“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

The symbolic journey of the spirit, and the finding finally of the self always involves the journey of the self through fear, and its emergence. To the extent that this journey is faced, the greater the perils, but the greater the rewards.

Fear cannot be ignored. It must be faced and conquered. It always leads to retreat when it is not faced. The physical image is indeed a replica in many ways of the inner self. When a man is ill it is not necessarily because he wants to be ill subconsciously. It is not necessarily because he is receiving some hidden psychological benefit, or because the illness fulfills some need. He is ill often—always in fact—because of a distortion that is occurring within the self, and materialized in physical form.

You can be grateful also. The winter of the spirit must be journeyed through, and it must not only be conquered but the benefits used. Yet without it maturity cannot arrive. The immobility showed itself physically in faithful replica to the inner immobilization caused by fear. You could see, in other words, the exact extent of the distortion in quite physical terms.

This response to fear is a danger to psychic work, where freedom is necessary. In projections most of all the self must be mobile. Rapidity of perception, mobility of consciousness, openness of emotional response, are prerequisites for our work. The fearful spirit fears to leave the body, and fears to reside in it also. Ruburt has my congratulations, for he has now successfully passed a period of trial. He tried without involving you except when he grew more than usually discouraged.

Now. In projections the inner self is free to travel within its capabilities—underlined, within its capabilities.

The inner senses are an attribute of consciousness. The outer senses make this information meaningful to the physical organism, and the body consciousness, the ego. This is for Ruburt’s book.