Interesting Articles
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A Tour of the Yale Archives |
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Seth and Physics: The Construction of the Physical Universe |
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Seth in Cyberspace: The CompuServe Connection |
Feature Story From Fall 1993 Issue of Reality Change
A Guided Tour of The Yale Archives
By Martha D. Mac Burnie
The story of how I came to study Jane's material at Yale began when I met the man of my dreams on my 26th birthday. It was love at first sight! We were both reading Seth Speaks. Framework 2 fed Framework 1 and a magical year ended with us creating a new reality together in Milford, Connecticut in 1987.
She: "Let's see if we can find a place near the beach."
He: "It has to be within driving distance to the NY airports."
The Infinite Knowing was way ahead of us. The second cottage the Realtor showed was perfectly adorable and right next to a public path leading to a wide, white-sand private beach on the Long Island Sound. Above the door was a wooden placard that read, "By-The-Sea." Six years earlier I had purchased a watercolor of a beach cottage and next to it the artist had penned, "Heaven's a little closer in a house by-the-sea." We had found our home.
We spent the first hot, sunny summer enjoying the beach, cleaning, painting, rejuvenating gardens and reading Seth books aloud in the evenings. The first book we read, The Nature of Personal Reality, helped us to change our lives, even though we had already changed probabilities and were no longer our former selves. The books helped us to prolong our period of transformation (which still continues) and our new framework of beliefs has resulted in beneficial changes in our every thought and movement.
Sometime in 1990 we read Dreams, "Evolution," and Value Fulfillment. There it was in Note 1 for Session 887: another dream come true. All of their work would be archived at Yale! Twenty minutes down the road? We called Sterling Library. It was there, and yes, we could have access to most of it. Wow!
Yale University, founded in 1701, is in the heart of the small city of New Haven, Connecticut. The campus is spread over many blocks downtown, so parking, shops, restaurants, lodging and a public park are all within walking distance of the library.
The Sterling Library, constructed from 1927-1931, and currently undergoing extensive renovations, is a huge, imposing, inspiring Gothic stone structure. It covers half a city block and is surrounded by equally huge and imposing stone and brick buildings.
Inside Sterling, imagine a cathedral with soaring, groined ceilings. But envision books and card catalogues in the place of pews and a circulation desk instead of an altar. Above the circulation desk is a 20-foot tall allegorical mural, not of Mary, but of Alma Mater, Mother Yale. Eugene F. Savage (BFA Yale '24) described his mural's composition as "symbolizing the inspiration that directs the University's spiritual and intellectual efforts."
The ceilings in the library are painted in intricate patterns, typical of the Gothic style. The walls feature elaborate carvings of stone, wood or metal, mostly of men, books or men with books, and depict the history of Yale and of books and writing. There is a lower-ceilinged corridor that leads from the central hall to the Manuscripts and Archives Reading Room. It's lined with display cases and every month or so a new collection can be viewed. Some I've seen include 150 Years of Yale Crew; memorabilia of the pianist Vladimir Horowitz, including life-like bronzes of his hands; and a series of Colonial-era maps of the then-known world.
The corridor looks with stained glass eyes outward to an enclosed, grassy, shrub-lined courtyard. Between the courtyard and Wall Street is the Manuscripts and Archives rooms. There is an outer office where several archivists work, oak tables and chairs, and a cabinet containing black file folders that detail each manuscript group. Only registered readers are allowed beyond this point. (Fill out the double-sided form; present two forms of ID; leave all coats, briefcases, notebooks, etc. in the locked storage area; pencils, typewriters, PCs only in the reading room; 3x5 or 5x8 cards or special paper with a hole punched in the center only; all purses and papers will be inspected upon departure; no papers or books from the collections may be removed from the Reading Room.)
The Reading Room is an inspirational place to study the works of such a serious old ghost! Leather and oak chairs sit before oak reading stands and gray file folders on ten-foot long oak tables. The oak-paneled walls are lined with books which are locked behind lead-paned glass doors. There is an upper balcony along three sides of the room, edged along the two long walls with a wrought-iron railing. Again, there are more books behind glass doors.
