Customer Reviews

The Seth Material

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I first encountered The Seth Material on a rainy afternoon in the upper level stacks of the Towanda Public Library, in Pennsylvania. Earlier, in a local paper, I had seen a small write-up about a woman in Elmira, New York, who goes into trance and speaks as someone named Seth. "Yeah, right," I remember thinking.

Then that day in the library, my hand closed over a volume. I saw the title, shrugged, and checked it out. I had no idea of the ride I was about to embark upon.

At age 40, I was not totally unprepared for Seth. I had studied Rosicrucian monographs for nine years and, since my early twenties, had felt a keen interest in metaphysics and philosophy. Yet, I had always had a skepticism about mediums and seances and things ectoplasmic.

I began reading. I learned of the coming of Seth into the lives of Jane Roberts, and her husband Robert Butts. It was bemusing to follow the progress of two people who may well have been as skeptical as I. Well, how would you feel if suddenly some personality essence entity entered your body and proceeded to lecture? It's quite one thing to accept it in theory, but if it happened to me, I think it would scare me-well-witless.

I read on. I got past the mediumship thing and into the meat of the message. When I began to assimilate what Seth was saying, I no longer cared whether Ms. Roberts was getting the information from a disembodied spirit or her goldfish. The material, to me, was electrifying.

On one hand, it seemed hauntingly familiar. I found myself saying, "of course, that's how it must be!" And "yes, I seem to remember...." On the other hand, it took me a very long time to read The Seth Material (and every other Seth book). You don't speed read Seth! I would encounter a concept, read the paragraph over and over until I thought I understood it. Yet there was always a nagging feeling that I didn't, not completely, and I kept doing a Scarlett O'Hara: I'll think about it tomorrow.

All that was nearly thirty years ago. Since then I've purchased all of the Seth books and have read them many times. I will, as long as I continue to have a pulse, read them many times more. I once wrote to Robert Butts and told him that the Seth books were my easy answer to the question, what books would I take if shipwrecked. I only partially joke when I say they keep rewriting themselves between readings, offering more and more information as I become capable of comprehending it.

Has all this changed my life? Indeed! Once begun, the material became an inevitable path of study. It challenged, and often stripped away, many of my most ingrained beliefs, and expanded my consciousness so that my view of the world is forever altered. Did the Seth books offer a magic solution to all my problems? Of course not! Have they offered new insights on how to deal with them? Absolutely-but more as a by-product of what I consider to be the most fascinating, absorbing, and stimulating information on the nature of everything.

I find Seth to be fun. Like an early, beloved schoolteacher whose influence persists throughout our lives, Seth speaks with humor, compassion and patience. Seth is not a cult. Seth is not a religion. Seth does not proselytize. Seth teaches. If you start with The Seth Material-and I do recommend reading the books in the order in which they were written-there are more than a dozen more, each superb.

If I were asked to give a one-sentence description of all of Seth's material, I would quote my son who was brought up on it: "It's the highest distillation of common sense."

I was first introduced to Seth when I was only 16 (and that was 30 years ago). I've read the Seth material over and over again throughout the years and have never ceased to be amazed at what I learn, (and/or relearn), from each reading. There is no doubt that this book has had a profound influence on my way of viewing my existence and the world, and I find Seth to be a wonderful teacher. As a side note, several years ago I stumbled across the book by Richard Bach,(of Jonathan Livingston Seagull fame), called 'Illusions' which quickly became my favorite book behind Seth. I recognized some of the Seth philosphy in his book and felt he had done a great job of explaining some very complex material in a way I could easily understand. Much later, I was very surprised and pleased to find a book review written by Richard Bach, on the Seth Material, on the back of one of my many re-purchased books of The Seth Material! (I kept giving the Seth Material away to friends.) I heartily recommend The Seth Material to anyone who is 'focused in this physical reality'! but wants to know more.

The story of Seth and how Jane and Rob started communicating with Seth. It contains some of the information further elaborated on in Seth Speaks. I had originally put this book off because it looked more narrative and less informative but this was an incorrect judgement on my part. Like many other book series I would recommend reading the Seth works in the order in which they were written for the best comprehension. This book is a "Jane" book which contains some excerpts from Seth sessions.

Since after reading the free Seth Material on-line, I decided this book would be a good place to start with the Seth material. It was. It is basically an outline of the Seth material to come after this book which is much more in depth. This book taught me a lot. I thought the parts about the ESP testing was a bit boring. But I wanted to know a little about Jane Roberts. It starts off slow but gets heavy towards the end. I had problems comprehending the multiple "personality fragments" concept but eventually it made sense.

Much of it made sense with the spiritual path I have chosen. The most helpful part of this book was Chapter 19, The Inner Senses - What they are and how to use them. This helped me understand what I am experiencing as I "journey inward". One inner sense that I found puzzling is the "Inner Vibrational Touch". While I experience this "Inner Sense" during mediation, my experience is different than "Seths". But then again, Seth goes on to say each individual experiences life in his/her unique way.

