“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(The session was held in our front room, and was free from interruptions. Once again Jane spoke at a fast rate; several times I had to ask her to slow down. As is often the case with witnesses, her delivery was much more active. Although her eyes remained closed for the whole session, her voice was loud and at times quite a bit deeper than usual. She was very restless in her chair, changing position often. It will be remembered that John’s entity name is Philip.)

My heartiest regards to our friend Philip, irregardless of his own rather frivolous good evening.

I would here like to continue our discussion concerning the nature of the personality. Joseph, if I speak too quickly, I hope I can rest assured that you will ask me to slow down.

As we mentioned in our last session, the personality cannot be considered alone, but it must be thought of in its relationship to action and to all those aspects of reality of which it is a part.

I would suggest that our friend with the ulcer read our last two previous sessions, for this will bring home to him the fact that he does indeed, literally, consider his ulcer as much a part of himself as an arm or a leg. He considers the ulcer, in fact, more real and necessary than an arm or a leg, since his whole life now revolves about this illness.

We do not have that trouble here, for here, if we may use Philip as another example, we find better balance. Philip relates himself well in an outward manner, insisting to some extent that he maintain also his inward integrity. I am here mentioning the two personalities and bringing them together in our discussion because they are both salesmen.

As such their positions demand outgoing natures. But one of our salesman has an ulcer and the other man does not. There are obvious reasons for this, and reasons that will allow us to delve more deeply into the nature of the human personality in general.

We will for the purposes of our discussion ignore, for now, certain aspects in Philip’s personality, such as a deep secrecy which is indeed based on fear, because this characteristic and others will not help us progress in our particular subject matter. We will instead content ourselves with a comparison of the two personalities in regard to certain characteristic reactions, which tend to lead the personalities toward health or illness.

(Seth dealt with one of John’s past lives and his connection with medicine in an amusing way during the 21st session, of February 3,1964. John knocked on our door during the session, but since we had not yet begun having witnesses, we asked him to return later. As soon as the door closed behind John, Seth went into a rather lengthy rundown on him, much to our surprise. At that time, neither Jane or I had seen John very many times.)

He is, in a more basic manner than he may realize, deeply committed here. He is quite content with his ability to affect the minds of others. Our other friend, to the contrary, is afraid of this ability, and distrusts it, and is not at all committed to the product that he sells.

We will now return to our previous discussion.

When he is at work he thinks “This is not me, this is not myself.” The inner self has not so far recognized this other portion of the personality. When our friend Philip sells he is thinking “This is me. You can like it or not, but buy what I am selling.” But he believes in what he is selling.

It is nevertheless the physical materialization of this lack of communication. Its purpose is basically a good one. The results are obviously poor. The ulcer is an attempt to force a recognition of unity from the various levels of the self. It is, literally, a physical bridge. At this time it is an impeding action, but it can be dissolved and resolved, according to our previous discussions.

Oddly enough, the fact that the movement is conservative will work to his advantage in very strange ways. Though they may not agree with his political beliefs, they will on the other hand trust his integrity because the movement is conservative. They do not believe that he would follow an unpopular cause unless he believed in it. They will want a man who is sincere. They will also want a man who can lead. They will be afraid of a liberal. I hope that this is sufficient. After our next break I will give you what additional information I have. You may take a break, or we will continue with our session.

I should from here on call you “I will take a break Joseph.” I do, however, appreciate the work that you give to our sessions, and if you will forgive my humor I will forgive yours, as I sometimes am acquainted with it on those few occasions when I look in on you between sessions. By all means take your break, and if you prefer I will then continue.

We will shortly conclude our session.

I will not give any further information this evening concerning these matters, but he may check with me from time to time if he so desires. There is a short man of whom he should beware. I will now conclude our session.