Seth -- I Do Not Have A Physical Body, Yet I Am Writing This Book

 "CHAPTER 1"

"I Do Not Have A Physical Body, Yet I Am Writing This Book"

"SESSION 511, JANUARY 21, 1970,

9:10 P.M. WEDNESDAY"

"(In beginning these notes, let me mention that there are certain definite changes in Jane when she is in trance and speaking for Seth.

"(Usually Jane goes in and out of trance with remarkable speed. Her eyes aren’t closed during sessions, except for relatively brief periods — but they can be barely open, say, or half open, or wide open and much darker than usual. She sits for sessions in her Kennedy rocker, but on occasion she gets up and moves about. She smokes in trance and sips a little wine, beer, or coffee. Sometimes, when her trance has been very deep, it takes her a few minutes “to really come out of it,” as she puts it. Almost always she joins me in a snack after the session, no matter how late it is.

"(Jane’s voice in trance can be almost conversational in tone, volume, and pace, but is subject to a wide range of these qualities. Usually it’s somewhat deeper and stronger than her “own” voice. Once in a while her “Seth voice” is very loud indeed, much more powerful, with definite masculine overtones and with an obvious, tremendous energy behind it. Most of our sessions however are fairly quiet.

"(Seth speaks with an accent that’s hard to pinpoint. It’s been called Russian, Irish, German, Dutch, Italian, and even French. Seth once humorously commented that his way of speaking was actually due to his own “cosmopolitan background,” acquired through many lifetimes. Jane and I think it is simply individual, and that it invokes various responses in people according to their own ethnic and emotional backgrounds.

"(There are two more effects that Jane always manifests while she is in trance. One is a more angular quality in her mannerisms. The other is a rearrangement of her facial muscles; a tautness resulting, I believe, from an infusion of energy — or of consciousness. At times this effect is quite pronounced, and I can easily sense the immediacy of Seth’s presence.

"(I think these changes in Jane during sessions are caused by her creative reception of a portion of an entity, an essence, that we call Seth, and by her own ideas of what this certain segment is like as she casts it in the masculine gender. Her transformation as Seth is original, and absorbing to watch and participate in. Regardless of degree, Seth is uniquely and kindly present. I am listening to, and exchanging dialogue with, another personality.

"(Before the session, Jane said she felt rather nervous; she thought Seth would start his own book this evening. Her feeling of nervousness is quite unusual in these sessions. I offered reassurances, telling her to forget the whole thing and let the book come out in its own way.)"

"Now: I bid you, Joseph, a good evening."

"(“Good evening, Seth.”)"

"Our friend Ruburt does indeed have stage fright, and to some extent this is understandable, so I bear with him.

"However, let us begin with Chapter One. (Smile.) Ruburt may write an introduction if he likes. (Pause.)

"Chapter One"

"Now: You have heard of ghost hunters. I can quite literally be called a ghost writer, though I do not approve of the term “ghost.” It is true that I am usually not seen in physical terms. I do not like the word “spirit,” either; and yet if your definition of that word implies the idea of a personality without a physical body, then I would have to agree that the description fits me.

"I address an unseen audience. However, I know that my readers exist, and therefore I shall ask each of them, now, to grant me the same privilege.

"I write this book through the auspices of a woman of whom I have become quite fond. To others it seems strange that I address her as “Ruburt,” and “him,” but the fact is that I have known her in other times and places, by other names. She has been both a man and a woman, and the entire identity who has lived these separate lives can be designated by the name of Ruburt.

"Names are not important, however. My name is Seth. Names are simply designations, symbols; and yet since you must use them, I shall also. I write this book with the cooperation of Ruburt, who speaks the words for me. In this life Ruburt is called Jane, and her husband, Robert Butts, takes down the words that Jane speaks. I call him Joseph.

"My readers may suppose that they are physical creatures, bound within physical bodies, imprisoned within bone, flesh, and skin. If you believe that your existence is dependent upon this corporeal image, then you feel in danger of extinction, for no physical form lasts, and no body, however beautiful in youth, retains the same vigor and enchantment in old age. If you identify with your own youth, or beauty, or intellect, or accomplishments, then there is the constant gnawing knowledge that these attributes can and will vanish.

"I am writing this book to assure you that this is not the case. Basically you are no more of a physical being than I am, and I have donned and discarded more bodies than I care to tell. Personalities who do not exist do not write books. I am quite independent of a physical image, and so are you."

—Seth Speaks: The Eternal Validity of the Soul; Part One: Chapter 1: Session 511, January 21, 1970, by Jane Roberts