“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

A quieter bunch I have never seen! I dare not keep my friend Ruburt too long, for I have put him through his paces this week indeed. And we have been conversing with people of some note—I was on my good manners. We have indeed seriously made some good friends. But there are no friends like old friends and no lights like lights that explode. I could not have you so maligned. Obviously I was not annoyed. I was amused, and my amusement on occasions takes odd form.

I did, as always, have a purpose this evening in making myself known. And if now and then I indulge in a few very human reactions, then you must forgive me. But the matter, the lights, did indeed seem a suitable reaction on my part. I enjoyed it.

Now I shall keep silent for a while. But I have been here this evening and I will be here a while longer. And I shall leave the light where it belongs.

Now it is well and good for me to come here. You need not think any of this reprimand for you. It is fine and well for me to come here and talk to you, but you are not taking time from your daily activities to develop your own abilities, not to look inward, and you (Theodore) need not be included here. You will have your sessions when you take some time to look within yourselves. You must do part of your own work. I shall not do it for you. I even make Ruburt do his own work and I ride him hard. For I am also some taskmaster, but you must be your own taskmasters also.

You know you have nothing to fear, but you do not know what you have to gain. You have much to gain. The momentary fear that you have felt was nothing, and it was not symbolic of a deeper, different fear. You need concentration and focus and a strong impetus, and you can develop these and use them. You (Rachel) have also the fear, but it is a superficial one and can be overcome. But these things require that you look inward. That within your activities you find a period of peace.

Now I have the serious faces. As our new friend would say, “Now we are getting down to the nitty-gritty.” This is your life, and your life, and your life, and not mine. While I can offer suggestions and impetus, there is no one that can open that door but yourself. You have found the door, you have beat aside the jungles of repressions (words lost) door.

Now that I have taken you all down a peg, remember, there is no grade behind that door. There is only freedom and strength and joy and vitality. I can poke your arm so that you move the knob a bit, but that is all that I can do. You can open the door and I am indeed sure that you will do so. I am also sure that a little talk like this will help you do so quicker. Now, I will cease, and whether or not I shall speak again this evening, who of you knows?

You (Florence) cannot get indulgences from me, you see, for this—“quote.” I appreciate the effort and I thank you, but for your own development, you must still look inward.

I played with the light to help you out. The work that you (Florence) have done here helps all of the students and it does help you, but you must still open the door. The doorknob works, it will not fall off in your hands. The door will not explode and you have nothing to fear. If I could give you indulgences then I would.

I will have more to say in your (Sally) case also. For again the fear is there. And you try. You try to tint the fears with smiles, you try to pat it as you would a dog in hopes that it will not bite (words lost) you. But you do not understand the fear, and therefore you do not know how to speak its language, and when it speaks to you, you do not understand it. You can conquer the fear, but you must understand it. Give us a moment here. The fear will not devour you. You have given it fantastic proportions. You have exaggerated its strength, and because you have exaggerated its strength, you have given it more strength than it possesses on its own. You also fear to open the door.

If a dark angry mongrel follows you down the street and you know it and you say to yourself, “It is a fine day and I am alone and there is no dog behind me,” and it yaps at your feet and you say, “It is a lovely day and no dog yaps at my feet,” and it growls at your ankles and you run as fast as you can saying all the time, “Nothing chases me,” and you dare not look back; then in your mind the dog springs from a dog to a tiger, to an unnamable terror. And you do not look around to see that it is merely a small dog, but in your mind you build these fears. If you stop and turn around to see what is bothering you and you find a small dog, then you take a deep breath of relief and wish you had turned around sooner. This is you (Sally) and your fear.