“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

However in some other manners the experiences of the tree are extremely deep, dealing with the inner senses which are, and properly, also properties of treedom. There is something here difficult for me to explain clearly. The inner senses of the tree have strong affinity with the properties of earth itself. They feel their growing. They listen to their growing as you listen to your own heartbeat. They experience this oneness with their own growth, and they also experience pain. The pain however while definite, unpleasant and sometimes agonizing, is not of an emotional nature in the same way that you might experience pain.

This is what the ego does when it reacts too violently to purely physical data on your plane. As a result it stiffens and you have, my well-meaning friend, the cold detachment with which you have faced the world. I do not want to digress here. I have certain points in mind for this evening. Nevertheless lest Ruburt thinks he is getting off scot-free, let me remind him that the tree’s bark is quite necessary, cannot be dispensed with—but I will get into that and into Ruburt at a later time.

The inner tree continues to grow because the bark is flexible. Man lets his ego face the outer world as does the tree bark, and this is its purpose. Nevertheless the inner self, like the inner tree, must have room to expand. The tree bark makes allowances for good weather (here Jane pounded the table) though bad weather is repulsive to the bark. Nevertheless the bark makes whatever adjustments are necessary and is flexible. Forgive me if this is a trite analogy, I almost hate to say it, but it bends with the wind. It does not bend when there is no wind. Nor does it solidify, stopping the flow of sap to the treetop for fear the dumb tree, not knowing what it was up to, would bump its head against the sky.

We come again to the problem of practicality, and at the risk of repeating myself let me say that in the past Ruburt’s seeming impracticality has been more practical than your intellectual practicality. This is merely because you have not trusted your ego’s ability to offer adequate protection. You have forced it into anxiety so that it overcompensates trying to protect you, and ends up half choking you to death.

I presume that you are weary. However if you can bear with me after a break I can discuss your parents in a way that may be beneficial. And please inform my smokestack friend that this smoking will come to a short and hasty end.

I began this session with a desire to discuss vegetative and plant life. To me, you see, there is no unlife, as you usually consider rocks and pebbles. However I felt this a good time to go into personal background as the session continued. I promise to get back to more philosophical matters, but I did want you to know the dangers and tragedies you have managed to avert, since I also told you of the opportunities that you had missed.