The Third Personality: A Novel (13)

ELMIRA, New York - Mid-summer television viewing, such as there was of it, was completed for yet one more Saturday evening in Rob and Jane Butts' recently-expanded apartment, and it was time to get on with the business at hand: Session 586 of Seth's book.

"The Mary Tyler Moore Show" had been another repeat.

Once Seth arrived, they'd continue the dictation with Rob, as always, sitting across from Jane, recording the entire affair verbatim in his self-styled shorthand, adding personal notes and observations during the breaks in Seth's dictation.

More than two months had passed since their last session, in which Seth had begun a new chapter entitled, "The Meaning of Religion." Tonight was to be a continuation of that chapter, and it would pick up, as usual, as if no time had elapsed between sessions. Rob and Jane were no longer amazed that Seth could always pull this off - but they never failed to be impressed.

The lengthy layoff served the Buttses well. They'd had some personal concerns that they'd been putting off (and putting off) that they finally got around to addressing - and that they'd shared with few of their intimates, including those who regularly attended Jane's ESP classes throughout the year, some of whom as a group had driven all the way from New York City to sit in on.

(Seth's content and delivery was always impressive to these attendees. But for an added dash of credibility, it helped that Seth's last book - not to mention the one in progress - was being published by Prentice-Hall in hardcover upon completion.)

In any event, Rob and Jane also took advantage of the break to go on vacation (likewise affording Jane a break from her ESP classes), and to acquire some rooms across the hall from their small apartment, one of which they turned into their new bedroom.

For tonight's session, however, Seth would speak in the couple's old bedroom, which had since been cleared out and refurbished as an adjunct to Rob's inadequately sized studio next door. Rob was an artist, and he needed more space.

Even though they were free from group observation tonight (except for Seth, of course, and their cat, Willie [who Seth jokingly dubbed, "the beloved monster"]), Jane had been nervous most of the evening knowing Seth was going to continue with his book. She very much wanted the book to be completed, not because she was so much in a hurry (although more than a year and a half had elapsed since Seth first began dictating the body of the material), but because of her emotional investment in its presentation. To suggest that Jane and Seth shared an intense intimacy was a major understatement. Yet Jane could never seem to quite get past her gnawing doubts about Seth's legitimacy.

She felt like that tonight, as she made her way over to the Kennedy rocking chair she almost always sat in during Seth's visits. As she sat down, her expression appeared grim.

"You always look so worried," Rob said, sitting down across from his wife. "Seth's never let us down before. Has he."

"No. But there's been such a long break between dictation."

Rob shrugged, half-smiled at her, and sat back in his couch.

"I just hope he starts in where he left off, right off the bat," Jane said. She then sighed, and gazed away uncomfortably.

"I'm sure he's quite capable of that," Rob reassured her, adding a teasing stare.

Jane looked over at her husband, and laughed. "But I don't care what he does - as long as we have a session."

Willie then mini-cantered into the room and coiled up on the weave carpet at Rob's feet, while Rob readied his pen and pad.

Jane then removed her glasses, sat back, rocked gently, and closed her eyes.

For a short time, all that could be heard in the room was the couple's antique clock ticking. Rob glanced at it, saw the time was 9:01 p.m., and wrote that down.

Jane then sat forward, her eyes somewhat squinting and clouded.

"Now," she began, her voice gravelly, and booming. "…Good evening!"

"Good evening, Seth," Rob said with a smile, glancing up.

Willie's tail rolled good-naturedly.

Session 586 was underway.

Jane - as both Jane Roberts (her maiden and published name) and now, predominantly as "Seth," Jane's trance-medium persona - smiled back at Rob.

Jane Roberts Butts was not fully conscious of the dictated content while Seth delivered it, as she'd say, through her lips …

"And welcome back," Seth/Jane said, his/her pace fast and steady. "Now give me a moment and we will begin by resuming our chapter on religion."

"Seth" then paused, ostensibly to allow Rob to get back into the swing once again of taking dictation. Rob notated the pause.

