Jane Roberts

珍·羅伯茲（英語：Dorothy Jane Roberts，1929年5月8日－1984年9月5日）是美國作傢、詩人、靈媒，與一個自稱“賽斯”的人格通靈。她出版的賽斯書籍以“賽斯資料”之名聞名於世，奠定了她在超常現象領域的領先地位。耶魯大學圖書館的手稿檔案部（Manuscripts and Archives）藏有一份標題為“Jane Roberts Papers (MS 1090)”的檔案，記載着羅伯茲的生涯與生平，內含日記、詩集、通信、影音紀錄和其他在她死後由其丈夫乃至個人團體捐贈的資料。

早年生活與生涯

羅伯茲出生於紐約奧爾巴尼的一傢醫院、成長於附近的薩拉托加溫泉市。父母戴勒梅爾·鬍貝爾·羅伯茲（Delmer Hubbell Roberts）和瑪莉·伯多（Marie Burdo）在她兩歲的時候就離婚了。年輕的瑪莉帶着獨生女投靠父母，棲身於父母租藉多年的房屋。這間位於薩拉托加貧民窟的房子還住着另一個家庭。1932年，瑪莉患上早期類風濕性關節炎，但仍盡力工作。與羅伯茲有着共同神秘經驗的祖父約瑟夫·伯多無力再照顧兩人，因此他們一傢人必須依賴公共資源度日。1936年，羅伯茲的祖母死於車禍。翌年，祖父搬離住處。這時瑪莉已經開始無以為繼，於是福利部（Welfare Department）開始給母女倆提供臨時（往往不可靠）幫助。後來瑪莉久病在床，珍扛起照顧母親的責任，包括煮飯、清掃、拿便壺、夜間起床為暖爐添加燃料。憂憤的母親常告訴珍，她打算在夜間打開瓦斯讓全家同歸於盡。珍說：“我媽真是賤婦一個，但她是充滿活力的賤婦。她第五次自殺便服下了大量安眠藥丸，然後就送醫了。我去找福利部的女職員說：‘我實在不能再忍受了。我一定要離傢出走’。”瑪莉不止一次告訴珍，說她不是好女兒，說生女兒讓媽媽生病，所以她要跟女兒斷絶母女關係。母親對她持續的精神虐待讓小小年紀的她害怕被遺棄。這種情況讓珍更沒有安全感，但也同時學會了獨立，因為她覺得不必再依賴母親。珍在十歲前一直患有結腸炎。進入青春期後，她又患有甲狀腺機能低下的問題。她的視力極差，必須戴一副度數夠深的眼鏡（但很少戴）。珍於1940年大部分時間和1941年半年時間被收養於紐約特洛伊市一所嚴格的天主教孤兒院，當時她的母親則在別的城市治療關節炎。牧師們定期拜訪這個沒有父親的家庭，並給予必要的支持。珍起初因缺乏溫馨的養育之傢，因而對這類習俗宗教懷着強烈的信心。然而，珍早期某些詩作透露輪回的觀念，受到冒犯的牧師則一把火把她的書燒了。她很自然地害怕遺棄感，而她的好奇心和能力都讓她得以應付那些觀念。在這之前這些“麻煩”的資料都相對不完整。她曾有一段時間周旋於不同信念之中。1945年夏天，16歲的珍開始在一傢雜貨店工作。這是她的第一份工作。到了秋季，她仍在放學後繼續在雜貨店打工，偶爾也在星期六上工。在上過幾所公立學校後，珍於1947至1950年間就讀於斯基德摩爾學院。祖父在她19歲的時候過世，對她打擊很大。此時她開始從宗教轉嚮科學。

這時珍開始跟一個叫做沃特（Walt）的男子來往，並相約騎機車前往西岸拜訪珍的父親（他也是來自破碎的家庭）。沃特和珍最後結婚了，僅三年同住。她“後來發現”－－“她為了供愛人沃特讀書而在收音機工廠工作－－但鎮上每個人都知道他根本沒有到學校去。”1954年2月，珍認識了前廣告設計師羅伯特·霸茲（Robert F. Butts）（生於1919年6月20日）。他倆在一次派對上第四次見面，而且沒有約會。珍“衹是看着他說：‘你都看到了，我已離開沃特而去。我要麽單身一人，要麽跟你同住，告訴我你要選擇哪一個。’” 1954年12月7日，珍與羅終於結婚。

她的著作種類繁多，有：詩、短篇故事、兒童文學、非小說、科幻小說、幻想作品和各類小說。30歲時，她與丈夫羅伯特開始紀錄從一個叫做“賽斯”的人格傳遞過來的訊息，並寫了很多相關的書籍。

賽斯資料

1963年晚期，住在紐約州埃爾邁拉市的羅伯茲和霸茲開始以通靈板作為研究超感官知覺的工具之一，而羅伯茲則撰寫了一本相關書籍。根據羅伯茲和霸茲的說法，他們於1963年12月2日那天開始接收一連串來自一男性人格的訊息，而後者最後則表明自己叫做賽斯。不久之後，羅伯茲說她不斷在腦海中聽到這些訊息。於是她放棄通靈盤，轉而直接將聽到的訊息記錄下來。

羅伯茲描述，書寫賽斯書的過程本身就是一種出神狀態（trance state）。她說，賽斯會控製她的身體並透過她說話，而她的丈夫則將她所說的話記錄下來。他們說這些紀錄是“靈訊”（readings）或“課”（sessions）。

據傳羅伯茲也利用打字機進行“自動書寫”來與許多已過世的人通靈，獲取有關世界觀的知識，包括哲學家威廉·詹姆士和印象派畫傢保羅·塞尚。

直到羅伯茲於1984年過世前的21年間（有一年因病停止活動），她都會定期進入出神狀態，在課堂上以賽斯的身份說話。霸茲充當速記員，將聽到的訊息記錄下來，並在一些課上讓其他人當場錄音。賽斯透過羅伯茲傳來的訊息主題廣泛，內容大都是獨白的。這些紀錄後來以《賽斯資料》（The Seth Material）之名由Prentice-Hall出版。

