Spiritual Classics
The Seth Material by Jane Roberts
One of the books that influenced my thinking early on was Seth Speaks by Jane Roberts. I think I highlighted 98% of the book. It was so good; I purchased it several times over the years in addition to reading most of the other books in the series. Now that I am all grown up and digital, I have a copy on my Kindle. I still love this book.
I am not really sure this book influenced my thinking as much as it reflected my beliefs. What do they call it? Confirmation bias? Yes, it confirmed a lot of what I already knew on a subconscious level. It helped bring this knowledge into conscious awareness.
I was stunned to discover how sophisticated, psychologically and spiritually the ideas presented were. The Seth Material stands as one of the most comprehensive tracts of contemporary wisdom literature. These ten books, plus Roberts’s own books on psychic phenomena, her poetry and fiction, and her correspondence and journals are archived at Yale University Library. - Meredith Sabini, Ph.D.
The Seth books are a series of books that describe what we think of as “reality,” and how we create that “reality,” as individuals and collectively. These books were channeled by Jane Roberts. The entity behind them is known as “Seth,” who describes himself as “… an energy personality essence, no longer focused in physical matter.” Seth goes on to remind us that although our physical bodies are finite, we ourselves are not.
Basically, you are no more of a physical being than I am, and I have donned and discarded more bodies than I care to tell. Personalities who do not exist do not write books. I am quite independent of a physical image and so are you.
One of the most important messages I got from reading the Seth books is that we create our own reality. That is the bottom line. We create it here on Earth, and we create it when we depart.
A belief in hell fires can cause you to hallucinate Hades’ conditions. A belief in a stereotyped heaven can result in a hallucination of heavenly conditions. You always form your own reality according to your ideas and expectations. This is the nature of consciousness in whatever reality it finds itself. Such hallucinations, I assure you, are temporary.” - “Seth Speaks: The Eternal Validity of the Soul, Chapter 9 – The “Death” Experience
So yes, if you believe your already departed friends and family will be there waiting to greet you, then they will. If you believe your childhood dog will be there wagging its tail when you arrive, then it will. In most cases, people’s initial after death experience reflects the religious beliefs they held on Earth. But what about atheists?
Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities. Wikipedia
Ok, no gods in heaven or hell. Some still believe there is some kind of afterlife. Others believe there is “nothing.” Either way, they will experience whatever it is they believe for a time.
When you realize the significance and meaning of the life you have just left, then you are ready for conscious knowledge of your other existences. You become aware, then, of an expanded awareness. What you are begins to include what you have been in other lives, and you begin to make plans for your next physical existence, if you decide upon one. You can instead enter another level of reality, and then return to a physical existence if you choose.
“If you choose.” Yes, only if you choose as there are other options. Other levels of consciousness in which one can exist. It is all about belief. We are free to create whatever reality we like but within the framework of collective realities which already exist. It’s all very simple yet complicated at the same time.
“You make your own reality. You get what you concentrate upon. There is no other main rule.” -Seth
When we choose to incarnate on Earth, we choose to live within the framework of “physical reality,” which is built upon physical laws and assumptions created by the collective conscious over time. This “physical reality” evolves over time, which allows for different types of experiences over the course of time. As an individual, you help create this “collective reality.”
Because beliefs form reality - the structure of experience - any change in beliefs altering that structure initiates change to some extent, of course. The status quo which served a certain purpose is gone, new exercises are introduced, another creative process begins. Because your private beliefs are shared with others, because there is interaction, then any determined change of direction on your part is felt by others, and they will react in their own fashion. - Session 622, Page 63
It is important to remember that while we are in “physical reality,” parts of us exist in other dimensions at the same time we “are here.” Although our focus may be on the “physical world” and our current experiences in this world, there is much more going on than most of us imagine.
The self that you know is but one fragment of your entire identity. Like the various skins of an onion or segments of an orange, all connected through the one vitality and growing out into various realities while springing from the same source.
Yes, we all come from the same source. This source having many names, but few that describe it as it is. According to Seth,
You are cocreators. What you call God is the sum of all consciousness, and yet the whole is more than the sum of Its parts. God is more than the sum of all personalities, and yet all personalities are what He is.
“You make your own reality. You get what you concentrate upon. There is no other main rule.” -Seth
The Seth Material 1970
Seth Speaks: The Eternal Validity of the Soul 1972
The Nature of Personal Reality: A Seth Book 1974
The “Unknown” Reality: A Seth Book in two volumes 1977-1979
The Nature of the Psyche: Its Human Expression. A Seth Book 1979
The Individual and the Nature of Mass Events. A Seth Book 1981
Dreams, “Evolution” and Value Fulfillment. A Seth Book in two volumes 1986
Seth, Dreams, and Projection of Consciousness 1986
The Magical Approach: Seth Speaks About the Art of Creative Living 1995
And for a free taste of Seth: Seth’s Exercises
Great overview! It reminds me a bit of the Tao of Physics idea - Fritjof Capra, et al. Also, Systems Theory..... The Berkeley crowd does some interesting things!