The "Guide" and "Key Points" for this chapter were summarized by an AI editor based on the main text below; they are not things Mike said during his lecture. The main text comes from Mike's commentary, and the blockquotes are Seth's original words (the portions Mike read aloud).
Introduction
This chapter begins with childhood photographs of Rob and Jane respectively. From this, Seth discusses Jane's development: she had a mystical nature from an early age, once entered a Catholic school and the church structure, later left the church, and transformed and disguised her mystical experiences through writing, poetry, and science fiction; the probable self in the photograph, however, took a different route by joining a convent. Seth also talks about how Rob and his brother handled creativity, business, and artistic security, as well as the physical symptoms Jane developed because she was caught between her identities as a writer and a psychic. Rob believes that Jane's photograph presents a probable self, while his own photograph is an early version of himself in this life.
Key Points of This Chapter
- Each person chooses their parents and environment before birth; the broad circumstances are selected, but the specific route is malleable.
- Jane had a mystical nature from early childhood; in third grade she transferred to a Catholic school; later she left the church and used writing, poetry, and science fiction to divert and conceal her mystical experiences.
- The probable self in the photograph took the convent route because of a different outcome when talking with the priest; the Jane in this present life, after being rejected by the priest, chose the path of writing.
- Jane was stuck between two frameworks, her identity as a writer and her mystical nature, and this conflict brought about physical symptoms.
- Rob also felt that creativity was dangerous, and dealt with it through an artificial division between commercial art and fine art; Rob thought that Jane's photograph showed a probable self, while his own photograph showed an early version of his present self.
Main Text
Part One of The "Unknown" Reality: You and the "Unknown" Reality
The title of this first part is "You and the 'Unknown' Reality," with "Unknown" in quotation marks. The purpose of the quotation marks is to say that this unknown is only something you think is unknown. In fact, that reality has always been there. Just because we are temporarily unable to perceive it does not mean it does not exist. Actually, do we know it? Our inner self, that deeper level of self, knows it. It is only our surface conscious self that does not know.
Starting from this part, the whole book no longer has "chapters" as such, but rather session after session. For each session, Rob added a title. These titles were added by Rob himself, which was very thoughtful, so I do not have to come up with the titles myself.
Two Photographs
Let us look at Session 679. Rob's title is "Photographs, Time, and Probable Lives." This session began on Monday, February 4, 1974, at 9:41 p.m. Before this session began, I showed Jane a photograph from her childhood, and also a photograph from Rob's own childhood. These two photographs were roughly the same size, both about 3.25 by 5 inches, about the size of our five-inch photos. A five-inch photo is actually not that small, about the size of a palm. Both photographs were similarly faded and brittle, quite old, and seemed as though they had been taken around the same time, although mine was twenty years older than Jane's, and Rob's was even older.
Rob's photograph was taken by Rob's father, who also wrote the date on it. It had been in our family album for fifty-three years. That photograph was taken on June 1, 1921, a full one hundred years ago from now. At that time Rob was almost two years old, with curly light-colored hair, wearing a little suit, white knee socks, and black leather shoes, standing in a small side yard at the edge of the house his parents rented in a small college town called Mansfield in northeastern Pennsylvania. In America this is called a side yard, a yard off to the side. Mansfield was a small college town made up of a few universities. About a dozen or so chicks were gathered on the grass at Rob's feet, and Rob was looking down at them with great fascination. Behind him, slightly out of focus, was an unidentified teenage girl sitting on a swing hanging from a tree branch. Beside her was an empty wicker baby carriage. Rob asked, "Was this my baby carriage?" On the private driveway behind her was parked a four-door car with a roof. You can imagine that a hundred years ago, Americans' lives had already reached this kind of state. Mansfield was no more than thirty-five miles from Elmira, New York, where Jane and Rob now lived, less than fifty kilometers or so, actually very close to where they lived.
Rob finished talking about his own photograph, and now let us talk about Jane's photograph. Jane's photograph was already thirty-three years old. It had been taken for her by an older woman. That woman had invited Jane to visit a hot springs area in Saratoga Springs, a resort town in New York State. At that time Jane lived in that town with her bedridden mother, Marie, and a hired helper. An older woman invited Jane's mother and Jane to go play in that hot springs area. Jane wrote her friend's name and the date on the back of the photograph in childish handwriting. Back then people liked to write on the backs of photographs, something like a memento of what year and month. Many years later, what did Jane tell Rob? She said, "My mother hated that woman." Why did she hate that woman?
In that snapshot, it was a sunny day in August 1941. Rob's photograph was taken on June 1, 1921, perhaps that day was Children's Day. This one was from August 1941, almost exactly twenty years apart. Jane was twelve at the time. Rob was two when his photograph was taken. Twelve-year-old Jane sat on the grass, with a long green shrub behind her, an evergreen type of tree. She propped herself up with her right hand, leaning back slightly. You can imagine the scene. Her two bare legs were crossed in a rather prim and proper manner. That "rather prim and proper" is Rob's description. She wore a printed dress given to her by a Troy Catholic orphanage. It was an orphanage that gave it to her, an orphanage thirty-five miles from her home, where she had previously stayed for eighteen months. Why? Because at that time her mother was in another city, hospitalized for rheumatoid arthritis. By then her mother's arthritis was already very severe and required long-term hospitalization. But with long-term hospitalization, there was no one to take care of the child, so she could only be placed in an orphanage for eighteen months. Jane also wore a short-sleeved pullover sweater that her mother had knitted for her while she was in the hospital, knitted by hand. Jane was blonde at the time, and later her hair turned dark. Jane used to be blonde, but by the time she reached adulthood, if you look at her photographs, it had all turned black. Her hair was neatly parted in the middle, and she wore a barrette. She had a young round face, but it was expressionless. She was not frowning, just looking straight at the photographer, showing a serious and almost self-possessed expression that did not match her age. Not "self-restraint," but "self-possession," meaning she did not look the way a twelve-year-old child should. A twelve-year-old child is lively, but she was not. She was very serious, not smiling, not frowning, just staring straight ahead.
Rob said he guessed both photographs had a certain curious mystery about them. Rob felt there was an atmosphere in the photographs, a sense of mystery. Part of the reason was that they were old, personal, and so irreplaceable. In that era, photographs were not plentiful, unlike now when you can casually take pictures with your phone. There were very few photographs. But for a long time, Rob had been aware of some other feelings connected with them. Rob's feeling was very accurate and also very magical. He always felt there was a kind of mystery in them, that there was always something connected to the things in the photographs, but he could not say what it was.
