Basic Metaphysical Teachings in 'Channeling' Cases

Jane Roberts (1929-1984) and her husband Robert Butts (1919-2008)

 

How to Develop Your ESP Power (1966) is the initial book presenting transcripts of transcendental communication from 'Seth' speaking through Jane Roberts.  More precise versions of the early Seth material transcripts are today available in Books 1 through 9 of The Early Sessions.  People with only a superficial knowledge of the Jane Roberts/Seth case and the proverb 'You create your own reality' may overlook the depth of meaning involving how 'you' should be comprehended.  The transcript of Session 23 on February 5, 1964 in Book 1 (1997) is the source for the following quotations that appeared in an edited form in the 1966 book.

Some part of the individual is aware of the most minute portions of breath, some part of the individual knows immediately of the most minute particle of oxygen and components that enters the lung.  The thinking mind, or I had better say the thinking brain, does not know.  Your all-important "I" does not know.

In actuality, my dear friends, the all-important "I" does know.  You do not know the all-important "I," and therein lies your difficulty.

As this session continues, the designation "you" has become a more complex expression of the self.
 

In sleep the conscious becomes actually the subconscious and the subconscious, in the most real manner, becomes conscious.


You do not admit the breather as really being a part of yourselves, nor do you admit the creator of the camouflaged physical world as being part of yourselves.


You are more than your conscious mind, much more, and the self which you do not admit happens to be the portion of yourself which not only insures your own survival in the physical universe which it has made, but which is also the connective portion of yourself with inner reality.

 
The 'channeled entity' known as 'Lazaris' speaking through Jach Pursel (1, 2, etc.) as quoted in Lazaris Interviews Book I (1988) suggested ways that people can bring themselves closer to 'God/Goddess/All That Is.'  One way is "to establish a relationship with your Higher Self — first of all by accepting that there is a higher 'you.'"  

Lazaris continued:
 

There is a "you" that is beyond that which you know that is watching over you, a "you" that is a part of you, that is guiding you, if you will allow it to guide you.  There is a Higher Consciousness that is within you . . .


A lot of what we do with people when we talk to them individually is open them up to that sense of their Higher Self so they are able to know it, not just abstractly and theoretically, but to experience that sense of it.

 
Jane Roberts wrote in The Seth Material (1970): "Seth uses the word 'God' sparingly, usually when speaking to students who are used to think in theological terms.  As a rule, he speaks of 'All That Is' or 'Primary Energy Gestalts.'"  Seth is quoted:

Some of this discussion is bound to be distorted, because I must explain it to you in terms of time as you understand it.  So I will speak, for your benefit, of some indescribably distant past in which these events occurred.

All That Is retains memory of that state, and it serves as a constant impetus—in your terms—toward renewed creativity.  Each self, as a part of All That Is, therefore also retains memory of that state.  It is for this reason that each minute consciousness is endowed with the impetus toward survival, change, development, and creativity.  It is not enough that All That Is, as primary consciousness gestalt, desires further being, but that each person of It also carries this determination.

In comparison, some excerpts follow from an early book documenting some of the basic teachings in the JZ Knight/'Ramtha' case.  (1, 2, etc.)

From Voyage to the New World (1985)

I am Ramtha the Enlightened One, indeed!  Servant unto that which is termed the Christus.  And who be  he, as it were?  To the Father who be termed The Principle Cause, The Source, The Element, The Giver of All  that Be—unto that which is termed All That Is, there came an expansion of that which is called contemplative thought of His most superlative being.


I will manifest all your fears for you—everything!


Now, my master, you will think it's funny when we have gotten through all of them for then you will have seen how unmeaningful they have been in your life.


You have lived, Entity, 13,342 and one-half times.  You have been every race of peoples existing from this universe to the twenty-third to the seventeenth to the one hundredth universe.  You have brothers, Entity, in your Pleiades, a most divine constellation.  You are a divine creature.


You belong to a whole; a whole that works perfectly within its own Self to rejuvenate life.  You add to the quality of existence of all things.  Know that, for that is a great truth.  The love of God for you, Entity, there are no words for it.


My Master, you can be anything you wish to be.


You are God!


Then when you have learned to live as God lives, as God is—the One-ment with all things—and behold, you shall be a light unto the world, that by your being indeed, by that which is termed your Isness, that the world can see readily an ideal to which is attainable by all who but have to open their eyes and see.


God became man in limitation, for he became [from] All That Was in his Isness into a small portion of knowingness constructed to that which is termed distance and reach and fervor of feeling.  Yet, within the same strike he was able to immerse himself with mass and be a part of that which is termed creation, and feel and taste and touch and hear and speak and become glorious with this wondrous painting of that which is called Universal Creativity.

There have been times Ramtha has become "the outrageous Ramtha" doing anything to drive home a point and sometimes finding it necessary to use 'verbiage contradictions.'  The Jane Roberts/'Seth' case also at times presents readers with astonishing developments as the elucidation progresses.  Seth's conversation is preserved in written transcripts with Jane's husband Robert Butts having served as transcriber of the sessions.  Rob became ‘Joseph’ to Seth while the name used for Jane was ‘Ruburt.'  Today some Seth recordings may be heard on YouTube.
 
