“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(This afternoon, as Seth suggested I do in the last session, I gave Jane beneficial suggestions for 15 minutes or so at naptime, until my voice became tired. I didn’t try outright to hypnotize her, although certainly hypnotic factors must have been involved. I stressed her general relaxation, mentioning each part of her body often. I used the word “heavy” several times also, meaning that she could be aware of the normal weight of her body, but later wondered if it was a good word to use. Jane enjoyed the experience; she lay on her right side with her face covered, and I sat beside the bed. After I’d finished Jane said that although the experience was enjoyable she didn’t feel “anything great.” Then we slept.

(When we woke up from our naps, however, we were considerably surprised, for it appeared that the suggestions had taken rather deep effect after all. Jane was so relaxed that she could hardly walk. She yawned again and again, and finally made it out to the couch for supper. Her head rolled, her limbs seemed to behave on their own at times. Her body had spells of shivering, although she said she wasn’t cold in the usual sense. I got her a sweater. The expression Jane used to describe her state was that she felt “more physically content” than she had for a long time.

(I was really pleased. As we talked Jane said Seth was around, and she gave me a capsule summary of what he’d have said had we held a session. It had to do with the power of suggestion, our reluctance to use it, and so forth. It’s explored more fully in the session below, yet I also feel, from the description Jane gave me at the time, that Seth explores the whole thing from a different angle, too.

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.

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.

Both of you use suggestion individually and together to suit your purposes and your beliefs. You yourselves, had you the time and inclination, could trace such issues as they operated in any area through the years. You felt Ruburt’s psychic abilities, particularly in the beginning, so extraordinary, once you accepted them, that you each felt they must be protected—not only from himself, until you understood the abilities, but particularly from anyone who might scoff, ridicule, or attack. You felt in any case to some extent that those with any creative abilities had to so protect themselves.

Your daily conversation over the years has carried a steady stream of suggestion, in which your time must be protected almost at any cost. You have tempered many of those ideas. Suggestion has served you both well in many ways. Years ago you learned how potent suggestion could be when Ruburt used hypnosis with you, and you promptly dropped it. You did not use it with Ruburt, nor did Ruburt make any serious attempts to use it himself. You tried on a role for size, and did not like the fit. Moreover, Ruburt would simply not go to work, and lose writing time to support you so you could paint.

As you learned, you went through periods where you tried out alterations. Sometimes you did this together, but as explained some time ago, one or the other would cut the affair short because you were not jointly ready. The suggestions you were each using were invisible to you, while in your creative lives suggestion was quite apparent. Many people have such invisible areas, because it suits their purposes.

Any attempts on Ruburt’s part to help more in the kitchen or wherever, will for example now take time, in that you could perform the same chore far quicker —so you will run up against your old beliefs about the value and use of time.

Unknowingly you went through the same process, when you initiated what you are now trying to get out of. There were no formal sessions, but there were impediments, for at that time you were momentarily convinced of your own physical difficulties. You had to suggest yourself out of those, with Ruburt’s help. You had to convince yourself that you were not only capable, but physically capable enough to take over for Ruburt—and this at a time when he was carrying the heavy packages up the stairs.

He was not even making any money at his writing. In the face of that, you became the physically agile one. All of this was accomplished through suggestion. In a variety of ways, Ruburt was rewarded for mental and psychic spontaneity. You were rewarded for physical agility, and for your painting. He was discouraged from physical activity, and social spontaneity. This served for many years. Ruburt’s strong constitution is amazing. Even his overall moods remained exuberant for years. There was no need to change for some time.

Your growing understanding, however, began to threaten that framework, for you saw that life itself was an art. In a way, much of what I told you threatened your framework, for my ideas of spontaneity clashed with your beliefs and the need for discipline above all. Your beliefs about time would prevent taking time out for relaxation exercises or for suggestion, as of this evening. You knew how well hypnosis worked, though the term is meaningless.

I would simply like you both, without stressing the issue overduly, to be more aware of your conversations, without monitoring them. See how you use suggestion naturally to reinforce and encourage your creative activities, and how you use it otherwise. You mean what you say. Your words are literal and symbolic at the same time.