“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

Now. No personality chooses a life situation of illness. It chooses the best method it can to aid in overall development.

It uses illness as a teaching method, and discards the method when the lesson is learned. In entire life situations—I am speaking in terms of a lifelong illness now—the illness is not predetermined by the personality to last the length of the life. Many severe illnesses disappear miraculously, it would seem, though an individual has been plagued since birth.

Now this is highly simplified, but the problems set are open problems. There are usually several different solutions or contexts within which the personality can find the solution. The individual does not set himself problems for which no answers exist.

I will try however to give you this as an example. A personality is born in a particular environment that is not clear and straight but crooked, as in a maze. The angles, corners and curves of the maze he has cleverly formed himself, before this existence. To get out of the maze automatically means that he has developed the abilities necessary. The flexibility, spontaneity, persistence, what have you, none of which he may have acquired had the “road” in quotes been absolutely straight from start to finish.

Obviously he must forget that he constructed the maze to begin with. This does not prevent the unmazed portion of the self from watching, giving helpful hints of a kind to ward off discouragement. The helpful hints are themselves lessons, reminding the personality that only a portion of it is involved in the maze.

(“Yes. But what about the cases where the personality does die from its illness; the illness never clearing up....”)

In those cases the personality has done one of two things. It has solved one problem and decided to use the method to solve another, or it has decided that from its particular vantage point it would rather close the books and begin anew.

In other circumstances, though the problem is solved, the physical body, being physical, is in such poor condition that the personality decides it much better to discard it completely.

(“Does error enter in here on the part of the personality, or the inner self?”)

Now in many cases of coma, the personality simply leaves before the body’s actual death. Errors can be made, but in the overall they amount to little. Now give me a moment. (One minute pause at 9:25.)

I want to give you some personal material this evening, but we shall wait a bit longer. (One minute pause.)

He should also, for personal reasons, stay away from the monastery. The monks coming to the house subconsciously rearoused old fears and resentments. This does not mean he is not rising above them, for he is. It does mean that until he is in control of his organism such episodes are not helpful.

What you see as symptoms are those that have not as yet been transformed. Now this is a creative process where the personality uses for its advantage and development those elements in its background that it seems (underlined) could have destroyed it.

Now regardless of the nature of our sessions, their legitimacy and my own reality, only certain peculiarly gifted personalities would be able to make consistent contact, to obtain such information over a period of time. Only a certain kind of personality could find balance between spontaneity and discipline. Literally, as you recognize, a tremendous creative endeavor is required. A personality embarking upon such pursuits had to allow for various emotional and psychic elements from early childhood.

The personality for best purposes would have to be a woman, for the intuitive nature is more easily developed. I do not want to go tonight too deeply into other connotations, for they can lead us astray right now.

Legitimate response, legitimate aggressive—(It is interesting to note that Jane stumbled over the word aggressive, even speaking as Seth)—response, is no problem, for there is no buildup behind it. It clears the system, and the other person can handle it. This Ruburt must learn. Often in such situations he will hurt himself because he has an exaggerated (underlined) idea of the hurt any normal aggressive reaction, from a frown to a verbal one, can have.

On the positive side to some extent it even led to our sessions, for he knows that my material, the material, can help prevent people from hurting each other. On the negative side, for him personally, it can lead to an exaggerated idea of the individual’s vulnerability.