According to the Yale University Library brochure, "The Manuscripts and Archives Department of Yale University Library is the principal repository for historical manuscripts and the official records of the University.... Manuscripts and Archives...collects papers of eminent leaders in social policy and public administration, including politics, foreign policy, legal thought, journalism, economics, medical care and urban planning."
The Jane Roberts material, manuscript group 1090, is fairly large and truly unique in content in comparison with other groups. There are 102 boxes (83.50 linear feet) of audio tapes and file folders containing photocopied diaries, journals, notebooks; transcripts of published Seth sessions, unpublished Seth sessions, ESP classes; Jane's poetry; correspondence; papers of Rob Butts and Tam Mossman; family photos; 1982-1986 Reality Change magazines; Coordinate Point magazines through 1987; and Metapsychology magazines from 1985-1986. It is one of the more frequently used collections in the archives and is in fairly constant use, with a new reader coming in every few months or so for varying lengths of time.
We've met two other readers. Irene O'Garden made a one-week pilgrimage before touring with her new book, Fat Girl. The Seth material helped her to examine her beliefs and make peace with her body. She said, " found going to the library and reading the unpublished work a magical and heartening experience--like opening a treasure chest and running my fingers through rubies and pearls and pieces of gold! I still refer to my notes regularly!" Hall Hunsinger took a year off from New York city life to live in New Haven and fill his Power Book with notes. He said, "New Haven is dreadful, but the information is life-saving." He reminded me that in Seth Speaks, Seth mentioned that he often hangs out in his mentally-produced 14th century study. The M & A Reading Room probably shares more than a few details with Seth's own "favorite haunt."
The Reading Room is open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Call them at (203) 432-1744. You can request material at 8:40, 9:40, 10:40 and 11:40 am, 1:15, 2:15, 3:15 pm and it will be brought to your table 20 minutes later.
Martha D. Mac Burnie is a writer residing in Milford, CT and hopes that any readers will look her up when they are in the area. Her number is:(203)783-1943.
Getting To Yale:
If you are flying in, check Hartford, New Haven and Bridgeport airports
if you want to miss the hassles of the 3 NY airports. I recommend getting
a rental car. New Haven is on the Amtrak line as well as the MetroNorth
commuter train line from NYC. If you are driving, take I-95 or I-91 to
Rte 34 at New Haven. Rte 34 dead ends, but follow to Howe St. Right on
Howe, right on Whalley Ave. Park in the lot on the left. (Cross street.
Pick up a cappuccino at David's Cookies.) At the end of the block, walk
left on York St., then right on Wall St. You'll see Sterling Library's
door on the left and M & A is inside on the left.
Accomodations:
Days Inn, Exit 42 (Saw Mil Rd.) off I-95,
West Haven, CT, (203) 933-0344
Holiday Inn, Whalley Ave.,
New Haven, CT (203) 777-6221
Colony Inn (Yale University), 1157 Chapel St,
New Haven, CT (800) 458-8810, (203) 776-1234
Cover Story From Summer '94 Issue of Reality Change
Seth and Physics: The Construction of the Physical
Universe
By Norman Friedman, author of Bridging Science and
Spirit and speaker at SethNet '94
Jane Roberts (1929-1984) was a novelist and poet before she became a channel for the entity who calls himself Seth. In September 1963, Jane had what she described as her first paranormal experience. While writing poetry, she suddenly felt her consciousness leave her body, and simultaneously she began writing (or recording) a torrent of new ideas entering her mind. These writings are the enormously provocative definitions entitled "The Physical Universe as Idea Construction."1 The amazing aspect of this encounter for Jane was that not only were some of these ideas new to her but many were contrary to her own beliefs.
At the time, Jane was researching and writing a book on extra-sensory perception, the acquisition of information outside the five senses. As part of her project, she and her husband Robert Butts began experimenting with a Ouija board. After a few sessions, they began receiving messages from Seth---an "energy essence personality," using Seth's terms. After a few more sessions, Jane began anticipating the Ouija board messages and speaking them before the pointer moved. Soon after that she was capable of full trance in which she allowed Seth to use her body to deliver his message. These sessions resulted in a number of books written by Jane Roberts and others dictated by Seth.