多年來，數百人見證賽斯說話。有些人在晚間參加羅伯茲主持的ESP課程（1967年9月－1975年2月每周二上課，有時也在周四晚間開課），其他人則參加長期課程。在課後，羅伯茲也私下對個別寫信嚮她求助的人上起賽斯課。對於這些課程，她並沒有收取任何費用；不過，在為數5至40人的ESP課程中，她還是會嚮學員酌收2.50美元到3.50美元不等的費用。等到賽斯資料的銷售情況轉好，她就取消了費用。羅伯茲出版的賽斯課書籍幾乎都是1967年至1982年期間每周一和周三晚間沒有任何見證者的私人課（1981年8月至11月是周二和周四）。

1969年出版的《賽斯資料》（The Seth Material）是羅伯茲的通靈紀錄，以概要的形式出版。1970年1月，羅伯茲開始將從賽斯那裏聽來的訊息撰寫成書。羅伯茲宣稱她的靈媒身份就是這些書的作者，除此之外並無其他作者。這一係列的《賽斯書》共有十册。最後兩册似乎因羅伯茲的病情而未完成。霸茲為所有賽斯書編寫了大量註解、附錄和其他評語，自然也就成為賽斯書的共同作者。這些附註有羅伯茲和霸茲自己在賽斯課期間的軼事、以他們閱讀過的當代信仰和資料的觀點對賽斯訊息的評論、對摘自追隨者和賽斯評論傢的信件的評述（特別是後者，為長條校樣提供了寶貴的意見）。到了1982年2月，他們仍舊從各方讀者那裏收到“每周30至50件的信函和包裹”。一些羅伯茲早期和晚期的詩集也出現在信中，簡明地透露她對賽斯的概念。羅伯茲也寫了《超靈七號》（The Oversoul Seven）三部麯，以小說的形式探索賽斯在輪回和超靈方面的某些教導。

根據羅伯茲的說法，賽斯人格形容自己是“不再聚焦於物質（嚮度）的能量人格元素”，獨立於羅伯茲的潛意識之外。起初羅伯茲懷疑賽斯的來歷，猜想他可能就是自身人格的反映。賽斯附體時，羅伯茲有時顯得冷峻，有時顯得快活，或有教授風範。“他”的腔調一般來說是獨特易辨的，儘管有時也會顯得模糊難認。據說靈媒愛德加·凱西於出神狀態時會用古代的句法說話，且內容含糊不清。羅伯茲跟他不一樣，當賽斯“上身”時，她的句法風格現代而內容清晰^{[來源請求]}。賽斯書不斷傳出，但並不與早期的內容相矛盾。這些書有的還附有練習元素（Practice Elements），以便讀者知道如何親證賽斯的一些概念。

賽斯評論了一些當代世界事件，例如圭亞那瓊斯鎮的死亡事件和三哩島事件。

賽斯也提出不一樣的創世神話，取代傳統的大霹靂學說或智能設計論。

1971年11月，羅伯茲的父親過世，享壽68歲；母親則於六個月後相繼過世，亦享壽68歲。1982年年初，羅伯茲因嚴重的甲狀腺功能亢進癥住院一個月，並同時患有諸多病癥：眼球突出、雙重視覺、聽力幾乎喪失、輕微貧血、褥瘡—而且還在院內感染葡萄球菌。後來她的病情稍有好轉，但還是於兩年半之後的1984年過世。她長期患有嚴重的關節炎—跟母親一樣—折磨了她大半生和生命的最後一年。（大約有15年之久，霸茲一直相信，至少羅伯茲的心理狀況遠比懷有患病傾嚮的肉體還來得重要－用那些話說，是更具損害性的。）羅伯茲的死被摯愛地記錄在《健康之道》（The Way Toward Health）裏，而霸茲則繼續他守護賽斯資料的工作、監督一些餘下資料的出版，包括《早期課》（The Early Sessions），並確保所有跟賽斯有關的紀錄、手稿、筆記、圖畫等保存在耶魯大學圖書館中。霸茲再婚，其第二任妻子勞拉（Laurel）在他們超過二十年的婚姻當中支持他的事業。2008年5月霸茲過世，但他協助帶給世界的道理的那股活力仍舊熠熠生輝。許多團體將賽斯的語錄編輯成册、概括其教導、發行錄音帶版的賽斯課，並繼續開課或在既有慣例中宣揚賽斯資料。

接受與影響

賽斯對新紀元思想傢的影響力極為深遠。出版於1994年的《個人實相的本質》（"The Nature of Personal Reality, A Seth Book"）在標題紙套外即印上了一些新紀元重要思想傢和各方作傢的推薦語。瑪麗安娜·威廉森（Marianne Williamson）、狄帕剋·愁普拉（Deepak Chopra）、薩剋蒂·高文（Shakti Gawain）、丹·彌爾曼（Dan Millman）、露易絲·賀（Louise Hay）、理查·巴哈（Richard Bach）、潘蜜拉‧剋裏柏（Pamela Kribbe）和其他相關人士都表示賽斯資料啓發了他們的靈性。威廉森也下了類似的結論：“賽斯是我的第一批形而上學老師的其中一位。他源源不絶地為我的人生提供知識和啓發。”芝加哥大學美國宗教史教授凱瑟琳·阿勒本尼斯（Catherine L. Albanese）在1970年代指出，賽斯資料開啓了美國全國上下關註通靈趨勢的紀元。她相信，賽斯資料促進了新紀元運動“自我認同”的發展，而且還擴大了它的陣容。

