“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

Comment: now: for all of the fanatic’s display of energy, he feels basically powerless. To your not-so-silent gallery group in New York, for example, you have the power, which may surprise you in some of your querulous moods—but you have the format, the attention, that such people envy and resent.

I said before that no man acts out of the desire to be evil, but has always justified to himself his actions precisely by his own “good” intent. If envy is felt it is not acknowledged. The religious area in general, from time immemorial, has dealt intensely and sometimes one-mindedly with “the good ideal.” That ideal, however, different in one area than in another, was usually self-righteously applied with a vengeance and fanatical zest, so that all things outside it were seen as evil.

This applies regardless of the guises that such narrowness might take. In such concepts any natural goodness, or natural intent in man becomes not only invisible psychologically to the fanatic, but man’s natural nature appears as a direct threat to the ideal projected by dogma of any kind.

Topside, those people see themselves as a tiny group crying in the wilderness, unrecognized, unheeded, prophets to whom no one will listen. To some extent the murderer in whom they are so interested (Son of Sam) sees himself in the same light. These are pseudo-intellectuals all, murderer included—people with some abilities, however, but pretenders to crowns. They are seeking for a positive cause to rally about, but their beliefs and self-deceptions make this impossible.

At your level it is perfectly all right if you want to call those people nincompoops or asses. In those terms they deserve it. It is not all right to imagine that their kind speaks for the hostile world, or that they represent the views of many people. I am speaking now of this particular group. The homosexual episode mentioned the other day does represent a considerable number of people, in one way, for it shows them their own ideas, but exaggerated.

Now: fears should be discussed, but not dwelt upon, for unrealistic fears disappear in the light of realistic discussion.

I will have a brief session because of the week’s circumstances—but also because I want each of you, by our next regular session, to reread the material thus far. That is just as important, for I do not want it to fade into the background of your attention. You can learn to reinforce each other’s courage, good nature, and optimism. You can help each other by reminding the other at various times to return to the moment’s prime data.

You are afraid to trust improvements, so that they could follow no main clear-cut line, but bubbled up here and there, seemingly going nowhere. You did not really exert yourselves fully, except upon a few occasions in the past when improvements did definitely appear to be coming to a hopeful conclusion of the difficulty.

The intent would transform your lives without any other specific effort; that is, without any extra programs—but each thing that you do would be magnified in its beneficial results.