Later, Jane realized that "The Physical Universe as Idea Construction" was the embryo from which all the Seth material unfolded. The following is an examination of a few of the ideas from this seminal work in relation to comments made by some modern physicists. The first definition is:
Energy is the basis of the universe.
This is consistent with contemporary physics. Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity expresses the equivalence of mass and energy, quantified by the famous equation E=mc2 where E is the energy, m is the mass, and c is the velocity of light. So physicists are aware that particles such as electrons and protons are really concentrated energy, a concept in agreement with Seth's statement that energy is the basis of the universe. But Seth goes one step further to state that:
"All energy contains consciousness. That one sentence is basically scientific heresy, and in many circles, it is religious heresy as well. A recognition of that simple sentence would indeed change your world...."2 Indeed, while physicists recognize the equivalence of mass and energy, you might imagine that invoking consciousness in this way would send them running for the exits. Amazingly, though, there are a growing number of scientists who seriously entertain similar ideas. Freemen Dyson is a professor of physics at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University. He contends that quantum theory has made all matter, even units as small as elementary particles, into active agents. By "active agent" he means that each particle in the universe makes choices between random processes. The following excerpt makes this quite clear:
"I think our consciousness is not just a passive epiphenomenon carried along by the chemical events in our brains, but is an active agent forcing the molecular complexes to make choices between one quantum state and another. In other words, mind is already inherent in every electron...."3 The view expressed by Dyson is spreading among physicists and other scientists. Harold J. Morowitz, professor of molecular biophysics and biochemistry at Yale University, comments:
"The views of a large number of contemporary physical scientists are summed up in the essay "Remarks on the Mind-Body Question" written by Nobel laureate Eugene Wigner. Wigner begins by pointing out that most physical scientists have returned to the recognition that thought --- meaning the mind --- is primary. He goes on to state: "It was not possible to formulate the laws of quantum mechanics in a fully consistent way without reference to the consciousness." And he concludes by noting how remarkable it is that the scientific study of the world led to the content of consciousness as an ultimate reality."4 The second definition from Seth's initial contact with Jane Roberts is: Ideas are mental transformations of energy by an entity into physical reality.
This definition refers to the concept expressed in the title "The Physical Universe as Idea Construction" and is repeated throughout the Seth material in the statement, "You make your own reality."5 Not only do we humans form our own realities but so does every animal, every vegetable, every electron. Of course, the reality created by an electron is quite different from the worlds you and I create, for we are capable of more extensive experience. Seth expresses it this way:
"Molecules and atoms and even smaller particles have a condensed consciousness. They form into cells and form an individual cellular consciousness. This combination results in a consciousness that is capable of much more experience and fulfillment than would be possible for the isolated atom or molecule alone. This goes on ad infinitum . . . to form the physical body mechanism. Even the lowest particle retains its individuality and [through this cooperation] its abilities are multiplied a millionfold."6
The question arises, how does the particle (and the human) create its own reality? Throughout the Seth books, Seth explains this remarkable process. We can touch on only a few aspects here. Seth says that metaphorically speaking, we swim in a sea of probable events. Another way of phrasing it is that we are immersed in a field of probabilities, but we activate only those events we choose to turn into our reality. We are, as humans, blessed with the ability to create a near-infinite number of events. We do this---using Seth's metaphor of a television set with a remote control---by tuning in to those "programs" we wish to become our reality.
How does our "remote control" work? According to Seth, our thoughts and emotions are constantly being transformed into physical form. The events of our lives seem to have an objective, concrete existence independent of us. But what we perceive is really the materialization of our own inner emotions and thoughts. That is, the objects we perceive are our own creations symbolizing our mental activity. In some sense, this is analogous to using the remote control to select the program we wish to view.
What is the purpose of this process? Seth says we are learning what mental energy is and how to use it. In short, we are developing our consciousness. This activity is not confined to humans but also is present in elementary particles. Recall Freeman Dyson's comment that the electron is an active agent making choices from random processes. Although the electron's selection of probable events is, however, more restricted than ours, presumably it too is developing its own consciousness.
