“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(Through the day Jane herself received periodic insights from Seth about the condition, mostly having to do with her fears that she wasn’t walking enough, and not trusting the body to do its own thing in the recovery process. The gist of the impressions seemed to be that she ought to ease off walking while the body recovered —a very strange state of affairs, it seems to me, and a situation that has bothered me often before: Why should the body give up certain functions if it’s in the process of recovering? I doubt if I for one will ever be able to fully comprehend that kind of reasoning—whether from Seth or anyone else—since I think that as the body —any body—recovers, its range of activities expands correspondingly instead of shrinking. Yet Jane said the material from Seth blamed her panic-stricken attempts to see if she was walking enough each day.

Shortly after Ruburt began using the chair, for example, he decided that he would try to walk to the end of the living room. He had you put a pillow on a chair so he could rest there if he did not make it. He felt a sense of accomplishment, and some delight with himself when he walked to the end of the room and back without needing the chair. Spontaneously he began wanting to walk more, and again was quite pleased when he made the circle for the first time.

The next two days his hips were going through considerable changes and it hurt him, so he did not walk nearly as much, and you both became frightened—Ruburt more than you. Following this he instantly decided that he must walk considerably more—at least 3 or 4 times around the circle—and at the last count, once an hour whether or not he felt like it, and particularly when he did not feel like it.

Now walking is obviously good for him, and I have encouraged it. I realize now that I simply cannot expect either of you at this point to trust Ruburt’s body to know what it is doing. There are times, according to the changes occurring, when naturally it would not walk, say, for a good part of the day, and often left alone, it might suddenly want to exercise new positions. But you both become frightened, adding to the body’s stress further.

So for now I simply suggest that Ruburt walk gently three or four times a day to whatever degree seems natural at the time. Otherwise, my position is this —and here I repeat—because overall changes in position and balance are necessitated in order for normal walking to occur, one portion of the body at this point is not going to right itself so that, for example, Ruburt’s arms are suddenly straight while his knees are bent. All portions of the body are stretching. The arms are longer. The legs have straightened. The knees are looser. The neck areas are releasing—but at any given day or period, right now, one or several areas might well be stiff or uncomfortable.

Give us a moment.... I am aware of the fact, of course, that you both want Ruburt to walk more and better—but you must also not judge his body’s walking by usual standards. Allow it a sense of accomplishment as it progresses. It does know when it is ready to try out new positions, when it needs rest—and while I see your concern, do allow it to express some variety there.