“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

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.

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.

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.