“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.

It is true he has not been walking much. And it would take a saint to ignore that fact. The body is making necessary changes, however: the chair activity keeping the knees limber enough while undue strain is not placed upon the body at this time. The change in chairs is excellent, and shows that the hips are changing also. Whether you have noticed or not, he has begun to gain weight again, and there are multitudinous small new motions, particularly in the bathroom, that he is scarcely aware of as yet.

The material he received from me (Monday evening) was from me, and his suggestion that you work late that evening was the result of a creative impulse on his part. The material on variety is rather important, and also is connected with the fact that I suggested he forget the work sessions for a while. It is quite effective to read such sessions regularly, then to drop them for a week or so for other material, and go back to them. The unconscious, in its own way, digests the initial material in the interim. In your situation, variations are important, since they exist in an overall stable framework.

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.