“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

I would like you both to try a slightly different emphasis—but a highly important one, in the way in which you look at Ruburt’s situation.

Ruburt is beginning from his own position, and he is seeking the normal, free motion of his body. All of the equipment is there, and there are no disease elements. The body has not been used, however, in a normal manner. As mentioned, when bodybuilders build up certain muscles, they do indeed experience great distress at times. They understand the reason for the discomfort, for they are building muscle—but in their cases they often overdo it. Nevertheless there are others with whom they can share their discomfort.

The reasons behind the condition, causing the condition, brought about the secondary group of mental habits. The bodybuilders look forward to their workouts, for they have a purpose in mind. Ruburt instead developed habits that discouraged him from using his body, except in certain ways. As much as possible, I would like Ruburt to remember these comparisons, for he is just becoming aware of certain habitual thoughts that accompany motion—walking, say, or getting up or down. With your help, he has tried to temper some of these.

A bodybuilder begins with certain weights that he can handle. He does not berate himself because he cannot yet achieve greater weights. As much as possible, then, think in terms of Ruburt not so much as having certain symptoms, but as being simply out of condition and trying to reestablish certain physical skills. Do not concentrate upon the lacks. This alteration of perspective can be of great help.

Now: you are working very well together, and your suggestion about the use of the chair (to get around the house) was the result of Framework 2 creativity. It took Ruburt a day or so to accept it. He was afraid of wheelchair connotations, but he triumphed over that negative idea. Your suggestion was important for several reasons. It was practical, and could be done at once. Its most important benefit, however, was that it freed Ruburt from mentally seeing himself in only one corner of one room, and immediately aroused his normal leanings toward love of whatever home you share.

Try not to use the word “symptoms” in your pendulum work from now on. There are other ways, but the word has served its purpose. “Is my body out of condition because,” for example. There are endless other ways, but the change of focus as I have suggested will automatically bring a change in your questions. Always end your pendulum sessions with the new beliefs you want to instill, reinforcing whatever you have learned from that particular session. The idea of those pendulum sessions should not be to find out what is wrong, but to discover Ruburt’s feelings and beliefs, and to ascertain how they can be changed to bring about more favorable conditions.

(10:05.) Give us a moment.... You cannot say that any of Ruburt’s attitudes were “wrong,” nor can you say in larger terms that his method was “wrong.” You cannot say, and should not, place moral connotations in such situations. Each personality is different, and affects the body in a different way. You think of health as physical only. If you think in terms of an unhealthy relationship, for example, then you may at least begin to glimpse the ways in which individuals will seek prerogatives, so each case must be seen separately.

Rest your fingers.... Ruburt’s particular case is rather clear and exaggerated in that respect. It is not murky at all. I have given this material in the past. He thought of his father—he thought of his father—as spontaneous, free, and undisciplined, as somewhat stupid and somewhat dangerous. He thought of his mother as possessing a strong will. His mother was authoritative to a degree. His father was lax. He feared his mother far more, however, and he tried to temper his own behavior, to ally the intuitions and the intellect or will.

It leads to Ruburt feeling physically that relaxation means letting go into laxness; as I told him in the past, however, letting go means motion and the ability to respond. It also means the natural aggression of motion.

One flower may die before another. One may be blemished and the other not, but none are the less flowers for that. Ruburt was convinced he needed certain protections. His judgments, and yours to a lesser extent, can be regarded as the flower’s blemishes, though I am aware it is not easy for you to see this in that light.

It is imperative, however, that you make an effort not to think in terms of “the symptoms” any longer, but instead to think of ways that Ruburt can condition his body, realizing that he need not be at the mercy of old fears.

One was at a time when Ruburt began Rich Bed and the first draft of Adventures. He was examining beliefs, expressing aggressions naturally, and freeing his spontaneity. This led to the birth of new creative material as well. His beliefs and hopes arose again later when I gave the sessions on spontaneity and work that I want him to reread. But those probabilities did not materialize.

Your dream shows that Ruburt’s determination—with your own determined involvement—have strongly attracted you to that probability again—and this time in the dream you saw it actualized. The suggestions I have given this evening are to lead you toward that actualization.

Ruburt is doing well with the point of power exercise, and I suggest he take the same amount of time to open himself up to intuitive material from the library, or otherwise. It is natural-enough that when he is beginning to use his body more that at times he becomes more aware of it, and of the time involved, and so forth. He must also remember Sumari time, for the creative imagination works no matter what you are doing.

One point: I wanted to stress that when muscles are reactivated, to Ruburt they “feel sore.” The muscles’ experience is quite different. They experience sensation to a heightened degree, where before their sense of life was not that active.

The sensations activate other ligaments, muscles, and so forth. They signal activity. After disuse the sensations are exaggerated. Most people are not aware of them, for example. In the past, and with beliefs not understood, Ruburt would become depressed, or you would, so it is important that that activation be understood.