“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

First, naturally, I have a few comments to make that will not only tie in Ruburt’s smoking habits with his present personality, but also to some extent tie in his present personality with past personalities.

This time and particularly since adolescence ended he was able to let go the other types of greediness, letting the cigarette take place of all the rest. There is here also what I may call a sort of air panic, an insatiable taking in of air that the nervous puffing of a cigarette sometimes satisfies, even a basis in claustrophobia where the personality feels it is not getting enough air or is closed in.

There is also here connected only with his present personality an ego image of the writer with a cigarette. In this case the cigarette represents independence and even individuality, and even female emancipation. So it is all bound up together in a rather mazelike web. I hope that when Ruburt understands this it will make the situation easier for him.

The personality here has been giving as a rule but also took in all it could. I hope that this also answers some questions that you might have had, Joseph, along these lines.

No. I was aware that she made the trip. These sessions of trying to give up smoking are a definite help and the habit will finally give way. The personality is becoming stronger and will be able to deal with the problem, as in the past it conquered a gluttony toward food and other elements.

No. It is his tendency to gobble here that is important. He has given up in this life gobbling food and drink. In past lives he was never temperate, neither in a physical sense, emotionally or intellectually. This was not in many ways bad. However when the intemperate personality does not discriminate then the basic characteristic can cause unpleasantness. He was always very generous for example and kind, even overly kind. On the other hand he ate and drank too much. He was just overeager as a rule.

In the present personality we have abilities developed in past lives, and ability to paint for example that should be made more use of now. What you call Ruburt’s sales ability is also a result of past experiences, and certain other latent abilities such as a facility with growing plants. He was at one time an excellent farmer.

There has been here a willingness to experience, to experiment and to give as well as a ferocious capacity to take in. The trouble in the past has been a lack of discretion and self-discipline. He was always a pleasure-loving personality however and avoided anything unpleasant. His early circumstances in this life were chosen by him as a needed experience. In other lives he was able to exist without too much adversity and this time he chose troublesome and truly tragic circumstances as a needed challenge.

His temper when aroused was very great however and he retaliated instantly. He had never known hatred however. This time he has had to deal with it in a most intimate manner. The old stormy temper is now seen in Ruburt’s deep grudges. The personality of Ruburt’s mother was not close to him in any other life. The circumstances of birth were chosen at the last minute on his part and was made for two reasons.

One, the personality of the mother offered needed experience for Ruburt; and two, the paganistic personality of the father was in some degree like his own past personalities though in a much more vague and watered-down way. A miscarriage later on the part of Ruburt’s mother represented an entity who changed his mind so to speak. He was at one time a brother. Ruburt’s present shape is something he has been working for. He was often tall, hardy and stout.

Ruburt’s miscarriage was a result of something else entirely. This time you are both on your last reincarnation cycle on your plane, and as a rule no personality fragments are left behind.

What you would call the wisdom of instinct is not then so sure. There have been however a few periods in mankind’s history when this happened en masse. It just worked out that way that a large majority of personalities finished their cycles more or less at one time.

When the Middle Ages began a large number of personalities who had lived before and during the Roman period were ready to end their reincarnation cycles. There were the most efficient learners, the wisest and most able personalities, and they withdrew their subconscious knowledge and memories from your plane.

This was one of the reasons for the decay of knowledge and learning in the Middle Ages. There were personalities reincarnated during the Middle Ages who had lived during the Roman experience, however they were not leading personalities and they were not able to transmit knowledge or abilities from past lives, simply because they had not the inherent strength or capability needed.

There were other personalities of course who were fairly developed but these were resting. The world so to speak got back on its feet when these personalities reappeared centuries later; and by this time new personalities who had taken the place of those whose cycles were completed also began to use and show their abilities.

By the end of the 10th century the first group of personalities completed their cycle. It took the period of time from then until the late 1600’s for any valid readjustment to take place, and by the middle 17th century you began to get bursts of beneficial activities and new thrusts of knowledge.

The monks who copied old manuscripts and preserved some remnants of knowledge did so because of their own past personal connection and experience with the knowledge itself.

The revolutions, both of them, were so connected, representing an offshoot from the freedoms initiated in Athens and greatly expanded. Great Britain was in many respects a special place in that many of those personalities who had been resting were born there at fairly regular intervals, and you had a more consistent belief in liberty that did not necessitate such bloody and unfortunate revolutions as those that occurred elsewhere.

It is in many ways the fault of personalities themselves as to which lands are developed or underdeveloped in various ways. Many personalities prefer rebirth in pleasant temperate or warm climates. Often they congregate for such selfish reasons in pleasant climates and in countries where political situations are not dangerous.

This has been the case with the country of Russia in the past but it may not be the case in the future; as activity grows there intellectual and psychic attractions will draw stronger and wiser personalities. The same in a somewhat different manner will apply to countries in Africa.

There are whole areas of material here that we have not discussed so that this is spotty, but we will go into it more deeply. There are no laws to force personalities to use all their abilities. A personality will not choose unfavorable circumstances of rebirth until he himself sees that necessary discipline can be achieved in no other manner. Therefore extremely hot and extremely cold countries go largely undeveloped. But once development begins to occur it is swift.

The problems that a country must work out merely represent the problems set by the personality inhabitants for themselves, and the country is merely the framework of such activities. There is a close bond between reincarnational cycles and earthly historical periods that we will discuss later. Sometimes though not always personalities who need a certain experience will be born into a particular country or race. I have been somewhat avoiding this whole issue since delicate balances are interconnected, and the question of the Jews is one that must bother all men.

The same personalities are not always reborn for example in the same race. It is true that your history shows a continuity of Jewish persecutions, that is persecutions of Jews. The fact is that many personalities who have been famous in many eras have also been proud, brilliant and cruel, and have belittled and persecuted those they considered beneath them.

These personalities, often talented in many directions and often with past experiences of wealth and power, choose to be born as Jews of their own volition, and this is a karmic compensation, not in any sense punishment but a needed adjustment on the part of the personalities involved.

This should be of benefit. Also the slow breathing habits you began to acquire with your yoga exercises will be beneficial. Giving up the smoking habit will also help you in this respect. You are strongly intuitive and very quick, but you can learn to have a more relaxed body. A fear has been developed by the present personality resulting directly from early circumstances. Ruburt is afraid that if he does not operate quickly he will be symbolically caught and crippled as is the case with his present mother.

The disability of the present mother is a result of that personality’s own problems, and Ruburt does not have to fear such a circumstance in his own condition. However a relaxed attitude is extremely important to counteract other tendencies. His fear of relaxation is actually rather simply based and superficial, in that it does not have its source in a past life but in this one.

A reverence for life is a saving characteristic of any personality who has it. It adds of itself important elements of understanding and growth in a direct manner. Reverence for life will also enable you to understand and deal with other human beings in a more kindly and beneficial manner.