約翰·紐波特（John P. Newport）研究新紀元思想對當代文化的影響，指出賽斯資料的中心思想是：“你創造你自己的實相”。（簡言之，我們的信念産生驅動記憶和組織聯想的情感。那些信念最終都會在我們的實際生活和健康狀況中獲得實證。）紐波特寫道，新紀元的這一根本概念首次出現在“賽斯資料”中。布拉德利大學研究的宗教學教授羅伯特·富勒（Robert C. Fuller）指出，賽斯人格填補了心靈引導的角色，他稱之為“非教會的美國靈性”（unchurched American spirituality），其主題涵蓋了輪回、業報、自由意志、古代形而上學的智慧、“基督意念”（Christ consciousness）。

一些作傢註意到，“身為夫君的羅伯特·霸茲承認賽斯的想法和各類宗教、哲學乃至神秘教義之間都存在相似性。這些思想從近東、中東、到遠東……例如，我們的確讀了一些佛教、印度教、禪宗、道教的資料，更不要說薩滿教、巫毒教和奧比巫術了。”

晚近的物理學家麥可·塔爾巴特（Michael Talbot）寫道：“我感到驚訝的同時摻雜着些許煩悶－我發現賽斯對實相觀辯纔而清晰的解釋衹有在我下了極大的努力和對超常現象及量子力學做了廣泛的研究之後才能達到。”

批評

查爾斯·厄普敦（Charles Upton）在他題為《敵基督的係統》（The System of Antichrist）的批判專輯中斷言，羅伯茲的“多重人格”實則源於對死亡的恐懼。他認為，賽斯資料不過是起因於對基督教和東方宗教的誤解。

心理學家兼超心理學批判傢詹姆斯·阿勒卡剋（James E. Alcock）認為：“賽斯資料這所有的一切僅能被當作不值一哂的東西。這出騙局顯然需要投入大量的時間和才幹，但我們又無從分辨那到底是騙局還是潛意識的産物－－總之，鑒於這些情況，實無必要考量超自然力量介入的可能性。”

賽斯哲學遠比傳統的教會權威、上帝與造物二元性、一生定功過、耶穌中心等體係還要來得復雜，但又不與它們一致。這些都引起一些基督徒的非難。許多牧師警告信徒，要提防羅伯茲等人通靈訊息的危險性和欺騙性。《賽斯資料》被某些領域的圈內人認為是“一本完全由魔鬼寫的書”。“一個女人聽魔鬼的話，然後寫下它；當然，就上帝啓示來說，它摧毀了一切真理”。不僅如此，它還是“魔鬼附體”的證據。“珍·羅伯茲的賽斯書是反天主教的憎恨之書－藉由媒體傳播”等影片都說，賽斯是“一個從地獄來、通過通靈板顯現的魔鬼”。

羅伯茲死後，還有人宣稱通靈到賽斯。在第一本記錄賽斯話語的《賽斯如是說》（Seth Speaks）的序言中，“他”說道：“為了維持資料完整，通靈衹會透過魯柏［賽斯為珍取的名字］而進行。”在《賽斯資料》中，珍·羅伯茲寫道：“很多人告訴我，賽斯藉由自動書寫跟他們接觸，但賽斯都全數否認。”至少有一個人曾宣稱通靈到賽斯。

