“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

Now I told you that when issues are brought out into the open, there are certain conscious stresses and strains that earlier were not apparent, but hidden. The morning issue is finally rising into the significance that was buried before, and not dealt with. Your presence and help have been highly supportive, and also as I planned, your presence has made Ruburt more aware of his morning behavior and thoughts and sometimes he has tried to verbalize them.

Today finally he made important headway. It was obvious to you both that he did not want to get up then, and the question “Why not?” was difficult to ignore. When you finally left to prepare breakfast for yourself, he immediately got up, and barefooted, carrying his shoes and other paraphernalia with him—something you usually do not see him do.

He was not walking properly by a long shot, but he wanted to get up, and he walked as well barefooted as with shoes. You were surprised, and voiced approval. He began to write notes for his book as soon as breakfast was over, and before the table was cleared. He felt suddenly comparatively free.

After dinner he wrote several more pages. Yet all in all he had worked a little over three hours. In the material he wrote there was information applied to himself, incomplete, but I will put it in order; and it has to do with the nature of creativity and his beliefs.

A good deal of what I will say explains the morning episodes. Since I am dealing with this particular area I will not include other issues. For the book he was exploring creativity and other ideas of work and play. Long ago you first used the word “work” in reference to your painting, and to Ruburt’s writing. In the material given and given, the reasons are there as to why he latched onto some of your ideas—so I will not go into those here.

Some of the difficulty began when Ruburt started to connect writing with work. Remember his literal mind, and also that he does sometimes operate with extremes. Work was not play, then. It involved making money, definite hours, a routine and also adult status. He felt he needed that.

All of his ideas of responsibility became attached to the word “work.” In the past as given, he wanted to prove to you that he was working at home while you worked outside. Later when money became involved, then for a while fun writing had to come after working hours.

Seven came precisely because it was free of all contract connotations, and so at the time did Aspects. My books so far were hidden creative goodies, inserted instead of books either contracted or to be contracted, and they were free of the work context.

What he loved to do then was equated with work.

Work means conforming to Ruburt. Work meant working hours like other people have. They should be over at a certain time. You often said that other people could relax after supper. Their work was done while you and Ruburt were still busy.

Ruburt’s normal “work periods” would often involve nonconventional hours, however, precisely because they were nonconventional. Each morning he felt it his duty to get up at a decent hour to go to work. At the same time artistic work had other connotations. Everything else was unimportant by contrast, so that other pursuits became taboo. If you went out in the day people knew you were not working. You early used the word “chores” for activities in which Ruburt took a childish delight. With his literal-mindedness, and for reasons given in the past, he also began to think of them as chores. Otherwise he would want to do them and not work.

Inspiration and creativity he felt he could trust, but never felt he could trust his working capacity in the way he thought of work. At the same time other activities became taboo as not-work, so it was “wrong” to putter about the house in his work hours, and equally wrong to work after hours, when people who worked should be free.

He was living with you, someone he loved who had a different temperament, and tried to make his align with your own because of his love, and also because he felt your ides were better. You were older, knew more, he felt; and you were also afraid of the spontaneous qualities that he possessed.

Your mother felt that his creativity was a threat to stability, so maintaining your own creativity stubbornly, you still felt to some degree that it was a threat, that it would not pay off, and so you tried to clothe it in the garb of work, effort, regular hours, and stability, and to deny or play down its playful aspects.

(“Thank you.” 11:34. I was going to read the session to Jane, but she said, several times, that she was getting more material on me. Finally Seth returned at 11:40.)