“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

It is difficult sometimes to untangle beliefs because you do not get hold of the proper strands.... To some degree Ruburt believed that artists and writers, pioneers, or revolutionary thinkers, were somehow punished—despised even—for their genius; ostracized. To some extent he had the feeling that as long as you kept your mouth shut about what you believed, you were safe, and that idea drew great strength from your own similar belief. Think what you want but don’t make the mistake of telling the rest of the world. Keep your mouth shut.

In order to fear the opinions of others, however, particularly the opinion of those in authority, you must first to some extent respect those in authority, and hold some faith in their ideas. You are taught to respect such authorities, and as mentioned earlier, while Ruburt defied authority as a child he was still dependent upon authority’s welfare.

Now he has felt that if the “authority,” the people, do not like what he says, then they will not buy his books, and deny him that “welfare.” At the same time he has been determined to go ahead. Instead of the people giving him handouts as a child, where he had to be careful of what he did and said, he saw them as contributing to his welfare through buying his books, and if he went too far and offended them, they would stop.

Their ideas ruled the world. Their ideas carry the weight of mass acceptance. He has done his thing, but fearfully. Only lately has he realized that he has no respect for any of the authorities, as they call him or write him, or approach him. As with today’s psychologist, he sees that in many ways they know far less than he, and are looking to him for help and direction. These are the people, he suddenly sees, that so frightened him.

Give us a moment.... Again, you cannot be afraid of the opinions of the world unless you value its opinions above your own. This is a difficult lesson to learn, and many live lives in which the entire question is never encountered. Ruburt suddenly realizes that in basic ways he does not respect the opinions of the world. Therefore those opinions no longer have the power to frighten him. When you are not challenging the world’s concepts there is hardly any problem.

None of this ever had to do with Ruburt privately, but with Ruburt and his contact with the world. None of our sessions, or his own natural development would ever bother him. The question was how these could be related to the world, how people would interpret or misinterpret, or how he would be regarded—for he took it for granted that anyone offering revolutionary ideas would be punished or ostracized.

Until lately he idealized authority on the one hand, and was frightened of it on the other. Only when he realized that there was no authority in those terms could he begin to let down his guard.

Now because of these feelings he was afraid of setting himself up as a new authority for people to follow blindly. This problem also vanishes when he realizes, as he does, that there literally are no authorities. There are only people.

He has been on guard, and only now is realizing that there is nothing to be on guard against. Fear of the spontaneous self is meaningless unless the spontaneous self is set up against the idea of an authority which is not spontaneous. The spontaneous self is feared only because it might break down the authority of a rigid structure. It might be creative. It might come up with something new. It might shatter rigid barriers.

Other issues have been contributing to today’s suddenly noticeable improvement. Psycho-Cybernetics does reach him at a certain point; Edwards has helped—but all of this only because he is ready. He sees that no one else has anything better to offer the world.

Fear of what? Of people, who have the power to hurt you. But I say to you that literally no one has such a power. You can only hurt yourself. When others seem to hurt you, you use them in a way as weapons against yourself; and of course they so allow themselves to be used for their own reasons. But Ruburt has a highly symbolic mind as well as a highly literal one, so he has hidden behind closed doors.

Actually some of the responses to Personal Reality have helped him considerably, as he sees that so-called authorities are greedy for these ideas, and need them desperately. His beliefs therefore have been changing. He feels free to move, and that symbolically and literally means a new “place.” That also applies to you, and both of you jointly, which is even more important: your joint agreement.

Now, dear friend, you have also shared some of these ideas, and to some extent seen Ruburt’s physical condition as a symbolic statement of how the so-called authorities viewed our joint work. Ruburt is striking. In his physical condition he is still striking. People still notice him. They notice him even more now because of the eccentricity of walk. This bothers you. It bothers Ruburt. You do not like to be out with him, on a certain level now, because he is so noticeable, so obvious. It offends your idea of secrecy, privacy, and being anonymous. I do not mean that you are not sympathetic. You follow me.

You had each thought, however, that there was something extremely uncomfortable about the truly creative person in society, that he or she had to protect himself or herself, and the symptoms have been Ruburt’s way of protecting himself—yet also his way of saying, “I am different. Do not fear me, look at me. I am obviously flawed, so you cannot attack me.” So he feigns illness. When the opinions of others are no longer so valued, there is no need for such protection, such playing dead.

There will be some extraordinary library experiences. Because of such fears as I have spoken about this evening, many people never use their true creative abilities at all. But they do not remain “healthy” either. They suffer. Their abilities yearn for release, and overall their lives are, in your terms, incredibly dim. Ruburt can make no new bargain that says “Now I change my mind. I will be physically flexible, but I will no longer use my creative abilities in the ways natural to me.” That is simply the other side of the same limiting bargain. But that is not where he is going.

Give us a moment.... He is free to use all his abilities physically, psychically, creatively, and spiritually. One need not be expressed at the expense of another. Instead each complements the others. When you realize quite literally and practically that you have no other person or authority to fear, then you are free to be yourself to the best of our “ability.”

Ruburt’s New York Times ad is delightful, but he no longer needs to depend upon that kind of prestige. You are not better than other people, either of you. You certainly are not worse. You are, in your terms, in their reality while being “ahead” of them in terms of certain kinds of development. You chose this experience for a reason. You do have equal contemporaries, unknown to you, but you are working at a different level. You are not involved in a specific kind of emotional reality others are pursuing. Those realities are not beneath your own in any way. They do need people like you who are not so involved, who work in other areas, to help them.

In those terms you are “out of your time.” You have been through the same kind of encounters, however, enmeshed in them like anyone else, so you have no right to feel superior. The implied sense of superiority is what made Ruburt so angry at authorities, so defiant. They seemed to have power over him that he resented. You cannot speak to your age, your time, unless you understand it, and you cannot understand it unless at one time or another you feel the weight of its authoritative beliefs. So Ruburt grew up where they were important.

Ruburt need not fear becoming a new authority. People do their own thing, and point to others as authorities to take their responsibility for them. He need not fear others as authority, for the same applies. You do not need to protect yourselves against the world. It needs what help it can get, and you can only help it by being yourselves.

Ruburt then is now realizing there is no authority to fear, no need for the defense, and no one he need hide from. The improvement then is just beginning. You will find a house you like. You need to buy, not rent; there are further financial developments, windfalls.

—so he became the figurehead for your joint activities.

The book Ruburt ordered can be helpful if he ignores some of the suggestions, and you help him with the adjustments that will operate simply as aids.

Encourage Ruburt to go out with you more. Each of you cop out in that regard, using time as an excuse. He will, however, feel freer, there is no doubt of it, when he does not think of the hallway as the place where the public world begins. He uses that surely in line with the beliefs given—but the private area will still help him along the way. I am not excusing the belief.

He feels that 45, for him, is a significant age, and so it is, for there he picks up some strands of knowledge that he had, but was not free enough to use, earlier. And as I recall, the same occurred to you at that age, Joseph. The important thing however is that the body is responding.

Your change of environment will be effected, again, far more easily than you think—because you have already made the inner changes necessary. The exterior alterations always follow the inner ones. Ruburt is tired of tending the same old house, so he seeks a new one. Meaning that he is tired of the same old beliefs, and ready to move out of them. But both of you together agree, which is of the greatest importance. Literally, you are no longer afraid to move, and that includes many areas.