“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

Animals not only enjoy the sounds that they make, they are to some extent enchanted by them. The animals’ interior world is silent. The sound of an animal’s hoof upon the ground fills it with a sense of power and affirmation. The cat’s meow (amused) is as enchanting to the cat as to its owner—meaningful sounds that communicate feeling. These are enjoyed by all such species. Man’s language, and the sound of the words, brings the greatest sense of accomplishment, biologically and psychically. The infant’s discovery that it can communicate in such a way is indeed magical to it. No matter how wasteful with words a person might seem to be, each one contains an amazing economy, and is chosen precisely because it is a perfect carrier for certain intents or feelings that are all organized by that word. There are many obvious simple examples, such as the word “home,” which can automatically organize psychic, emotional, geographical, natural, and time information.

Now: you use words and their suggestive elements to reinforce and communicate your own purposes, beliefs, and intents. There are all kinds of verbal and body signs that tell you which words are to be attended to more than others, so that the quality of the words is strengthened or qualified. In a family, certain phrases are spoken over and over again through the years. The power of those communications rides upon the same kind of symbolism as dream images, in which each image is actually tightly organized.

You both have had this kind of communication through the years. I am simply stating a few examples. Years ago, when walking down the street with Ruburt, he exuberantly ahead of you, you often said “Slow down.” A simple remark. Yet it did contain indeed, at the time, sexual, social, and work implications, and it was carefully chosen. It meant “Don’t be so unconventional in public.” It meant “Don’t be ahead of me sexually,” further meaning “Don’t want sex when we are involved in other issues.” At that time, long past, you were worried and somewhat jealous of Ruburt’s work progress. You both knew what that remark meant. That is an example of the kind of remark that acts as potent suggestion on many levels.

Now look at another remark, made far more often. “You must use your abilities. I know you are highly gifted.” That meant “You are highly gifted as a writer.” Ruburt did not have to follow that suggestion either, but it also fitted in with his intents. He had his reasons for following it. The most careless remark in any situation is not careless. That is the nature of communication.

When you were discussing the letter from the young English gentleman, Ruburt was impressed with his progress. You said “But he was walking,” meaning that Ruburt was not. Ruburt is walking—as poorly as our hypothetical writer is writing. His walking is impaired, but the ability is there. Your world is a world of suggestion, for suggestion implies directions, communications to act or not act in certain directions.