Jane began delivering the Seth material at the end of 1963, and very quickly Seth began developing his concept of probabilities. What is the concept of probabilities? It is the probable you and probable worlds. You can understand it as parallel space-time. So many times, when Rob looked at these snapshots, he would find himself surrounded on one side by the probable realities of those two children. After Seth had spoken about the theory of probabilities, Rob wondered: what would be the probable realities surrounding these two photographs, at the time they were taken and before and after?
Rob told Jane, "I now understand that each of us chooses those lines of action that he wants to make concrete, or in our terms, real." We choose the lines we want to make concrete, and those lines we did not want to make concrete only become a kind of probable existence in our lives. But since those photographs were taken, what about our probable selves who set out on all the other lines? Since we have probable existences, after the photographs were taken, besides this present probable path, this storyline that developed from the photograph to today, what were the other storylines of development?
Do those photographs today really depict our immature figures? Are the Rob and Jane in those photographs really the Rob and Jane we are now? Were two-year-old Rob and twelve-year-old Jane, at the moment the photographs were taken, the same people as the present Rob and the present Jane? Or from our viewpoint, did they show a probable Jane and a probable Rob? Were they two probable selves, two who had long ago set out on their own journeys into other realities? Rob said, "I am not sure what I want to know, and it is hard to make my meaning clear to Jane." He did not know what he really wanted to say, and his mind was just as confused. It was only a vague feeling he had. Perhaps he just wanted Seth to talk about probabilities in a more personal way. He wanted Seth to talk about these two photographs, or about them personally, about what the probabilities in their two lives were. At that time he had no idea that his question would give rise to a new Seth book, which is this The "Unknown" Reality.
Seth Begins to Talk About the Two Photographs
The outward signs of Jane going into trance and becoming Seth were themselves very interesting. As soon as Jane began speaking for Seth, her outward expression, tone, manner, and even her eyes all changed, all becoming the feeling of Seth. Rob did not overlook these, and he often described them, for example, Jane's eyes becoming darker, what Jane's tone was, what Jane's voice sounded like. But what truly fascinated Rob was what he called the "greatly enhanced consciousness and energy" that Jane displayed during the sessions. When Jane was delivering, the outward changes were not important; her inner energy and consciousness were greatly enhanced, much stronger than Jane's usual state. And Rob always sensed beneath the surface of her delivery an even more powerful current of energy.
As Jane sat quietly in her Kennedy rocker waiting for Seth to come through, Rob was thinking this. A few minutes later, Jane's right hand reached for her glasses, and as she took them off, her eyes were much darker and brighter than usual. At this point Jane was already in trance, and Seth was already staring at Rob through Jane's eyes. Then Seth said, "Good evening." Rob said, "Good evening, Seth."
As Seth, Jane looked through the photographs placed on the coffee table between them, and then said, "I will now talk about these two photographs. But if you want, you may also have any information concerning either photograph. I will now talk about these two photographs."
Everyone must remember that the beginning of this book is very interesting, very entertaining. You must follow along, do not be impatient. What looks like trivial chatter will become very interesting later on.
Seth continued:
Once again, each of you chooses your own parents and environment.
This has been said countless times. He also said:
In your notes of two days ago, you spoke of precognition in connection with art... precognition also applies to your birth.
What does this mean? It means that before you were born, you already precognitively knew where you would be born and under what circumstances you would be born. He said you could call it precognition, or you could say it was arranged for you by the soul. On an unconscious level, you were already very aware beforehand that you would encounter those conditions. You chose the environment and family after birth, and you projected them into the medium of time in advance. You prepared them ahead of time. However, although those conditions were set in one way, set in one manner, in another way they were extremely plastic, and therefore all kinds of probable events flowed out from them.
From a certain angle, your birth was already set. Your environment, family, location, and so on were all set. But he said from another angle, it also has strong plasticity; it is not fixed. You must remember this: do not think that your family of origin is a rigid setting. In a sense it was set, that is true, but in another sense it is an open state, an open-ended state. Many of its circumstances can be shaped; it is not dead, because all kinds of probable events have been flowing out from your birth onward.
We say, precognitively, that you are unconsciously quite aware of the results of any action and line of action.
According to this level of precognition, anything you do, any action and result, you are quite aware of unconsciously. You must remember this: consciously you do not know, but unconsciously you are quite aware. You know what will happen.
When Ruburt's photograph was taken, he was already becoming aware of those overall interests that would govern his future life, although the specific lines had not been chosen.
You must remember: when Jane's photograph was taken, she could already precognitively know what her future life or future lines would look like. What governed Jane's overall interests? Mysticism. I am telling you this in advance so it is easier for you to remember. At the age of twelve she was already aware of it, only the specific line had not yet been chosen. At twelve it had not yet been chosen, so it was a probable line. But before that line was chosen, she already knew it, which is why she had that kind of expression, a maturity and calm beyond her age.
Jane's Childhood and Mystical Nature
Some of those interests provide some explanation for Ruburt's present experience.
The religious background was already there at that time. Because of Ruburt's preference and insistence, after the third grade she transferred from a public school to a Catholic school. You see, Jane was a very tough child. A third grader, can you imagine a third grader being so determined as to transfer from a regular school to a Catholic school? That is exactly what she did. And her mother did not approve of this, thinking the public school was better, insisting on why she had to go to a church school. Ruburt was quite strong-willed at that age. A third grader is about eight, nine, or ten years old. She forced her mother to agree to the school change, using all kinds of methods: not going to school, not eating, throwing tantrums, extremely stubborn. She created such a disturbance that her mother had no choice but to agree. You see, her mother was also a very stubborn and hot-tempered person, but when it really came to a clash of wills, her mother could not handle her either.
He was already quite stubborn even then... He was always extremely imaginative. His mother was the same... His mother was somewhat rebellious against society.
Seth said Jane's mother associated with disreputable people in society to show off her beauty. Her mother was fairly good-looking, so in her youth she often associated with all sorts of people to flaunt her beauty. Much later, Ruburt also began dating disreputable men in her environment. Jane in her youth was not the good girl you might imagine. Do not get the wrong idea. She was not that kind of girl. She was a very free, very independent, very individualistic girl. But neither mother nor daughter saw the similarity between them: when her mother associated with disreputable men, Jane did not know about it, because her mother certainly kept it from the child; and when Jane grew up and did these things, she certainly would not let her mother know either. So neither knew of this similarity, the willingness to date what Seth called "disreputable people."
By that time, Ruburt's mother wanted Ruburt to have a respectable, preferably fairly wealthy husband.
