“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(It will be recalled that in the 63rd session, June 17, 1964, page 159, Seth gave a date of today, Aug. 24, as being one that could possibly see an unpleasantness arise for us. Starting our day this morning, we reminded ourselves of the date, but made no plans other than to perhaps keep a sharp eye out for situations that could possibly develop unpleasantly. As an example, I drove the car with a little extra caution, though usually I am a careful driver to begin with.

(What did develop was that my boss at work, at 11:50 AM, called me on the phone–he happened to be at the company’s other plant on Elmira’s southside at the time–and asked me to put in more time on the job as a regular routine. As soon as the secretary told me who was calling me, I intuitively knew what the call was about and was prepared as I picked up the receiver.

(I like the part-time arrangement I now have at Artistic very much. It gives me time for myself in the afternoons to paint—an arrangement that I have learned is very necessary, even vital, to my well-being both physically and mentally. Recently, talking it over with Jane, I decided against expanding my working hours at the plant. I also decided it to the extent that if management insisted I increase my hours, I would leave the plant and try developing some other recent ideas I have acquired on making a living, one of them being teaching art by, perhaps, starting my own school on a small scale at first.

(I would like to mention here another rather halfhearted experiment I tried while on vacation. Driving up to Maine, I noted that our car, which is an old one, was using quite a bit of oil. I did not keep an exact record because I did not have the experiment in mind at the beginning of the trip. However, by the time we left York Beach, I had tried to suggest to my subconscious, in line with the material we have obtained to date on the value of expectation, that the car would consume less oil than on the outward journey. Again without keeping an exact count, I arrived home with the definite feeling that the car used at least two quarts less oil. Twice, stopping at stations along the way, I was somewhat surprised to be told by attendants that no oil was needed, or that it was down so little that there was no point in adding more. I did not tell Jane of my little effort until we were home. Again, if tonight’s session developed, I thought I would ask Seth whether I was correct, or merely the victim of some overoptimistic wishes.

(The irony here being that I had been making efforts, consciously at least, to convince myself that I would not catch Jane’s cold, after she developed it last Tuesday. I came down with it, actually, on the evening of Saturday, Aug. 22, while Jane and I were sitting in a drafty bar with her father, in Saratoga Springs, NY, while on our way home. It was a cold and rainy evening.)

The unpleasantness for this date was avoided largely because of your own improved expectations and understanding.