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Seth Material

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The Seth Material is a collection of metaphysical texts dictated by the American author and psychic Jane Roberts (May 8, 1929–September 5, 1984) from late 1963 until her death. The Seth Material is one of the cornerstones of New Age philosophy, and has been described as the most influential channelled text of the post-World War II "New Age" movement other than A Course in Miracles. According to parapsychology expert and professor of psychology Dr. Jon Klimo the Seth books were instrumental in bringing awareness of channeling to a broad public audience, more so than any prior writer other than Edgar Cayce prior to his death in 1945.

Dr. Catherine L. Albanese, Professor of American Religious History at the University of Chicago, stated that in the 1970s, the Seth Material "launched an era of nationwide awareness" of the channeling trend and directly contributed to the "self-identity of an emergent New Age movement and also augmenting its ranks." Dr. John P. Newport, in his study of the impact of New Age beliefs on contemporary culture, described the central focus of the Seth material as the idea that, for each individual: "you create your own reality". He wrote that this foundational concept of the New Age movement was first articulated in the Seth material. According to historian Robert C. Fuller, professor of religious studies at Bradley University, Seth filled the role of guide for what Fuller called "unchurched American spirituality", including the topics of reincarnation, karma, free will, ancient metaphysical wisdom, and "Christ consciousness".

The Seth Material was purportedly dictated, not by Roberts herself, but by a discarnate entity who called himself Seth, whom Roberts "channelled". Roberts described the process of writing the Seth material as entering a trance state during which Seth would assume control of her body and speak through her, while her husband wrote down the words she spoke. These episodes are variously referred to as "readings" or "sessions".

Other authors have also written material they claim to be channeled messages from the Seth entity, especially after Roberts' death, including among others, Thomas Massari, who founded the Seth-Hermes Foundation and claimed to channel the Seth entity as early as 1972. Jean Loomis, director of the Aquarian Center in Connecticut, has claimed to channel the same "Seth". Study groups have formed in various locations around the USA working with the Seth Material, similar to groups working with the teachings of other "channeled entities" (for example, Ramtha and A Course in Miracles).

History

In late 1963, Jane Roberts and her husband, Robert Butts, experimented with a Ouija board as part of Roberts' research for a book on extra-sensory perception. According to Roberts and Butts, on December 2, 1963 they began to receive coherent messages from a male personality who eventually identified himself as Seth. Soon after, Roberts reported that she was hearing the messages in her head. She began to dictate the messages instead of using the Ouija board, and the board was eventually abandoned. For 21 years until Roberts' death in 1984 (with a one-year hiatus due to her final illness), Roberts held regular sessions in which she went into a trance and purportedly spoke on behalf of Seth. Butts served as stenographer, taking the messages down in home-made shorthand, although some sessions were recorded. These messages, channelled from Seth through Roberts, consisting mostly of monologues on a wide variety of topics, are collectively known as the "Seth Material". The Material through 1969 was published in summary form in The Seth Material, which was written by Roberts using material from the channelling sessions.

Beginning with the 511th session in January, 1970, Roberts began to write books that she reported were dicated by Seth. Roberts claimed no authorship of these books beyond her role as medium; and according to Roberts and Butts, these "channelled" books were published verbatim with only minor editorial corrections. This series of "Seth books" eventually totalled ten volumes, although the last two books appear to be incomplete due to Roberts' illness. The list of titles includes Seth Speaks; The Nature of Personal Reality; The Nature of the Psyche, Its Human Expression; The Individual and the Nature of Mass Events; The Unknown Reality; and Dreams, Evolution and Value Fulfilment. Robert Butts contributed notes and comments to all the Seth books, and thus was a co-author on all of them.

According to Roberts, Seth described himself as an "energy personality essence no longer focused in physical matter" who was independent of Roberts' subconscious, although Roberts herself expressed skepticism as to Seth's origins, wondering if he was a part of her own personality.Seth, through Roberts, said that he had completed his earthly reincarnations and that he was speaking from an adjacent plane of existence (or "system of reality" or "universe", all terms which Seth, through Roberts, used). He described himself as a "teacher" whose task was to impart the principles set forth in the Material to the current generation of human beings.

While channelling Seth, Roberts' demeanour was notably different from her' usual demeanor, as reported by witnesses who included Butts, friends, acquaintances and students. During the sessions, Roberts usually sat in a rocking chair, and she would smoke cigarettes and sip beer or wine. Afterwards, she would usually not recall the content of the session and she would later have to read the transcript or be told what Seth had said. Roberts, as Seth, was at times stern, jovial or professorial, and she frequently assumed a distinct accent which was not identifiable. Unlike the psychic Edgar Cayce, whose syntax when speaking in trance was antiquated and convoluted, Roberts' syntax and sentence structures were modern and clear when speaking as Seth. Sessions were held at regular intervals, usually two per week. For a period of years Roberts conducted one, and then two, ESP classes in addition to the regular sessions. With the exception of the classes, Roberts gave few readings to the public and was mostly focused on publishing the Material in printed form.

Summary

The core teachings of the Seth Material are based on the principle that each individual creates his or her own reality through thoughts, beliefs and expectations, and that because of this, the "point of power" for any individual to change their reality is in the present moment.

The Seth Material discusses a wide range of metaphysical concepts, including the nature of God, referred to by Seth as "All That Is"; and as "The Multidimensional God" who takes His form in many parallel or probable universes; the nature of physical reality; the origins of the universe; the limitless nature of the "Self" and the "Higher Self"; the story of Christ; the evolution of the soul and all aspects of death and rebirth, including reincarnation and karma, past lives, after-death experiences, "guardian spirits", and moving on to "higher consciousness"; the purpose of life and the nature of good and evil; the purpose of suffering; multidimensional reality, parallel lives and transpersonal realms.