著作集成

• Roberts, Jane (1956). The Red Wagon, short story. Publisher: The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, December edition.
• Roberts, Jane (1957). The Canvas Pyramid, short story. Publisher: The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, March edition.
• Roberts, Jane (1957). First Communion, short story. Publisher: First Communion Fantastic Universe, March edition.
• Roberts, Jane (1957). The Chestnut Beads, novella, (Bundu series). Publisher: The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, October edition.
• Roberts, Jane (1958). The Bundu, novella, (Bundu series). Publisher: The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, March edition.
• Roberts, Jane (1958). A Demon at Devotions, short story. Publisher: The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, September edition.
• Roberts, Jane (1959). Nightmare, short story. Publisher: The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, April edition.
• Roberts, Jane (1959). Impasse , short story. Publisher: The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, July edition.
• Roberts, Jane (1963). The Rebellers, novel. Publisher: Ace Books.
• Roberts, Jane (1964). Three Times Around , short story. Publisher: The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, May edition.
• Roberts, Jane (1966). How To Develop Your ESP Power. Publisher: Federick Fell. (Later retitled and reprinted as The Coming of Seth.) ISBN 0-8119-0379-6.
• Roberts, Jane (1970). The Seth Material. Reprinted, 2001 by New Awareness Network. ISBN 978-0-9711198-0-2 .
• Roberts, Jane and Robert F. Butts (1972). Seth Speaks: The Eternal Validity of the Soul. Reprinted 1994 by Amber-Allen Publishing. ISBN 1-878424-07-6.
• Roberts, Jane (1974). The Nature of Personal Reality. Prentice-Hall. Reprinted 1994, Amber-Allen Publishing. ISBN 1-878424-06-8. Online here. 頁面存檔備份，存於互聯網檔案館
• Manley, Seon and Lewis Gogo (1975). Ladies of Fantasy: Two Centuries of Sinister Stories by the Gentle Sex. William Morrow & Co Library. ISBN 0688516815. Includes Roberts' 1956 short story about reincarnation, The Red Wagon.
• Roberts, Jane (1975). Adventures in Consciousness: An Introduction to Aspect Psychology. Prentice-Hall. ISBN 0-13-013953-X.
• Roberts, Jane (1975). Dialogues of the Soul and Mortal Self in Time. Prentice-Hall. ISBN 0-13-208538-0. Poetry.
• Roberts, Jane (1976). Psychic Politics: An Aspect Psychology Book. Prentice-Hall. ISBN 0-13-731752-2.
• Roberts, Jane (1977). The "Unknown" Reality Vol. 1. Prentice-Hall. Reprinted 1997, Amber-Allen Publishing. ISBN 1-878424-25-4.
• Roberts, Jane (1979). The "Unknown" Reality Vol. 2. Prentice-Hall. Reprinted 1997, Amber-Allen Publishing. ISBN 1-878424-26-2.
• Roberts, Jane (1977). The World View of Paul Cezanne: A Psychic Interpretation. ISBN 0-13-968859-5.
• Roberts, Jane (1978). The Afterdeath Journal of An American Philosopher: The World View of William James. Prentice-Hall. ISBN 0-13-018515-9.
• Roberts, Jane (1979). Emir's Education in the Proper Use of Magical Powers. Prentice-Hall. ISBN 1-57174-142-9. Children's literature.
• Roberts, Jane (1979). The Nature of the Psyche: Its Human Expression. Prentice-Hall. Reprinted 1996, Amber-Allen Publishing. ISBN 1-878424-22-X.
• Roberts, Jane (1981). The Individual and the Nature of Mass Events. Prentice-Hall, ISBN 0134572599. Reprinted 1994, Amber-Allen Publishing, ISBN 1-878424-21-1.
• Roberts, Jane (1995). The Oversoul Seven Trilogy. Amber-Allen Publishing. ISBN 1-878424-17-3. Edition: Paperback; May 1, 1995 (originally published as three separate books: The Education of Oversoul 7 (1973); The Further Education of Oversoul Seven (1979); Oversoul Seven and the Museum of Time (1984).
• Roberts, Jane (1981). The God of Jane: A Psychic Manifesto. Prentice-Hall. ISBN 0-01-335749-2. Reprinted 2000, Moment Point Press. ISBN 0-9661327-5-0.
• Roberts, Jane (1982). If We Live Again, Or, Public Magic and Private Love. Prentice-Hall. ISBN 0-13-450619-7. Poetry.
• Roberts, Jane (1986). Dreams, Evolution and Value Fulfillment. Prentice-Hall, two volumes, ISBN 0-13-219452-X and ISBN 0-13-219460-0.
• (1993). A Seth Reader. Vernal Equinox Press. Compendium edited by Richard Roberts. ISBN 0-942380-15-0.
• Roberts, Jane (1995). The Magical Approach: Seth Speaks About the Art of Creative Living. Amber-Allen Publishing. ISBN 1-878424-09-2.
• Roberts, Jane (1997). The Way Toward Health: A Seth Book. Robert F. Butts (Foreword), Amber-Allen Publishing. ISBN 187842430.
• Roberts, Jane (2006). The World View of Rembrandt. New Awareness Network. ISBN 0-9768978-2-2.
• Roberts, Jane (1997 and after). The Early Sessions (Sessions 1 through 510 of the Seth Material). New Awareness Network. Edited by Robert Butts. Nine volumes. ISBN 0-9652855-0-2.
• Roberts, Jane (2003). The Personal Sessions. New Awareness Network. Deleted session material. Seven volumes. ISBN 0-9711198-4-8.
• Roberts. Jane. The Early Class Sessions. New Awareness Network. Two volumes.

他人撰寫的賽斯書籍

• Dahl, Lynda Madden (1992). "Beyond the Winning Streak: Using Conscious Creation to Consistently Win at Life". The Woodbridge Group. ISBN 978-1-889964-10-2; eBook ISBN 978-1-889964-08-9.
• Dahl, Lynda Madden (1995). Ten Thousand Whispers: A Guide to Conscious Creation. The Woodbridge Group. ISBN 978-1-889964-06-5; eBook ISBN 978-1-889964-00-3.
• Dahl, Lynda Madden (1997). The Wizards of Consciousness: Making the Imponderable Practical. The Woodbridge Group. ISBN 978-1-889964-03-4; eBook ISBN 978-1-889964-12-6.
• Dahl, Lynda Madden (2001). The Book of Fallacies: A Little Primer of New Thought. Moment Point Press. ISBN 978-0-9661327-9-3.
• Friedman, Norman. Bridging Science and Spirit: Common Elements in David Bohm's Physics, The Perennial Philosophy and Seth. The Woodbridge Group, 1994. ISBN 978-1-889964-07-2.
• Friedman, Norman. The Hidden Domain: Home of the Quantum Wave Function, Nature's Creative Source. The Woodbridge Group, 1997. ISBN 978-1-889964-09-6.
• Stack, Rick. Out-Of-Body Adventures : 30 days to the Most Exciting Experience of Your Life. Contemporary Books. ISBN 0-8092-4560-4.
• Ashley, Nancy. Create Your Own Reality : A Seth Workbook. Prentice-Hall Press, 1984. ISBN 0-13-189127-8.
• Ashley, Nancy. Create Your Own Happiness: A Seth Workbook. Prentice-Hall Press, 1988. ISBN 0-13-189226-6.
• Ashley, Nancy. Create Your Own Dreams: A Seth Workbook. Prentice-Hall Press, 1990. ISBN 0-13-189382-3.
• Watkins, Susan M. Speaking of Jane Roberts: Remembering the Author of the Seth Material. Moment Point Press, 2001. ISBN 0-9661327-7-7.
• Watkins, Susan M. Conversations with Seth. Moment Point Press, 2005, 2006, two volumes. ISBN 1-930491-05-0 and ISBN 1-930491-09-3 (original version published: Vol. 1 (1980), Vol 2 (1981).
• Hsu, Dr. Tien-Sheng. The Secret to Healing Cancer: A Chinese Psychiatrist and Family Doctor Presents His Amazing Method For Curing Cancer Through Psychological and Spiritual Growth. New Awareness Network, 2011. ISBN 0984928502.
• Kendall, Richard, The Road To Elmira, Volume 1 : A former student of Jane Roberts recounts his experiences while attending Jane's classes . Rich Kendall Books, 2011. ISBN 978-0-9835776-007.

