Speaking of Jane Roberts: Remembering the Author of the Seth Material

by Susan M. Watkins

Book Overview

Poet, novelist, author of the Seth Material, Jane Roberts's books have sold over 7.5 million copies. She was one of the most important psychics of the twentieth century. Now, Speaking of Jane Roberts... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0966132777
• ISBN13: 9780966132779
• Release Date: November 2000
• Publisher: Moment Point Press
• Length: 226 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Integral part of the Seth Material

Marshall McLuhan coined the famous phrase, "The medium is the message." As I began reading through Seth's books and Jane's books, I often thought how aptly this applied to Jane. It seemed to me that Jane often fought fiercely to preserve her independence from Seth. While I admired her intellectual integrity, I felt that in holding to it so rigorously, she was actually missing out on some of the benefits of applying Seth's ideas in her daily life while having Seth around to coach her. Still, it was seemed apparent to me that she had expanded her use of the inner senses tremendously from reflecting on Seth's ideas. That in itself was a testament to the material's validity and I used to point this out to others. The death of Jane shocked and saddened me and I suppose I had the same reaction as many readers, "Couldn't Seth have done something? What was the point of the Seth Material if Jane couldn't use it to heal herself?" That was only a knee jerk reaction though. I discovered Seth in 1973 and it only now that I am beginning to integrate it into every aspect of my life. I knew how difficult the translation of idea to behavior was and is. Reading THE WAY TOWARDS HEALTH provided a sense of closure for me about Jane's death, as it laid out what had transpired in the last days. SPEAKING OF JANE however, helped me UNDERSTAND Jane's death. It painted in stark relief, the beliefs that Jane held dearly to, which manifested her condition and death. No biography could have done that in the same way that this memoir did. Life is not a series of events, it is an interactive dance between thoughts and the experiences that flow from those thoughts. SPEAKING OF JANE, for me, put the Seth Material into perspective. Seth SOUNDS nice. His ideas FEEL good. But they also happen to be the governing dynamics of experience. Unless I act as if what Seth taught MATTERS, in the moment, his ideas are only a comforting bedtime story. For me, Sue's books are an integral part of the Seth material and SPEAKING OF SUE, an indispensable illustration of the incredible value of applying the lessons of don Seth to every aspect of my personal journey.

Excellent memoir of the life of a Truly Original Thinker

I really liked this book, I thought it was great to learn more about Jane's life outside of her mediumistic activities, and there is something about Ms. Watkins's style that I have always liked from her previous Seth/Jane-related books, CONVERSATIONS WITH SETH, and DREAMING MYSELF, DREAMING A TOWN. I especially appreciate the rather generous endnotes in the book, which are almost a small book in themselves, and the exquisite attention paid to detail therein. Sue has a very humorous style at times, too, I got a kick out of the part where she recounts the time she stayed over Jane's place during the Elmira Flood in the early 70's. She spoke of bringing along a lazy boyfriend with her to stay over Jane's (he was also flooded out at the time), and how the boyfriend just hung around Jane's all day writing an "epic poem" about the flood, while Sue worked her behind off for hours at her own apartment trying to clean the terrible mess that the flood made there. After they left Jane's place in a matter of weeks, Jane had Sue over to discuss how the man was an obviously wrong choice of boyfriend for Sue, but Jane still tried to throw in a few polite remarks about the guy, including that she and Rob really enjoyed some little Cornish hens that the guy cooked for them, and Jane went on and on saying how they ate those little Cornish hens as leftovers for days. Sue was astonished hearing this, and writes something very funny like "since I was the one who bought the hens in the first place, I was mystified by Jane's rapture over it all." I laughed and laughed at that line!!Also, there are incredible little surprises in the book, such as Sue's "probable memory" or something similar, where she tells about a "memory" she has of Jane and her discussing T.S. Eliot's poetry, and then in a burst of exuberant playfulness, Jane running down the hallway and leaping into the air to touch a lightbulb on the ceiling or something while yelling out a line from Eliot. What Sue goes on to explain there is that such a "memory" could never really have happened in real life, since the Jane she knew was not physically able to do such a thing for almost the entire time she knew her (as even though Jane's arthritis was not really dire and incapacitating until the late 70's, even in years prior to that, Jane could never really have leapt into the air in such a fashion, as she was already quite stiff and partly immobile from as early as the late 60's).........so Sue muses where this supposed "memory" comes from and she says "I am haunted by a memory that I cannot possibly have".............as if it was a memory of a probable version of Jane...............All in all, the memoir really surprised me when I first read it, because while it was still forthcoming, I imagined and imagined what it might contain, and I expected reading lots of scenes of mystical experiences between Jane and Sue, like psychic flashes from Jane and so forth, special personal things that Seth told Susan, etc., an