Her mother wanted her daughter to marry a rich man with social status. But she also could not understand why Jane chose those who would not conform. Ruburt chose a poor background, just like her mother. Her mother was also very intelligent, but to escape the circumstances of her own environment, she chose to rely on her beauty. Ruburt, on the other hand, tried to use her mind. Both of them wanted to change this poor background. Jane's mother used her youth and beauty, while Jane wanted to use her intelligence and mind.
That material has been given in previous private sessions.
Seth had spoken about many things concerning their family before. I am talking about it here because we have not covered the private sessions or the early sessions, so many readers may be hearing this for the first time. Ruburt expressed her nonconformity within a larger framework of unconventional concepts. She was not merely non-mainstream; she expressed her nonconformity within a framework even broader than non-mainstream.
Behind that, as a child on welfare relief, he indulged his small luxuries and unconventional behavior, which were dangerous within the framework he had chosen.
At that time she was still relying on social welfare relief. Her mother had no steady job, and she had lived in welfare homes and orphanages. Under such circumstances of government relief, from childhood she wanted to enjoy this kind of luxurious life. Small luxuries, because she could not enjoy greater luxuries, having no money, but she did her utmost to live the luxurious life she wanted. And that kind of behavior that did not conform to social propriety was dangerous in her environment: a child receiving welfare yet willing to enjoy luxury, even associating with men and getting some money from them to live a luxurious life, while still receiving social welfare on the side. Neighbors could report to the welfare department, saying she did not need relief, saying her life was quite comfortable and she had plenty of money. But no one did.
Around that time, at the age of twelve, Ruburt sat on the lap of an adult man on the front porch, and a neighbor did report this, implying possible sexual depravity. You see, Americans have a long history of being nosy and reporting on others. You must get used to this. They have this trait in their character: when they see something they think is abnormal, they report it. Ruburt's mother knew that if she were proven in any way incompetent or unable to give the child proper care, the child might be taken away.
In fact, a little over a year before this photograph was taken, Ruburt had been placed in a Catholic foster home. There, unconventional ideas would not be tolerated. Jane's mother knew that if Jane were proven to be in a family unsuitable for raising a child, or incapable of raising a child, she would be taken away by the government and placed in a welfare institution to be raised, something like an orphanage. This is in America, and to this day the tradition remains the same: children are the wealth of society. If a family is incapable of caring for a child, of giving the child a good education and moral standards, then the child will be taken away by the government, and your right to family education will be stripped. A year before this, Jane had been placed in a Catholic foster home for over a year. Why? He did not say. You can guess why Jane's mother was deprived of custody, and why Jane was sent to a Catholic foster home. That was not during the period when her mother was hospitalized. That was in the orphanage. This was being sent to a different foster home.
He really was there, experiencing inflexible dogmatic, carefully applied daily behavior.
That Catholic family was very rigid, with no room for flexibility. And within it she tried to adapt, and concentrated her deeply mystical nature. Remember these words, they are very key. This mystical nature accompanied Ruburt throughout her life, and it was also one of the main personality traits of Ruburt as a personality. I am planting a foreshadowing here; we will talk about it later.
Ruburt remembered his mother as being frequently critical of him, but almost forgot that when he returned home, he responded to her scoldings with righteous indignation.
She only remembered her mother being critical of her, but forgot that she herself also had no kind words or pleasant expressions for her mother. The mother and daughter were a pair who both loved and fought each other.
He plunged into the Catholic world.
Why did she want to go to a Catholic school? She wanted to leave this family, did not want to live by her mother's side. She and her mother either quarreled or cursed at each other.
With very stubborn diligence pursued it... as a traditional framework in which he could allow his mystical nature to grow.
She used Catholicism as a very traditional framework, and within this traditional framework, she could allow her mystical nature to grow. She strongly insisted on transferring to a Catholic school, in order to continue cultivating this mystical nature while also escaping her mother's clutches. When that nature grew beyond that framework, what nature? That mystical nature, when it grew beyond that traditional religious framework, she left it. That framework could no longer contain her mystical nature.
All those beliefs that once seemed so legitimate were then seen as a hindrance.
The Catholicism and those doctrines and knowledge she had once so strongly pursued, those beliefs and dogmas that had once seemed so legitimate, now became a hindrance, hindering the expression of her mystical nature. And all its shortcomings became obvious, almost unbearable. When she was following the framework of the Catholic Church, nothing could pull her away from it. In that era, at such a young age, nothing could lead her out of that church, or beyond the church's limitations, to develop her greater mystical nature.
And here, at the very time of this photograph, that unswerving nature... that great spontaneity was already here.
In the photograph at age twelve, that unswerving nature, that firm mystical nature, the innate, inborn mysticism, was already here, and it expressed itself in a very stubborn, unswerving way, which is why she was so serious and unsmiling when the photograph was taken.
And in search of an illusory structure that would allow him to grow, yet give him some security.
She wanted to find a structure of illusion that would allow her mystical nature to grow, but also give her a sense of security.
Then certain aspects of that seemingly composed child, its determined unyieldingness, were no less than Ruburt's.
That twelve-year-old Jane, that toughness, that determined unyieldingness, was no less than the present Ruburt's. Conversely, you can tell that Ruburt is still a very stubborn person now.
But having left the framework of the church, Ruburt clung to the intellect against his intuitions.
She had no framework to rely on anymore. She had left the church, so she could only rely on herself, so she tightly clung to her intellect against her intuitions.
In this photograph, the child was certain that the statue of Christ moved.
This was her intuition. Yet no framework accommodated this kind of experience. No one accepted her, no one acknowledged her, so the growing child had to suppress it. No one would listen to her nonsense. I just saw a news story today: a man bought a temple for real estate development, but he hesitated for a long time, not daring to tear down the statue of the Bodhisattva, unable to decide whether to tear it down or not. You can see that for ordinary people, there is still a very powerful fear inside. Jane told others that the statue of Jesus moved, and no one listened to her at all, so she suppressed it.
Mystical experiences became acceptable only through poetry or books.
Jane knew from childhood that she could not communicate with others, that others would not accept her ideas, so she could only accept them through writing poetry or books. And there, she was accepted as creative. Her mystical nature finally had an outlet, which was in writing books and poetry. This would not cause her too much trouble. She could express herself freely, vent all her ideas, and not overturn that new framework, the new framework after leaving Catholicism.
Casting aside such superstitious nonsense, the intellect was controlled.
When she left Catholicism and sought a new framework for growth, she cast aside this kind of superstitious nonsense, such as "the statue of the deity moved," which had a lot of superstitious elements in it. Then the intellect was controlled, no longer running wild, and had a focal point. Where was the focal point? In writing poetry and books.
And art became the acceptable transformation of mystical experience.
