“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(My own chest difficulties are much improved, although at the same time I’m not doing any additional hard physical labor. I’m simply mentioning ordinary activities—chopping a little wood, etc. I still haven’t shoveled any snow, in spite of the series of massive snowstorms we’ve experienced within the last week—the worst in over a decade. I have been rereading the latest sessions on self-disapproval, and these seem to have made the difference. Jane has also been working on her feelings of self approval and disapproval, and credits her efforts with her improvements.)

When man identified with nature, as given in Psyche, he did not imagine that the gods disapproved of him when storms lashed across the landscape. He did not at that time, as is supposed, do sacrifice then to win the gods’ approval. Instead, identifying with nature, man identified also with all of its manifestations.

Self-disapproval in that context became a virtue, for indeed survival depended, it seemed, upon constant self and tribal evaluation. None of this has anything to do with natural guilt, as described in Personal Reality. Now man does feel a certain amount of natural guilt when he loses his identification with nature, for that identification leads to intuitive connections with nature’s greater source.

I will give you some (stereotypes): Ruburt is stubborn. He never forgets a slight. Ruburt is fiercely loyal. Joseph deals in details. His mind is logical rather than intuitive. Ruburt is spontaneous. Joseph is not. All of these are labels, and quite relative. Ruburt is loyal to you. He was not loyal, in those terms, to Walter Zeh, or he would still be with him. Ruburt is spontaneous—but if he were all that spontaneous he would be walking better. You, Joseph, are spontaneous. You do not have to think before you cross the floor—where there Ruburt is aware of the slightest detail—the arrangement of his body or the furniture, the lay of the floor.

Do not label yourselves, for then you often try to live up to those labels, and they can be highly limiting. I do my own part in these sessions, and if I may say so (highly amused:) very well indeed—and yet there is certainly something in Ruburt’s mind and abilities that allows him to speak, regardless, over the years, an immense amount of material, some of it highly detailed and orderly. So how can Ruburt say that he cannot deal with the details, and thus disapprove of himself?

Your own ease in “Unknown” now is the result of your suspension of self-disapproval, and would be the same if you were doing appendixes. You do need to support each other in that regard, helping each other to approve of yourselves.

His eye muscles are basically elastic, not weakened. The fact that they are responding in closeup reading is a case in point. Many eye difficulties have to do with body posture. I suggested hot towels for the knees—and said that this would help the eyes. I repeat that recommendation. The position of the knees is tied into the positioning of the head and neck areas. The heat, applied to the knees when the body is sitting and relaxed, releases the neck tension, and that helps bring the eyes into better balance.

You spoke of the pendulum (at last break). Again, labels are somewhat implicated, for you each thought you worked well with the pendulum, but that Ruburt did not. It can be used most effectively and in the past at times Ruburt used it well, particularly with your help—largely because he believed it necessary. Make sure you do not look for what is wrong, however, but for reasons behind behavior.