Customer Reviews

Conversations with Seth, Book 1: 25th Anniversary Edition

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I must admit that I've attempted to read other books pertaining to "Sethian" ideas over the years, and have found myself bogged down within them, not quite able to grasp this different way of thinking and perceiving regarding ourselves & our universe...

However, I found this book, by Susan Watkins, to be more down-to-earth, and therefore a bit easier to understand/decipher.

"Conversations With Seth" is a compilation of what went on during some of Jane Robert's classes during the 1970's. It includes specific dialogue between Seth and the various class attendee's, as well as such "topics"/"entities" as The Sumari & Seth II.

It explores the nature of our thoughts & our reality - including our beliefs about violence, sex, men vs. women, alternate realities, and much, much more.

If you are at all interested in Jane Robert's various "Seth" books, and/or are intrigued by the idea of alternate realities, and how our thoughts create the reality we are currently in, then I would higly recommend this book - it's a fascinating, thought-provoking read (to say the least).

Jane Roberts (1929-1984) was an American author, poet, psychic and spirit medium, who claimed she had "channeled" a personality she called "Seth," who manifested himself while she was in trance, and whose "material" has been published in a great many volumes (e.g., Seth Speaks: The Eternal Validity of the Soul, The Seth Material, The Nature of the Psyche: Its Human Expression (Seth Book), The Way Toward Health: A Seth Book, etc.). Susan Watkins was a member of a weekly ESP class that Jane also conducted, and wrote this book and Conversations With Seth, Book 2: 25th Anniversary Edition (v. 2) documenting the class; Watkins also wrote a memoir/biography of Roberts, Speaking of Jane Roberts: Remembering the Author of the Seth Material.

Watkins wrote in the Prologue to this 1980 book, "I started writing this book in October of 1978 with the idea that it would be a fairly safe project; that is, I could do a reporter's job---collect and record the memories of Jane Roberts's former class members---and leave myself out of it... I began my own excursions into these realms feeling rather smug: I wouldn't be risking a thing. Well, things didn't work out that way, of course. The fact is that I was a member of Jane Roberts's ESP class for nearly ten years, and there is no way that I could pretend to have been a dispassionate observer... I was a passionate participant, leaping into class events or retreating from them... Thus, with the extensive cooperation of former members, I assembled the story of Jane's class from those who composed it."

Here are some additional quotations from the book:

"Jane decided to run an ad in the Elmira newspaper to see how many people would show up once a week, for $2.50 each, to explore the meaning of ESP... At first, Jane held two classes---one for new members and one for those who had been attending a while... Jane did occasional psychic readings, and she or Seth sometimes gave past-life impressions..." (Pg. 26-27)

"Gradually, a sense of 'quickening' began to whisper through class. More and more people were showing up in the Butts' living room---sometimes packing it so full that it was a feat of ingenuity just to cross the room without stepping on somebody." (Pg. 27)

"'Now, Seth does not DIG worship,' Seth said to us one evening. 'For one thing, Seth understands worshippers. And, when one understands worshippers, one does not dig worship!'" (Pg. 31-32)

"Daily events---ordinary and odd ones---were the real cornerstones of Jane's ESP class. A typical Tuesday night's conversation sprang from members' personal lives, and from what we'd been doing during the week. Seth's own comments rarely dominated the entire evening, and were instead PART of the fabric of class." (Pg. 125)

"Jane's attitude toward reincarnation (like mine) was strongly ambivalent. The idea of physical life being expressed in many historical situations made emotional and intuitive sense to her. Intellectually, however, she was highly suspicious... particularly as any kind of pat answer to present problems." (Pg. 173)

This book gives a very vivid account of life among the 1970s Sethians, and I really enjoyed it. It is thought-provoking, as well as interesting for those who study the channeling phenomena of the 1970s and 80s. I prefer Part I only because a large chunk of Part II details all the group members' dreams, without any explanations by Seth or anyone else, and frankly, reading other people's surreal dreams can get kinda boring. But overall, quite a fascinating book, and I'm glad it was written. Check out the Youtube videos of Jane Roberts channeling Seth while you read this, it really brings it alive.

This book gives a vivid account of the happenings in Jane Robert's ESP class. I felt that this has some historical value for Seth fans, but I did not find anything new that was not already expressed in Seth's books. So I am giving this 3 stars for its historical value for Seth fans, but for content, I would rather read Seth's books directly.