Beginning with Ouija Board communication, the earliest transcripts seem like an exercise of intrigued perseverance for Jane and Rob yet the discourses soon became more fascinating as Jane began speaking for Seth — this allowing prolonged sessions.

  
Teachings in cases of transcendental communication and 'channeling' are not always simple.  The needs of one's 'Higher Self' and 'inner self' should be considered in relation to personal development.  The Seth Material passages about health in particular aroused my contemplation this winter as I read from the Seth books once again after first having read them years ago.  Jane and Rob learned that according to Seth physical symptoms could be the outward materialization of inner 'dis-ease.'  Jane wrote in a chapter concerning reincarnation in The Seth Material:

According to Seth, we choose our illnesses and the circumstances of our birth and death.  This applies to every illness, whether it is a broken leg suffered from an accident, or an ulcer.  This doesn't mean that we consciously make a choice in the way we're used to; we don't sit down and say, "Well, I think I'll get a broken leg this afternoon at three in front of Rand's drugstore."  Some part of us is upset and chooses an illness or accident as a way of expressing this inner situation.


. . . Seth said, "There are past life connections operating."

Seth went on to explain:
 

Complete recovery, illness or early death are not preordained on the part of the entity.  The general situation is set up in response to deep inner involvements.

 
It seems relevant to consider that one doctor may have greater expertise concerning a malady than another so 'luck' is evidently a factor in regard to an individual's healthcare.  Seth spoke about the subject of health at a session attended by a neighbor whom Jane viewed to be someone with "negative thoughts and pessimism."

You cannot escape your own attitudes, for they will form the nature of what you see.  Quite literally you see what you want to see; and you see your own thoughts and emotional attitudes materialized in physical form.  If changes are to occur, they must be mental and psychic changes.  These will be reflected in your environment.  Negative, distrustful, fearful, or degrading attitudes toward anyone work against the self.


There are obvious ways in which you mold your own conditions, protect yourself from your own negative suggestions and those of others.  You must learn to erase a negative thought or picture by replacing it with its opposite.

If you think, 'I have a headache,' and if you do not replace this suggestion by a positive one, then you are automatically suggesting that the body set up those conditions that will result in the continuation of the malady.  

Jane reported that during a short break, the neighbor complained about a friend's drinking habits and set about blaming the friend for almost all of the problems that the neighbor was experiencing.  Here are excerpts from the transcript.

You have been examining others, rather than yourself.  What you see in others is the materialization—the projection of what you think you are—not necessarily, however, of what you are.


You should tell yourself frequently, "I will only react to constructive suggestions," for this gives you some protection against your own negative thoughts and those of others.

In comparison, Ramtha is quoted in Voyage to the New World: "Perfect health is dependent upon your thinking, your body thus follows suit."  Also: "And never despise and not love or judge another, because what they be as their truth is not yours."   

In the Session 24 transcript dated February 10, 1964 (The Early Sessions Book 1), Seth explained how Jane ('Ruburt') was then feeling "slightly dubious and somewhat doubtful before a session . . . When you grow in proficiency, and I certainly hope you will, then much greater dimension will be given to these sessions, with your help."  Seth said near the end of the session:
 

Conscious fear is usually the main hindrance as far as data from the inner senses is concerned.  Therefore, a realization that these senses belong to you and are quite natural will help you avoid the otherwise unavoidable, almost automatic closing off of such data by the consciousness.

 

At this time there had already been a discourse on flying saucers during Session 16 on January 15, 1964.  Here is an excerpt also mentioning the topic of flying saucers from Session 28 on February 24, 1964.

I have described the effects of entry into your plane of the so-called flying saucers, and my entry into your plane is something of the same.

I am not Ruburt's subconscious, though I speak through it.  

One can compare the "flying saucers" information with transcripts of other transcendental communication/channeling cases encompassing the subject, including Paulina Peavy, Mark Probert and Partana Vegan (each a subject of previous blog articles) among many others.
 
Jane and Rob's 1964 Introduction to The Early Sessions concludes with the comment: "As Seth has often said, the material will furnish its own evidence, more and more emphatically as time goes on."
 
Jane quoted Seth from 'the 256th session' in The Seth Material:
 

Since all events occur at once in actuality, there is little to be gained by saying that a past event causes a present one.  Past experience does not cause present experience.  You are forming past, present, and future—simultaneously.

  
Seth spoke about the nature of personality for an audio recording intended to be played for a psychology class at a local college.  Here are some transcript excerpts.
 

Identity is not the same as personality,  Personality represents only those aspects of identity that you are able to actualize within three-dimensional existence. . . . Personality may be molded by circumstances, in your terms, but identity uses the experiences and is not swept willy-nilly.
 
It is true that there are no limitations to the self, and in one respect you can say that the self reaches out to encompass the environment.  Current theories regarding the nature of personality do not take into consideration the existence of telepathy or clairvoyance or the fact of reincarnation.  What you have, in effect, is a one-dimensional psychology.  Identity operates in many dimensions, however. . . .

