“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

The idea of future lives brings into consideration certain emotions—man’s fear of the future, for he is often afraid of what tomorrow will bring. Again, a future life presupposes death in the present one. That idea of death usually serves as an effective block against such future explorations.

(10:06.) Give us a moment.... You are dealing with your father, for example, from one probability only—the one in which you knew him. As I told you once before, his “main life” was not here, in your terms. (See Volume 1 of “Unknown” Reality.) In the realities in which you saw him in the dream state, he was a wanderer—lonely, from your viewpoint, not his. The dreams represented your symbolic understanding that he was “a loner” in the probability in which you knew him—and in that guise you saw your father.

You did not see his reality as a personality apart from the fact of his being your father. You did make contact, however. He could not break through your own symbols. Some of the dreams did involve other probabilities, however, in which members of your family died at different times than in your world, as with the dream involving Loren (my younger brother).

Now: when you are painting a picture and you have a good start, you do not think to yourself “I have a good start, but I will most likely ruin what I have begun.” When Ruburt is writing, and has a good page, he does not think “This is fine and good, but the next page will likely be lousy, and I will never have a book.”

We had come along far enough, however, so that your confidence managed to straddle your momentary lapses of confidence. Ruburt’s lapses are far more significant, of course, than your own in the entire picture. He has not noted down his improvements daily, or any encouraging sensations, still because of those old fears.

He has made efforts, now, but the daily notes help reprogram his frame of mind. You do not always feel, say, “down” at the same time, so learn to encourage each other when possible. The changes in Ruburt’s body continue to be those exactly required, and in response to his intent and desire to be responsive.

That word, again, is important. He can keep his spirits up considerably by remembering to devote three hours to writing—James or otherwise, but he should not lapse into worrying about his condition. He should make an honest attempt at those walking exercises. Some days he will know that his body wants to relax, but even then the walking should be attempted, for the improvements will have an opportunity to work along with the body mechanism in operation.

The causes of the eye “difficulties” are as given. His new or old teeth (humorously) are not responsible. Overall tension on the jaw has contributed, but that is lessening as the neck and head are released. It is highly important that as much as possible he forget the symptoms, concentrate on the improvements that occur, and take it for granted that these will continue.

(10:50.) When I constantly say the same things, they are important. Therefore, whenever Ruburt is upset, I want him to return to the present natural data. This particularly applies to times when he is worrying about what might happen, or how he might perform in the future.

Give us a moment.... Make an effort, Joseph—more of an effort—to compliment Ruburt on his appearance, when it strikes you that he does look good. This will help reinforce his confidence. Complimentary lies do not work as a rule, and certainly I would not suggest them. When someone has been worried about their appearance, however, as Ruburt has, then honest compliments, when appropriate, operate most strongly as positive suggestion.

You deal in this area, as in all areas, with probabilities. Ruburt’s body is changing into a more or less normally flexible one. He is pulling that probability toward him. When he is beginning a book, however, he does not think “This is a probable book.” It becomes his book, period. That is because he does not dwell upon possible impediments, and is relatively self-confident.

This simply means that his self-confidence is greater than any doubts he has. In the past his doubts about his body have greatly outweighed his self-confidence, and that is the reason for this material and that given in our last session.

The Oversoul Seven books are the result of a playful creativity, a free following of creative impetus. As he supposes, he became worried about the Christ satire. This harks back to old concerns, but was also tied into current events, and the growth of fundamentalism lately.