“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

I came to the defense of Ned and the poor fish and of Ned, the poor fish. Our Ned chose a fish, subconsciously, for many reasons. First of all, the fish was a part of himself that he materialized within the dream state. It represented, to him, something quite different than the Christian fish you wear around your neck (to Joel).

The meaning behind and the object lesson to be learned. Now, give us a moment. Each individual life, all life, has its own built-in mechanisms against danger.

Now, the point that our friend over here (Sue) was trying to make earlier is related, to some extent, along these lines in that you can become so afraid of violence that you overemphasize its effect. And if you will excuse me, in so doing you are taking on the guise of the devil. It is the same thing you see, as projecting upon a hypothetical devil all kinds of powers of destruction. You can do the same thing without realizing it by projecting into the idea of violence, all powers, and then it seems to you that life itself has no ability to protect itself and that any stray thought of violence or disaster will immediately zoom home and that the recipient has no way to protect himself. If this were the case your race would not have lasted out one day.

Now, not only human beings form their own reality, but all consciousness forms its own reality. Now, to fill out what I say, your own personal experience must come. You will understand what I say when the inner self is ready to understand, and I am not speaking in intellectual terms. The answers are within you and even when I speak those words that I have spoken many times, they are simply words until from within you comes the experience that gives them life.

Now (to Ned) I will let you take your break and one word to our friend here. I am not frail. I may have to put up with Ruburt’s long hair nowadays, and flouncy skirts, but we all have our troubles.

But, you cannot use this as a rationalization in this plane of activity, which is why I said that this could be misinterpreted. I just wanted to make sure that you all remembered. You have to look out for African gods, you know, they can twist around every word that you say.

Violence, in your level, is the other face of creativity, but you do not realize it and it is you who have set up the separation. All life, in certain respects, involves what you call violence. Breath is a violence, it is simply where you draw the line. All living is a thrusting out toward, and joyful thrusting out toward, the energy that you have not learned, as yet, to use creatively, you call violence. It has great potentials for creativity, and it is up to you now to learn how to use it creatively for it is another face of creativity.

They do, indeed. All consciousness does or it would not be consciousness.

Indeed, it is a good analogy and different animals, you see, have taken different paths of evolution. All of those species, for example, that seem to have passed out of existence, within your level of reality, in other probabilities have continued to exist and develop. The dinosaurs have gone their way.

The cannibals, in one way, were far more discerning, far more religious, and far more sacred in their attitude than many of you here in this room. They ate, for example, both human beings and animals, but they did not eat indiscriminately, nor did they eat without a knowledge of what they did. They realized that their life was a portion of all this life. They were at one level, and you are at another level. But at their level, and in their level of experience, they partook of the sacrament of life as they ate those things that they slayed. They gave thanks to the body that they consumed. They hastened the spirit that had been in the body on its way with thanks. They prayed that their hearts would be as strong and brave as the hearts that they devoured. Many of them, in their own environment, knew that those who were not eaten by them, for example other warriors, would die of hunger in any case. They ate them, therefore, also with thanksgiving and joy.

([Garrett:] “This would be the same thing as if I went out and chopped down a tree for no reason at all.”)

They ate the brave and the strong. Now, some tribes ate the elders. When the old could not care for themselves, if they were very wise and brave men, then they had a dance about them and this was known by all involved. They then killed and ate the wise elders. Both as a method of ending their lives, in a quiet manner, for they killed them easily when they were too old to run from jungle animals or from hunters or from warriors from other tribes. They killed them mercifully, and then they ate them so that the wisdom could become a part of the brave and so that, in one way, immortality could be achieved, in that the elders would then feel that they were a part of the tribe and part of the flesh and blood of the tribe. And this was believed by all, and this was not feared by the elders. The elders preferred it rather than to be banished and left the prey of animals or to die of starvation and slow death outside of the tribe.

Now you are getting a lot of goodies out of me tonight. Now I am going to end our session and go home, you are all too spooky for me. I do not need any reason. I will have more to say on the nature of violence and the different civilizations and how they have handled it in later class sessions.

Now, I bid you all a fond good evening, fish, cannibals and all.

Because you still feared the idea of letting yourself go but you will find other methods and try them out in the same way, and you will find those that are suited for you. Now, I did not forget you. Goodnight to you all.