“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.

You would paint pictures, then, but not show them. You both possessed such strong creative abilities, however, that once expressed they were bound to create attention. There are many variations on the same thing that the artist, the revolutionary thinker, the genius, would be punished by his fellow men, or even be betrayed by his own abilities. Many such ideas have been held by those relatively innocent of any great creative ideas themselves, in order to rationalize their own deficiencies.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Each of you felt, however, that there was great value in being anonymous, yet you put yourselves in a position where you could not be. You tell Ruburt to keep it a secret from Leonard that your rent was raised, or you might move—good God!—while your most intimate personal beliefs and inspirations are given to the world. The idea however has been, the more secret you were, each of you, the better off you were, while at the same time your individual and joint creativity would be known. But the habits of secrecy continued, and there is no reason for secrecy but fear.

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 will benefit by the economy’s misfortune—but because your ideas are what people need in order to change the conditions that caused the economy’s lack of comfort. The economy itself is a reflection of people’s concepts, their way of life, and it is not working. Your ideas offer hope and literal promise. The people have brought this upon themselves in their beliefs, and so it is indeed a creative venture.