Through writing poetry and books, through this kind of artistic creation, she found a place to vent and express her mystical experience. This approach was somewhat like throwing out the baby with the bathwater. She did not dare to directly express her mystical nature anymore, because she had to suppress it, but she had an inner impulse to express her mystical nature, so she could only express it through literary creation. And through literary creation, she found a buffer point. It was much better than going around telling people your views in a mystical way. If you quietly write poetry and books by yourself, others will only say this child likes to write. If you grab someone and say, "I think God is like this," people will think you are crazy, and it might bring a lot of trouble. Do not forget, at this time she was only a twelve-year-old child. If she had really developed in that direction, I think what awaited her would have been a mental hospital, and there would have been no normal life afterward. So her mystical nature went underground, and she did not dare speak of it.
And reappeared in the guise of science fiction.
It turned into writing science fiction.
Again, within the child's social and religious background, unconventional spirit and concrete behavior could bring punishment.
In the context of her era, unlike now, this was the 1940s. If you dared to openly challenge religion or the church, especially as a girl, even adults could not do it, let alone a child. It would certainly bring great punishment. So she could only adopt this kind of approach and go underground.
For a while, the child could interpret mystical experiences within the church, but even then, he was always in conflict with the authority of the church.
For a period of time, Jane often spoke up in church and frequently clashed with the priests or other clergy. Because her mystical nature was not constrained by the church -- she had been fascinated by it since childhood, but as she gradually grew up, she had already broken through the limits of that framework. So her strange and unconventional ideas were often not accepted by church people, especially in Catholicism, which is very strict and does not allow you to talk nonsense there.
However, without such an intensely devoted experience of following the church's faith, he would not have understood people's important need for such beliefs.
It was precisely because Jane followed religious faith so devotedly when she was young, and was so obsessed with it in elementary school, that after she grew up she understood the importance of people's need for faith, and she would not have been able to reach them the way she later did -- reach people's faith, and the needs behind that faith.
Initially, this truly questioning mind was trained precisely when he began to examine religious beliefs.
Jane's questioning mind, her willingness to challenge authority, was trained when she was very young, when she examined the religious belief system.
When he came into contact with psychic experiences much later, he was very afraid that it would lead to a new dogma, and Hsieh Chieh-hsun would not do that.
That is, after Jane began to contact Seth, she was actually very afraid of forming a new dogma, a new church, or a new religion. When Seth later wrote the book Seth Speaks, Jane actually had a certain resistance to the word "immortality" and to that title, because she was afraid that Seth Speaks would make people turn it into some kind of religious form to follow -- you say the soul is immortal, and that believing in God can give you eternal life, so does that mean believing in Seth or believing in Jane can also give you eternal life? She was extremely averse to this kind of thing.
True conservatism, his strong identification with conservative ideas, was used as a springboard, allowing him to leap from where he knew other people were into new territory. He resisted the dogma of spiritualism just as fiercely as he resisted the dogma of the church.
His conservatism is in quotation marks. Jane strongly opposed turning any spiritual thing into something resembling a religion. This was one of Jane's firm beliefs. And she went a bit too far with this belief, overcorrecting. But Seth said that she used this conservatism: she knew why people were under such conservative ideas, why they were drawn to these traditional religions, because she had jumped out from conservatism and into a new field. So she was afraid that this new field would turn into a new bastion of conservatism, and therefore she firmly refused to allow spiritual things to become a new religion. She opposed it becoming dogma just as fiercely as she opposed the dogma of the church.
So everyone is worried that Seth might turn into "Sethism," right? No. From Jane's case you can already see that she was very averse to this kind of thing. This is also why Seth chose her to speak through.
You may not have understood this at the time, but when you read this today, think back on it: if this person were not Jane, but someone else -- for example, if he were a religious person, then he might very well treat Seth as the voice of God, feeling that Christ had returned, or that God was giving him revelations. Or even if he did not treat him as God, he would treat him as a new deity, a new religious form to promote. And if this person did not believe in religion and had never entered a church, he would not know where the harm of the church lies, or where the bad aspects of dogmatic church forms are, because he had never been inside one. He would instead very easily turn Seth's material into something resembling a religion, because he had no guard against it -- he would simply think that since the Seth material is so good, I will share it, and more people should know about it. But without realizing it, unconsciously, he would very likely turn Seth into a new religion. And he would think, what is wrong with that? Look how well religion spreads; if we promote Seth the way religion is promoted, wouldn't that spread much faster? Of course, when you studied the last part of The Nature of Personal Reality, he already emphasized: your end cannot justify your means. You cannot pursue spiritual freedom on the one hand and promote a new religious system on the other. That is definitely wrong. But for the people who initially spread it, if they did not have such deep realization and understanding, it would be very easy to turn Seth into something new, something dogmatic -- always quoting Seth, saying Seth said this and that, treating whatever Seth said as absolute truth, not allowing Seth's words to be challenged. That would violate Seth's original intent.
So that is why Seth chose a person like Jane -- someone born with a rebellious streak, as we Chinese say, someone born to challenge everything, attack everything, doubt everything. The books you have seen all start from Seth Speaks, which was material transmitted six or seven years after 1963 to 1970. You have not seen how in the early sessions Jane was extremely picky, extremely doubtful, and extremely guarded toward Seth. So Seth chose this Jane to transmit the Seth material with deep inner consideration behind it. That old fellow Seth is still very clever; he knew what kind of person to choose.
Continuing with Jane. Seth said:
However, Jane jumped from the framework of the church into another framework, in which, under the cover of artistic works, mysticism was experienced secondhand.
Jane jumped from the traditional religious framework into a framework of literary and artistic creation. Within the framework of literary and artistic creation, her mystical nature could be well concealed. All her mystical thoughts, beliefs, and ideas could be expressed through literary works, and this was a very good cover. But why is it called "secondhand experience"? Because originally her mysticism was truly very obvious intuition and inspiration, but after turning it into poetry and fiction, she experienced her own mysticism by reading her own poetry and fiction -- she did not dare to directly express her mysticism, and could only experience it through such secondary creation.
But later, the construction of ideas... completely shattered that framework.
