“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(A hassle began developing last Thursday, involving Pat Golbitz at Pocket Books, Grace Bechtold at Bantam, and Tam, John Nelson, and Jane at Prentice-Hall. Nothing serious, but still somewhat upsetting. Also educational. There’s no need to go into all the complicated details here; it’s enough to say that the photos Bantam used in Seth Speaks were involved, especially the cover shot of Jane; as well as bids for Oversoul Seven between Pocket Books and Bantam; Jane’s fears that she’d end up committed for two more Seven books she hasn’t written yet; and various misunderstandings concerning ethics, expired option, and an offer to Jane to go to work for Simon & Schuster-Pocket Books, and to take Tam with her.

(Perhaps we should be flattered that the last we heard of the bidding saw Bantam making an offer to Prentice of $50,000 for the present Seven, plus the next two.... Jane spoke to John Nelson this evening before the session; he called her from his place, after failing to reach her this afternoon. As far as we know, the set-to is cleared up now, Jane is free, etc. Grace gave John sales figures for Seth Speaks which are much too low, so we really have little idea of how the book is selling, judging by those. Actually, Grace told Jane last week, and John this week, that the book is “a smashing success,” whatever that means, and is in its sixth printing. We aren’t due to collect royalty money this month from Bantam, however, which means the original $35,000 isn’t eaten up yet by sales. Some $12,000 to go.

(To me:) Your symptoms have been reassuring to the portion of you that habitually followed the old line of thinking. The reasoning falls thusly: “Everything is going well. The books are selling. Ruburt is definitely improving. With so much right, something must go wrong, or things would not go right,” meaning realistic. Beside this the dis-ease serves to protect you from the frightening “fear” that if everything goes well something must be wrong, because in an unsafe universe that is a belief. So you provide a “little” wrong to preserve the larger good.

There, you have made some good strides. Your good strides there, however, led to your momentary-enough concern with New York City’s economic fate. Your beliefs in the safe universe are spreading. That is why you used the symptoms “just in case.” In the unsafe universe, however, you—not you alone—believe that something good will be fought over. The books prove their merit in that reality, because they are fought over to whatever degree.

At John’s level, and in his unsafe universe, the events still prove how valuable the books are, since, to whatever extent, they are fought over. At Ruburt’s level and your own, the events show you that the universe, as it applies to your publishing world is safe—with leeway for action—and also opens up creative relationships with people at Prentice that were latent before. Now, these become “practical,” where before they were not considered so. This means that a great deal of energy is released.

Now our books themselves released their own energy into your world. The ideas were and are needed. Their richness brings about the financial richness, which is as you know assured. It is not virtuous to remind yourself of the poverty of others. In the old line of thinking such a remark would be considered unfeeling. When you dwell upon, for example only, New York’s economic status, you keep the feeling of threat going. In realistic terms this applies to some extent to you and New York City as well. As inappropriate as this might sound, thoughts of your own fortunate financial situation help you increase that abundance—but it also helps to increase the abundance of others.

Now about Pocket Books. Interesting and amusing. The woman there (Pat Golbitz) picked up all of your own negative ideas—yours and Ruburt’s—about Fell and Prentice, and aimed them at John (Nelson). This confirmed John’s belief that he is not understood. He would not feel it safe to be understood in an unsafe world.

(Pat called John unethical because he told Bantam that Pocket Books was interested in acquiring Seven. Bantam, who had the original option on Seven, then bid higher for the three projected Sevens than Pocket Books has so far—the latter has until this Wednesday to bid against Bantam’s $50,000 offer.

(John, in turn, called Pat unethical because she called Jane about the details of all of this, and then offered to take Jane away from Prentice-Hall. Both John and Grace are upset also because Pocket Books thought about using the same photo of Jane on the cover of their book—The Coming of Seth—that Bantam had used on the cover of their issue of Seth Speaks.)

The woman (Pat) likes the books, is highly enthusiastic, quite sensitive, so that she did pick up your joint dissatisfactions with Fell. She sympathizes with Fell, however, and with the book (ESP Power), as an underdog—an underdog book. There are personal connections between the woman and the man at Fell. She likes him; so John bore the brunt. (I should have asked: what kind of connections?

You can have more on my book whenever you want it. Because of your joint ideas of time, Ruburt sometimes considers it a threat to your future time. This attitude will vanish on both of your parts as you become more proficient with the ground rules of a safe universe.