“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(Two notes: 1. Last Thursday, March 15, Frank Longwell brought a two-day-old lamb with him when he visited us. Remarkable, that a creature that young could navigate so well, as well as possess a kind of beauty Jane and I were so unaccustomed to. 2. Last Saturday afternoon, March 17, Bob McClure visited us unexpectedly. His cancer had reoccurred; he had taken a new series of treatments for it, and was again in a state of in-between, or perhaps remission. We had an enlightening talk, and by the time he left Bob said more than once that he’s “learned a lot” from Jane. Jane on the other hand was surprised at Bob’s lack of insight into the challenge of cancer that he’s taken on. But he seemed open to her ideas.

In a way the child allowed itself to be hypnotized into the condition, the symptoms becoming potent physical “posthypnotic” suggestions. The parents did not want the child to suffer. But on the other hand the mother was early frightened by the idea of a vital male baby, who might be overly rambunctious and difficult to control. She was overly fearful, ironically enough, for the child’s safety—and hence he developed a condition that kept him under scrutiny all the while.

(Pause.) The child wanted to please the parents. He received an overabundance of sympathy, special treats, and so forth, so that his condition brought more and more rewards, even as he became more uncomfortable. The child responded in such a manner because of its own characteristics. Another child, for example, might have become overactive in rebellion. In a strange fashion, the pain represented heightened sensitivity – extremely unpleasant, but also represented a vital emotional bodily response of a direct nature. In other ways,the family behaved opaquely. Nothing seemed clear-cut.

Unfortunately, cries of pain brought the child instant attention, and they were often exaggerated. The child wanted out, finally, but did not know how, for he had allowed the destructive game to become real.

The child becomes a teacher for the parents, for the doctors who treated him, for the people who read the Enquirer, and for all the people who will meet the child as he matures. Remember the old man. Here the hypnosis, the suggestions, were self-applied, although many came from society’s beliefs. The man was a contractor, given to physical labor in his younger years, but convinced that the minute he retired his body would begin to fail. It would deteriorate with age.

Your friend then turned to other religions that still stressed the same beliefs, though in a more exotic form. To him sexual love must stand in direct opposition to spiritual love, so that his relationships with women put him in an impossible situation—and desire itself ultimately becomes a condition from which one must escape. (Dryly:) In the terms of earthly beliefs, there is but one escape from desire.