參見

• Stewart Edward White

參考資料

Dorothy Jane Roberts (May 8, 1929 – September 5, 1984) was an American author, poet, self-proclaimed psychic, and spirit medium, who claimed to channel an energy personality who called himself "Seth." Her publication of the Seth texts, known as the Seth Material, established her as one of the preeminent figures in the world of paranormal phenomena.

Early life and career

Roberts was born in Albany, New York and grew up in nearby Saratoga Springs, New York. Her parents, Delmer Hubbell Roberts and Marie Burdo, divorced when she was two years old. With her only child, the young Marie then returned to her own parents, and the home that the family had rented for a number of years: half of a double dwelling in a poor neighborhood. Marie had begun experiencing the early stages of rheumatoid arthritis by 1932 but worked as much as possible. Eventually, Roberts' grandfather, Joseph Burdo, with whom she shared a deep mystical identification, was unable to support two extra people, and the family had to rely upon public assistance. Roberts' grandmother was killed in an automobile accident in 1936.

The next year, her grandfather moved out of the house. By then Marie was partially incapacitated, and the Welfare Department began to furnish mother and daughter with occasional and often unreliable domestic help. When Marie became a bedridden invalid, it was Jane's responsibility to take care of her. This included cooking, cleaning, bringing her the bedpan, and getting up in the middle of the night to refuel the stove. Her embittered mother would tell Jane she was going to turn on the gas jets in the middle of the night and kill them both. When her mother attempted suicide for about the fifth time, she took sleeping pills and was in the hospital. Jane wrote that she went to the welfare worker and said, 'I can't take it anymore. I've just got to leave.'" Over and over Marie told Jane she was no good, that the daughter's birth had caused the mother's illness, and that she was disowned and considered no longer her daughter.

The persistent psychological abuse and mistreatment by her mother resulted in the young girl's deep fear of abandonment. Such situations increased Jane's sense of not being safe, yet also reinforced feelings of independence, for she did not have to feel as dependent upon Marie as she might otherwise.

Well before she was 10 years old Jane had developed persistent symptoms of colitis. By her early teens, she had an overactive thyroid gland. Her vision was poor; she required very strong glasses (which she seldom wore). For most of 1940 and half of 1941, Jane was in a strictly-run Catholic orphanage in Troy, NY while her mother was hospitalized in another city for treatment of her arthritis. Priests came to the house regularly and support was offered to the fatherless family. Jane's initial bonding to the cultural beliefs of religion was very strong to make up for the lack of a loving, nurturing family. For a time she was left between belief systems.

In the summer of 1945, when she was 16 years old, Jane began working at a variety store. It was her first job. That fall she continued on the job after school hours and on an occasional Saturday. After attending public schools she went to Skidmore College from 1947 to 1950 on a poetry scholarship. Roberts' grandfather died when she was age 19. It was a time of severe shock for her. She began to substitute scientific world view for religious belief.

At that time Jane was dating Walt Zeh, a long-time Saratoga Springs friend. Together they went to the west coast by motorcycle to see Jane's father who had also come from a broken home. Jane then married Walt and continued to write while taking a variety of other jobs, including society editor for the Saratoga newspaper, and as a supervisor in a radio factory. Walt and Jane lived together for three years. It was then in February 1954 while "cutting up, dancing, and raisin' hell at a party," that Jane first met the former commercial artist Robert Fabian Butts, Jr. (June 20, 1919 - May 26, 2008). The fourth time they met at another party and Jane 'just looked at him and said, "Look, I'm leaving Walt, and I'm going to live by myself or I'm going to live with you, so just let me know."'" Eventually the two left town together and Jane filed for divorce. Jane and Rob married on December 27, 1954 at the home of his parents in Sayre, PA.

Roberts wrote in a variety of genres: poetry, short stories, children's literature, nonfiction, science fiction, and fantasy, and novels. She was the only woman invited to the first science-fiction writer's conference in 1956 in Milford, PA.

The couple moved to Elmira, NY, in 1960, to find steady part-time work – Rob in the local greeting card company, Jane in an art gallery. Now in her 30s, she and her husband began to record what she said were messages from a personality named "Seth," and she wrote several books about the experience.

Seth Material

On a September evening in 1963, Roberts sat down at her table to work on poetry; Butts was in his back-room studio, painting. "It was very domestic, very normal, very unpsychedelic," she would later remember. And then "Between one normal minute and the next, a fantastic avalanche of radical, new ideas burst into my head with tremendous force... It was as if the physical world were really tissue-paper-thin, hiding infinite dimensions of reality, and I was flung through the tissue paper with a huge ripping sound." When she "came to," Roberts found herself scrawling the title of this odd batch of notes: The Physical Universe as Idea Construction.

Before this, though her fiction typically dealt with such themes as clairvoyance and reincarnation, intellectually neither she nor Butts believed in extrasensory abilities. Yet soon after this episode, Roberts suddenly began recalling her dreams, including two that were precognitive. Their curiosity piqued, the couple decided to investigate further, and she managed to land a contract with a New York publisher for a do-it-yourself book on extra-sensory perception.

In late 1963, Roberts and Butts started experimenting with a Ouija board as part of Roberts' research for the book. 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. The first seven sessions were entirely with the Ouija board. The three-hour session on the evening of Jan. 2, 1964 was the first where she began to dictate the messages instead of using the Ouija board. For a while, she still opened her sessions with the board, but finally abandoned it after the 27th session on Feb. 19, 1964.

Roberts described the process of writing the Seth books as entering a trance state. She said Seth would assume control of her body and speak through her, while her husband wrote down the words she spoke. They referred to such episodes as "readings" or "sessions." The 26th session on Feb. 18, 1964, was the first held in the presence of another person—a friend.