Criticism

  • Charles Upton in his book The System of Antichrist, which critiques the New Age movement, argues that the reason Jane Roberts multiplies the self in many ways is due to a fear of death, and that the Seth texts are based on a misunderstanding of both Christianity and of Eastern religions. Upton also acknowledges that "traces of valid esoteric doctrines can be found in the Seth teachings."
  • The implied influences of Eastern mysticism and philosophy are also highlighted in Astrology and Psychic Phenomena by Terry Holley, E Calvin Beisner and Robert M Bowman Jr, who say "Husband Robert Butts admitted that similarities exist between Seth's ideas and those of various religious, philosophical, and mystical doctrines from the Near, Middle, or Far East...and we've done a little reading on Buddhism, Hinduism, Zen, and Taoism, for example, not to mention subjects like shamanism, voodooism, and obeah."
  • Psychologist and critic of parapsychology James E. Alcock has concluded "In light of all this, the Seth materials must surely be viewed as less than ordinary. There certainly was the time and talent for fraud to play a role, but we cannot discriminate between that possibility and the possibility of unconscious production— At any rate, given these circumstances, there seems little need to consider the involvement of any supernatural agency."

Notes

  1. The Holographic Universe, by Michael Talbot (1991). ISBN 0-06-092258-3
  2. ^ Hanegraaff, Wouter J. (1998). New Age Religion and Western Culture: Esotericism in the Mirror of Secular Thought. SUNY Press. pp. 122–4, 125, 126. ISBN 0791438546.
  3. Claiming Knowledge: Strategies of Epistemology from Theosophy to the New Age. BRILL. 2004. p. 342. ISBN 900413638X. {{cite book}}: |first= missing |last= (help)
  4. ^ Upton, Charles (2005). The System of Antichrist: Truth and Falsehood in Postmodernism and the New Age. Sophia Perennis. pp. 169–173. ISBN 0900588381.
  5. Klimo, Jon (1998). Channeling: Investigations on Receiving Information from Paranormal Sources. North Atlantic Books. p. 22. ISBN 1556432488.
  6. Albanese, Catherine L. (2007). A Republic of Mind and Spirit: A Cultural History of American Metaphysical Religion. Yale University Press. p. 501. ISBN 0300110898.
  7. ^ Newport, John P. (1998). The New Age Movement and the Biblical Worldview: Conflict and Dialogue. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. p. 165. ISBN 0802844308.
  8. ^ Fuller, Robert C. Spiritual, But Not Religious: Understanding Unchurched America. Oxford University Press US. p. 60. ISBN 0195146808. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |yerar= ignored (help)
  9. ESP Power, by Jane Roberts (2000). ISBN 0-88391-016-0
  10. Out-Of-Body Adventures, by Rick Stack (1988). ISBN 978-0809245604
  11. Conversations With Seth, Book 2: 25th Anniversary Edition, by Susan M. Watkins (2006). ISBN 978-1930491090
  12. Fuller, Robert C. Spiritual, But Not Religious: Understanding Unchurched America. Oxford University Press US. p. 187. ISBN 0195146808. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |yerar= ignored (help)
  13. ^ Klimo, Jon (1998). Channeling: Investigations on Receiving Information from Paranormal Sources. North Atlantic Books. p. 62. ISBN 1556432488.
  14. ESP Power, by Jane Roberts (2000) (introductory essay by Lynda Dahl). ISBN 0-88391-016-0
  15. Other Lives, Other Selves: A Jungian Psychotherapist Discovers Past Lives, by Roger Woolger (1988). ISBN 978-0553345957
  16. Chapter 1, Session 511, Seth Speaks: The Eternal Validity of the Soul, by Jane Roberts (1972).
  17. Klimo, Jon (1998). Channeling: Investigations on Receiving Information from Paranormal Sources. North Atlantic Books. p. 30. ISBN 1556432488.
  18. Chapter 1, Session 511, and Chapter 2, Session 514, Seth Speaks: The Eternal Validity of the Soul, by Jane Roberts (1972).
  19. Tyler, Paula J. (1987). New Age Metaphysics: An Introduction for Young Adults. Ozark Mountain Publishing. p. 40. ISBN 0961792000. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  20. Clarke, Peter Bernard (2006). New Religions in Global Perspective. Routledge. p. 25. ISBN 0415257484.
  21. ^ Leskowitz, Eric D. Transpersonal Hypnosis: Gateway to Body, Mind, and Spirit. CRC Press. pp. 107, 163, 173. ISBN 0849322375. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |YEAR= ignored (|year= suggested) (help)
  22. ^ {[cite book |title=Beyond the Bleep: The Definitive Unauthorized Guide to What the Bleep Do We Know!? |first=Alexandra |last=Bruce |publisher=The Disinformation Company |year=2005 |pages=116-117 |isbn=1932857222}}
  23. ^ Wolf, Joachim (2003). Understanding the Grand Design: Spiritual Reality's Inner Logic. Trafford Publishing. pp. 136–7, 163, 176–8. ISBN 1553955676.
  24. ^ Neff, Joanna Neff (2003). Soul Retrieval: Return to Wholeness. Trafford Publishing. pp. 59, 63. ISBN 1412016134.
  25. Kole, Andre; E Calvin Beisner, Robert M Bowman Jr, Terry Holley Astrology and Psychic Phenomena Zondervan Publishing House 1989 ISBN 978-0310489214 p.51
  26. Kole, Andre; E Calvin Beisner, Robert M Bowman Jr, Terry Holley Astrology and Psychic Phenomena Zondervan Publishing House 1989 ISBN 978-0310489214 p.52

References

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