Cindy的書庫

INTRODUCTION 《前言》

這份資料會自己提供證據－羅勃·柏茲與珍·羅伯茲

It might be interesting to note that with the rather generous average of 3 hours per session, for 43 sessions, the material in this book was collected in about 129 hours. (This includes a few sessions other than the Seth material.) There are 168 hours in a week.

說來可能很有意思的是，在四十三節，每一節平均長達三十小時的情形下，本書資料的收集用了大約一百二十九個小時（這包括非賽斯資料的少數幾節在內）。一週有一百六十八小時。

All answers obtained through the Ouija board, and later through Jane's dictation, are in caps. My questions are in regular type, my comments and descriptions are in parentheses. Occasional corrections the board made in midpassage are also in parentheses, and can be skipped in the reading. The word “gratis” is used to denote places where, after a pause, the board delivered up further information without being asked to.

所有先透過靈應盤，後來由珍口述而取得的回答，全部都用大寫。我問的問題用內文字體，我的意見和描述則括號標示。靈應盤在段落中偶爾做的修正也用括號標示，閱讀時跳過不看也行。「Gratis」這個字的意思是，暫停之後，沒有提問，靈應盤就自動傳來進一步的資訊。

Unless otherwise indicated in the early sessions, the pointer gave yes and no answers by moving to the appropriate word printed on the board, rather than by spelling out the answer letter by letter. Also in the first few sessions the pointer very often indicated the word yes between each word of the message being received. For ease in reading this word has been eliminated when so used, without changing in any way the content or intent of the material received. Everything else, misspellings included, is presented just as received, and is taken from my handwritten transcripts of the actual sessions.

除非在早期課特別指出，否則指針給的是或否，都是移向印在靈應盤上相稱的字上面，而不是一個一個字母拼出來。還有，在最初的幾節，指針經常在收到的訊息中的每個字之間指著「是」這個字。為了方便閱讀，這個字若是上述用法便予以删除，但是已收到的資料無論內容或用意則完全維持不變。其他的一切，包括錯誤的拼字在內，統統如實呈現，直接取自我實際記錄前言的手寫稿。

To obtain this verbatim record: In the first few sessions Jane and I sat facing each other with the board on our laps, and with a desk close beside me on the right. Jane always kept both hands on the pointer. I kept my left hand there and wrote down questions and answers with my right, using the desk as support. At times my onehanded approach slowed up the pointer's transmission, but if I touched my right hand to it, it picked up speed. At times it moved very fast. If it moved too fast I either held it back every few words until I had the message down, or wrote with one hand while keeping the other in position.

為了取得這份逐字的記錄：在最初幾節，珍和我面對面坐著，靈應盤放在我們兩人的大腿上，緊靠著我的右手邊放著一張書桌。珍向來兩手都放在指針上，我是左手放在那裡，右手寫問題和回答，用書桌作為支撐。有時候，我這單手的方法，減緩了指針傳輸的速度，但是，只要我把右手放上去，它的速度就會加快。有時候，它移動得非常快。如果它移動太快，我每隔幾個字就會攔住它，以便我把訊息記下來，或用一隻手寫下來，同時另一隻手留在位置上。

This rather cumbersome method was greatly simplified as soon as Jane began to dictate the bulk of the sessions. For a time we needed the board to open and close the sessions, but now we do not require it at all. I have complete freedom to take notes. We have also begun to experiment using a tape recorder.

珍一開始口述大量的課，這個相當麻煩的方法就太簡化了。有一段時間，我們需要用靈應盤開始和結束每一節，但現在根本不必用了。我完全自由，可以好好做記錄。我們也開始實驗用錄音機。

Neither of us has ever obtained any results using the board alone.

單獨使用靈應盤，我們兩個人都沒有得到任何結果。

We borrowed the Ouija board from our landlord in the fall of 1963, when by chance he mentioned that he’d bought one but had never obtained any results with it. Jane and I tried the board a few times (sometimes with friends) and at first had no success. Then for a few sessions we received what seemed to be understandable information in the form of various names, initials, dates, places, etc. Nothing we could very easily verify, and some of it was contradictory. Nor could we ever contact the same “source” again.