On Jan. 17, 1964, Roberts channeled an allegedly recently deceased woman who told Butts that his and his wife's work with Seth was a life-time project, that they would publish his manuscripts, and help spread his ideas. At the 27th session Seth also told the couple how to rearrange the furniture in their apartment which would better suit their energies. Despite feelings of disbelief toward both messages, the couple somewhat reluctantly agreed. Two days afterward they heard from a psychologist interested in reincarnation to whom they had written three weeks earlier with some session copies enclosed. The psychologist told them that the very fluency of the material suggested that it might come from Roberts' subconscious, though it was impossible to tell. He also cautioned that in some circumstances, amateur mediumship could lead to mental problems.

The letter upset her but helped her deal with her doubts. She felt there were no "alarming changes" in her personality. "I was doing twice the creative work I had done earlier. I was satisfied with the quality of the Seth Material; it was far superior to anything I could do on my own. If nothing else, I thought the sessions presented a way of making deeply unconscious knowledge available on a consistent basis." "Because we were so innocent about psychic literature, we weren't hampered by superstitious fears about such [psychic] phenomena. I didn't believe in gods or demons, so I didn't fear them. I wanted to learn. Rob and I had discovered a whole new world together, and we were going to explore it."

Roberts assumed Seth was a subconscious fantasy, personified because she did not believe in spirits or life after death. She monitored her personality characteristics and went to a psychologist. But she felt that "Seth seemed far more mature and well-balanced than the psychologist, so finally I stopped worrying. This is not to say the experience did not cause certain strains and stresses that could accompany any worthwhile venture in an entirely new field."

Roberts also purportedly channeled the world views of several other people, including the philosopher William James, Rembrandt, and the Impressionist painter Paul Cézanne, through a process she described as using a typewriter to write "automatically."

For 21 years until Roberts' death in 1984 (with a one-year hiatus due to her final illness), Roberts held more than 1500 regular or private "ESP class" trance sessions in which she spoke on behalf of Seth. Butts served as the stenographer, taking the messages down in shorthand he had made up, having others on occasion make recording of some sessions. The messages from Seth channeled through Roberts consisted mostly of monologues on a wide variety of topics. They were published by Prentice-Hall under the collective title Seth Material.

Over the years, hundreds of people witnessed Roberts channeling "Seth". Some went to the ESP classes Roberts held (Tuesday and some Thursday nights, Sept. 1967 – Feb. 1975) for an evening, others attended for longer periods. (By this time Jane had given up her gallery work, and was teaching nursery school during part of this time.) Outside of the ESP class structure, Roberts gave many personal Seth sessions to various individuals who had written her, asking for help. She never charged for those sessions; however, at some point, she did charge $2.50 to $3.50 per ESP class of 5 to 40 people. When the books began to sell in sufficient numbers, she dropped that fee. Book sessions were almost always private, held on Monday and Wednesday evenings without witnesses from 1967 through 1982 (except for Tues and Thurs from Aug. to Nov. 1981).

The material through 1969 was published in summary form in The Seth Material, written by Roberts from the output of the channeling sessions. Beginning in January 1970, Roberts wrote books which she described as dictated by Seth. Roberts claimed no authorship of these books beyond her role as a medium. This series of "Seth books" totaled ten volumes. The last two books appear to be incomplete due to Roberts' illness. Butts contributed extensive footnotes, appendices, and other comments to all the Seth books, and thus was a co-author on all of them. These additions describe what was going on in Roberts' and his life at the time of the various sessions, annotated in light of contemporary beliefs and materials he and Roberts were reading, described excerpts from some fan mail and letters from professionals commenting on Seth's material about their fields, and, especially later, provided insight as to the many steps of production of multiple books with the publisher. By February 1982 they were still receiving "from 30 to 50 letters and packages a week" from readers of their various books.

Some of Roberts' earlier and later poetry was occasionally included to show how she had touched upon some of Seth's concepts. Roberts also wrote The Oversoul Seven trilogy to explore via fiction some of Seth's teachings on the concepts of reincarnation and oversouls.

According to Roberts, Seth described himself as an "energy personality essence no longer focused in physical matter," and was independent of Roberts' subconscious. Roberts initially expressed skepticism as to Seth's origins, wondering if he was a part of her own personality. While speaking as Seth, Roberts at times appeared stern, jovial, or professorial. "His" voice was deeper and more masculine sounding than Jane's and was possessed of a distinct, although not identifiable, accent. 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. Later books continued to develop but did not contradict the material introduced in earlier works. Some "Practice Elements" were even included on how a few of the concepts could be practically experienced.

A few contemporary world events were commented upon, such as the Jonestown Guyana deaths and the Three Mile Island accident.

Seth also provided an alternative creation myth to that of the Big Bang or Intelligent Design.

Roberts' father died in November 1971 at the age of 68; her mother died six months later at the same age. In early 1982 Roberts spent a month in the hospital for severely underactive thyroid gland, protruding eyes and double vision, an almost total hearing loss, a slight anemia, budding bedsores—and a hospital-caused staph infection. She recovered to an extent, but died two and a half years later in 1984, having been bedridden with severe arthritis-like her mother—for the final year and a half of her life. Roberts had spent 504 consecutive days in a hospital in Elmira, N.Y. The immediate causes of her death were a combination of protein depletion, osteomyelitis, and soft-tissue infections. These conditions arose out of her long-standing rheumatoid arthritis. (Butts believed for some 15 years that in Roberts' case, at least, the young girl's psychological conditioning was far more important—far more damaging, in those terms—than any physical tendency to inherit the disease.) Roberts was cremated the next day, in a process, she and Butts had agreed upon several years earlier.