Does the sea of probabilities encountered by the electron have any relevance to quantum theory? It does because the quantum properties of an electron differ from those described by classical physics in that they are latent potentialities. This requires a short explanation. When an electron is not being observed (with a measuring instrument), it is described by a mathematical entity called a wave function. The wave function describes all the potentialities of the electron and assigns a certain probability to each. When we observe the electron, one of the potentialities is developed or brought into reality. If enough electrons are observed, they unerringly follow the quantum rules of probability.
To understand this better, consider the following metaphor. In a given community, the distribution of religious affiliation is 60% Protestant, 30% Catholic, and 10% "other." Everyone in the community is free to choose their religion (or even change it), but as a group, suppose they are constrained to follow the rule of distribution---analogous to the "wave function"---and divide along religious lines in a 60%, 30%, 10% manner. If you consider the religion of one citizen, this pattern of probabilities applies (i.e., there is a 60% chance that he is Protestant) and for the entire community, statistical laws are followed exactly. In the same way, the electron swims in a sea of probabilities until we "look" at it, then one probability is selected. Thus it becomes materialized.
Similarly, Freeman Dyson would say the electron selects its own actions but is constrained in that action by the entire group. That is, when you decide to walk across the room, every cell, molecule, and electron in you body is a free agent, but your body organizes itself to move in concert with your decision. Seth describes this: "You stand amid a constant vital commotion, a gestalt of aware energy, and you are yourselves physically composed of conscious cells that carry within themselves the realization of their own identity, that cooperate willingly to form the corporeal structure that is your physical body."7
And:
"You're are the one who decides to walk across the floor, and then
all of these inner calculations take place to help you achieve your goal.
The conscious intent, therefore, activates the inner mechanisms and changes
the behavior of the cells and their components."8
So in some sense, your conscious intent sets the constraints on all the constituents of your body, which, individually and in combination, we refer to as "conscious gestalts." In a similar manner, when a conductor of a symphony orchestra decides to play a given selection during a concert all the musicians willingly cooperate to perform the piece. In scientific circles, this is called downward causation. Physicist David Peat explains it this way:
"The human body is composed of cells which depend upon the whole organism. So at one level the operations of the body can be explained in terms of its constituents, yet at another, these constituent parts must be defined in terms of the goals, operations, and meaning of the whole."9
One final aspect should be considered. If we each make our own reality, how is it that we perceive a single shared reality "out there?" According to Seth, there exists an infinite number of realities---all occupying the same space. As an example, imagine three persons plus a cat in a room with a table. According to Seth, there are actually three rooms, each with a table, each in a three-dimensional space. There is also a fourth room made by the cat. The rooms made by the people are enough alike to create the impression of the same "room," the reason being that the humans have the same neurological structure and are on relatively the same level of conscious awareness. The room made by the cat is probably quite different but since we have no common language, we cannot determine its characteristics.
You might be thinking that surely there is no counterpart to such an idea in contemporary physics. But a construct called Hilbert space offers some parallels.
When quantum theory was originally formulated, it was found that ordinary three-dimensional space was not adequate if all the independent possibilities were to be handled. For example, if two electrons make up the quantum state, one three-dimensional space for both electrons would not allow the physicist to perform such calculations as the conservation of momentum if two electrons collide. In short, a six-dimensional space is required---three for each electron. As the possibilities increase, the number of dimensions increase. The physicist uses an infinite-dimensional Hilbert space for calculations, with the particle becoming a pattern in this infinite-dimensional space. It is as if each electron requires its own space. An analogy would be two people in separate cities playing a game of chess and communicating their moves through a telephone link. In such an arrangement, two chess boards are required, each with the pieces placed in the same pattern. Thus the idea that we construct our own reality is like each of us having our own chessboard of life, playing the game according to generally agreed upon rules.
In summary, Seth makes these assertions, which are clearly related to concepts in contemporary physics:
· Energy is the basis of the universe.
· Energy is consciousness: that is to say, mind is inherent
in all matter from the elementary particle to the human.
· The universe is constructed from mental activity and from
all consciousness.
· All conscious gestalts are constrained by their level of development
but willingly cooperate to create a consensus reality.
