“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

I gave you symbolic porridge one night, right? And it did a lot of good. Now, then, relax and be expressive, and you will feel much better. And do not have such a hang up over what I know you have in mind. Let it be. We are not giving away points for secrets.

(To Bette.) Now you do not have to fear your secrets or anyone else’s, and you do not have to fear that when you open yourselves up you are only going to find dark terrors, frightening thoughts and horrendous sins of the flesh. The flesh is far more innocent than any of you suppose. And the secret sins that you may think lie within you will not upset the gods one whit. The vitality of life is far greater than anything you can do to wound it. It is the most supreme egotism to imagine that any of your secrets can stand between you and any reality that is. You form your reality.

When I said that our simple little exercise last week was a preliminary exercise, that is exactly what I meant but you are the ones who are placing the interpretation upon it that you are. So I have a simple question for you and I will expect an answer. It is a very simple question, there is an implication within it. You do not need to accept the implication, but if you do not, then why do you not? And for all your fine thoughts, why are each of you, in your secret ways, so afraid of the implications of the word love or showing it here? Why do you find it far safer to show love to an animal and pet it, than to a person? Now this is my question for you this evening, and I expect it faced and answered honestly. You are more frightened of that than anything else, not of your secrets. This is a fine blind. Some of you would rather stand up in this class and say, “I killed an animal in hatred” or “I knocked a man’s guts out” or “I shot my neighbor” almost, rather than express a simple statement of love or acceptance to another person in the class wholeheartedly and act, that was not an act, when you are not a star performing. The secrets do not bother you half as much as you imagine that they do.

(To Joel) I am keeping an eye out for this one back here also and a hand in to see what is going on.

(To Joel) Now our friend behind me is running with great sprints away from (words lost) . You are searching for  (words lost) on the one hand, and running away on the other.

(To Sue.) And to this one over here. And your feelings toward love, and do not grimace at the term, it is not as bad as the word God, and you can stomach it. You realize when you avoid the verbal terms you are also avoiding coming to face with what the terms mean, not only to yourself, but what the terms mean to other people. Now we are two good friends in the dream state for you to start being apprehensive now. I want you to answer the question next.

(To Mark.) First of all I have been misinterpreted. Nowhere did I tell you to hide or ignore your feelings or pretend that something did not annoy you when it did. Admit your feelings to yourself. Openly be aware of them. If they are unpleasant feelings then be aware of them as you would be aware of black clouds that pass your window. Do not pretend they do not exist, or you will run into trouble. But when you shove one black cloud against another black cloud you can have one hell of a storm so you do not have to retaliate, therefore. Simply be aware of your feeling, then try to understand the reality of the person involved. Why do they behave in such and such a manner? Once you have accepted your feelings then refuse to let the balance of your mind be upset by such disturbances even though you recognize them. Send, then, thoughts of peace towards the person involved, that their problems may be solved. This allows you freedom to admit your own feeling but puts you in control. Do you see the difference?

(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.

Then express the feelings as they come to you, and there is nothing to fear. This will free you to express joy and love. You cannot inhibit the recognition of one feeling without getting into the habit of inhibiting all your feelings. If you distrust one feeling, then feeling itself becomes fearful, and you inhibit it. It is as if the sky then decided to reject the black clouds and then, through association, decided to reject the white clouds; and, through association, to reject anything at all that might appear within it.