“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

The caution and ego strength behind such amusing episodes work to our benefit, however. He has used them well this time, to give himself added discipline, and this is all to the good. Without this ego elasticity, that is without the ability of the ego to assume control and to guide Ruburt back, immediately reassuming control, we would be in for much less peaceful sessions, and the quantity and quality of the overall material would suffer. I certainly would not want to get him angry at me, as I am so familiar with his explosive reactions.

Ruburt now will not block me. You, Joseph, must paint, using all your powers, instilling into your work all you have learned now and in previous lives, of human understanding, ability, capacity and failure; and you must make an effort to have your work seen. You must send it out, and in this you will find birth.

You will help to create something in the hearts of men that will not be there until they see your work. This is your commitment. This is the time for it. If you are to be an entity, as you have chosen to be, then this is your opportunity, and this is your last reincarnation upon this earth. You need power, strength, determination, and joyous spontaneity in your working hours.

There is a delicate balance to be maintained, but energy will come to you. You must still make a more passionate oath of involvement with the world at large, and identification with everything within it, and of it, for you have sometimes shrunk from this. But from this passionate oath of involvement will be wrung the final intense isolation and comprehension from which your best work will come. There must be, with discipline, a passionate joyfulness and spontaneity.

There must be both involvement that springs partly from the acknowledgment of human vulnerability, but also from the acknowledgment of human potentiality; this if your deepest capacities are to be realized, and if your work is to achieve its true mastery and power.

It is one thing to isolate part of yourself so that you do not worry or fret about your experiences with the outside world during your working hours. Nevertheless a synthesis must be performed. Shutting yourself off in one direction will result in a shutting yourself off in all directions.

Your work, Joseph, is a synthesis of pain as well as pleasure. A commitment in the world will not detract but will add to your own work, granted of course that you allow yourself specific working time. This also now applies to Ruburt because of a discipline that you yourself helped him to achieve. And he was right as far as the gallery is concerned. He is now ready to expand, because this expansion will help his own abilities and will therefore influence others.

Teaching will help him develop abilities in himself that are all for the good. If he is not allowed to teach the children’s classes, or to expand his abilities at the gallery, then he should look for outside work where he can use these abilities; for such experience is necessary for him, and will be used in his own work.

“It” means added complexity, but you will synthesize this complexity in your work, and you must. For you two this life is no game. You have much at stake. You cannot afford to use half of your abilities. You have aimed too high for that. If you follow this advice you will find extra dimension, not only in your work but in all aspects of your daily lives, both psychic and physical. Any other course leads to a stunting of growth.

Ruburt should concentrate upon his poetry. He should work much more diligently with it, and also upon his book in which he attempts to explain inner sense phenomena. The time is past for him to shrink from contacts with the outside world, as far as the gallery or any other endeavor is concerned. This shrinking was initially necessary, because he needed to learn how to handle his rather explosive personality. But from now on he should begin to use, and insist upon using, his abilities; not only in his own work but in his dealings with the outside world as far as occupation is concerned.

Without the involvement, as contrast and as experience, then the self has no way on your plane to experience its own uniqueness. Commitment and involvement become the ingredients from which your own work will achieve genius. The synthesis is yours, and yet the self must be plunged into chaos even to find order, to find itself and to find a comprehension and understanding that will bring original insight and knowledge into your plane. And this original insight, original comprehension, are the requirements of an entity.

Ruburt must work ever harder at his poetry. He must publish it as often as possible. You must work ever harder at your painting, and always allow yourself spontaneity and joyfulness as well as discipline in your work; and you must show, sell, or even give away your work.

Preferably it should be shown or sold, but it must be seen. It is not to be hidden away. Your ability will not grow to capacity if the work is hidden away. The counteraction with people is important.

This material, all of it, is so important to you both that I cannot stress it too strongly. You are both doing well. Joseph has expanded to a large degree, and yet there is much room for improvement. Particularly, Joseph, in terms of selling your work. Let it affect people. Let the comprehension and magic expand them. Do not shrink at selling it. What you lose is not lost. You show as much reluctance to sell your work as Ruburt shows in marketing his poetry.

I regret using your fingers so poorly this evening, but finding my Ruburt so compliant, I had better get through what I can. The wine undoubtedly helped. You can always ask more of yourself and find more. With your creative abilities you will always form a synthesis from your own experience. Again, travel when possible will help. You have, now, an inner fortification and peace and knowledge that will allow you to deal with a more complex life than you would have been able to handle before. And this is to the good, particularly as far as your contribution and work is concerned.