“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(Following a discussion of last week’s session, Theodore M. stated he wasn’t sure he would acknowledge his inner secrets to himself, much less reveal them in class.)

We are not speaking of an emotional striptease necessarily. We are speaking of an unburdening of the inner self as you now know it and a setting down of burdens so that you can get to work, for the burdens and the secrets represent boulders in your path, and you must either step around them or open up the skies of the soul so that they simply disintegrate in the sunshine. This is what we are speaking of.

The feeling of fright and danger is the odor of fears and the secrets. The feelings of fear are the symptoms of the secrets and the fears. The releasing of these will not bring neither [sic] danger, nor fear, but only release. It goes without saying, however, that beneath all this, in class, is a structured inner organization large enough to be supportive. Do you follow me?

Now my young friend, and all my dear young friends, first of all Joan Grant is a highly intelligent and very gifted woman. However, because of her own background and her reincamational background, she is tuned into tragic events and perceives these far more quickly than she perceives more pleasant events. She will, for example, perceive disasters and calamities. Now this is something she has taken upon herself and in her way, and I am not necessarily agreeing with this you understand, in her way she is trying to pay back errors that she feels that she made in the past. There is no need to pay for such errors, but as long as she believes that she must, then she will continue to do so. So these are not only her own agonies, but the agonies of others that she has taken upon herself. Psychologically you will use your inner abilities as you use your exterior abilities. For the same purposes and the same reasons and the same goals. Now she is doing some very excellent work, but she is causing herself agony that she need not bear.

You think because you come here that you are quite avant-garde and very with it and open-minded, indeed. There are people that you would not share your living room with who do not consider themselves avant-garde or open-minded, who do not understand concepts and are not equipped to intellectualize, but people who feel their own feelings with exaltation and joy and recognize their own identities because of this, and who are, therefore, open to the feelings of others and able to relate to them. When you use your inner abilities you are opening yourselves up to feelings, your own and those of others. And you cannot use symbols or concepts. You must learn to feel and recognize your feelings and be expansive. Only your fears are restrictive. You have all had secrets that you hid for many lives. You are far more nefarious in some of them than you are now.

...It takes spontaneity. It takes unlearning most of the things that you have learned and it takes, unfortunately right now, this kind of probing to release your spontaneity. And you will have every opportunity to display spontaneity in class. But these are words that you use easily without ever thinking what they mean, or more important, without feeling what you think they mean, and then separating that from your inner feelings about the words involved.

(To Valerie.) There is, in the main, only one kind of betrayal. Your feelings will never betray you. Your instinctive self will never betray you. Only you can betray your feelings by being distrustful of them. They are a portion of yourself. They are a way that you look at the reality that you know. It is only when you inhibit or deny them that harmful charges are built up that can affect others. Each person has his own built in defense mechanism against your ill will. And while your ill will, and the ill will of each of you, carries some charge, it is not nearly strong enough to upset the balance of a personality who is determined to accept their own feelings and live their own lives. Normally accepted and recognized in, the feelings are picked up by others, but they are recognized as learning mechanisms. Their reactions and your reactions are made known to the inner self. You know how you stand. If an individual offends you, and you honestly accept your feelings, then he knows of this and is simply made aware of a circumstance. In this instance you are offended, then he can make whatever changes he so chooses, but if you ignore the feeling and the affair happens again, then the charge is built up and becomes harmful. And then he may be hit by the super charge at some later date.

Now, to some small extent this evening, you are learning to apply generalized emotions in a personal sense. The words are meaningless, and when you use them, they are shaky, indeed. It is like playing around with the letter ‘A’ without making words of it. Simply the discussion itself, and your own inner questions, will begin processes of discovery within yourselves. And I can say here (Sue); in particularly here (Florence); and here (Alison); and here (another student), for these forces have already begun.

Concepts are extremely important and we will never leave them aside in class, but you must learn to experience a concept, and in order to do so, you must realize the importance of your own inner experience. And since many of you are not doing too well out of class in this regard, you can do it in class. There is no need whatsoever to be fearful. Instead, you should look forward to some exaltation.