“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

The idea of disclosure however is more important, for you remember that your mother did not like to have her photograph taken. If you included any pictures of her, would she be annoyed? She did not like to have her picture taken on the one hand because she feared disclosure, and on the other hand, because her sense of perfection was affected—particularly in later years by an imperfect image.

The wonder about your mother’s reaction however is important here. You feel she would want the family described in its best light. Your stomach became uncomfortable as those feelings tried to make themselves known.

You understand that private experience, imperfect but creative, underlies the points in “Unknown” Reality. Creatively you see the photographs’ value, but they still caused a conflict between your ideas of perfection and self-disclosure, particularly as they were related to your mother’s attitudes.

There is also a connection with your family’s photograph albums in general, and I have a suggestion to clearly give your father credit as photographer. Otherwise, regardless of what you say you thought, your mother would take my explanation as given.

(There was a short exchange between Seth and me, which I didn’t note down verbatim. He repeated that my mother would be against using photographs of her—something I’d never arrived at with the pendulum. When Seth asked if I had more questions, finally, I said no, that I’d have to think it over, and that perhaps we’d decide not to use photographs after all in “Unknown” Reality.

(This really surprised me, since for some months I’ve had the idea that my own reluctance to use photographs was a weakness on my part, when it was obvious that they’d add considerably to the books. But my reluctance was based, I thought, on my resentment at Prentice-Hall over their handling of art work; I really didn’t want to let the photos in question out of the house, for fear they’d be lost, etc. This in spite of Tam’s assurances some months ago that they’d be handled with care, etc. I still think my reaction here is valid. But I missed out on the connections involving my mother, disclosure, etc.