一九六三年秋天，我們跟房東借了這個靈應盤，因為他剛好提到買了一個，但用了之後卻一點結果都沒有。珍和我試用了幾次（有時候和朋友一起），起初並不成功。接著幾節之後，我們接收到似乎可以理解的資料，形式是各種不同的名字、縮寫、日期、地點等等。沒有什麼我們很容易就能夠證實的訊息，有些還互相矛盾，也沒辦法再次接觸同一個「來源」。

From the very beginning we kept detailed notes of the sessions, even when we were writing down strings of meaningless letters. Early in November/63 we had several sessions in which we received only gibberish, and rather lost interest. On the night of November 26 we tried once again however, and this time among the random letters were a few words and phrases; enough to make us try again on the night of December 2/63. And from that session on the material began to flow.

打從一開始，我們就詳細記錄每一節，甚至還寫下一串串無意義的字母。在一九六三年十一月初，我們有幾節只接收到亂語，興趣因此大減。不過，在十一月二十六日晚上，我們又試了一次，這次在隨機的字母中，出現了一些字句；我們因而有足夠的動力在一九六三年十二月二日晚上又試了一次。從那一節，資料就開始源源不絕了。

At first when she began dictating Seth's answers to my questions, Jane would hear the words within, then repeat them aloud so I could write them down. Now she does not hear the material beforehand, but simply speaks it out, literally and consciously unaware of what she is going to say from one word to the next. She talks on faith or trust, she says, in a way she couldn’t do ordinarily.

珍最初開始口述賽斯回答我的問題，是內在聽到字句，然後開口說出來，好讓我做記錄。現在她並沒有事先聽見資料，而是直接就說出口，實際在意識上都不知道接下來會講出哪一個字。她談到信仰或信任的方式，不是她平常做得到的方式。

Now even when Jane delivers an answer via Seth that may be five typewritten pages long, she never repeats herself, loses track of what she is saying, uses the words “uh,” “er,” etc., or changes in any way what she had said. Time alone would not permit any tinkering with the material. I have taken down each word as she dictated it; nothing has been added, eliminated or changed. It is as though Jane, in giving the material, is reading from an invisible script, so sure and straightforward is her delivery. And her speed of dictation is evidently limited only by the speed at which I can write.

現在，就算珍透過賽斯傳述一個回答，也可能長達五頁的打字稿，但她從來不曾重複過，不曾講到後來不知道自己在講什麼，不曾用過「啊」、「哦」等語助詞，也不曾變更她說過的話。光是時間問題，就不可能修飾這份資料。我記下她口述的每一個字，完全沒有增添、删除或更改。這就好像珍給資料時，正在朗讀一份看不見的稿子，傳述既把握十足又直截了當。她口述的速度顯然只是受到我的寫字速度限制而已。

As for the question of distortions in the material, and the obvious contradictions in the early sessions as far as dates, etc., are concerned: The reasons for these are dealt with by Seth as the material unfolds. One by one these problems are disappearing. We now seem able to clear up any such discrepancies by referring back to them, if we choose to, and have done so a few times. But here again time is a factor. As Seth has often said, the material will furnish its own evidence, more and more emphatically as time goes on.

就資料扭曲的這個問題，以及早期課在日期等等的明顯矛盾之處而言：隨著資料的開展，賽斯處理了這些問題。這些問題一個接一個消失了。我們現在似乎只要回去溫習一下，就能夠消除這類的不一致，前提是我們如果選擇這麼做的話，而我們也的確做了幾次。但是這裡，時間還是一個要素。賽斯就常常說，這份資料會自己提供證據，而且隨著時間過去，一次比一次強調這一點。

Robert & Jane Butts 458 W. Water St., Elmira, N.Y.

March, 1964

紐約州艾爾麥拉市西華特街四五八號

A note about the photographs o f Jane on the cover of The Early Sessions:

They were taken 11 years apart. In the oval, she was 30 years old when she sat for my father, Robert F. Butts, Sr., in 1959. Jane and I had been married for four years. In the larger one, she was 41 years old when Rich Conz, a photographer for the Elmira Star-Gazette, took her picture in 1970, when she was intrance. By then Jane had been speaking for Seth for a little over six years.––Rob

《早期課》英文版封面上珍的照片註記：兩張照片拍攝時間相隔十一年。上方那張，攝於一九五九年，她三十歲，坐著讓我父親老羅勃·柏茲拍照。珍和我當時結婚四年。下方那張，她四十一歲，艾爾麥拉的《明星公報》（Star.Gazette）攝影記者瑞區·康茲（RichConz）於一九七0年幫她拍攝，當時她在出神狀態中。那時她替賽斯說話剛滿六年不久。––羅