“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

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.

And in what part do you not follow?

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.

Now you may think that Joan Grant has formed a far more splendid reality than you have, and yet none of you would live in her shoes for an hour. You are not willing, some of you, to accept and experience your own feelings and emotions much less those of others. Now Miss Grant could, instead, you see, be full of the joy that exists in all personalities and in all pasts, and she could be as much help to the individuals involved but working from an entirely different level.

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.

...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 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 Sally.) You project your own distrust upon other people and then react to it and so you close yourself off from those feelings of trust that others would express for you. Now you have a deep distrust of self that you have managed to shove beneath for many years, and it originated before your divorce. Now the distrust was projected outward, and so you found in physical reality those effects that seemed to justify your feelings and, therefore, you hid further and further within yourself, adapting a militant manner to hide the helplessness that you felt.

(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.

([Valerie:] “That’s what I fear.”)

([Valerie:] “What am I going to do with all these charges that I’ve got built up?”)

Simply recognize that they exist as realities, whether or not, intellectually, you accept them. Emotionally accept them, then see them as natural phenomena in the same way that you observe the splendor and strength of a storm, and then let them flow out of you and outward into the great healing universe that uses both storms and emotions creatively. Trust the vitality of life and the universe, recognize the feelings and let them flow out of you. The universe knows what to do with them. It does no good to put a lid on to hold them in, only you explode.

Feelings are life, feelings are consciousness. The gods do not dwell in some nirvana innocent of everything that you know. This is energy and you are using it and learning what to do with it. Now, peace.