“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.

(Jane did want to try the session, even though she was so content. She’s also going to write her own account for her energy notebook. Even now I’m aware of how to proceed with future episodes of suggestion, and will try to implement the ideas. I also forgot to mention anything about Jane’s eyes, which should have been done. I also didn’t ask Seth about Jane’s delayed reaction to the suggestions, so am making a note of that for next Saturday’s session, at Jane’s request. All in all, the affair was a great success, we feel, and most encouraging. We may have learned a great lesson.)

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.

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.

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.

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.

He was relaxed this morning to some extent, allowing his abilities to flow, and any psychic experiments he tries now will be beneficial from many standpoints. “Hypnosis” experiments, again, will free your energy flows, both of you. Suggestion operates as an organizer, bringing you from Framework 2 exactly what you want. Your purposes have changed. You now want Ruburt to be flexible physically, to be physically agile. You must alter the suggestion, then, that Ruburt primarily, and you secondarily, have been giving. I will have more to say about suggestion Saturday. For it applies in other than verbal terms, of course.