The Way Toward Health: A Seth Book

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 forefro

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.

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 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).

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.