Customer Reviews

The Way Toward Health: A Seth Book

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

 

 

I too read the manuscript in its original form, typewritten in upper case with Seth's dictation frequently interrupted by Rob Butt's notes on his wife's hospitalized condition -- interrupted sometimes every few sentences, as a nurse would come in to take Jane's temperature.

I was one of the correspondents who encouraged Rob often to see that it got published. Grief and perhaps shame kept him from pursuing it, as well as Jane's dying wish that he organize and publish as much of the staggering amount of material produced over those twenty years as he could.

Before I read that manuscript, I didn't imagine it would hold my interest much; although a long-time fan, my usual good health made the subject altogether less interesting than others.

Yet I found it the most absorbing reading of all the Seth books, from opinions on religion to current mass health problems to suggestions for individual well-being.

The italicized interruptions can require a little patience. However, it is Rob's most honorable intention to present his notes as an utterly realistic illustration of two people who dealt in all honesty with the ideas Seth put forth. The notes tell a frank and real account -- how Seth's suggestions were used, and how they were ignored. For that reason they are of high value to those who choose to try out Seth's suggestions themselves. I recommend it to those ailing for that reason.

The sweeping, expansive ideas put forth in the Seth books are slowly, naturally working their way into social thought through their creative personal applications in one way or another by thoughtful individuals. This last book will prove to be most effective the same way. One by one, individuals will find successes using the suggestions in ways the authors Jane Roberts and Robert Butts did not. It will eventually generate great popularity that way.

This book describes Jane's last year in hospital. It's termed a Seth-Book, which is technically correct, but it's as well a book from Robert (Jane's husband). Seth readers are familiar with the Italics, and the main body of this book is actually Italics. The Seth material in it is very good indeed, but most of it can be found scattered across his other work as well. However, in no other book did Robert/Jane allow the reader to come as close to their lives as in this one. I normally just skim the Italics, but here they just sucked me in. Seth occasionally uses the word "drama" in his other books -- this book simply is DRAMA PUT ALIVE. The actual book dictation is about 1/3 or 1/4 of the book, then there's about 1/4 Seth comments to Robert/Jane's current situation and the rest is Italics. The mixture makes this book very powerful and very moving. This book actually makes me think about going to Yale University to study more of the private sessions.

Not recommended if you don't at least know two or three other Jane Roberts/Seth books.

Also, I'm not sure if I would recommend it if you are currently dealing with (own) health problems.

However, an EXCELLENT source of material if you are dealing with healing other people (being a nurse, a doctor or just a healer by intent).

I bought and read The Way Toward Health expecting a more typical "Seth Book", which would teach me more about ways to manage my own health. Instead what I found was a profoundly sad story of Jane's last 18 months on Earth. Not only was Jane unable to apply Seth's teaching to her own illness, both Rob, and Seth seemed unable to let Jane go. Her depression throughout the book is obvious. Her need to let go of this life and go to "The Other Side" was obvious (to me). But instead of Rob "letting her go" with his love and his blessing he would challenge her (at least in his thought if not directly) that she "wasn't trying hard enough". Seth also joined in this Jane needs to and WILL get better - as she was in the final stages of an unnamed extremely painful disease. Jane's contract with life was over, and it was time for her to go home. Seth could have been reassuring both Jane and Rob about her transition back home to the "Spirit World" (my words, not Seth's). He could have eased Jane's fear of dying, instead of encouraging her to uncurl her hand, and straighten her leg. He could have been helping Rob know that Jane would be "whole, well, and happy" after her death, and that he, Rob would see her again shortly. Seth could have even been teaching them both how to remain in contact after Jane's death. There are many techniques used to contact people who have passed, as people who have passed with the right techniques can reach those living on the Earth plane. Obviously Seth knows that! I personally was shocked with what Seth and Rob put Jane through during this obviously terminal illness. So much depression, so much guilt (on Jane's part), as if she was somehow failing because her life contract was over and it was her time to return home. The kindest gift we can give someone who is dying is to "release them" and give them our "blessings". Let them leave knowing we love the, we'll be o.k., and we'll see them again.

This book, more than being strictly about health, is a thought-provoking finale of all Seth material to date. I rate this book five stars because of its significance and the emotional impact it had on me. I expected the usual Seth experience from previous books, his clever insights, skipping Robert's italicized comments, etc., and found myself instead witnessing the sad drama of Jane's last months of life. This book was emotionally hard to read and I cried at several points. As a reader, your heart goes out to Jane and Robert.

Jane's decision to give up healing herself and die was a startling shock at the end of the book, specifically because she had Seth, the profound teacher, at her disposal for many years. How could she not heal with such help from Seth, you keep asking yourself. Surprisingly, her way toward health ends up in dying and this makes her the ultimate anti heroine, "failing" the teachings that she herself gave birth to. This is depressing, to say the least.