 
You have seen here [in the session itself] a provocative demonstration of the nature of personality.  For my personality is not Ruburt's, nor is his mine.  
 

The facts are, dear psychology class and professor, that all of you are more than you know.  Each of you exists in other realities and other dimensions, and the self that you call yourself is but a small portion of your entire identity. 

 
You do not see your ego in the mirror.  You do not see your subconscious.  You do not see the inner self in a mirror.  These are but terms to express the part of you that cannot be seen or touched.  But within the selves that you know is the prime identity, the whole inner self.  This whole self has lived many lives.  It has adopted many personalities.  It is an energy essence personality, even as I am.  The only difference is that I am not materialized within physical matter.  You do not suddenly acquire a 'spirit' at death.  You are one, now.

  
Seth is quoted from Session 509 on November 24, 1969:
 

Now: the inner ego is the organizer of experience that Jung would call unconscious.  The inner ego is another term for what we call the inner self.  As the outer ego manipulates within the physical environment, so the inner ego or self organizes and manipulates with an inner reality.  The inner ego creates that physical reality with which the outer ego then deals.

  

Taking a look at Seth Speaks (1972) again, I was fascinated to realize the significance in the Seth material given to the man known as "Paul or Saul" in biblical history — revealed in the book to be "one of the three men whose lives became confused in history and merged, and whose composite history became known as the life of Christ" (along with 'John the Baptist' in addition to "the personality that most stories of Christ refer to").  When I first read about this years ago, the meaning seemed enigmatic and therefore left no impression.  I completely forgot about it; however, in recent years I've been reporting about the Ray Brown/'Paul' case.  (1, 2, etc.)  Seth is quoted in Session 586 of July 24, 1971:

All personalities have free will and work out their own challenges.  The same applied to Saul.  The organizational "distortions," however, were also necessary within the framework of history as events are understood.  Saul's tendencies were known, therefore, at another level.  They served a purpose.  It is for this reason, however, that he will emerge once again, this time to destroy those distortions.


When the third personality reemerges historically, however, he will not be called the old Paul, but will carry within him the characteristics of all the three personalities.

The case of 'Paul' speaking through Ray Brown during interims in a case of 'total takeover' channeling is chronicled in the autobiography A Mere Grain of Sand (2004) by Ray & Gillian Brown with Paul Dickson.

 

The following are some book quotations of 'Paul' concerning his life on Earth and about what happens to a person upon making the transition from the Earth plane and passing into Spirit.

I was born Saul of Tarsus.  Paul was my Roman name.  My full name was Gaius Julius Paulus.  My surname was taken from my father's citizenship.  I was brought up in the Jewish faith as a Roman citizen at Tarsus, now named Cilicia, during the reign of Caesar Augustus.

About the time of the crucifixion, I had left the Essenes to return to Jerusalem.  I had made up my mind to become a Pharisee.  The Nazarene sect was becoming a threat to Hellenic Jewry.  Because I was a Greek-speaking Jew and Roman citizen, I was chosen by the high priest to lead the revolt against the Nazarenes, and seek out the leader of their group, a man named Stephen.

We eventually found Stephen preaching and stoned him to death.  We then continued to terrorize and beat the Hellenic Nazarenes of Jerusalem.  As a result many fled the city.

I believed that what I as doing was right.  However I did become increasingly troubled, and started to regret the terrible suffering that I had inflicted upon others. 

I saw a vision, and as a result converted to what is now known as Christianity and taught the preachings of the prophet Jesus Christ.

Instead of persecuting the Nazarenes for their beliefs, I became one of them.  I am nothing.  I wish to be nothing.  That is the way it has been throughout my life, until given life again by God.  I talk of Jesus so much because he was my master.  I will listen to anyone if they are being truthful.  You must be true to yourself and be yourself.  Love yourself first and humble yourself before others.

Jesus was a prophet, a man with a vision, who broke away from the religion of the Orthodox Jews and the strict inextricable laws of Moses, to teach us about God and the spirit world that we all return to.  He showed us the way to reach God and become fulfilled, to be true to ourselves and accountable for our actions.


When you come back into Spirit we try and make you understand the ways of progression.  But we are not always successful and the choice is made to reincarnate.


When you go into the holding area, our contact with you in Spirit is finished.  We have done our job.  We do not even know where you will go.  It is the great universal power, God that decides.


Sometimes change is difficult.  But it is much better to think about it whilst on this Earth plane than be confronted by me or others like me on the other side.  We will say to you: "I am sorry but now is the time to start thinking differently, think of the time you have wasted by going up and down through different existences to come back to Level One.  You can go no further into Spirit until you decide to stop."

The reason that you are here is because the source of all life, God, has given you this opportunity.  Do not waste it, be thankful for your life, and do your very best with every opportunity to spread love and truth.

A previous blog article about this case is "The Coming of Seth" and excerpts from The Seth Material are included in "Channeled Reincarnation Scenarios".  See also: “Channeling ‘Silver Birch’ (In Comparison with Other Cases)” and "Five Videos for People Who Don't Yet Know about Authentic 'Channeling'".