“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

In the largest terms you cannot really call attitudes good or bad, though they certainly seem to be one or the other often in your experience. They can be better equated with colors—some dark, some light, but all in all beyond such classifications as morality.

Let us for the moment forget where or how each of you chose certain attitudes. If you did not have some trust in yourselves, some appreciation of your own characteristics, you would not have allowed yourselves to develop and use your abilities at all—or, for that matter, you would not have been able to form a vital long-term relationship with another person.

You felt that you must to some extent at least protect yourselves against your neighbors—who as both of you said often “Would take up all of your time without a qualm”—neighbors or friends who you felt would not understand your goals, however good their intent. You must then jointly protect your time.

(10:00.) This often stimulated him to new accomplishments. The addition, however, brought with it a new sense of responsibility—not just to make money, but as his writings continued he wanted his creative work to be “responsible” and he began to discover that others, so it seemed, were all too ready to latch upon what he almost considered magical inspirational productions, and to follow them with very literal minds. So then his creative endeavors not only had to bring in money, but they had to be good, moral, responsible, for they were becoming part of a body of work.

All of this meant he was left with body beliefs, so that he believed his body could not respond normally. Again, the evidence gave seeming confirmation, so that his confidence in his body was lessened. You both used his condition as an excuse for not doing certain things because you believed an excuse was necessary.

The soreness lately at night will pass, but as he sleeps this week the shoulder blades and rib cage and neck area have all been stretching. The sensations are one thing, and again the bodybuilder has his coach, but if Ruburt awakens sore, with you asleep, he can feel isolated.

In all such cases, some reassurance on your part will greatly help, and often can cut such episodes short. The body beliefs need to be tackled regardless of the attitudes that gave them birth, and your reassurances of his attractiveness are important—for he convinced himself at least to some degree that because of his condition he was not attractive to others.

“It is all right. You are getting better. Any soreness is caused by the body’s new activity.”

(“All right.”