“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?

I will smile at you so that you feel better and if anyone wants to get whipped after they tell their little secrets, someone can go out and buy a whip. It might make you feel better. Do you feel better now?

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.

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.

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.