“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(Jane said her eyes were feeling much better, although “full of moisture,” and that the copying work she did on James, following Seth’s suggestions in the last session, went well. Her legs and ankles still felt “itchy,” as described before, and at times she had similar feelings throughout the body. General improvements, then, seemed to be under way.

Again, his condition does represent the one area where both of you have felt cowed, often hopeless, and as if your abilities worked in all directions but that one. The important point is, that that area was the one area in which you did not use those abilities—nor should either of you spend time bemoaning what has happened, or dwelling upon “what people can do to themselves.” This is not only waste of time, but it adversely affects your creativity, and that frame of mind will never generate solutions, but only further difficulties in any area (emphatically).

He applied those methods of his own, but they differed from yours only in degree. You would not go so far. To a large extent, however, you agreed on retreat rather than response. To some extent now, you applied discipline in your work and lives to protect yourself against response to a world that you felt was insane, in direct conflict with artistic pursuits, and in which you felt quite alien —both of you, that is, as a unit.

You wondered in the secret depths of your mind how well-suited Ruburt was for the solitude you believed necessary to produce good work. You intend, both of you, having the cat fixed, so he will not be frustrated inside. Ruburt fixed himself, and fixed it so he could not go outside—because, according to your joint overall attitudes, you believed you must isolate yourselves against the world.

Some men are fools. Some men are murderers. Some people do not give a whit for your privacy or your work. Some people do not understand artists, or any creative endeavor. None of these remarks apply to all people, however, or even to a majority of people. You can, however, collect information and statistics applying to any one group, and keep collecting it until you find that you do live in a reality in which all men certainly seem to be fools, or murderers, or hostile to creative people.

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.

You put yourselves in the position, where if you valued your own work, you expect to receive no recognition, and the greater the work, the less recognition. I suggest that you do the exercise you mentioned, dealing however with an excellent increase in sales of the books, for this will help many other people, and you also.

I am not saying that you should refuse guests. When Ruburt is ready, and when you are ready to begin to embark upon relationships with others of any import, his condition will show it. We are not speaking simply of guests, but of a willingness on your part to begin relationships—in line with your work, and of direct contacts, planned in advance, of personal contact.