“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

The inner discipline, the inner utilization of energy, the inner channeling and direction of energy on Ruburt’s part in these sessions, would have been impossible but a few years ago.

This involves on his part not a conscious, but a subconscious change of habit. The new habit he has acquired very well. The psychic explosions that have been fairly regular with him in the past, have been minimized to some considerable degree since our sessions began. No one is endeavoring to tamper with his personality, however, and it is his natural reaction to turn aggression, when it arises, outward in some manner, while he is almost superstitiously careful that it not be directed at another individual.

Without Ruburt’s now and then, really rather petty explosions, the stability of his working habits and the stability of emotional reactions would not be nearly as regular. The explosions are after all small ones, and of a harmless nature, that have a definite balancing tendency. Nor, my dear Joseph, are these explosions, though this is quite an exaggerated phrase, nor are these his alone; for he takes up also your hidden frustrations and angers, feels them deeply, though consciously he does not know this; and he then in these small explosions rather harmlessly dispels pent-up, small but potent emotional bombshells that belong to you both.

For without a rebellious nature neither of you would have permitted the sessions to begin. From this mixture all creativity comes. Our regularity of sessions is now a necessity. This does not mean however that at times a session cannot be missed, or that such a missed session should be considered a significant symptom. Overall our schedule will be maintained, but we do not want rigidity, merely the spontaneity that comes, and the freedom that is achieved within discipline.

This may not seem so to you, but because subconsciously and basically, though not consciously, Ruburt trusts both his own intuition and the validity of our sessions. He will not allow the rambunctious portion of his personality to upset our schedule, but because he trusts all this subconsciously, he will not be as disturbed as you are if a session is missed.

We have truly done much in a year. We will do more. If you were in Ruburt’s position, you would be more willingly regular than he; but my dear Joseph, your critical sense would block me much more than his, particularly in details. And in your position Ruburt would not do as well as you do.

There should be an easy flow and acceptance of such emotions, wherein they come and go; but ego often holds them tightly, for its own purposes, in which case they become imprisoned, and become stronger than they were. The origin of emotions is something that we still have to discuss, for there are many origins.

Some emotions originate within the personality, but others are simply like winds that are then rationalized and held. Emotions are indeed motion, and not static, and will pass to be replaced by others, unless the ego holds them back.

It has been tinged psychologically in its entry through the subconscious, but that is all. Emotions are the most vital tools with which you have to work. It is for this reason that you must learn how to use them.

These feelings of discouragement, however, though much deeper in the past, should be dissipated as quickly as possible in all cases, and then the energy used in a new plunge into work. There are no tendencies now worth speaking of, but the discouragement could in certain circumstances turn into an unhealthy despondency, and his intuitional urge to counteract it by seeking out people is a sound one.

(Willy now jumped up once more. Reaching for him to make him move, I grabbed his tail and at the same time nearly lost my balance. I pulled Willy backward. He came loose, but at the same time his claws came out in a reflex action. I heard them scrape across Jane’s lap. Jane’s eyes snapped open and she cried out. It was evident that the cat had scratched her through her dress. Jane clearly did not know what had happened exactly; she appeared to be dazed. I said nothing, not wanting to pull her out of her state any more abruptly. I was then surprised to see her sit quietly, finally close her eyes, and go back into her full state. If Willy’s scratches hurt she gave no sign. Indeed, Jane smiled as she began speaking again. Resume at 10:31.)

And do not fall, either of you, into winter doldrums. For I am a jolly snowman, and I will not melt in the springtime. You are both progressing in your work. Creative work does not grow in even ways, but in seeming sudden bursts of activities, and in seeming wastefulness, which is not waste at all.

(The particular dream Seth refers to on page 270 concerned one I had on the night of Sunday, February 21. In it a man received news of his wife’s death via his inner senses, by which he sees her apparition appear before him as she dies many miles away. The apparition I saw in the dream was not of Jane, but still the dream was very vivid, and somewhat upsetting. I believe it has elements of clairvoyance, and that possibly I disguised the identity of the apparition I saw in the dream.)