“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(I should take the space here to set the scene. After supper this evening I read a news account of the riches accruing to a nationally known popular writer, his son and daughter, who shall be nameless here. Royalties, prime-time TV series, movies, TV specials—there was no area in which the family wasn’t making incredible amounts of money. All they produce is garbage. I was of course especially angry that they were world renowned while I thought Jane’s great abilities were largely unappreciated and ill paid for by Prentice, Bantam, etc. The recent sale of Oversoul Seven to an English publishing house for an unbelievable $100, and Prentice’s recent notice to us of a possible sale of Seth Speaks for translation and publishing by a German house for only $300 bothered me greatly; I just couldn’t believe that so little money was available in Europe, no matter what Prentice told us. [I still don’t.]

You have little patience, jointly, with that kind of world. The Hollywood director (Alan Neuman) who called, for example. Ruburt was warm, curious, and solitary. He did not reinforce the director’s sense of his own importance, and the man was used to that. Nor did he speak in the honeyed spiritual tones that the man expected from the psychics he dealt with.

Ruburt is verbal. He loves to talk. He likes to hear you talk. Oftentimes your stomach upsets you because your love for Ruburt makes you concerned, and in most instances the stimulus is money. An occasion will arise, or a period of time, in which your love for him wants to find expression. You do this by expressing your concern that his work is not being duly appreciated in monetary terms (as I did this evening).

You are particularly sensitive here because of the male beliefs of your culture, and the feeling that Ruburt’s books are his rather than, say, yours. You want to show him that you appreciate that by your concern, but you do not express the love verbally half as much. Period.

Your father expected the worst of the world. You have not seriously, with determination, examined those beliefs. If they were true the world simply would not have lasted this long. Nuclear destruction has little to do with it. If anything, it adds to my argument—for if those theories really held sway, one nation or another by now would have already destroyed your world. Hence, you do not make any simple, joyful remarks, like “The book will be out in England or Germany,” and indeed, you take little pleasure from that, but leap ahead to the imagined threats. A man protects his family because he loves it—but in his love he can see threats all around.

Your father expressed his love in his garage. Objectively speaking, you have of course exactly what you want, each of you. Give us a moment....

Part of this does have to do with beliefs concerning sex (as Jane wrote recently), in that he feels a woman’s position is basically less solid than the male’s to begin with. He was afraid that his ideas would be ridiculed because he was a woman, not having the credentials of the accepted academy or sex.

He reacts practically, then, by avoiding what he thinks of as conflict, and you do not help in that regard, for by temperament you are not particularly attracted to the world. He feels he is so attracted, temperamentally, and so puts on physical guards. The bridge here involves the natural world, his love of nature, the connections between poetry, strolling the natural world as opposed to the social one.

(11:30.) Give us a moment.... He, however, needs by nature more contact with other people than you do. He has learned to repress feelings, and he believed heartily that repression was necessary to his work, to maintain your privacy, to provide time, to cut out distractions, and to focus attention and expression.

He felt that the female was not temperamentally equipped to naturally handle such problems, and so adopted the symptoms. Because you so often expressed your concerns rather than your love, your fears rather than your hopes, and because of his own nature, the outside world appeared more threatening. He is by nature rather optimistic. From you he believed he learned that optimism was shallow, unrealistic, and that people were not to be trusted. He never believed in conflict. He is not abject, but he believes heartily in having nothing to do with an arena of activity in which he feels he might meet ridicule or criticism.

Your own inclinations and your beliefs did not reinforce his sense of security. The exuberant expression of your love, for your love for him is exuberant, found no expression in the overall of an active, direct, clear route, but was diverted through concern, and through mention of the threats you felt might surround him.

(11:45.) Ruburt’s own papers, written lately, give his side of the question, explaining why he would react in such a fashion.

He thinks he is being practical when he worries about his condition. You think jointly it is only common sense and practical, particularly after all of this time, to remember that any improvements have dead-ended. You think that in terms of his physical condition the point of power is in the past. Despite all of this, the overall processes of his body have improved. His flesh is more responsive and alive. The circulation is vastly better. His weight—for him—is almost normal.

The fibers are more elastic in his legs, but his confidence is still poor, nor have you made any attempts to encourage him in that direction. The key here is encouragement. The expression of your love saw threats, so that both of you together reiterate those beliefs.

The muscles of the neck have been lengthening, and the head area has been releasing. Generally speaking, his eyes have been restricted in the past by the head motions. As the neck muscles began to loosen, the eyes were required to move in ways they had not been for some time. The muscles were stiff in the eyes. Unequal tensions resulted—this also having to do with his beliefs as stated, and the fact that he did not want to type old material, particularly without new material coming.

(12:01.) His worry about his condition added additional tension. The working men (for Frank Longwell) made him feel as if the world intruded, and by its standards he felt to some extent exposed. Here were the two of you, doing what in the world’s eyes he felt was in direct opposition to its standards—the brawny, outdoorsy, hearty, family oriented males involved.

You did well today, encouraging him in his house walking. Your original “walk for joy” was an “absolute” by contrast making his attempts seem futile. He is afraid that dependence as a woman threatens you because of his own beliefs. Your encouragement of his independence was interpreted as “Don’t dare be dependent.”

All of this is involved in the papers he wrote lately on sexuality. His body is quite capable. It needs encouragement, not demands—but above all, let him concentrate upon expression rather than repression. Only his worries held back this inspiration. You will see improvements the minute you expect them. The minute you look for them, and are not afraid of them.

Put into practice the last session, particularly with Ruburt playing with his ideas, instead of concentrating upon his work. (Louder:) Amen.