This was in September 1963, when Jane suddenly wrote an article during automatic writing -- that our physical world is constructed from ideas. It was from this article that Seth gradually made contact with Jane. Jane, who was originally a writer, had already fallen into such a framework, and her mystical nature had already been exercised within this kind of possibility. But somehow -- you could say Seth did it deliberately, or you could say it was fate, or you could say it was coincidence, no matter how you put it -- in September 1963, Jane suddenly picked up a pen in a non-conscious state and wrote furiously, producing this article. When she read the article afterward, she was shocked: not only did the content of the article completely overturn her ideas, but more importantly, through this act of "unconscious writing," she truly recognized that this world has a side unknown to her, a side she did not understand. The mystical nature she had always doubted and those explorations of mysticism had previously been expressed hazily through artistic intuition. Only after that article was written did she discover that in real life, right before her eyes, she had been shown something we might call supernatural power, a miracle, channeling, automatic writing -- whatever you call it -- this act shook Jane to the core. It shook her out of that framework of artistic creation and made her thoroughly understand one thing: the mystical nature she had never dared to look at directly was truly real. It was not a vague feeling, not merely an intuition; it was truly real. At that point, she was ready to enter the next framework.
Therefore, the various reasons I have already given concerning your joint relationship, and the purposes of your own, required some time so that a newer and more suitable framework could form on its own.
Within that framework, Ruburt could freely pursue mystical experience within an actual structure. Seth's meaning is that after Ruburt was ready, when the shared purposes of Rob, Jane, and me -- the three of us -- were all achieved, this new framework was already prepared. And this new structure would unfold the third stage of Jane's mystical nature, which is also its most important stage. Within this framework, that kind of non-traditional thought could be allowed to continue freely. Jane felt that this mystical channeled transmission could replace the artistic framework she had used through literature -- just as her art had replaced the framework of the church.
Before he felt safe, his physical symptoms were indeed used as a framework, in which spontaneity, at least to some degree, allowed mental and psychic freedom.
Let me explain, because you may not quite understand. What he means is that Jane's physical symptoms were used as a framework -- what kind of framework? That her body was not flexible. Jane, in her thirties or around forty, began to have physical symptoms, very similar to the illness her mother had, also rheumatoid arthritis. Many of her joints could not move, her legs could not bend, and she could not walk. Seth said the reason for this was that Jane still had a bit of conservatism -- the "conservatism" mentioned earlier, in quotation marks. Where was she conservative? She was a person with a very strong mystical nature, but in real life she did not dare to admit it, and was unwilling to admit this attribute of her mystical nature. She always wanted to turn herself into an ordinary person, an ordinary writer, an ordinary poet. She absolutely did not want others to treat her as a channeler or a mystic. So she had tremendous freedom in thought and spirit, but she restricted herself physically -- this was a problem of her beliefs. The conservative things in her beliefs would impose a restriction on her body. But her spontaneity, although it did not give her freedom in the body, at least to a certain degree allowed her mental and psychic freedom -- the spiritual and psychic freedom was given to her.
Rest and the Stomach's Reaction
Seth said to take a break in the middle. Jane no longer remembered clearly what he had said, but now the feeling in her stomach -- the emotional impact of that material. Every time Seth talked about some of Jane's deep beliefs, or things she herself had not noticed, Jane's stomach would feel uncomfortable. This is a very interesting phenomenon: when some of your underlying beliefs are dug up and touched, you may first feel some discomfort in your stomach. In real life, most people have this kind of symptom. Some people burp -- burping is a very obvious symptom. When others touch your core beliefs, those things buried very deep, sometimes you burp. You can observe this yourself.
Because this material had touched Jane's soul very deeply, her stomach was affected. She told Rob that when the material had a personal nature, or a nature compounded with emotion, she often had this kind of reaction. What Seth talked about were all things from her youth, things she did not want to recall, starting from her childhood, carrying deep emotion, so Jane had such feelings. Rob reminded her that he hoped Seth would talk about the connection between probable realities and his old photographs -- look at this Rob, the man is calm, and at this moment he could always show it.
The Overall Choice of Probabilities
At 10:42, the following content continued in the same manner. Seth said, "You are right." Do you remember the first few sentences of this session? What was said at the very beginning?
The overall situation was chosen, and it related to many probable paths.
What does "overall choice" mean? It means that Jane's mystical nature was an overall choice. No matter what Jane did -- as we will see in the next few sessions -- in all of Jane's probable worlds, you will find that she was always connected to mysticism. So Seth's meaning is that Rob asked, "It would be best if we could talk about this question of probabilities through the photographs of Jane and me" -- and Seth said, you are right, this of course involves probabilities.
The Branching Line of Probabilities
Seth said, great, you are right, this is exactly what I wanted to talk about. He said, do not forget, the first point I told you at the very beginning of this session was that the overall situation is chosen first, and then the probable paths will unfold. Then Seth pointed to the photograph of Jane at age twelve, and said that that child -- the child in the twelve-year-old photograph -- took a different road from this woman -- he pointed to himself sitting in the rocking chair. The first probability was revealed: the Jane in the twelve-year-old photograph and the current Jane had already taken different roads.
That stubbornness still held the advantage. What does "stubbornness" mean? It means being headstrong, very headstrong, still holding the advantage, no matter which one. That child's mystical nature was very strong -- the Jane in the photograph had a very strong nature, a very strong mystical nature -- but it was not strong enough to defy the framework of the church, strong enough to leave it, or to transcend the symbols it provided.
That little girl, the twelve-year-old Jane, did not challenge the church on the road she later took, nor did she leave the church, nor did she transcend it. That mysticism would also be expressed, and would be expressed under the framework of the church, but it was diminished, because the church had certain restrictions. The mind would be suppressed so that she would not ask too many questions, would not go around asking questions and challenging the church.
The child in the photograph joined a convent. In the convent, she learned to regulate mystical experience according to acceptable mantras. There, she began to use a form of mantra acceptable to others to express her own mystical experience. That mantra was acceptable in the convent, but what she expressed was her own mystical experience. In any case, she expressed it in a fairly regular and sustained way.
In another probable world, the day that child met with a priest became a point of convergence. That event, in Ruburt's terms, and this result within your probability, were both mentioned in his The Fertile Nursery. This child wrote a poem in seventh or eighth grade expressing the wish to become a nun, and submitted it to the parish priest.
A Branching: Nun, or Writer
In your probability, the priest told the child that his mother needed him, and he intuitively saw that Ruburt's mysticism was not suited to church organization. Then the interesting part gradually unfolded.
The life path of that twelve-year-old child, his probable path -- where did the turning point occur? That is, where was the dividing line of probabilities. Probabilities must have a node, and from this node, one path led to becoming a nun and entering a convent, while the other led to writing novels and leaving the church. This branching point occurred in the matter of Jane's conversation with this priest.
Jane wrote a poem in seventh or eighth grade called The Fertile Nursery, expressing her wish to become a nun, and gave the poem to the parish priest. In our probable world, the priest did not accept her request to become a nun. The priest said, your mother needs you to take care of her -- she is in poor health, her legs are not good, and she needs someone to care for her. You are her child, so you should stay by your mother's side and take care of her. Because if you enter the convent or the sisterhood, you will have to live there, and you will not be able to leave home. Then who will take care of your mother?