After Roberts' death, recorded in The Way Toward Health (1997), Butts continued his work as a guardian of the Seth texts and continued to supervise the publication of some of the remaining material, including The Early Sessions, making sure all of the recordings, manuscripts, notes, and drawings would be given to the Yale Library. Butts remarried, and his second wife, Laurel Lee Davies, supported his work during the more than 20 years they were together and helped answer mail and proofread manuscripts. Butts died of cancer on May 26, 2008. Jane Roberts Butts and Robert F. Butts Jr. are interred together in the Wayne County, NY Furnaceville cemetery; however, there is another gravestone with their names on it in the Sunnyside cemetery in Tunkhannock, PA. A number of groups have compiled anthologies of quotes from Seth, summarized sections of his teachings, issued copies of Seth sessions on audio tape, and further relayed the material via classes and conventions.

Reception and influence

Seth's effect upon New Age thinkers has been profound.^{[citation needed]} The title jacket of "The Nature of Personal Reality, A Seth Book," republished in 1994 (Amber-Allen/New World Library), contains testimonials from some of the most notable thinkers and writers within the movement. Marianne Williamson, Deepak Chopra, Shakti Gawain, Dan Millman, Louise Hay, Richard Bach, and others express the effect the Seth Material had upon their own awakening.^{[citation needed]} In words similar to Williamson's they state: "Seth was one of my first metaphysical teachers. He remains a constant source of knowledge and inspiration in my life." Catherine L. Albanese, professor of 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. She believes it contributed to the "self-identity of an emergent New Age movement and also augment[ed] its ranks."

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." (Briefly summarized, our beliefs generate emotions that trigger our memories and organize our associations. Eventually, those beliefs become manifested in our physical lives and health.) Newport wrote that this foundational concept of the New Age movement was first developed in the "Seth Material." Historian Robert C. Fuller, a professor of religious studies at Bradley University, wrote that Seth filled the role of guide for what Fuller called "unchurched American spirituality," related to concepts of reincarnation, karma, free will, ancient metaphysical wisdom, and "Christ consciousness."

Some writers noted, "Husband Robert Butts stated 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."

New Age writer Michael Talbot wrote, "To my great surprise—and slight annoyance—I found that Seth eloquently and lucidly articulated a view of reality that I had arrived at only after great effort and an extensive study of both paranormal phenomena and quantum physics."

The Yale University Library Manuscripts and Archives maintains a collection entitled Jane Roberts Papers (MS 1090), which documents the career and personal life of Jane Roberts, including journals, poetry, correspondence, audio, and video recordings, and other materials donated after her death by Roberts' husband and other individuals and organizations. Yale University's collection entitled "Jane Roberts papers" occupies 164.08 linear feet of shelf space and is contained in 498 boxes.

Criticism

Roberts and the Seth Material have attracted critiques from outside the paranormal community. The poet Charles Upton, in his collection of essays titled The System of Antichrist, posited that Roberts multiplied the self due to a fear of death. His opinion was that the Seth texts are based on a misunderstanding of both Christianity and of Eastern religions.

Professor of psychology and noted critic of parapsychology James E. Alcock opined, "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."

Some religious groups have warned their members about the dangers and deceptions of reading channeled messages from Roberts and others. John MacArthur, host of a syndicated Christian talk show, considers The Seth Material to be "a book entirely written by a demon.", while the New Age Urantia Foundation considers the book evidence for "Devil possession." Videos such as Jane Roberts' Seth Speaks is Anti-Catholic Hate Books – Allowed By The Media claimed that Seth was "a demon from hell contacted through a ouija board."

Science writer Karen Stollznow has written that much of Roberts work was "criticized for being a rip-off of Christian and Eastern philosophy. It comes as no surprise that Seth influenced such authors as Deepak Chopra and Louise Hay."

Since Roberts' death, others have claimed to channel Seth. In the introduction to Seth's first dictated book, Seth Speaks, "he" says, "communications will come exclusively through Ruburt [Seth's name for Jane] at all times, to protect the integrity of the material." In The Seth Material, Jane Roberts wrote: "Several people have told me that Seth communicated with them through automatic writing, but Seth denies any such contacts." At least one person has claimed more recently to channel Roberts.

Complete writings

Books:

