“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

Ruburt’s body is undergoing profound beneficial alterations, for his desire and intent seemingly have changed overnight, relatively speaking. Words, symbols, signs, anything that can be used by a personality, often become a new focus through which probabilities are altered. These are not so much bridge beliefs as bridge intents.

Ruburt’s intent to be responsive is being used in that fashion, and the word with its meanings brings about a juggling or change-about of other important intents, which then change alliances.

As he is using it, the word “responsive” will give him freedom to respond as he wishes to the world in general, so that the two of you can make decisions. There is an overall picture you cannot see, in which you form your lives together, so that at one time you act, for example, as a unit, and on other occasions or times one acts out certain of your joint beliefs, while the other acts out another one.

Since you both held those attitudes and saw those beliefs everywhere reinforced, naturally enough in your experience, then in the overall it would be most miraculously unusual if one of you did not physically retreat. Your nature allowed you to try. You found it intolerable, and recovered. Because of Ruburt’s other characteristics personally, he tried it on for size, and found it fit with considerable chafing. But overall that way of life, to some extent has suited you both.

Ruburt felt it would be more difficult for him, so he applied the additional discipline. Only lately have you really made an effort to examine those habits. They have been deeply ingrained. Whenever you apply yourself in such ways, you collect data that seems to support your ideas, so that unless efforts are made to change, the picture becomes grossly exaggerated—and to that extent unrealistic.

(10:03.) Then, you must fight or retreat. Ruburt retreated, but the situation was always in basic terms, artificially formed by your joint beliefs.

You can be quite happily surprised, not only by your changes of attitude, but by the quickness with which such suggestions are used and utilized.

I have nothing more to say for the evening, unless you have questions. I will add for Ruburt: as I said, the eyes will continue to improve. Copy for an hour for now. The eyes are still changing, as the ligaments in the neck do, but the muscles in and around the eyes are acclimating well.

(Seth’s material earlier this evening, about responsiveness to the world, in whatever form one chose, reminded me of an idea I’d mentioned to Jane last week. I’d dropped it because I became unsure of the reactions on both of our parts. The idea involved our concentration for just five minutes a day—say when we lay down for our naps—on sending out suggestions to the effect that we’d hear from people we wanted to hear from, either/or by letter or in person. Obviously the people would be well-enough known for us to have heard of them. But I’d been thinking that it might be a way to break our habits of retreat. I became concerned, though, about whether our beliefs had changed enough to make such contacts possible, or welcome to us if they did materialize.

You hope to cast understanding upon man’s soul, his body, and alter his concepts of his cultural reality. At the same time you both made sure that you reinforced your own beliefs, so that the people who came did not altogether click with you. You could say “Well, that is that—we made an attempt,” and drop the entire issue (which is what we did say and do).

Ruburt’s own abilities he considered represented even the furthest reaches of the creative realm, therefore putting him in twice as inferior a position. In the light of your beliefs, the better you considered your own works, the worse your position in society, and your opinion of your fellow men: the better the creator, the worse his social position, the greater the ridicule.

Ruburt’s responsiveness will show physically. When he feels he can physically handle guests with some finesse, if not with perfectly normal behavior, you will know that his mental and emotional patterns have changed. You will also know that your emotional and mental attitudes in that regard have changed.

(“Well, sending out suggestions about selling books implies a change of attitude to some extent—”)

(11:18.) Give us a moment.... Rest your hand.... You have made no attempt to form bridges out to others. You did not believe it worthwhile. To the contrary, you stressed your differences always. Again, the return to the natural world reinforces feelings of creature brotherhood, and serves to connect you with your kind, even while you admit the vast differences in beliefs, customs, religions and so forth.

Your black-and-white beliefs have often led you both to either expect scorn, misunderstanding, or on the other hand to expect too much of others who come here. It is good, however, to suggest that “your definition of important people” read the books, to suggest that the books fall into the proper hands, in those terms.

(Amused.) Do not be so concerned, either, about so-called important people. Many of the unimportant youngsters who write you will be important people in the future. When you change your beliefs and attitudes so that you no longer expect so-called important people to ignore you, they will not. I do not share your concern about important people to begin with.