“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(This afternoon Jane received a letter from Pat Norelli, in Boston. Tonight we decided to ask Seth to answer the letter. Pat enclosed with her letter a list of three questions from a friend, Roger, dealing with mathematical formulae and requesting also that Seth give his mother’s maiden name. A fourth question, from a girlfriend of Pat’s, asked Seth about the Bahai faith. Jane read the four questions over—the formulae were meaningless to her—before the session, but we doubted if Seth would have time to deal with Pat’s letter and the questions in one session.

Now. You have a fine, strong and worthwhile purpose, but you will not fulfill it well while you rail against what you do not have, and ignore the abilities and gifts and blessings that you do have.

You will not discover the purpose and meaning of your life when you insist that it follow certain consciously predetermined roads, and while you concentrate upon what you do not have. This saps your energy and dulls your intuitions. You are indeed obsessed with the idea of marriage, and with male love, but as Joseph mentioned this is but a symptom.

They can exist with these, but they cannot exist if you insist that such a relationship is the condition upon which you will accept existence. You are saying “Unless existence meets my terms, I will not exist,” and no one has the right to so set themselves against their own innate vitality and the joy of life that is within them.

Once you wholeheartedly accept life on life’s terms, then you may indeed find what you are after, but not while you insist upon it as a condition for continued existence in this life. You have no right to set such terms, any more than a flower would insist upon sunny ground and a preferred spot within the garden as a prerequisite for its own existence.

The uniqueness that is your own personality is to be cherished. It has (underlined) a meaning. You have no more right to crush it than you have to crush a flower. The particular purpose of your present (underlined) personality can only be met in the present circumstances, in the way that is best overall. The challenges can be met at another time and in another life, this is true, but the particular people that you can help and the particular good that you can do, can never be done in precisely (underlined) the same way.

In denying life to yourself you end up by denying life to others. Now I wish this session was recorded so you could hear me, for I hold you, as Ruburt does, closely and dearly as a friend. But you are bound to misinterpret what I say in some sessions, and so it behooves me to speak more plainly. You do not realize now, you do not let yourself realize, the beauty and the complicated reality of your being. You do not let yourself realize the spontaneity and joyful burst that is your inner self, that results in this present human personality that you call yourself. Nor the effort and creative energy that has gone into your making, and that sings within your being like the first morning of creation.

Your basic personality in this life is open. You are trying to close it. It reaches out to all kinds of people over and beyond sexual lines, and you are attempting to hold it in bounds. You feel the need for a great love, but you have the great love and do not realize it. You are trying to make it safe. You are trying to hide yourself in one man’s arms.

Instead your love is very wide and deep. It can aid many people, for it is ungeneralized and vast, and it will bring you much satisfaction and pleasure as it helps others. But you must not insist on any one condition as a prerequisite for existence. I am not saying that you will not have what you want, again, but as long as you hold the wish as a condition of existence you will not.

(Jane got up for a cigarette, moving cautiously. Her eyes were still very dark and luminous—a sure sign of her trance state. I said nothing. “I’m just sort of half and half, I think,” she said. “He’s just stopping because of your fingers. This is sort of crazy. You wanted to rest, but I see you’re writing.”

(“Yes, but I’m taking it easy.” I wanted to get these notes down, although my hand was somewhat cramped.

Ruburt, himself, has long known that you had great vitality, but you have been cutting yourself off from your own abilities, and from helping others to a large degree because of this preoccupation.

Now you have latched upon this particular preoccupation, but what it is in the end makes no difference. It could have been something else entirely. There are people who feel that existence is meaningless without wealth. Now this sounds idiotic to you. There are people who have committed suicide because they established wealth as a condition of existence. They were unable (underlined) to appreciate a love relationship because of this preoccupation, and you have been unwilling to appreciate the true miracle of your existence because of your preoccupation. (Loudly.)

When you cease holding this as a condition of existence, then you may very well be loved by a man. But no one sets the conditions, or pouts in a corner, or threatens suicide without courting severe difficulties. Ruburt has ridiculed the conventional idea of a god who says “Do what I want you to do or I will destroy you,” and yet you say to life “Give me what I want or I threaten to destroy myself.”

You are your own inner self, it is true. You have set your own problems, but the life force is not entirely yours. You have decided to do certain things with the vitality and life that has been given you, that flows through you, but it is not your right to end any given personality. You rob those you could have helped, and you deny the ecstasy that is the natural right of your being.

Now I speak to you honestly, and while you may find my words harsh they are spoken with both love and compassion, and (underlined) understanding of your innermost thoughts. Your salvation lies in giving up personal male love and marriage as (underlined) a condition for existence. Because you do often misinterpret me, I repeat: this does not mean you will not find such a male and relationship. But it does mean you will not find this while you hold it as a condition of existence.

Vitality and joy and creativity move through you all spontaneously if you (underlined) do not set up barriers in terms of preconceptions and conditions; and all your desires will be met, but never when you set them up as conditions for your existence. The life that is within you knows only these terms: continued unpredetermined development, expansion; it will not flow in predetermined patterns or demands.

It can fulfill you and others, and bring you unimagined fulfillment, but never when you attempt to force it to follow certain directions. Who are you to threaten vitality and life?

Now I do suggest that our friend contact Edwards, and Ruburt can explain the reasons rather than taking session time to do so. These people in their way are expert spiritual healers. I am a teacher. They are often more gentle and understanding. They have a bedside manner, you see, that I unfortunately seem to lack. (Half humorously.) They do contact other layers of the personality, with explanations that are vital. They do not love any less than I, but they are more patient. They are also better equipped with certain techniques in their field, as I am equipped in my own.

Now as you know from certain signs, I am quite prepared to go on for some time, giving you literally whatever information I can concerning Ruburt’s condition, or your friend’s, but I realize the hour is late and your fingers tired. Make your own decision. I have done, and am doing, the very best that I can, out of love for your friend.