Q: How compatible is The Urantia Book with the Seth Material which was channeled by Jane Roberts?

A: At one time in my life, many years ago, I was very interested in the Seth materials. I read as much as I could get my hands on, and had the feeling that she was onto something important. Now, reading about it again in the Wikipedia entry that I gave you, I am taken back to this earlier time in my truth-seeking life, and I can see pretty clearly how this material provided some good scaffolding for me in my quest for truth. I can also clearly see where the limitations are in this material, and why the teachings of The Urantia Book easily supplanted my earlier beliefs in these writings.

Even early-on in my exploration of these materials, I had suspicions about their origins, even though some of the ideas seemed so correct to me. One thing that I never really liked about it was the way in which Jane Roberts went into her trances. I saw photos of her as she went into a trance—she seemed to be “taken over” by this entity, contorted and controlled in a way that I thought was unnatural and even a little scary. Now, I understand more about this, after reading this in The Urantia Book:

100:5.8 There is great danger associated with the habitual practice of religious daydreaming; mysticism may become a technique of reality avoidance, albeit it has sometimes been a means of genuine spiritual communion. Short seasons of retreat from the busy scenes of life may not be seriously dangerous, but prolonged isolation of personality is most undesirable. Under no circumstances should the trancelike state of visionary consciousness be cultivated as a religious experience.

It continues:

100:5.9 The characteristics of the mystical state are diffusion of consciousness with vivid islands of focal attention operating on a comparatively passive intellect. All of this gravitates consciousness toward the subconscious rather than in the direction of the zone of spiritual contact, the superconscious. Many mystics have carried their mental dissociation to the level of abnormal mental manifestations.

The section called Conversion and Mysticism is something that you might want to read thoroughly. It is a far more sensible and rational approach to these kinds of phenomena, and can help us base our understandings of the spiritual realms in reality.

So, while perhaps some of these materials have nuggets of truth in them, they should not be taken as bona fide revelations from God. What I saw in those photos of Jane Roberts was this “trancelike state of visionary consciousness….” “operating on a comparatively passive intellect.” It really does not offer a bigger picture on which to hang one’s spiritual hat, so to speak; it does not necessarily indicate contact with the superconsciousness. It may be interesting, and even inspiring, to a degree, but ultimately unsatisfying, as it is one-dimensional, and only this one person’s second-hand experience.

The Seth material, like any channeled material, is a mish-mash, its overall worth determined by the channeler’s recognition of truth. All channeled material is conditioned by the fallible human mind and is not to be trusted, although a discerning reader can sift the wheat from the chaff. But why waste one’s time with that if one already knows of the existence of The Urantia Book, which most of us believe can be trusted?

Another hallmark of the Seth Materials is the teaching about past lives, which is not taught in The Urantia Book.

I don’t want to completely dismiss these materials; I don’t intend to tell you what to do, or what to believe. You’ve asked whether these materials are compatible with The Urantia Book. I would have to say that, in part, they are; but for the most healthy, the most rational, the most logical approach to spiritual reality, one would do far better to read thoroughly the teachings of The Urantia Book, where one receives a complete revelation and a complete context for all of these questions about the nature of God, and the nature of reality, as explained by Jesus to Ganid, his young Indian student. This passage in particular, seems very relevant in this discussion:

130:4.4 A one-eyed person can never hope to visualize depth of perspective. Neither can single-eyed material scientists nor single-eyed spiritual mystics and allegorists correctly visualize and adequately comprehend the true depths of universe reality. All true values of creature experience are concealed in depth of recognition.

The Urantia Book teachings provide this “depth of recognition” as no other teaching can. And—putting into practice the religion of the spirit, as taught by Jesus, provides the most compelling experiential proof for the nature, the reality, and the truths of God. This personal experience can put all other attempts at human understanding into proper context.

Thanks for this interesting question. I hope that this reply has been helpful to you.