Why did the priest not accept her into the church? Because he intuitively saw that Ruburt's mysticism was not suited to church organization, and that sooner or later she would cause trouble. So in our probable world, the priest rejected her and did not accept her.
But in another probability, Ruburt's wish at that time won out. What was her wish? To become a nun. She wanted to leave her home and leave her mother; this was one of her main reasons. Another was that she hoped to exercise her mysticism within the framework of the church. So she found a way to dilute the depth and breadth of her mysticism enough to make herself acceptable. Her mysticism was very strong -- you can tell from the Seth material she transmits now -- but in order to be accepted, she diluted herself to a level the church could accept; otherwise the church could not contain her.
In that other probability, the mystical experience did not lie dormant for a long time, and there was no need at all to transform it into a new form. Because it had already been diluted, it became normal, so there was no need for a new form; she could just continue staying in the church. Writing ability was used as a supplementary thing.
But in the present probability, artistic ability was placed first, while the mystical nature was given a greater opportunity to expand and develop. Jane was always like this; she still did not put mystical things first. She still wanted to publish books; writing books was her main life goal, and she always regarded herself as a writer. But although you placed art first, your mystical nature was given a greater opportunity to expand and develop, and it was not suppressed. And both were given the opportunity and challenge to shatter the old historical frameworks and transcend them.
To put it simply, let me say something from my own understanding: the Seth material transcended history in its transmission. In other words, perhaps it should not have been transmitted in the 1960s and 1970s; it might have been transmitted at a later time. But because of the existence of such a probability of Jane -- the probability in which she did not become a nun -- in this state where she felt safe, using art as a cover and literary creation as the outward form, she achieved a transcendence of history. If it had not been for this, the Seth material might have needed even more time before humanity could recognize it.
Seth said eagerly that here Ruburt chose the framework of writing and held firmly to writing, just as he had once held firmly to the church, without wavering. Jane always held firmly to writing, yet was forever searching for a new framework. For a while, she idealized you -- Rob -- and your guidance and strength became her framework. But when it became obvious that you were also just a person, and not a framework, she became afraid. When Jane discovered that Rob was also just an ordinary person, unable to carry the mystical nature she carried in her bones, she lost her direction. When you encouraged the emergence and expression of her mysticism, then she felt that you could no longer serve as a framework that could contain her. When Rob encouraged Jane by saying, you have this mysticism, then you are that -- when you did this, Jane understood that Rob was no longer her framework, and that she had to transcend Rob and find her own new framework.
At that point, that Jane seemed to threaten the shared structure of your lives. She intuitively knew that you also used artistic creation as a buffer between yourself and mystical expression. Jane also understood that when Rob painted, he was also expressing his own mysticism through painting, just as Jane used literature as her expression. This was a buffer for both of their mystical natures.
Stuck Between Two Frameworks
Ruburt was very afraid that spontaneity, whether mental or physical, would threaten the long-accepted framework of your shared life. So if she advanced spontaneously in mystical experience, in her thinking, this spontaneity in mystical experience would threaten the acceptance of her art by tradition. She worried that if she fully trusted the spontaneity of her mystical nature, her literary works would not be accepted by tradition, and no one would want her books, because they would be too mystical and strange.
Now the traditional concepts of art and writing, upon which the old framework was built, no longer applied. Because this direct expression of mysticism would be a huge shock to them; it would transcend the concepts of art and writing that we ordinary people can accept. She felt once again that her natural experience was leading her beyond the framework she considered safe. She found that if she followed her mystical nature, she would ultimately not be accepted by this society. This was what she worried about, and it had already exceeded the boundaries of her safety.
Seth said that she also thought of you -- Rob. According to Jane's thinking, this experience not only used her own time, but also took up Rob's painting time, because transmitting this material would certainly take up Rob's painting time. And at the same time, the mystical nature rejoiced at its opportunity and felt its own potential. So Jane fell into a very awkward situation: on the one hand, she did not want to take up Rob's painting time; on the other hand, she wanted to pull Rob along to record the content of her communication with Seth.
Ruburt made up her mind to go ahead and do it. At the same time, she also decided to maintain the old framework -- to maintain her literary and artistic framework -- and to ignore the cracks within it. In part, her loyalty to you, and what she considered her responsibility, was connected with keeping you focused as a painter, and not letting anything distract you. However, at this moment she was distracting you. Rob's feelings for Jane were still very loyal, and within her loyalty she felt that she should not use anything to interfere with Rob's identity as a painter, and should give him ample time to create. But the things you are doing now -- are they not distracting him? Rob no longer had as much time to paint, because Jane took up most of Rob's time.
For a while, your shared communication system was tottering. Therefore she was afraid to go ahead and do it. Those symptoms allowed her to do her work at home, and allowed her to concentrate without outside interference, letting her continue writing while properly transferring mystical experience into art. Those symptoms were also used to concentrate those wonderful energies, while she was also thinking about how to use them.
She could not accept a new psychic framework -- when there were still many questions within it. These questions related to your shared views on career, your loyalty to your respective writing and painting, and your personal and shared fears of spontaneity in general, as well as the need to protect your talents from your own natures and from the interference of others. These physical symptoms all had reasons. Many of the reasons were that she could not accept a new psychic framework, and was afraid that this psychic framework would affect them. When her heart was not yet sorted out, she could not fully accept or trust this psychic framework, and she also worried that it would affect the normal lives of the two of them, a writer and a painter.
What was she afraid of? Look at the material the two of them transmitted. They were afraid of public opinion and criticism, afraid that others would say the two of them were mystical and strange, and even more afraid that other people would stand up and oppose them. Because this involved many viewpoints about real society, and even about religion, that some people could not accept. If you have not lived in a predominantly Christian country, you cannot understand the pressure you face when you stand up against Christianity, or the inner strength you must carry. Actually, both of them were afraid, and this was all normal.
And he also wanted to protect your natures well, free from outside interference. Think about it: Jane and Rob transmitted the Seth material for more than twenty years, and during this time they basically did not receive much interference, not much interference from media, news, and such. There were many voices criticizing them and many voices praising them. They neither sought fame, nor accepted many interviews, nor turned themselves into celebrities, nor packaged themselves as special people by saying, I can communicate with a being from a higher dimension. They did none of these things. The two of them were diligent and disciplined, writing material every night, doing their most proper work. Most people probably could not have withstood this kind of worldly influence -- think about it, if two such people appeared in any society, they would be extremely popular, and they would be figures at the center of the storm. In their first book, Seth Speaks, they spoke about Christianity without leaving any room, so those propaganda institutions dominated by the church certainly did not have a good opinion of the two of them. But the two of them withstood all the pressure and were not greatly affected by them. This is very rare.