In the simplest terms, all is energy, energy is consciousness, and
all cooperate for the development of all.10
Copyright: November, 1993. All rights reserved.
| 1. | Jane Roberts, Seth, Dreams and Projections of Consciousness. Stillpoint Publishing, Walpole, New Hampshire, 1987, p.44. |
| 2. | Jane Roberts, The God of Jane. Prentice Hall Press, New York, 1987, p. 146. |
| 3. | Paul Davies, The Cosmic Blueprint. Simon and Schuster, New York, 1988, p. 190. |
| 4. | Harold J. Morowitz, Cosmic Joy and Local Pain. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1937, p.277. |
| 5. | Jane Roberts, The Nature of Personal Reality. Prentice Hall Press, New York, 1974, p. 16. |
| 6. | Jane Roberts, The Seth Material. Prentice Hall, Inc., New York, 1970, p. 125-126. |
| 7. | Jane Roberts, Seth Speaks. Prentice Hall Press, New York, 1972, p. 12. |
| 8. | Jane Roberts, The "Unknown" Reality. Vol. 2, Prentice Hall Press, New York, 1985, p. 323. |
| 9. | F. David Peat, Synchronicity. Bantam Books, New York, 1987, p. 63. |
| 10. | The comparisons and related topics described in this article are presented in detail in my book Bridging Science and Spirit. Living Lake Books, St. Louis, 1990, 1994. |
Feature Story From Summer 1995 Issue of Reality Change
Seth in Cyberspace: The CompuServe Connection
By Helen Stewart, Ph.D.
GO NEWLIFE. Click on JOIN. Click on FORUM A. Click on BROWSE MESSAGES. Click on SETH NETWORK INTERNATIONAL. That's it. That's all you have to do to participate in SNI's new section on CompuServe's New Age Forum. Once you join the first time, step two is gone. Twenty-five dollars for the software will get you there, and you get the money back in usage credits, so joining is really free. So, what do you get for all that ease? Take a look:
· 24-hour access to conversations and messages about the Seth material, what SNI is up to, regional Seth gatherings and study groups, and Seth-related research
· Exclusive access to Seth-related library materials at no cost except access time
· Thursday evening interactive, real time Seth Study Group
· Previews about new materials before they hit the mass market and media
· Best of all, instant access to literally thousands of Seth readers world wide: you can talk to someone in England as easily as you talk with your next door neighbor
So you're scared of computers. When they were invented, telephones probably scared your reincarnational or counterpart self, too. How about doing a little belief homework? How about that magical approach? Fill this adventure with EASE and FUN!
CompuServe's New Age Forum (NAF) is three years old and already has well over 75,000 members, several thousand of whom are acquainted with the Seth material. Just this May, SNI became the newest addition to the Forum's impressive 40 sections that span the full range of metaphysical interest. So if you are one of those people, like many of us were in the early years, who assumes you are the only Seth reader around, you're in for a big and wonderful surprise!
In addition to Seth, you can explore other subjects including astrology, dreaming and the mind, alternative health, media and wicca. SNI also joins an impressive list of New Age celebrities including Richard Bach, Deepak Chopra and Jach Pursel (channel for Lazaris) who have their own sections. SNI will have a presence in two sections: a Seth Network section that opened this May, and a Seth Study Group, taught by yours truly, that has been going since April.
Each section is composed of "threads," or topics that run like conversations in the form of posted messages. Anybody can start a thread on any topic or question. Then everybody jumps in with comments, advice, quotations from Seth or Jane, and additional questions.
Threads can last for a few days, or they can go on for months, depending upon the topic and the interest of NAF members. We talk about earth changes, the Oklahoma bombing from a Sethian mass events perspective, the process of channeling, scientific discoveries that support or refute Seth's version of reality, time, emotions, the process of co-creation, and responsibility and freedom. And that's just a start. On Thursday evenings at 9:30 p.m. EDT, you can attend the Forum's Seth Study Group, which is an interactive, real time, virtual classroom. We have already read the newly released Seth book, The Magical Approach, and are now working on an old favorite for all Seth readers, The Nature of Personal Reality.
