“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

The ego, as I have said before, is extremely important. It is however only a part of what you call yourself. Your artistic ability does not belong to your ego, dear Joseph, though I understand as I speak that anyone on your plane identifies himself with his ego, and when he says “I am,” he means he is his ego, or his ego is.

You will find the above-mentioned exercises more beneficial than you imagined. Because you were such a fleshpot particularly in one of your lives, shall I call it the Denmark incident, at times you overcompensate. You hold yourself in such tight bonds that occasionally you can hardly breathe. Too much of a good thing is a bad thing.

Your discipline in working habits and in living habits is admirable. Through your past life, that is the life before this one, you progressed along these lines. You do not have to forge them with steel now. They are sufficiently strong and dependable. You do not have to feel that they will let you down. Now for your own sake and for the sake of the art that you follow, you must allow yourself more inner freedom. There is a tendency in your present personality for forging discipline into a bond that could tie down your strong creative tendencies. It is true you needed controls. Now you have them. You stamped down upon your impulses with a frenzy, since once you felt they betrayed you.

As far as smoking is concerned, dear Ruburt, I don’t want to break your heart. However you will find yourself dispensing with the habit in the very near future. I am amazed that Joseph smoked as long as he did. This was after all an uncharacteristic excess for him this time.

For your ego Joseph the unspoken but strong advice you gave Jane, who was carried away in Elmira at the radio station, this advice was excellent and saved you both much pain. However, she heeded it, therefore it helped you both. Had you heeded hers in Miami or even later in Sayre, you would have saved yourself what really can only be called an agonizing blow. If you are not completely exhausted then take a break and I will continue. If you are way down by tonight’s lecture you may call it a day.