“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

That rational approach is, of course, connected now with scientific ideas mentioned earlier: life surrounded by chaos, the struggle for survival, and so forth. I do not mean to put down the intellect. It is highly important, but it is, if you will forgive me, as natural as a cat’s whiskers. It is not some adjunct to nature, but a part of it.

The idea of heaven, for all of its distortions, has operated as a theoretical framework, assuring the intellect of its survival. Science has believed to the contrary in the utter annihilation of the intellect after death, and since man had by then placed all of his identification with the intellect, this was a shattering blow to it. It denied man a necessary biological imperative (all intently).

In your dream³ you were, of course, in the process of forming new ideas about the nature of the magical self (through my art) and also in your way working that idea out through imagery. The dream is above all an example of “work” being done at other levels of awareness.

One note: Do have Ruburt tell you how he is doing moodwise, for now you can help him there. He must realize that relaxation is also a part of the creative process. Left alone, he would do “the right thing.” We will continue this discussion at our next session, and in the meantime be on the lookout for other hints and clues that will bring you a better idea of the magical approach.

“I could list hundreds of examples of what I mean. This is one of those obvious ideas that seem childish once it’s thought of. I don’t care whether or not it’s a profound thought; it has meaning for me. But as far as I know, we humans are the only species that’s obsessed with ‘change’, and ‘progress’, and ‘controlling or mastering nature’; with learning about our past and with charting our future. We strive toward an impossible, or at least rosy, future in which we will have met all of our challenges, so that we’ll live in some sort of unreal wonderland on earth. What do we do next — or will we give up on that idea too? Perhaps we’ll spend all of our time contemplating each other!

For example, women test as equal to men in sensitivity to sound; clear, logical, and rational thinking; accurate reading and writing; memory for design in areas like drafting and illustration; number memory; tweezer dexterity; foresight, as in the flow of ideas; subjective personality links to specialized work.

Women exceed men in such areas as finger dexterity; accounting aptitudes; rate of idea flow, as in sales, writing, and teaching; observing small changes in physical detail; non—tangible ideas requiring complex vocabulary, as in medicine and law; the ability to visualize three-dimensional relationships, as in engineering.

“Another great dream of Rob’s. In our sessions lately Seth has been talking about the natural self or natural person, saying that it is also the magical person. In this dream Rob is in the process of working out that idea, visually. His closest connection to magic would be his comics experience when he drew Captain Marvel — a magical character. The resulting image, in two parts, shows that the idea is almost completed in his mind, just needing to be put together. In the dream he sees himself returning to the comics, only the Sunday edition (special), and the superhero character is much more prominent than the comics would ordinarily have it; the smaller head representing, I think, the idea that the intellect’s place is smaller or of a lesser nature than he earlier supposed. At dream’s end Rob says that the head was almost too youthful for the body he’d drawn — maybe a reminder that the natural person is younger in ways than the intellectual self. I think that Rob is himself in the dream, represented by the super character as the magical self; and also that he is the assistant who had prepared the figure’s head.

“… later in the night, last night, I became aware of a mental conversation between Mary and myself. She was saying that she wanted to visit, and then said she wanted to stay overnight. I became somewhat alarmed and the conversation bled off. The feeling I had was that something had happened between Mary and her new husband, an argument. She wanted to stay here for the night, perhaps leaving her son with her husband — which I didn’t think was a good idea. I’ve picked up on Mary’s relationships before.…

“A terrific little dream that beautifully states its message: Mary’s ideas of romance and making love (represented by modern-day flowered sheets) are being transposed from the bedroom into the area of her art, and in a way that mars the art itself. The transposition of the flowered designs of bedsheets to sheets of paper is great; Rob chose a sketch pad rather than, say, typing paper, I think, because painting is his art while Mary’s is writing. Also perhaps to make connections with Mary’s sketches of her own life. Maybe by using his own art symbol, the sketch pad instead of the typing paper, Rob reinforced the idea of Mary’s conflicts about the nature of her own work.

“Mary shows us the large sketch papers in an open-air restaurant — a setting where physical needs are satisfied in public. The open air specifies this public aspect, meaning that Mary’s ideas are connected with social values wanting her needs satisfied in a socially acceptable public fashion. This would refer to her recent marriage. …