“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

When the two of you could work together, he thought, all that would change. You would have time to work and play. You would be more emotionally demonstrative, freed from your job. His work would bear more and more the burden of his needs, and take up the emotional slack that was now apparent. It had to be everything, then. The more you two communicate in the way I mentioned, the less the pressure is in the work area.

This applies constantly, through all of the episodes.

Both of you were sure of your love, but each of you at various times were quite willing to let its personal aspects take second place, and I am not speaking alone of physical love-making. When Ruburt took this place (Apartment 4) he was about ready to say, “All right, we will be work partners.” Then you responded with the display of love and devotion, plus a definite program, embarked upon together.

(Now in an aside Seth told me there were many “strings” to the material; that it seemed to come “sideways,” but that it would all come together.)

(“All right.” 9:36. Jane was taking many pauses throughout.)

Eleanor (Friede) represented a different kind of framework, in which business was business, while art was respected, and where after all matters of great money might be involved. Ruburt was rather proud of handling his own business affairs. Eleanor also represented on another level the establishment, the rich, literary, “in” crowd, and the great youthful specialized ideas of literary success.

Yet for the entire time he began to wonder, regardless, about his position at Prentice. Was he being taken for a fool? Should he have changed to another publisher? But this meant in his case: should he try to exclusively be the literary person again? Yet he found that these people wanted his psychic work most of all. And that while they appreciated his other work, his main value in their eyes lay precisely in the field that he thought would mean nothing to them.

The Seagull, while free, was not all that free. It is no coincidence that Tam is younger than Ruburt, for this to some extent helped water down the idea of Prentice as an authority figure. Eleanor, older and a woman, giving definite instructions, did represent an authority figure, both in literary terms and business-wise.

This immediately brought certain aspects to light that had been hidden to some extent while you were more physically separated. Some of this has to do, again, with the fact that you thought your concern automatically expressed your love. You were together more. When you saw him try to get up he knew you loved him, but the frown was what he saw. He was always trying to hide from you. Part of it was his projection because he felt you thought he was so stupid for having anything wrong at all, so the more he saw you frown the stupider he felt, and the more guilty. And the more he tried to hide his condition.

Both of you at times do. In your particular personal relationship Ruburt began to feel that when you looked at him you were comparing him precisely with “that perfect physical self” that seemingly so eluded him, and in the face of that image, any improvement at all began to seem so insignificant as to be meaningless.

All of a sudden he was told to hold off, and literally to him, not to act. In fact, what was specifically requested was nonaction. Now for the reasons given, and the developments earlier tonight, all of those issues met, since Eleanor’s previous visit.

All of the decisions he made, finally, were good ones from all viewpoints. In the meantime however, because of these issues all meeting, and his reactions as given, his condition worsened. The momentary feeling of powerlessness in the business area added to the physical sense of powerlessness. He was simply afraid that he could not improve.