“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

Ruburt is not an extremist—nor, on the whole, is he given to extremes. He has at times taken some comparatively extreme measures, and they were taken to some degree because he felt he could be an extremist.

Ruburt’s intelligence was not one to follow blindly, and so his marks were not outstanding. Even in school, both religion and science teachers found him troublesome in that regard. Writing poetry is hardly extremist behavior. Neither did the circumstances surrounding his college dismissal come about as the result of any extremist behavior.

By then, however, Ruburt began to fear that he was headed for trouble—that he was too impetuous, headstrong and impulsive. Leaving Walt for you on a moment’s notice, so to speak, was not extremist behavior either, for he had spent three years in that relationship, and gave it indeed all the trial period it deserved. And though he loved you, he did not “plunge” into marriage with you either. In not wanting children, a good amount of discipline was used by both of you—the kind of discipline that simply would not be possible for people “driven” by impulsive desires. Ruburt finally did put an end to his menstrual cycles a good deal earlier than might have happened otherwise. It is easy enough to say that that was extreme, but many women have hysterectomies for the same purpose.

You are both apt to say that Ruburt goes to extremes, and several times I used the word myself, and Ruburt never forgot it—but I did not use it with the same implications that it carries for him. A sense of purpose steadily applied, the continuity of feeling and work, the steady application over a period of years, these are not the marks of an extremist.

I want to make these points because Ruburt’s physical condition in part was the result of his feelings that left alone, in good condition, he might resort to “extreme behavior.”

Now, what would that extreme behavior consist of “at its worst?” He felt that if he were a person given to extremes, then to use his abilities he must apply due discipline so that his head was not turned, so that he did not become a victim of fame, as many other writers and artists did—or so it seemed. It certainly should be obvious to Ruburt now that his personality contains some quite conservative aspects—a marriage going into two decades and more does not exactly make one worry about promiscuity. So many old fears were based upon misconceptions on the part of the personality that in younger years found itself to be quite different than its contemporaries, and gradually began to set up defenses against them.

When the psychic development began, Ruburt was triumphant, for his abilities were flowering, and intuitively he sensed that direction, but the part of him that also dealt with the world was somewhat appalled, for again, such behavior was not conventional, and it was not particularly “the way to make friends and influence people.”

In the past, Ruburt didn’t realize fully that his nature was both flamboyant and conservative—that his nature was protected by a natural inner caution that would make the path for his flamboyancy clear. He did not need disciplinary methods that led to physical restrictions of the body.

(9:15.) Now. Give us a moment.... Ruburt is definitely building up a good and dependable sense of trust with the body, and under conditions that were admittedly not of the best. Your own attitude has been excellent—I congratulate you on it, and I congratulate Ruburt on the mental changes of attitude that he is now in the process of setting up.

This is particularly important since the body itself is now working with improvements involving the relationships of motion between its various parts, and the quickening of nerve impulses connected with motion. I am aware that much of that does not show as yet. Ruburt’s balance, however, while standing, has definitely improved. The body has gone through several complete processes of late, and as these occur each time the discomfort has been less, and of less duration.

The business decision today is in its way an example not only of Framework 2, but of Ruburt’s growing trust in himself, and in his willingness to act on his own behalf.

Your own attitudes, however, have changed more than you realize, and the inner changes in Ruburt’s body will begin to show themselves in exterior improvements in performance. Ruburt knows he stands easier in the bathroom, for example, but did not realize that was significant.

The personality is always pleased with its abilities. If those abilities are extraordinary, or if they do not fit into the social structure, a personality can approve and disapprove, use the abilities, and yet feel the need for protection. I want to erase, however, any ideas that either of you might have that Ruburt is an extremist. He is far too tolerant, for one thing. Extraordinary ability may seem extreme behavior when compared to the mundane lives of many people. A mountain-climber is not necessarily an extremist; an extremist goes from one kind of extreme behavior to another.

Ruburt’s interpretation was correct.

I am letting Ruburt handle that for his own experience—not that I do not tip the scales now and then at other levels.