“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

Tam instantly saw the quality in our work, and Ruburt’s. In the beginning only his enthusiasm sold our first book. Prentice would have taken it had you allowed another writer to report the experience. Tam’s boss did go along with him, however. It was Tam who saw in Ruburt’s original manuscript the importance of his work, and the way in which Ruburt was trying to hide it by playing down his relationship with me.

(Pause at 9:49.) It would have been highly impractical, then, to expect Prentice to advertise the book. Times are changing. There is a so-called occult climate, yet we do not fall precisely into that category for them, the publishers, either; and Ruburt refuses to take advantage of “the trappings.” At least then they could say they had an occult personality who played the new part. It might be farce, from the publisher’s viewpoint, but they could sell it, and they would know how to advertise it.

No other publishing house would have treated you any better to this point. They would have tried, most of them, to have turned Ruburt into a performing circus. Advertising men cannot handle that kind of copy. You would have been put through experiences most difficult to cope with, that would have so disrupted your peace of mind that the work might well have not progressed to this stage.

He hides behind no other credentials, or social system, or dogma. It is important that our books make their way, and as unhampered as possible by the commercial distortions that would automatically be applied by men interested in advertising a product.

Bantam is helping—but no one there would have had the guts to make any initial investment. What I have said however applies now to Bantam, as it did to Prentice in the beginning. You give them no handle of a recognizable nature in your culture, upon which their kind of advertisement can be written.

Grace’s (Bechtold) visit was highly important from that viewpoint. If you were, or if Ruburt was, a conventional Philip Roth, a novelist, safely within that framework, or if he were willing to set himself up as an “occult” mistress of the spirit, then you would have publicity galore.

(Pause at 10:11.) You would not necessarily want to handle those results. You would not want to handle the phone calls, the interviews, so do not blame Prentice for not giving you what you do not want. If that was what you really wanted, you would have had it yesterday.

They have given you much more freedom than any other reputable, now, publisher would have. The books are forming their own secure basis, and they will do far better. In the meantime you have progressed.

I would rather make some remarks about Ruburt, his condition, and about his beliefs and frameworks.

Frank (Longwell) is far more open-minded than most chiropractors or doctors, and he has learned much. I would like to correct a few misconceptions, however, pertinent not just here but generally.

So it seems, even to you at times, easier to go along with the old pattern than to break it. You can shop faster alone than with Ruburt, so that “chores” take less time. It is easier for you to comb Ruburt’s hair in the back. It looks better, and you are helping him. It would help him more if you actively and lovingly encouraged him to comb his own hair, and told him that he could do it better each time.

Now. Some of this is related to organizations, and served as a method of protection. Ruburt wondered how far he should go in publicizing his work. Ads would mean requests to speak. He discovered that he was a good speaker. He could go out into the world, but he didn’t want to. Your remarks about his telephone behavior often reinforce his feelings that he could not say “no” without the symptoms to back him up.

The new environment and the coming spring will help. I would like to have a session on Thursday, to give you more specific suggestions that will be of benefit. After a few sessions devoted to practical concerns we will let you rest so that you will not have current sessions plus the book to do.