A balanced, candid look at Jane Roberts and her legacy.

For some fans of the Seth Material, Jane Roberts is a religious figure. For over 20 years, she had the privilege of being in intimate contact with a highly evolved entity named Seth, out of which came a body of spiritual teaching that has deeply influenced the lifes of many.Religious devotion, unfortunately, does not necessarily bring out the best in us. Visit a Seth discussion board, and you will immediately find some people who are not only looking for answers for themselves, but for everyone else as well. Who will start fights over who is right and who is wrong. That's how religious orthodoxy always starts; give it a few centuries, and you will have religious wars and the holy inquisition. At least that is what Jane Roberts was always afraid of - that she would become a religious icon and put on a pedestal, and Seth's message an object of devotion in itself, instead of just an aid to the individual for personal empowerment.Sue Watkins' book is a great antidote to the poison of religious organizing. It shows Jane Roberts as simply an imperfect, complicated human being - a woman who smoked way too much and loved vulgar jokes. Who happened to channel a spiritual teacher named Seth. And who was a gifted artist in her own right.Speaking of Jane Roberts is an insightful book that provides some much needed perspective on the woman who gave us the Seth Material. It was not exactly what I expected, meaning that Sue did her job well.

The truth behind the power of beliefs

This book is a must read for all hard-core Seth fans. Sue Watkins, who was very close to Jane Roberts, writes like a dream, frankly and honestly, no holds barred. One of the most difficult things for most of us to understand (those of us who have been reading and utilizing Seth's concepts for years), is how Jane could have lived and suffered so long with the debilitating effects of rheumatoid arthritis. How, we want to know, could she write those books about creating your own reality, and yet fail so miserably with her own health? With a great deal of compassion and understanding, not to mention 20/20 hindsight, Sue peels away the layers of Jane's psyche and reveals the woman who was the true "mystery person" behind the Seth material. We realize, as we read this memoir, that we knew and understood very little about this amazing woman, and we come away with a lot more compassion for ourselves and our own struggles with our core beliefs. I highly recommend this book, and I will re-read it every time I get discouraged and impatient with myself for hanging on to negative beliefs of my own.

A candid account of a friendship with Jane Roberts

A long time ago it seems, Susan Watkins published her two excellent books on Jane Robert's ESP class in Elmira New York called "Conversations I & II". In those books, Watkins described in a clear and warm manner her and other classmates experiences with Jane Roberts and the many times Seth spoke during those classes. Sue Watkins is back with yet another excellent book about primarily her friendship with Jane Roberts, her own psychological differences and insights given the relationship she shared with perhaps the greatest medium our century has known outside of Mrs. Piper or Pearl Curran. One of the hallmarks of Susan Watkin's writing is her remarkable candour and detail in describing her own feelings and experiences with Jane Roberts, and some rare and exciting excerpts from Jane Roberts own personal journals. The book, as was Conversations I & II flows evenly and clearly, providing a unique and solid style that delivers a clear vision of Sue Watkins friendship with Jane and a most candid and mesmerizing chapter about the last time she met with Jane Roberts, as Jane found herself confined to a hospital for many months before her death. For anyone who has read the Seth Material, and would like more insight into the woman who helped bring it all about, this book is a definite buy IMHO. In addition, the accounts of Susan Watkins own life, and how it intertwined with Jane Roberts are most fascinating and interesting, and deliver a human and "honest" style and feeling to the entire book.