He could not accept a new framework, yet he did not dare let the old one go. The new framework was to follow the mystical path completely, accepting this characteristic of his own mystical nature; the old one was her framework as a writer and literary creator. She was stuck in between. Therefore, those symptoms again became the physical concretization of these conflicts, became this bodily state of being stuck -- inflexible, not flowing. In other words, Jane in the end could not fully live as the person she wanted to be; she did not dare. She was afraid that once she lost the title of writer, others would look at her differently; she was afraid others would regard her as a mystic, as a channeler -- this was her deepest fear. So Seth pointed it out directly and sharply, saying that all the symptoms on her body were caused by these stuck points.
That child -- the twelve-year-old Jane -- grew up within her own probabilities and did not encounter this kind of physical problem. Those challenges were not there either; she would not encounter challenges, and they existed only in latent form, without manifesting. She diluted her mystical nature within the church's model to a degree the church could accept.
Rob's Role
Seth then said to Rob that Ruburt very much needed to understand that you love him and accept him, in your terms, as he is now. Ruburt especially needed Rob's support for her -- support for what? For this appearance of hers, with its mystical characteristics, that she was able to channel. Rob's importance lay in the fact that when Jane herself could hardly accept herself, Rob firmly stepped forward and accepted Jane, saying that your current state is very good.
Rob truly thought so. Rob thought it was simply wonderful that Jane could transmit this material. As a man, he had his own masculine rational thinking and a higher perspective; he knew what this material meant for human society and human civilization. So his acceptance of Jane came both from the depth of their marital affection and from his higher, greater vision. Jane received from Rob all the basic sense of being accepted as a person that she had, so she felt at ease and content; she did not need others' approval, nor others' praise -- she was sufficient on her own.
Seth now began to talk about Rob. He said Joseph -- Joseph is the name of Rob's entity -- your questioning, and your deep distrust of the theories currently popular in society, were also strongly shared by Ruburt. Rob did not accept those mainstream theories of today's society. And your joint insistence on discovering new answers is precisely what gave rise to these sessions, and to that which came from them. It was because you did not accept the existing theories of society, and wanted to find a newer, more effective, or more correct direction, that this Seth material came into being.
At the same time, you saw its delightful potential -- Rob saw this delightful potential, and she also knew that you knew. This statement is quite subtle. Yet as an emotionally rich human being, groping toward that potential, she sometimes also felt lost. As an emotionally rich person, Jane was after all still an emotionally rich person, still a woman; when exploring toward the mystical, she sometimes still felt lost and needed comforting. At such times Rob's role became very evident.
And as you now know, to comfort her might be rather frightening for you, because it would bring the two of you back to the deep emotional awareness and feeling that you sublimated in your painting, and even back to the mystical experience you could also connect with through your work. Rob was not a person good at expressing emotions; he was not the kind who said "I love you," "I like you," "you're wonderful" every day, hugging and cuddling -- none of these were Rob's strengths. Rob's emotions were the deep emotions sublimated in his painting; that was Rob's way of expressing emotion. So asking Rob to comfort her in the way Jane wanted made Rob a little afraid too; Rob could not do it either.
At 11:25, Jane entered a very deep trance state. She said, I had that feeling again -- the little one inside you is empty. It was as if what Seth said had completely struck the mark. When Jane had this feeling, it proved that what Seth said had struck the mark.
Rob's Notes and the Other Child in the Photograph
Since the last break, I have deleted only two sentences of very personal material from what Seth said. Clearly Jane and I did choose to face a challenge presented by her psychic abilities eleven years ago -- in 1963, when the transmission of the Seth material began. Over these eleven years, those new abilities provided her with such obviously possible creativity. By our natures, we did not have to do this, but amid our doubts and questioning, we intuitively sensed that our decision was correct.
I found that I could make a psychic contribution in some way, rather than merely recording these sessions. I am not a recorder; I can still make some psychic contribution. And through psychic methods and any other means, at least some of our deepest wishes and motives could be brought to such clear consciousness, to be observed and perceived, far more than we thought possible. We found this material to be especially valuable on a larger social scale. Apart from that, I also longed to obtain philosophy and techniques concerning painting, and any knowledge available -- this was Rob's little private thought. But most importantly, he said, I found this material to be especially valuable from the level of society as a whole. He said it was also valuable for the two of us, but comparatively speaking, the greater value lay in the whole of society, in all of human society.
At 11:37 the session continued. Seth said, let us briefly discuss this for a moment, and then Jane, that is, Seth, again picked up Rob's photograph -- the one taken when Rob was almost two years old. Seth said, that child enjoyed a wonderful sense of vitality and safety. Your family relationships were always very good; you were surrounded for the most part by love and affirmation -- this was completely different from Jane's living environment. Both your parents were very young; your mother had already given birth to two handsome boys by then -- Rob was the eldest, and there was another one.
In her own way, and within her own framework, she was also a perfectionist -- this was about Rob's mother. And Rob's father never understood this about her. On the surface, this family was very traditional, but underneath, it was extremely difficult to handle. There were certain dogmas in this household: the mother was expected to raise perfect children, and she should at least outwardly submit to men -- this was their family, still very patriarchal. She had to raise perfect children and also obey men; these were the demands in their family.
So Rob's mother felt that in this marriage, everyone played their proper role, because in her eyes, Rob's father had a great future ahead of him, and she had borne him two sons. Only later did she discover that he had not done his part -- Rob's mother later found that Rob's father had not achieved the great future he was supposed to achieve; he was also an ordinary person, mediocre and undistinguished. And Rob also began to feel insecure.
Rob's father was patriarchal, yet he did not achieve enough to maintain his patriarchal status, so Rob's mother had certain grievances against him. Rob's mother had once forced herself to concentrate all her tremendous emotional strength within the marriage framework the two of them understood, but your father would not pour his own abilities into the cultural and economic structures, as he had also agreed to do in their tacit contract. He did not wholeheartedly put his emotions into this marital state. His mother believed that his father's refusal to put his energy into their shared social or financial structures meant he was unwilling to give too much to this family.
A few years later, Rob began to feel what Ruburt had once felt -- that creativity had its own dangers. If he fully followed the creativity of his own mystical nature, he felt it was dangerous, because society would not accept it. Rob also felt this: it would lead you outside the accepted social framework; society would not accept you, and you would be excluded from the normal family. So creativity, they both felt, was dangerous.