I also liked the explanation for why we can't learn much from going to the higher dimensions/realms until we have "graduated" from this dimension. Seth equates it to a child that is taken to his father's office for a day. Boring. The child would rather be home playing with his "toys". That's what this place is. A playground with toys that can not only entertain us but cause us "pain". Seth calls it a classroom with consequences for creating and miscreating.

This book helped me understand why the "past" keeps getting rewritten or redefined. We change it. We literally change it like we "can" change the future. This makes sense to me. This is freedom "from" the past. We simply cannot be bound to the past unless we choose to be. We are free to "correct" it. To me this makes sense since we in essence are living "in" the past.

Seth confirmed what I have studied in terms of Near Death Experiences (NDE's). The uniqueness of the physical realm/dimension is verbal communication. In most realms/dimensions communication is accomplished thru thoughts or telepathy.

I am definitely going to take the next Seth course. While I do not think Seth or Seth II is fully enlightened, the Seth Over Soul is definitely on his/her way to enlightenment.

I also find it fascinating that before there was a "Christ" certain Gnostic sects referred to "Seth" as their Savior.

I read this book two years ago, and still have it in my possession, that I may read it again. If you tire of your limitations, if you struggle with the chains that bind your imagination, and if your spirit yearns to be free, this book may be for you. I picked it up thinking that, regardless of the source of the material, it sounded pretty interesting. I wasn't disappointed, and I find that I now feel that the question of the material's origin is overshadowed by the forthrightness with which it is presented. The Seth Material presents a non-technical, personal account of some parts of the potential and the source of our consciousness on levels beyond that which most of us encounter in day-to-day living. Deep, stimulating, and ultimately refreshing.

What has brought me to write this review is the reading of the book " Conversations with God " by Neale Walsch. I read the Seth Material in the early to mid 70's and the chords it struck within my being still resonate today. I have used the lessons learned in this book in my daily life and I am able to love my life because of the understanding I gained from this book.

There are lessons to be learned by not only reading this book, but by comprehending the information that is being given on these pages. The lessons mostly concern how you fit into this fabric of life and how you can utilize your own depth of character to propel you towards greatness in your personal life.

Actual mechanics of how all of us have come to be here. How and why we CAN change everything in our lives to suit our desires, and why most of us don't. Even the subtle and always overlooked affect of linguistics in the creation of our physical reality.

Information contained within this book is the best it gets as far as detailing all actions and reactions to situations in your life....the only problem is it is very technical. There is no other way to describe this book but a technical manual of cause and affect. This is not stated with any kind of negativity....it is just fact.

That is why the reading of " Conversations with God " brought me to write this review. It is virtually the same information in a much more pallatible version, more of a Readers Digest version.

The issue with either book is, it's easy to miss the message if you are busy concentrating on the messengers. My recommendation it read both with an open heart and let your heart tell you if the information given forth in these books ring true to you. If they do....then utilize as much as you can in your life as quickly as you can, if they don't......then maintain your status quo and you have lost nothing!

Jane Roberts and her husband Robert experimented with psychic phenomenon, which led to their encounter with the entity Seth. The Seth entity, is a "group entity" much like the modern-day Abraham entity, who produced a great library of the technology, processes, and logistics of a multi-dimensional universe. This book is an excellent introduction and overview to Seth, giving background in how the Seth material was provided; who Jane Roberts was; and the general focus of the Seth teachings. The later books "dictated" by Seth become highly technical and complex, so "The Seth Material" is a good way to introduce the reader to the extensive writings. Together with "The Adventures of Oversoul 7," this book is the first step in a complete description of all of existence, from a non-physical perspective.

This book is a MUST READ for anyone who has or has not read any of the seth books. It is one of the best ones and will definitely change the way you perceive your life and give you more wisdom than any book ever can, even if your a first time seth reader. Brilliant! I so love this book, definitely one of my all time favorites! This one I do not loan out ha!

This is an amazing book. I feel anyone searching for the answers to who we are and how we interact with our environment, including having questions about our very existance should read this book.

I tried to read this book, but being completely disinterested in the personal life of Jane, her husband and everyone they meet, and their consistent attempt at 'interpretation' of each bit of information offered by Seth, I will be returning this book. I expected the SETH MATERIAL, and not Seth material as interpreted/edited by Jane and Co. At least the 'Magical Approach' book had clear formatting that helps you identify when Seth was speaking, and when the editorials/poems began, so you could easily skip to the Seth material.

"SETH SPEAKS: The Eternal Validity of the Soul" was a very good enlightening book, with no up-selling of other books, no editorials from Jane, and only one poem or two, but lacked follow-through with instruction for processes that were mentioned earlier in the book, and very little detail on instruction provided.

Clearly and without a doubt, the Abraham books from Abraham-Hicks and especially the audio and video recording of the seminars, are by far more informative, better organized, more actively useful in the daily lives of the reader or listener.

However, if anyone knows of any of the Seth books that are just about Seth, and not about Jane and Rob, or an attempt to push her poems, lease let me know. The Seth information is very enlightening, but it should not be necessary to sort through so much unnecessary 'noise' to get that information. I really don't think this is what Seth intended when he chose to 'share' his knowledge with Jane and Rob.