However, I do not feel either Jane, Seth or the material itself lost credibility in this book. Seth never claimed to be an all-knowing God. He did not determine Jane's life or her decisions. This book makes it obvious how free and in charge of our lives we truly are, literally to the bitter end. This was Seth's ultimate message, he repeated it many times, and this is what makes him credible in my eyes.

When the book ends, Jane dies and Seth's voice is gone forever, you suddenly feel full blast what responsibility you have for your own life. While in the beginning of the material, it was comforting to have Seth validate for you deep-rooted forgotten truths, here, in this book, this comfort is taken away. If you pondered it deeply, you've probably realized carrying the responsibility for your life is a huge challenge and how strongly inclined human beings are to blame something or someone else for their troubles. When you are really hurting and struggling or facing painful conditions, such as Jane did in her last months, this responsibility is difficult to employ. The bottom line is even Seth cannot save you from yourself, the responsibility you have for your life, your beliefs and your decisions. Jane's death or not Jane's death, Seth's principles remain: it is still you with the same old you answering to yourself what being happy or healthy means and how to get there.

Another significance of this book is that it is Jane's and Robert's most personal work. Seth gives some insights of a very personal nature as to why Jane attracted her severe condition and these made me think long and hard about my own problems. It seems you can interpret your diseases as symbolically as you can interpret your dreams. If you know anything about writing, you know what challenge Robert faced turning this material into cohesive work, especially considering the poignant subject matter and his personal involvement in it. He did a magnificent job with the notes, his personality comes to the forefront more than in previous books, and his voice, perspective and editing decisions truly make this work one of a kind. I highly commend him for his decision to release this material and share such an intimate piece of his and Jane's life with us for learning's sake. This book is a celebration of Jane's life and her death as a natural part of it. Telling the story of her death was a missing piece in the entire Seth material and now it elevates it in an important way.

Serious students of the Seth philosophy are bound to be disappointed with this final work. Although most of the material is consistent with Seth's previous works, The Way Toward Health contains nothing that has not been far better expressed in other Seth books. Indeed, the book's surprisingly poor quality led me at times to wonder whether or not it is authentic Seth. For instance, all of the other Seth books are characterized by an extraordinary depth and complexity of language--they are elegant, brilliant, wise, and written in a beautiful and intellectually engaging style. The language of Health is by contrast simplistic and even trite. The disappointing quality of this work may be due to the fact that it was written during the final stages of Jane's illness. Not only was she very ill and weak, but she seems to have been taking medication for her symptoms. This (or perhaps other factors) may have led to distortions in the material. The book is of interest for the insight it yields into Jane's inability to apply the Seth principles in her own life. But those looking for further guidance from Seth would do well to return to the major works he produced during Jane's golden years.

I have read and reread Seth Speaks and the Nature of Personal Reality and have had my life change in wonderful ways. This is a poignant and revealing final journey for Seth, Jane and Robert as Jane slowly yet valiantly succumbs to the complications of rheumatoid arthritis. It is sad and graphic and movingly difficult to read.

The health advice given is in many ways consistent with other new age sources and explains that positive visualization (well-studied by O. Carl Simonton, et. al.) enables the natural optimistic expression of the cells to cause healing. This aspect of it is worth the price of the book, to really get that the universe is working optimistically and supportively FOR you, not against you as is the common cultural belief. The "healing power of nature" is explained from a different slant. The role of viruses and fever in a positive light, and disease as an expression of conflicting values and beliefs is carefully explained and re-explained since it is so contrary to modern understanding. Schizophrenic split personality, teen suicide and depression are discussed causally, and childrearing practices regarding sickness and healing are suggested. I plan to study these aspects without reviewing the personal notes again, (which were so captivating for a long time fan such as myself), yet distracted from Seth/Jane's message in the dictated book. I plan to use Seth's understanding of conflicting beliefs to apply during EFT (emotional freedom technique) sessions on myself and my patients.

I rated this book a 4 star because of the distracting and depressing aspect of the notes, though for fans who want to know what happened in the end, it could be considered 5 star.

This is the last officlal Seth book, dictated during Jane Roberts' final months of life. Seth's insights have a special poignance because of the context in which they were recorded. Rob's detailed notes, as always, add to the richness of the book because the material is seen to arise from the challenges of a life lived to the fullest. Seth and Jane always stressed the connection between "inner" and "outer" events; the notes make this connection clear and add immeasurably to the humanity of Jane and Rob. The photographs of Jane and Rob at various times in their lives, photos of their parents, and reproductions of some of Rob's paintings, add to our understanding of these two remarkably creative people and the "entity" who added much to that creativity.

