“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

This is just a short private little session. I have never completely trusted the written word half as much as I trust the spoken word, and on your plane it is difficult to trust either. But I do not feel that I could be myself as easily if you tried automatic writing, for example. I do not mind speaking through Ruburt’s mouth. Somehow the sound of the words is rather pleasant. But seeing myself transformed more or less into plain black and white words on a page of paper seems dull and uninteresting. And I have always enjoyed conversation, which is the liveliest of all arts. And I am speaking now of the social arts, dear Joseph. Already I can see you yelling foul. I did not mean that conversation was on an equal par with painting.

It is true that Joseph receives much data through inner visions. In the past he has more or less translated this data automatically into a new camouflage pattern, in other words into a painting, without realizing that he had received any vision at all. You can learn, Joseph, to use your other inner senses as I tell you more about them.

I mentioned once that I found sculpture to be a more imprisoning form than say painting, music or a poem, and here I will mention my reasonings. You will have to look at this in an opposite manner than is usually used when discussing such arts. I believe that it is usually considered that an art is more powerful if it appeals to as many outer senses as possible. That is, you would perhaps think that a statue would be extremely lifelike because it exists in space and depth, having width and girth. That is, you can feel it, see it and touch it.

You must remember that the outer senses react to camouflage pattern. The statue actually imprisons vitality more than a painting or musical composition or poem, because it is bound to you by so many ties. I meant to make this plain earlier. I won’t keep you any longer, lest you grow impatient with me tomorrow. At all costs I don’t want to wear out my welcome.

(Break at 7:30. I now described to Jane an experiment of mine that I had tried earlier in the day. Standing in the middle of our living room and looking at various objects, such as a vase, a painting on the wall, a plant, etc., I had attempted to let my mind’s eye travel around these objects so that I could picture within the far side of them.