“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

Last week Ruburt did fairly well. He actually concentrated upon Seven, typed it creatively, walked several times a day, began to help with meals and with the house, and comparatively speaking you both had a fairly good week. Then, once again, you both began to concentrate upon the problem. Ruburt’s legs activated themselves in rather strenuous fashion in bed. You both became frightened, and there is no need to blame yourselves.

Your whole civilization is immersed with the idea that the way to solve a problem–any problem, private or worldwide–is to exaggerate it, see its worst projection; and this, then, is supposed to make you take proper action. The approach unfortunately solves no problems, and only compounds them, whether the nation is trying to solve problems of energy, or social problems, or whether an individual is trying to overcome a dilemma.

You are so immersed in that method of problem solving, however, that it comes back to haunt you. At least you can be aware of it and alert. I will give you the answers to your questions, but they are not the way to solve your problem—and against all conventional knowledge, reviewing the mistakes of the past does not lead to wisdom.

(10:11.) When you become so worried, of course, you concentrate even further on the problem—how bad it is, and what will happen if it becomes worse in the future. The problem is, therefore, compounded to whatever degree—and when I give you both such reasons, then sometimes you use them, the two of you, to add to your private and joint self-disapproval.

The fact is, neither of you wanted to appear on the street. You did not particularly want to be seen with Ruburt in his condition. You felt too sorry for him, and yet angry and embarrassed, and all of that was caused by concentrating upon the problem, projecting it in the future, in the definite belief, for all I have said, that that method of problem-solving works.

(10:35.) Have Ruburt use last week as a basic model of operation, while adding to it. You can help when you are feeling confident enough, by reminding Ruburt when you see that he is bothered, that his body is healing itself. All of this, in which left alone it seems natural that the body will always take the worst rather than the better course, and that any problems are to be solved by stressing them.

The best way to protect yourselves from an enemy, for example, is to exaggerate your enemy’s power and evil qualities, and this is somehow supposed to bring about peace. The way to solve a health problem, whether private or national, is to emphasize its existence, exaggerate its characteristics, and project into the future, and this is supposed to bring health.

Against all that conventional wisdom, what I have said sounds extremely simple, simplistic, Pollyannaish, until you try to do it. To solve a problem you begin to minimize its characteristics, diminish its importance, rob it of your attention, refuse it your energy. The method is the opposite, of course, of what you are taught. That is why it seems to be so impractical.

I have said this so many times —and I do realize it is difficult for you—but you cannot concentrate upon two things at once. So to the extent that you concentrate upon your pleasures, your accomplishments, and to the extent that you relate to the psychic and biological moment, you are refreshing yourselves. You are not projecting negatively, and you are allowing the problem to unwrinkle, unknot. You are denying it the energy of your attention that keeps it going. You do not spend time thinking that you have not used your abilities properly. You take it for granted that you are using them properly, and that allows them to fully develop.