"Ideas of good and evil, gods and devils, salvation and damnation, are merely symbols of deeper religious values," Seth continued, "cosmic values if you will that cannot be translated into physical terms …

"These ideas become the driving themes of these religious dramas of which I have spoken. The actors may �return,' time and time again, in different roles. In any given historic religious drama, therefore, the actors may have already appeared on the historic scene in your past, the prophet of today being the traitor of the past drama."

Seth commonly used the term "speakers" as a synonym for prophets. He predicted that shortly after the turn of the millennium speakers would surface, as "actors" fulfilling dramatic roles.

"These psychic entities are real, however," Seth continued in his almost grating vocal delivery which always seemed to belie the edited, organized, professorial feel of the words as they'd later appear in print. In any event, it took some getting used to … "It is quite true to say that their reality consists not only of the core of their own identity, but is reinforced by those projected thoughts and feelings of the earthly audience for whom the drama is enacted."

Rob glanced over at the clock and noted four minutes had passed since Seth began dictating. He scribbled down, "9:05."

"Psychic and psychological identification is of great import here and is indeed at the heart of all such dramas…"

("Seth Speaks" was already determined to be the name of the book Seth [and Jane and Rob] were within a month of completing - excluding an appendix Seth intended to add shortly thereafter.)

Seth's pace, meanwhile, remained steady, maybe even urgent.

"The plays themselves, then, the religions that sweep across the ages - these are merely shadows, though helpful ones," Seth stated, as Jane sat back in her rocker, her eyes open and her head tilted for emphasis. "Behind the frame of good and evil is a far deeper spiritual value. All religions, therefore, while trying to catch the �truth' must to some large degree fear its ever eluding them…"

Willie seemed to like having Seth around. Whether the sometimes-abrasive cat snoozed atop the TV set or sat on the floor during dictation sessions, he looked peaceful.

"The inner self alone, at rest, in meditation, can at times glimpse portions of these inner realities that cannot be physically expressed," Seth said. "These values, intuitions, or insights are given each to each according to his understanding, and so stories told about them will often vary."

Now Seth leaned forward, utilizing Jane's arms for added emphasis: "For example, the main character in a religious historical drama may or may not be consciously aware of the ways in which such information is given to him. And yet it may seem to him that he does know, for the nature of a dogma's origin will be explained in terms that this main character can understand. The historical Jesus knew who He was, but He also knew that He was one of three personalities composing one entity. To a large extent He shared in the memory of the other two."

Now Seth's voice exploded - and the words that followed (extracted from Rob's typewritten rewrite of his notes from this evening) became a reference for a sizable number of interested individuals populating the second half of the 21st Century:

"…The Third Personality, mentioned many times by me, has not in your terms yet appeared, although his existence has been prophesied as 'the Second Coming' - Matthew 24 … Now these prophecies were given in terms of the current culture at that time, and therefore, while the stage has been set, the distortions are deplorable, for this 'Christ 'will not come at the end of your world as the prophecies have been maintaining…"

Rob was struggling a little to keep up with Seth at this point. He wasn't merely out of practice (although there was a little of that - he temporarily forgot some of the symbols he'd used in his own version of Speedwriting), but Seth's delivery provided very few pauses. Rob felt some strain in his wrist.

With Jane's eyes now open, Seth continued describing his view of the Second Coming. Rob noted the time was now 9:20 p.m.

"…He will not come to reward the righteous and send evil-doers to eternal doom. He will, however, begin a new religious drama. A certain historical continuity will be maintained. As happened once before, however, He will not be generally known for who He is. There will be no glorious proclamation to which the whole world will bow. He will return to straighten out Christianity, which will be in a shambles at the time of His arrival, and to set up a new system of thought when the world is sorely in need of one."

Seth paused briefly here, and Rob noted five more minutes had elapsed.

"By that time, all religions will be in severe crisis … He will undermine religious organizations - not unite them. His message will be that of the individual in relation to All That Is. He will clearly state methods by which each individual can attain a state of intimate contact with his own �entity' - the entity to some extent being man's mediator with All That Is."

Seth/Jane then sat back in her chair once again, and rocked.

"…By 2075, all this will be already accomplished," he/she said.

The session, which expanded upon and clarified much of what had just been stated, continued for almost another two and a half hours.

Seth, ever mindful of his co-workers, saw to it that a couple of relaxation breaks were included.

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