“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(This afternoon while doing Yoga exercises Jane gave herself suggestions to the effect that she would do better in the envelope test tonight, than she had done last session. As will be seen, she did do much better.

Then I shall continue. First of all, may I congratulate you for doing something that you do not realize you have done. You did have some help, it is true, from Ruburt, but in the main you did this on your own. Do you have any idea of what I am speaking?

Now you can do, that is any individual can do, and does, the same with the physical body. If his reactions cause a generalized overall poor condition, this is much more difficult to treat. But if this energy can be put into a specific form, one pimple, one pain, one ulcer, at least the problem is recognized, localized, and can be treated with somewhat less difficulty.

I was pleased with the trance state that you achieved when you visited your dentist. And when you can do this under that stress, you see that you can also do it in other situations. With your parents for example you can use this knowledge, so that their actions will not upset you unduly. With them you simply need the suggestion that you will only react to constructive suggestions.

Both of you do this now in relation to your Miss Callahan, so you should understand the feel of it.

Your attitude toward your faithful old car is not based upon the reasons you ascribe it to. An automobile means one thing to you and one thing to Ruburt. Obviously your backgrounds have much to do with this, but I do not believe that you realize what I am about to tell you.

Do you have any idea, now?

It does not matter whether the car is old or new, as long as he has one, and it is for this reason that he fights any of your suggestions that you do without one. The car is also to him a complementary image of his father, who was always on the move, more so than most men, while his mother could not move at all. A lack of a car also makes him fear a return to poverty, since in his neighborhood any car at all was a sign of luxury.

Your father would like to kick at old cars, for he felt that they defied him since they worked improperly. More than this however, both of your parents still feel that a car is a symbol of social status, and you grew up with this. When your cars were new you felt at one with them. But an old car brings back the old struggles between your parents, and it is precisely here that subconsciously you and Ruburt do not agree. He gladly settles on an old car—anything that moves will do. But to you the old car has not meant freedom, but imperfection.

This is not the adventurous spirit they told you of, and you heard every word. On the other hand you do have a rather deeply felt feeling for mechanical objects. This has some connection with your position in the service. But the conscious reasons that you have for being annoyed with your automobile, these reasons are rationalizations to hide the deeper causes.

You are doing very well, much better than you think, generally speaking. Reactions which you would have accepted as natural in the past, you now accept as being unfavorable, as they are. But the recognition, you see, causes you at times to think you are not making progress when indeed you are. You expect more of yourself now, and you are getting more.

(As usual Jane took the sealed double envelope from me without opening her eyes. Her head was tipped down; such was its position that when she held the envelope up, as she has been doing lately, she pressed it against the top of her head. This is the 27th envelope test.)

I pick up a very distant connection with Wisconsin, which I do not understand (pause), and with objects seen from above.

(“I pick up a very distant connection with Wisconsin, which I do not understand”, puzzled Jane, since she had no idea of what this could mean. I thought it might be a reference to the fact that my brother Loren, who wrote the test letter, is a model railroad fan. The magazine Model Railroader was, I thought, published in Wisconsin. There is a strong connection here because Loren has contributed articles and photographs to this magazine for many years. A trip to the newsstand to check verified my idea; Model Railroader has editorial offices in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Jane was especially pleased at this because she knows nothing of the hobby, or the magazine or its address. It took me two days after the session to come up with the connection with Wisconsin myself.

He is doing very well. He will automatically improve. I want him to remember this, for there is no reason for him to blame himself when, as in our last test, we did poorly. There is no blame involved.

You will see when and how Ruburt’s personal associations help us, and when and how they do not help us. As result Ruburt will be able, finally, to screen out the incorrect data. This is difficult simply because the data is legitimate to important layers of the personality, and you can see extrasensory perceptions as they merge with other associations.

And this is precisely how dreams are formed, and why they appear so often so incomprehensible—for when you examine them you do so in the light of your personal associations only. You view them with only half an eye.

(Seth’s statements on page 207, to the effect that even incorrect test data is legitimate to important layers of the personality, is probably an important one in our opinion. We have been aware of this possibility and plan to ask more questions about it. I do not recall Seth’s referring to this point so plainly before, although he may have. Jane and I do not recall reading anything treating with the subject, and wonder whether it could not be quite a valid field for investigation in itself.)