about the inner landscape with your mental camera, however, it may take a while before you are able to tell the difference between dream events and their shadows or hallucinations. [...] So you must learn how to aim and focus your dream camera.

Within the patterns of human experience, then, lies evidence of man’s greater ability: He rubs shoulders with his own deeper understanding whenever he remembers, say, a precognitive dream, an out-of-body—whenever he feels the intrusion or infusion of knowledge into his mind from other than physical sources. [...]

Jane held Session 900 for Chapter 5 of Dreams, in Volume 1, some 20 months ago. In Note 1 for that session I described a most vivid dream experience—one in which, Seth told me in the session itself, I had viewed the many-faceted light of my own being and of the universe. [...]

[...] It can instead appear as a series, say, of frightening dreams. [...] An adverse physical situation, such as an illness, may turn into “a frightening dream,” yet in all such cases the necessary standards of self-integrity are maintained.

(Jane hadn’t operated well yesterday.¹ She did tell me that she was somewhat surprised to realize Seth might be closer to completing his work on Dreams than she’d thought he was. [...]