“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

You forgot to buy the gasoline. You had previously not noticed the small red flash indicating that oil was needed, and if the trend had continued you would have continued to ignore this warning light. If your attitude had been strong enough to affect Ruburt, he would not have noticed it either. The general and overall condition of the car was on its way to deterioration.

There was no need for your garageman to think, then, that the trouble had not been noticed, for when he examined the car last the overall condition was poor. But there was no specific physical or localized trouble. I thought that you would find this rather interesting.

First of all, to give you a rest, Joseph, you may tape any sessions that you prefer, say, tape one week’s sessions during which Ruburt could then transcribe the notes to give you some extra time for yourself. He could follow your format and type them now and then for you.

First of all, for Ruburt’s idea of an automobile. For his ideas are simpler and easier to explain. His mother could not leave the house. He always ran as a child to make sure that he could move at all. To him a car is an extension of that mobility.

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.

(I am 46. As a young boy I used to watch my father make automobile batteriesby hand. He had his own business in Sayre, PA, and took great pride in the excellence of his work. The business began to fail when batteries became mass produced, and the great depression finished it.)

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.

There is also a lesser connection here with the garage in which your father spent so much of his time, for you picked up your mother’s anger that he was so often there. One small remark and you may take your break: Ruburt, for the reasons mentioned earlier, also liked anything with wheels that moved, roller skates for example. Anything that offered hope of mobility.

I see that Ruburt received my message correctly. This message was given, incidentally, mentally while he was delivering my words on another subject, and this is an accomplishment indeed.

He does not feel the need to change the furniture with such startling rapidity.

Plans that Dr. Instream has been making for a large meeting next spring or early summer will not materialize in the manner that he anticipates. There will be an overall change in them. You may underline overall. (Pause.)

(“The habit of squirreling away” is a good reference to my father, in whose photographic studio my brother Loren took the pictures he refers to in the test letter. The studio is in part of my father’s cellar; the rest of the cellar is stuffed and cluttered with odds and ends my father has accumulated over the years. The rest of the family views the overloaded cellar as a fire hazard.

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.

The positive suggestions that he used today were excellent, however. This evening I specifically mentioned the incorrect impression to set him straight. This also represents a fine distinction however on his part.

Now Ruburt grows unsure as far as Dr. Instream’s tests are concerned, when we are asked for a specific object, and this does hamper us. However this feeling will vanish as we continue, and again, it is a natural reaction on his part so he should not blame himself for it.

(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.)