You won't just find Seth included in discussions in the SNI or Seth Study Group Sections. You can SEARCH on KEYWORD Seth and discover that the material is also talked about in the Channeling, Scientific and Medical Network, Illusions and Beyond, and Jach and Lazaris Room sections on a regular basis. In addition, Seth-related materials, including transcripts of each weekly Seth Study Group, can be downloaded from the Forum's many libraries at no charge.
So you won't feel funny as a "newbie," here are a few hints for tooling around the New Age Forum. Remember that to get anywhere in Compu-Serve, GO is the magical word.
· You'll see notices posted all over the place for special conferences. You don't have to do anything special to find many of these, because the information will "flash" on your screen when you enter the Forum.
· When guest speakers or moderators are having a special public event, the normal chatter goes into "formal Conference" mode. There's a file in Library 1 called HOW2CO.TXT, which explains the rules (surprisingly few) for study groups and special conferences. Remember, nobody can see you raise your hand in cyberspace, so typing ! when you want to comment, or ? when you want to ask a question, helps the moderator see you and put you on the speaker's list. See, that wasn't so hard!
· Put your action and emotions between brackets, for example: Then there are all the cyber shorthand messages that make our CB friends
green with envy:
:-) smile---colon, dash, right parenthesis
While some of us might be very irreverent and swear a lot (of course,
I would never do that myself---Hah!), no swearing is permitted in public
spaces, which include conference rooms, on CompuServe. Somebody'll be glad
to teach you how to talk privately where you won't have to censor yourself
quite so much.
There are at least two versions of CompuServe Information Manager (CIM)
for your computer. WINCIM for Windows users and MACCIM for Macintosh users.
For you techies, you can also log on in ASCII if you're prepared for a
wild ride. Interactive multiple conversations in ASCII can be a hoot.
If you want to save money (since all of us good Sethians have resolved
our money issues, just consider this a time-saver rather than a money-saver)
you'll definitely want to log on in "automatic pilot" mode for downloading
and for reading and responding to messages off-line. There is free software
available on-line for this purpose, depending upon your machine and your
preferences. Or you can get Navigator, OZCIS or other programs that are
very easy to use and that save you LOTS of connect time charges. You can
also go in at higher speeds and save some additional money with these programs.
There are lots of places to get help on-line, including Practice Forum,
Help Forum, and too many software support forums to name. Help is included
in your basic membership of about $6.95 month.
I'd recommend that you find one of these auto-download programs when
you want to "surf" all the sections in detail, and go in on WINCIM or MACCIM
when you want to chat in real time, or come to the Seth Study Group on
Thursday evenings, or just hang out in one or two sections at a leisurely
pace. Connect time charges were recently cut in half throughout CompuServe,
so you'll get a whole lot for your money.
GO PHONES for a list of Compu-Serve access numbers nearest you. If you're
fortunate enough to be near a major "node" or line, then your access number
will be a local phone call for you. If you live some distance from a node,
then remember that you'll be paying for a long distance call as well as
your connect time on-line. Auto programs like Navigator and OZCIS will
be especially good for you. Go easy the first couple of months until you
see your phone bill and your first CompuServe bill. Then you'll know better
how to manage your access and your time on-line.
But enough of this technical mishmash. The New Age Forum is a place
where Seth readers meet, play, and discuss. You'll find somebody there
whether you're an early bird or a night owl like me. You can find me by
looking for HelenStewart/SETH. (Nope, I am not claiming to be Seth or to
channel Seth; I'm just a local facilitator for Seth material). Anybody
with a slash and something else after his or her name will be able to help
you get around.
See you in cyberspace!
Helen Stewart is what can be termed an intuitive, a conscious trance
channel and a metaphysical teacher. Since 1991 Helen has been an active
participant and Section Leader on CompuServe's New Age Forum. Her areas
of expertise are channeled thought, including theories of reality by channeled
entities, the process and techniques of channeling, channeling states of
consciousness and the Seth material. Currently she is president of the
University of Metaphysical Studies and its international library. Her e-mail
address is 74660.1375@compuserve.com
:-( frown---colon, dash, left parenthesis
PMFJI pardon me for jumping in
IMHO in my humble opinion
FWIW for what it's worth
BTW by the way
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