“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(In the mail today Jane received a book I’d sent for at her request a few days ago; then we’d both forgotten about it. It was advertised in the National Enquirer: “A Doctor’s Proven New Home Cure for Arthritis,” by Giraud W. Campbell, Doctor of Osteopathy.Jane began to read through it at once, out of curiosity if nothing else, and discovered that it called for a very rigid diet. Were she to follow it, practically all we eat would be forbidden. It contained nothing about beliefs—and yet had evidently helped many. We discussed it to some extent. Later this afternoon, Jane said that she’d been getting feedback on the book from Seth and that she could have a session....

The dietary methods given in the book Ruburt read have indeed worked for many, and for the following reasons: as you suspected, a kind of conversion was attained. The people involved first of all had been told by doctors—medical doctors—that they themselves had no control over their own disease, that the symptoms could be lessened somewhat—perhaps—but that there was no hope for recovery.

They were frightened and angry, their condition such that they were often in constant pain. When they visited the author, however, he was optimistic and brusque. He said “You do indeed have control,” and his personal manner was such that he convinced them. Now that was all to the good. They were given hope and thrown back to a feeling of self-reliance.

This means that there is nothing intrinsically wrong with the person, which many of them have believed. They are good (as of course they are). The trouble is what they take into their system. Those who are cured are at a certain state when they approach the author, as mentioned earlier, feeling helpless after medical treatments that did not work—feeling that there is something wrong with them. They are in their own eyes “bad”—and in one way or another that kind of belief was behind the condition to begin with.

(Intently, and with humor:) I am somewhat familiar with food before canning and refrigeration, and there were maggots everywhere, and feces and dirt, and sanitation was largely unknown. So in certain terms God’s fruits and vegetables are not entirely pure in spiritual terms, as many food faddists imply.

All chemicals are natural. They come from what was already available to you—you cannot make a chemical except from substances or elements you already have. In certain terms, now, some natural diets of five centuries ago could kill you today, though they lacked any technologically produced chemicals.

He started off very well with the walking and exercises and you have helped him. You both hit a period when for the moment your work was done —a time of creative regeneration.

(To me:) You needed some rest, but you do not really approve of it, the idea of playful free time seems to you somehow unvirtuous. At certain levels—not all—you resented Eleanor’s visit, and Tam’s, because you wanted so to begin new projects. You felt that Ruburt was coming along well. And you did not want anything to upset the apple cart. This simply fills out your pendulum material.

The difficulty after your dentist visit was partially natural enough, but exaggerated for these reasons, so that the discomfort gave you an acceptable reason for resting—while still being virtuous in your own eyes.

Now Ruburt is doing well. The sudden easy improvements you noted, however, as with the speed (in walking), came when he allowed himself some playful rest, and when he kept his spirits up. The point of power daily was of much benefit. These improvements will continue. He has determined not to backtrack, for example; but both of you must remember that creativity is playful—that is, that you must not try too hard, that you mentally look the other way now and then, and not watch the pot boil all of the time.

When you sleep longer than 7 hours in particular, his muscles protest, and this causes much of the morning difficulty. He ignores the message, and sleeps, muttering in protest at the discomfort, and then it takes him another hour or so after breakfast, simply because he did not move the body when it was ready to move.

(I simply wondered if Seth had any comments. The Word, by Irving Wallace, is a book on the discovery of an unknown gospel by the brother of Christ, James the Just. It’s a powerful story, although evidently written by Wallace in the contemporary genre of popular fiction these days. We thought the television adaptation contained many fine things, though—a number of excellent individual performances, although the story line was hard to follow over four episodes. Certainly neither of us had figured on following the series through the four nights. Many of the scenes, filmed on location about the Mediterranean area, were very evocative to us.)

(4:54 P.M. I thought it rather humorous, now, when Jane denied having the session early so that we would be free to watch the last episode of The Word if we wanted to. Actually, I didn’t think that was the reason.... but rather the strong feedback from Seth that had resulted from her reading the book described at the start of the session.