Jane Roberts & The 'Seth' Material

[merricat]

I am not sure whether this is the most appropriate section of the forum to post, so please excuse me if I have made a booboo!

I did a search but couldn't locate anything about her on the site, hence my post.

Jane Roberts wrote a series of books in the 1970's and beyond in which she claimed to channel dialogue with a personality named Seth. I'm sure most of you have probably heard of her work, but I only came across it a few years ago. I read The nature of Reality at the time and found many elements which resonated with me, although the writing style and interjections from her husband (who took notes on the 'sessions' in shorthand) a wee bit irritating.

Personally the 'channelling' element doesn't really concern me, I am more interested in the material itself, regardless how she came upon it. Some speculate about Roberts' mental health, or else flat out regard the work as fraudulent. But if the work was fraudulent, then what does that even mean exactly? If the material came from her own mind, so to speak, then it still has validity as a piece of work - ('fraud' would be an intention to mislead or be the result of misappropriating someone else's work). Similarly, the writings of Carlos Castaneda could be regarded as such, but would this take away from the value of the work itself?

I would love to hear your thoughts or opinions on this.

 

[Sabresonic]

I am not sure whether this is the most appropriate section of the forum to post this, so please excuse me if I have made a booboo!

I did a search but couldn't locate anything about her on the site, hence my post.

Jane Roberts wrote a series of books in the 1970's and beyond in which she claimed to channel dialogue with a personality named Seth. I'm sure most of you have probably heard of her work, but I only came across it a few years ago. I read The nature of Reality at the time and found many elements which resonated with me, although the writing style and interjections from her husband (who took notes on the 'sessions' in shorthand) a wee bit irritating.

Personally the 'channelling' element doesn't really concern me, I am more interested in the material itself, regardless how she came upon it. Some speculate about Roberts' mental health, or else flat out regard the work as fraudulent. But if the work was fraudulent, then what does that even mean exactly? If the material came from her own mind, so to speak, then it still has validity as a piece of work - ('fraud' would be an intention to mislead or be the result of misappropriating someone else's work). Similarly, the writings of Carlos Castaneda could be regarded as such, but would this take away from the value of the work itself?

I would love to hear your thoughts or opinions on this.

Just read it on Wiki and just like to know if it\s true or not as with other claims but looks a interesting read.

 

[merricat]

I doubt we will ever know if it's true, but I suppose it comes down to what truth is.
The information has to have come from somewhere, so it seems that unless the content was stolen (no one suggests this, though) then it is at least genuinely written. Most seem to speculate that the work was Jane's own, that she either composed it unconsciously or else used a male pseudonym to ensure that it was heard/taken seriously. People rarely admit to believing in an external entity or personality. Myself, I don't really care, so long as the work resonates with/interests me.

A few critics suggested that she had patched together elements of Christianity and Eastern thought, although I didn't quite sense this myself, but then I have only read one book - there are many!

Some insist that she could not have channelled Seth due to her early death at 55. Not sure why this counts really - if Seth is anything to go by, then longevity itself isn't a measure of heightened awareness or spiritual achievement.

 

[sudi5]

I was interested in Jane Roberts work in 70s. I had Seth Speaks. I thought I still had it but I just did a quick scan of my books and I can't find it. I may have culled it when we last moved as I couldn't get past the writing style at the time. So I never completed it.

But I was particularly drawn to the book because about the same time, a friend and I were doing the Ouija and getting very strange, sometimes prescient messages. The friend with whom I did the Ouija was Harold, my boyfriend then, and also the guy with whom I had other paranormal experiences.

Harold always said the sessions "drained" him and he seemed to be the conduit for whatever was going on as the Ouija never made me feel in any negative way. But he never "channeled" anything by adopting a voice like Roberts. But it did identify itself with a name, like Seth. When we asked, in an early session, what we should call the entity who was communicating with us, it said "Huxley."

We had notebooks full of messages. All lost now at Harold's somewhere, I guess. I do recall a couple of specific messages: "Beelzebub lurks among those who practice nilhism." And when asked "What is music?" (Harold improvised on the piano really well...) it answered "Granular reticulum of the Universe." It never said anything menacing. I always felt, that since Harold said he was physically affected by the Ouija, that he might start a Jane Roberts vocalization eventually. But we stopped, because Harold refused to do it any longer.