“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

Now Joseph (pause), neither of you should overlook the fact that in one way or another, and regardless of the psychic development, such a crisis point (Jane’s symptoms) would have appeared in Ruburt’s life as a result of personal characteristics, present-life background, and past-life characteristics.

The crisis would have developed on the condition that Ruburt tried to use and develop his spontaneous and intuitive abilities on an adult basis. The cleavage between discipline and spontaneity had long existed; given the all-or-nothing attitude of the personality, there was bound to be a swing, a complete swing from one to the other until the personality learned to combine the two and become more thoroughly integrated.

The poetry was not seen as threatening to the disciplined self. Any work of fiction in which his abilities were at all fulfilled would have brought him to this point, and any endeavor such as the psychic work, which was adopted. In other words, for the personality to use its abilities fully that challenge would have had to be faced in every instance but the poetry.

It would have been a mistake of the most tragic order, however, to shy away from the full development of abilities. Otherwise there would have been an extremely rigorous personality, with intuition very strong but firmly held at bay; or a highly disorganized spontaneous personality frittering away its energies without direction.

A strong breakthrough was needed if the personality was to develop its potentials. The spontaneous self, relegated to the underground, then used all of its strength and forced the issue through opening up the psychic channels, which are very legitimate, and in the past had been an unsuspected deep portion of Ruburt’s personality. The challenge and the conflict were then set.

But without the challenge and the conflict the personality would have had little chance to develop its potential, particularly in terms of understanding. Your own relationship would indeed have deteriorated to some degree. The spontaneity of Ruburt’s nature otherwise would have nearly dried up, and you as well as Ruburt would have sorely missed it. This brings us nearly to the present.

As complete integration takes place the body will be restored to normal. If the process seems slow, you can be assured that it is a legitimate and steady integration, for nothing but a complete integration would suffice if the personality is to achieve its potential.

If the personality settled for less, then, true, the conflict would not have arisen. The conflict would have arisen however in whatever field the personality chose, except for the poetry. Even in that area however it is highly dubious that full potential could be reached.

Your father seemed to be, earlier, highly disciplined. Ruburt did not see that the discipline was the result of terror, and was not true discipline. He saw both personalities as frozen, finally, and he thought: if spontaneity and discipline are both false roads, then where do I go? There is no road, and no escape, you see.

There should be a conscious letting go now also. This life sees this integration as necessary. Past lives have involved him with personalities either strongly intuitive or strongly intelligent, highly overbalanced in one category or the other. The full potential therefore should be seen in this, the last reincarnation.

Some of the confusion was the result of Ruburt’s attitudes toward spontaneity and discipline, toward the spontaneous and strongly conscientious aspects of his personality.

He thought of the overly conscientious self as stern, good, boring, constricting and uncreative, but very safe. He never made any serious attempt to integrate his personality, or to understand these portions of himself until recent years. He did not understand that discipline can be an aid to creativity, and that the spontaneous self is good. These erroneous attitudes were built up in this life. They echoed however experience in past lives also.

I am not saying that the personality will then become static, obviously, but the basic psychological framework will be such to allow the fullest development.

One word. I do not see any tragic circumstances surrounding the sister of Ruburt’s student (Shirley Bickford), of the kind told to Ruburt. (Pause.) A change of environment would be good, not in an overly permissive atmosphere but one in which some personal freedom is tempered with the expectation of definite achievement of some kind. (Pause.) Any sort of a school meeting that requirement would suffice.