“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(Questions had begun to accumulate since last Wednesday’s session, of course, and I made notes on a few of them. I suppose they could be summarized in the one I wanted Seth to consider above the others. It stemmed from his material in the session for June 5, when he said that “letting go” could have its frightening aspects for Jane, especially when she relied on such actions to improve her physical abilities like walking. Since she hasn’t been walking much since we embarked on Seth’s new program on June 3, I wondered if her attempts to let go had resulted in some fear on her part. I wondered about whatever beliefs Jane might carry still, that much effort was required in order to accomplish anything worthwhile in Framework 1, even though we might agree that the help we needed must come from Framework 2.

Now: you are, of course, taught that any meaningful endeavor takes a great amount of effort of a certain kind—the exertion of the will, the utilization of the time in an organized fashion—and this can promote a tooth-gritting determination in some people.

In a sense, to “give up all effort” is almost blasphemous in the light of predominating beliefs to the contrary. Eastern religions are the only ones that even remotely try to approach such a principle, and they do so in highly distorted fashions. Western religion and science promote the ideas of competition, effort, the emphasis upon the will, divorced from the imagination, so that to “give up all effort” can be read as an abdication of responsibility, an indication of laziness and sloth; or in fundamental Christian terms, the devil finds work for idle hands.

In a strange fashion desire promotes action seemingly without effort, or the effort seems so natural, so spontaneous and so joyful that it is not recognized as effort in the old fashion. The great artists did not use their abilities so much through the utilization of will and effort as they did through following their own natural impulses, desires, and intents. These form a true sense of purpose, so that the aspects of the will and the effort fall naturally into place to bring about the desires.

Parts of original Christianity did indeed speak of this “letting go of effort.” In a curious fashion, such letting go of effort might well result in an increased abundance of creativity, for example, but the mental and psychological set allows an individual to become more aware of the basic motivations of the personality, that show themselves quite clearly through the impulses, and through desires—particularly when they are not overlain by layers of “I must,” “I should,” or “I must do this or that.” Such thoughts cut down on both impulses and action, by setting up invisible barriers.

For example, Ruburt might think “I must make up my mind, go out into the world, do lectures and tours, state my case, be an excellent example of the material, not only in normal physical condition but in glowing health.” or “I must stay at home, hide from the world, keep myself restrained lest I give into images of self-grandeur.” Either course, a true letting go of effort, leads to the realization that the impulses of the personality innately know if the self’s best paths. And only when someone begins to doubt those impulses and their validity do difficulties arise.

The letting-go of effort should be also a mental and psychological stance applied not only to Ruburt’s physical dilemma, but to his—and your—relationships with the subjective and objective worlds. Again, such letting go will indeed always promote action, and get you off dead center, so to speak. This is not a statement of passivity in conventional terms, but a creative releasing of the basic personality from the restraints of hampering beliefs.

Now recently that phrase has been introduced into your suggestions. Because you are so used to the belief in exerting such effort, in the beginning, as I mentioned, some fear can be involved as you begin to let the effort go, while watching to see that you aren’t backsliding instead, or being irresponsible. This letting-go happens naturally just before the initiation of any creative endeavor.

It was natural enough for a while that Ruburt be quite aware of bodily sensation when he tried to “give up all effort,” but he is beginning now to sense the body’s pattern of activity, its relaxation, its stretching periods, and so forth. One important point: he gobbles experience, emphasizes it, studies it—and that quality also means that his bodily sensations are treated in the same manner. That is why the concentration upon the moment, upon his writing, upon, say, meals, immediately helps to take his mind off of his body. Remember desire in terms of Ruburt’s wanting to vacuum a rug, or whatever, and encourage those desires rather than an attitude of “I must do something physical today.”

The letting go of effort will indeed more and more release such desires. Ruburt has to a considerable extent largely disposed of the habit of negative projections, though he still catches some now and then. Except for the point of power, he has not actively promoted his desire to walk normally, and this was relatively wise, for as he begins to let go of effort he was not tempted to think of contradictions, as he might have had he more actively encouraged those desires.

So now we come to imagination and desire. When these are utilized properly you do not need effort, for effort becomes effortless. It is and it is not. When Ruburt feels he understands this, without taking any special time, let him think of using desire and imagination together, purposefully disconnecting them for this exercise from willpower or effort, and seeing himself shopping with you in a store, or walking a beach in Florida, or anything else that automatically comes to mind.