Rob, Linden, and the Two Directions of Creativity
Seth then picked up Rob's photograph and said, your brother Linden is not in this photograph, but he is quite active. You insisted on having your abilities, and for many years tried to apply them in the commercial mold, making those abilities acceptable in terms of money, society, and your self-image. Your brother was not in the photograph, but he was very active. You, for many years, tried to use your abilities to achieve some success in business, because in that way you might feel acceptable in terms of your social self-image -- not a pure artist, not a purely creative type; you were making money, you were accepting the norms of traditional society.
Did he not say earlier that you felt the danger of this creativity, and you began to yield to reality? This is why Rob spent many years earlier working as a commercial artist, painting advertisements and commercial art. Seth said you grew beyond that structure. Actually Rob had a mystical nature and creative talent; you were no longer inside that structure, and you began to develop in the commercial direction.
When you did that, you made an artificial division: good works of art would not sell for money. But even so, you still went on painting. You had already left the framework of pure creation; you became a painter who created for money. Yet at this time you made a division in your heart: you said, I can paint for money, but those are not good paintings; truly good paintings, true works of art, would not be sold for money. -- This is why Rob rarely sold his paintings, because he felt excellent works of art should not be exchanged for money.
In a sense, you would make your creativity real, while Linden's would not. His brother would turn creativity into play, while Rob would turn it into something real -- something that could make money. Not necessarily play in the ordinary sense, but indeed a structure in which it could deftly make models. Linden never used his creative abilities in a practical world, never used them to make money; therefore within the scope of that play, they could safely remain outside the practical world, unaffected by this traditional material world, freely making whatever models he liked. The abilities he possessed could originally have been used in this society as he understood it, but he handled them in this way.
In such an outcome, a split was produced: those abilities were dispersed, some channeled into school, some into drawing, and others into his models. Those creative attributes were separated, and therefore they were safely handled, no longer so intense, yet still able to achieve a certain degree of expression without being completely denied.
Your own personality was more direct -- Rob's personality was direct; you maintained a more personal focus; you were very concrete, very practical. But at the time that photograph was taken, your parents were beginning to discover their problems. Your first year of life was a time when both your parents were full of expectation. Linden felt that lack, because their energy was all placed on the eldest; they had quite high expectations for Rob, but somewhat neglected Linden. Linden had a sense of security and would not lack security, but he was never as secure as you. Because by that time, the differences between your parents had begun to show.
Linden now uses words as a framework to contain creativity and communication, rather than directly expressing his creativity. You here, in the photograph, were a child who roamed about more, because you felt relatively safe physically. Linden, in that respect, was far less adventurous than you.
Rob's Interpretation
As for my personal interpretation of Seth's material on the photographs: Jane's photograph was about a probable self of the person who would become the Jane I know; while mine could almost be said to be an early version of myself, living all along in this reality, the one I know. In Jane's photograph there was a probable existence, while Rob's own photograph was an early version of his present life, within the same probability, not separated.
Then there were Rob's notes. Rob once wrote: all actions are essentially mental in origin. These were all concepts he had before. Jane's maternal grandfather, Sapedo, had a deep mystical identification with Jane, which will be introduced later. Therefore this family had to rely on public assistance, meaning government relief. Jane's maternal grandmother died in a car accident in 1939, and the following year her grandfather moved out of that house. By that time, her mother Marie already had difficulty walking, so the welfare department began providing the mother and daughter with occasional household help. And when Jane changed schools after finishing third grade, she was only nine.
When Jane and I provide personal material in The "Unknown" Reality, we always have several purposes in mind: we not only want to give background material related to the text, but also want to provide a glimpse of the very complex emotional and physical factors hidden beneath close, long-term relationships. We believe that Seth's comments on our situation can help readers better understand their own beliefs, motives, and wishes. This is very important. That is to say, when we read this book, starting from the next session, we must not understand it merely as reading a story or a book; we must take Rob and Jane's experiences, their process of probabilities, and make a switch or a substitution within ourselves. Only in this way can you better understand this book. This book may let you discover probable selves and probable worlds you did not know before; this is one of the main purposes of The "Unknown" Reality. Simply put, you must place yourself into this book; you cannot just watch the story of Jane and Rob. Their story only serves as a model for us; Seth used the two of them as an example to tell us about these probable existences, probable worlds, and the unknown realities we do not know.
Seth said: it took us several years to understand that behind Jane's symptoms lay the effort that led her to want to understand and express the very strong creative energy within her that she could feel even as a child. Yet the conflict between her writing self and her mystical self -- Jane the writer and Jane the channeler, the two did not accept each other and were in conflict -- as Seth explained in The Nature of Personal Reality, was only one aspect of the creativity that her intuitive impulses wanted to express. As Jane matured, she came to understand that she had other challenges to deal with, including the resolution of certain old family relationships, namely the problems between her and her mother. And what Seth said did not include past lives or probable selves' lives -- not matters of past incarnations, nor the lives of probable selves -- but referred to the relationship with her mother on this one life line, based only on the resolution of a major issue in this present physical reality.
Concerning Jane's symptoms and related matters, we have accumulated much unpublished material; much of it often applies to other people as well, and one day she will write a book on this entire subject. Meanwhile, Jane has made considerable progress in handling her personal challenges. Her work now mainly involves dissolving the protective, symbolic bodily beliefs she placed around how to use her great energy.
About Rob's Family
Rob's sixth note: my parents had three sons. I was born on June 20, 1919; my elder younger brother Linden was born thirteen months later, and my younger brother Richard was nine years younger than him, born nine years later. Although the natures and interests of the three brothers were quite different, we got along very well as children. Seth sometimes discussed their family members, including certain reincarnational aspects; I will not go into this process, it is too complicated.
Let us look at this statement by Seth; actually he had said this before: each person chooses his parents, accepts a set of characteristics in terms of environment and heredity, accepts its initial state, mentality, and abilities, for him to draw upon in his future life. There is always a reason, and therefore each parent represents an inexpressible symbol for each child. And often the two parents represent striking contrasts and different probabilities. The two parents generally have differences in personality or mentality; they are contrasting; rarely are two parents completely similar people. The child can compare and contrast different realities. The differences between the parents, their different worldviews, are there for the child to compare.
Your two younger brothers also chose that family situation; your parents represented opposite and personally meaningful symbols to them. Therefore they saw your parents from a different angle than you did. Do not lose contact with your brothers -- this was his view on Rob's family and the relationship between the brothers. They were each different; their views of their parents were not the same as Rob's; do not lose the brotherly connection with them. By analogy, my parents also saw their own creations or versions in each of their children.
The interpretation of this part of the main text ends here; later there are other appendix sections and a supplement to this session.