• Roberts, Jane (1966). How To Develop Your ESP Power. Publisher: Federick Fell. (Later retitled and reprinted as The Coming of Seth.) ISBN 0-8119-0379-6.
• Roberts, Jane (1970). The Seth Material. Reprinted, 2001 by New Awareness Network. ISBN 978-0-9711198-0-2 .
• Roberts, Jane (1972). Seth Speaks: The Eternal Validity of the Soul. Reprinted 1994 by Amber-Allen Publishing. ISBN 1-878424-07-6.
• Roberts, Jane (1974). The Nature of Personal Reality. Prentice-Hall. Reprinted 1994, Amber-Allen Publishing. ISBN 1-878424-06-8.
• Roberts, Jane (1975). Adventures in Consciousness: An Introduction to Aspect Psychology. Prentice-Hall. ISBN 0-13-013953-X.
• Roberts, Jane (1975). Dialogues of the Soul and Mortal Self in Time. Prentice-Hall. ISBN 0-13-208538-0. Poetry.
• Roberts, Jane (1976). Psychic Politics: An Aspect Psychology Book. Prentice-Hall. ISBN 0-13-731752-2.
• Roberts, Jane (1977). The "Unknown" Reality Vol. 1. Prentice-Hall. Reprinted 1997, Amber-Allen Publishing. ISBN 1-878424-25-4.
• Roberts, Jane (1979). The "Unknown" Reality Vol. 2. Prentice-Hall. Reprinted 1997, Amber-Allen Publishing. ISBN 1-878424-26-2 .
• Roberts, Jane (1977). The World View of Paul Cézanne: A Psychic Interpretation. Prentice-Hall. ISBN 0-13-968859-5.
• Roberts, Jane (1978). The Afterdeath Journal of An American Philosopher: The World View of William James. Prentice-Hall. ISBN 0-13-018515-9.
• Roberts, Jane (1979). Emir's Education in the Proper Use of Magical Powers. Prentice-Hall. ISBN 1-57174-142-9. Children's literature.
• Roberts, Jane (1979). The Nature of the Psyche: Its Human Expression. Prentice-Hall. Reprinted 1996, Amber-Allen Publishing. ISBN 1-878424-22-X .
• Roberts, Jane (1981). The Individual and the Nature of Mass Events. Prentice-Hall, ISBN 0134572599. Reprinted 1994, Amber-Allen Publishing, ISBN 1-878424-21-1.
• Roberts, Jane (1995). The Oversoul Seven Trilogy. Amber-Allen Publishing. ISBN 1-878424-17-3. Edition: Paperback; May 1, 1995 (originally published as three separate books: The Education of Oversoul 7 (1973); The Further Education of Oversoul Seven (1979); Oversoul Seven and the Museum of Time (1984)).
• Roberts, Jane (1981). The God of Jane: A Psychic Manifesto. Prentice-Hall. ISBN 0-01-335749-2. Reprinted 2000, Moment Point Press. ISBN 0-9661327-5-0.
• Roberts, Jane (1982). If We Live Again, Or, Public Magic and Private Love. Prentice-Hall. ISBN 0-13-450619-7. Poetry.
• Roberts, Jane (1986). Dreams, Evolution and Value Fulfillment. Prentice-Hall, two volumes, ISBN 0-13-219452-X and ISBN 0-13-219460-0.
• Roberts, Jane (1986). Seth, Dreams and Projections of Consciousness. Stillpoint Publishing.
• (1993). A Seth Reader. Vernal Equinox Press. Compendium edited by Richard Roberts. ISBN 0-942380-15-0.
• Roberts, Jane (1995). The Magical Approach : Seth Speaks About the Art of Creative Living. Amber-Allen Publishing. ISBN 1-878424-09-2.
• Roberts, Jane (1997). The Way Toward Health. Robert F. Butts (Foreword), Amber-Allen Publishing. ISBN 1-878424-30-0.
• Roberts, Jane (2006). The World View of Rembrandt. New Awareness Network. ISBN 0-9768978-2-2.
• Roberts, Jane (1997 and after). The Early Sessions (Sessions 1 through 510 of the Seth Material). New Awareness Network. Edited by Robert Butts. Nine volumes. ISBN 0-9652855-0-2.
• Roberts, Jane (2003). The Personal Sessions. New Awareness Network. Deleted session material. Seven volumes. ISBN 0-9711198-4-8.
• Roberts. Jane. The Early Class Sessions. New Awareness Network. Four volumes.

Short Stories and novellas:

• Roberts, Jane. "Prayer of a Wiser People" in Profile, 1950.
• Roberts, Jane. "The Red Wagon" in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1956 (republished 1993, Reality Change Magazine; anthologized in 1975, Ladies of Fantasy).
• Roberts, Jane. "The Canvas Pyramid" in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1957 (French edition, 1958).
• Roberts, Jane. "First Communion" in Fantastic Universe, 1957.
• Roberts, Jane. "The Chestnut Beads" in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1957 (French edition, 1958; anthologized in Triple W: Witches, Warlocks and Werewolves, 1963).
• Roberts, Jane. "The Bundu" (novella, sequel to "The Chestnut Beads") in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1958.
• Roberts, Jane. "A Demon at Devotions" in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1958 (reprinted in Reality Change Magazine, Winter 1994).
• Roberts, Jane. "Nightmare" in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1959.
• Roberts, Jane. "Impasse" in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1959 (Spanish anthology edition ca. 1960).
• Roberts, Jane. "Three Times Around" in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1964 (anthologized in Earth Invaded, 1982).
• Roberts, Jane. "The Big Freeze" in Dude, 1965 (reprinted in Reality Change Magazine, Summer 1994).
• Roberts, Jane. "The Mission," purchased by Topper magazine in August 1965. (Publication not yet confirmed.)

Poetry Submissions:

• "Time" in The Saratogian [Saratoga Springs, NY], 1947 Mar 19.
• "Enigma" in The Saratogian, 1947 Mar 19.
• "Spring Gaiety" in The Saratogian, 1947 Apr 26.
• "Rain" in Profile [Skidmore College literary magazine], December, 1947.
• "Pretense" in Profile, December, 1947.
• "Code" in Profile, December, 1947.
• "Skyscrapers" in Profile, December, 1947.
• "Introvert" in Profile, May, 1948.
• "Poem" in Profile, May, 1948.
• "How Public Like a Frog" in Profile, Fall, 1948.
• "Motorcycle Ride" in Profile, Fall, 1948.
• "Echo" in Profile, May, 1949.
• "Death Stood at the Door" in Profile, May, 1949.
• "Compromise" in Profile, May, 1949.
• "I Shall Die in the Springtime." Patterns. v.1, n.1, October 1954.
• "Lyric" Patterns. v.1, n.1, October 1954.
• "Matilda" in Quicksilver, Spring, 1960.
• "It is Springtime, Grandfather." Epos., v.12, n.3, Spring 1961.
• "The Familiar." Bitterroot. v.1, n.2, Winter 1962.
• "I Saw a Hand" in Treasures of Parnassus: Best Poems of 1962, Young Publications, 1962 (reprinted in The Elmira Star-Gazette, 1962).
• "My Grandfather's World." Epos. v.14, n.3, Spring 1963.
• "Lullaby." Epos. v.14, n.3, Spring 1963.
• "Beware, October." Epos. v.16, n.1, Fall 1964.
• "This Wrist, This Hand." Epos. v.16, n.4, Summer 1965.
• "The Game." New Lantern Club Review. n.2, Summer 1965.
• "The Flowers." Steppenwolf. n.1, Winter 1965-1966.
• "Vision." Dust/9. v.3, n.1, Fall 1966.
• "Who Whispers Yes." Dust/12. v.3, n.4, Spring 1969.
• "Hi, Low, and Psycho." Excerpts published in Reality Change, Third Quarter, 1996.

References