Jane Roberts

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Jane Roberts (born May 8, 1929 in Saratoga Springs , New York , † September 5, 1984 in Elmira , New York) was an American author and poet .

Hannes Scheucher, Jane Roberts, 2010, acrylic on linen

It became known to the general public primarily as a spiritual medium for a "being" named Seth. By publishing these texts she became one of the most famous representatives in the field of extrasensory perception . In addition, she published short stories, poetry , novellas, children's stories and her own texts on metaphysics that have no direct reference to Seth.

The Seth Books

In 1954 Jane Roberts married the painter Robert Fabian Butts (1919–2008). Roberts and Butts said they had their first encounters with paranormal phenomena in the course of researching books in experiments with a Ouija board (a kind of board with the words “yes”, “no” and the letters of the alphabet drawn in). The first contact with Seth is said to have arisen on December 2, 1963. From then on, Roberts is said to have received messages from Seth in trance sessions held twice a week , which were handwritten by her husband and then put into manuscript form.

The characterization of the "Seth personality"

By the time of Jane Roberts' death in 1984, 10 books were produced in this way, dealing with subjects such as the nature of the psyche, the origin of the universe , the theory of evolution , the theory of many realities , the story of Christ, the meaning and purpose of physical existence, the human psyche, collective consciousness and the relativity of time. The topics of the sessions up to 1969 were summarized and published by Jane Roberts under the name "Seth Material".

It was not until the 511th session in January 1970 that Roberts began to assign the texts to a “Seth personality” and subsequently adapted the content and structure of the books to this entity. "Seth" describes himself as a "multidimensional energy personality core" that has gone through the sequence of human incarnations and now speaks to people from a spiritual world of higher reality. Jane Roberts herself always considered the possibility that Seth was the personification of a superconscious part of her normal self, that it came from her unconscious or was a kind of “split personality” .

In addition to the two weekly meetings in which the books were dictated, there were also regular group meetings between 1968 and 1975 with participants in a course on extrasensory perception (ASW). In these sessions, Seth also answered specific questions from participants about personal problems. Robert Butts reports in his marginal notes on the books how Jane Roberts' "personality Seth" always spoke in the masculine form as "He" and called her by her "holistic name" Ruburt.

Central theses of the books

The theses represented in the Seth books relate to practically all areas of life. From metaphysical theories and speculations to physical explanations of the world to esoteric theses and predictions of future events. For example:

  • Time and space are illusions ; Future, past and present existed only in our physical reality; in spiritual reality they exist simultaneously or simultaneously.
  • each person leads different lives at the same time (contrary to the thesis of the successive incarnations ),
  • each individual shapes the experiences of his personal reality himself and has chosen the circumstances for himself in order to be able to have certain experiences,
  • there are parallel universes (similar to the many-worlds interpretation ),
  • God is a source of inexhaustible mental energy that encompasses all of creation; this mental energy permeates every single existence in the universe and is the "building material" for everything that exists.

In “ Conversations with Seth ” it is possible. a. also about the life and death of Jesus Christ ; in "The nature of the psyche" it goes u. a. about love , sexuality and creativity . Many statements are designed as a way of life support: you have to change yourself in order to be able to achieve changes in your personal life, and adapt your expectations and basic assumptions to your wishes.

Esoteric theories

A distinction is made between

  • "Reference system 1": corresponds to everyday physical life;
  • "Reference system 2": corresponds to everyday psychological life as the source of reference system 1 and its meaningful and spiritual level.

The characterization of reference system 2 can be compared with the Akashic Chronicle in esotericism. In reference system 1, according to Seth, humans live as the familiar ego, as builders and “seekers” of life, while in reference system 2 everyone's self - unconsciously to the ego - works as “architect” and “puller” and the physical happenings in accordance with the beliefs of the ego continually recreated.

Other work

While authors like Edgar Cayce founded a school ("Association for Research and Enlightenment"), the writings of the "Seth personality" show a rejection of such developments, since reality is a purely individual experience. In the end, no closed worldview or practical teaching system is offered.

Jane Roberts also wrote a few books without reference to "Seth", but which deal with similar subjects:

  • Adventures in Consciousness ,
  • Psychic Politics ,
  • The God of Jane , (1981), German: Der Gott von Jane , Seth-Verlag, Sempach / Switzerland, 2004, ISBN 978-3-907-83327-8
  • The Education of Oversoul Seven, (1973), German (Überseele Sieben, ISBN 978-3-442-12163-2 ) ,
  • The Further Education of Oversoul Seven, (1979), German (apprenticeship, ISBN 3-442-12164-7 ) ,
  • and Oversoul Seven and the Museum of Time, (1984), German (Zeitmuseum, ISBN 3-442-12165-5 ) .

She also wrote books from the perspective of her like-minded personalities:

  • The Afterdeath Journal Of An American Philosopher: The World View of William James and
  • The World View of Paul Cézanne : A Psychic Interpretation

Jane Roberts died of autoimmune disease in 1984 at the age of 55 . Your manuscripts and records have been given to the Yale University Library (see web links). So far it is the only esoteric material that is stored there. Robert Fabian Butts died of cancer in May 2008.

Works

Works by Jane Roberts, in which she speaks for Seth:

Works on Jane Roberts and the Seth Material

Jane Roberts taught a course on extrasensory phenomena for a number of years. Jane Roberts spoke for Seth often during this class. Some of the course participants recorded their experiences in writing and later published them as books. Other authors deal with the practical implementation of the Seth concepts in their books.

The books by Susan M. Watkins on the Seth Materials and Jane Roberts:

  • In dialogue with Seth . Seth-Verlag, Sempach / Switzerland, 2011–12, 2 volumes, ISBN 978-3-907833-80-3
  • Speaking of Jane Roberts - memories of a friend . Seth-Verlag, Sempach / Switzerland, 2014, ISBN 978-3-907833-19-3

Lynda Madden Dahl's books and the practical implementation of the Seth material:

  • Thousands of whispers - The Seth material and the conscious creation of your own reality . Seth-Verlag, Sempach / Switzerland, 2011-12, ISBN 978-3-907833-29-2

Wikibook:

Wikibooks: Mensch und Kosmos  - learning and teaching materials

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Report on stargazette.com (English), last accessed on February 8, 2009.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Roberts, Jane
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American author and poet
DATE OF BIRTH May 8, 1929
PLACE OF BIRTH Saratoga Springs , New York
DATE OF DEATH 5th September 1984
Place of death Elmira , New York