I had the manuscript of this work long before its publication....and have poured over it for some time, wondering if it ever would be published it its entirity. I feared that only the Seth portions would reach the public.

The Jane/Rob relationship, so minutely detailed is probably the most important part of the work. That we humans "do" it, even though some part of our consciousness may know a different route. Paths chosen, pain and all, are of our own choosing. Jane's illness was of her creation, just as her writing was. And Rob was there to be the scibe for it all.

This is an enjoyable book which I should give 4 stars to, but I wanted to grab the attention of Seth fans like myself, and do some intelligent house-cleaning.

On the up side, the book details Jane and Robs relationship during a long hospital stay that ended in Jane's death. They're very sincere, likeable people, and I enjoyed Rob's notes...even his meticulous attention to unimportant details, such as the time Jane received her medication etc. All of this made me feel at times as if I was right there with them in the hospital room. Nice job.

Now, there is a lot of good material here about how to get well, but also some things that make you scratch your head. For the first time, I believe since the sessions began, Seth makes a few mistakes, and has Rob correct certain words or lines. I also found it strange that when a session was interrupted, that Rob had to read Jane what had already been given in order for her to continue...what happened to Seth's ability to pick right up where he had left off? There are many such things in this book that will make you begin, perhaps for the first time, to doubt Seth's (or Jane's) complete reliability.

During the last few sessions before Jane's death, Seth continually reassures Jane that she WILL recover enough to go home again. Then, in the very last session, he states positively that she has not chosen to die at this time. And yet, die she does.

Now, you can find many reasons to keep your faith in Seth's omnipitence intact. You could say he was lying to Jane to encourage her belief in her own wellness. You could say that Jane was weak and on medication and that this affected the accuracy of the sessions. For me, though, there were enough eye-raising aspects encountered in this book, to make me wonder about viewing Seth's work as an absolute authority.

I believe that we do create our own lives. I've proven that to myself over and over, but this idea is not unique to Jane Roberts. It has been included in many teachings around the world for hundreds of years.

I'm beginning to question how accurate trance channeling really is, though. Kevin Ryerson's entities "John" and "Tom" gave Shirley MacLaine dead on information about her life that no-one else could have known, and that fact was really encouraging. Many entities state, however, (including Seth) that accuracy can be affected by many factors.

I've also been wondering about what the experience of channeling is really like. I mean, we are frequently willing to give our faith to quality material that we read, and we imagine that the author is distinctly aware of a separate personality that is undeniably speaking to them. However, Jane had many doubts about Seth, as did many authors about their own spirits. She felt impelled to speak words because various meanings were coming to her mind, but is that the experience that we are imagining it to be? We are willing to give our faith at times when even the author is not willing to completely trust that a discarnate personality is really there. Even at the end of her life, after years of Seth supposedly proving himself in various ways, Jane wasn't willing to trust him when he said she would recover. In fact, immediately after those sessions, she told Rob that she felt that she had chosen to die. So, despite the fact that she wanted to go home so bad she could taste it, and despite the fact that Seth had told her she would go home, she stopped eating, ignored all hope, and died. She didn't even take Seth seriously, and yet thousands of readers, who don't even know what the experience of channeling is really like, are willing to believe completely.

Perhaps, many channelers aren't really channeling either. Maybe it's just a more comfortable way for them to receive psychic information, by subconsciously pretending a separate personality is giving it to them. I wish that Jane and Rob would have done more tests on Seth, even to just verify the accuracy of the psychic stuff. Rob had the habit of explaining to Jane all he wanted to ask Seth before the sessions began, and thereby giving her a heads up...not very scientific. If Seth could go into Rob's mind and explain all of the beliefs behind things that were happening to him, then he surely would know what Rob wanted to talk about, what images were presently in his mind etc. I remember one session, in particular, when Seth told Rob that he could briefly materialize and pose for a painting sometime. If I were Rob, I would have jumped at the chance. It would have proven to Jane, definitively, that Seth was real, or at least that they were able to conjure up some amazing hallucinations together. Anyhow, I think that the offer to pose was in "The Nature of Personal Reality", and I couldn't believe that Rob didn't follow up on that...unless it's in their private material. Anyhow, enough said I guess. If you're a Seth fan, this book will give you plenty to think about.

This is a true life story of how Jane spent the last few months of her life. It strikes me as little depressing because she doesn't improve and finally dies of her disease state which is not mentioned specifically. In this book, Seth continues to address her health problems and ways to get better. Perhaps if she didn't do what Seth suggested, she may have been worse off but who can say? But the book is packed with information on health, disease and how attitudes and belief are inter-related. It would be useful book for people in the health field and certainly give you a different perspective than the current medical perspective of health and disease.