“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(Jane immediately called Tam, to learn that, ironically, all of the bigwigs at Prentice-Hall are in Europe, attending the book fair at Frankfurt, Germany, I believe is where it is. It appears that we can do little until the 22nd of October, although I plan to start writing letters before that. I bitterly resent the cutting in the first place, and the time that will be spent away from Mass Events, now, as I do all the work necessary to make our points. Jane finally agrees that we must take certain actions now in our professional lives, and we don’t know what will happen. I can only think at this writing [on the 14th] that we must do all we can to stop such practices by foreign publishers, or we’ll surely regret it deeply in the years to come. We definitely know we’ve been taken advantage of, but basically feel it is Prentice-Hall’s fault for not checking the work in progress.

(The upshot of all of this at the moment is that Jane will not be signing any contracts at this time, and that we’ll be informing Prentice-Hall that we won’t be contracting for any work for them until our questions and assurances are amply demonstrated. I see no other way to head off lots of trouble in the future. I’m personally quite willing to let the chips fall where they may, to coin a phrase, but I’m not at all sure that Jane will agree to go along. My thoughts are that she’d be so terrified to find herself without a publisher that she’d stand for a lot more than what has happened, bad as that is. But we’ll see. I for one have to do or say something, or I’d spend my days thinking about what a fool and coward I was not to stand up for my rights. Our meek acceptance of the deal, I’m afraid, would only lead to more of the same. This would surely drive me out of publishing if I let that happen. As it is, my opinion of Prentice-Hall has sunk to a new low, and it was low enough to begin with.

You have, in the dream’s meaning, your father who wants to be left alone, who likes to work in solitude, and who is quite uncomfortable with the expression of emotion. You have, in the dream’s meaning, your mother given to explosive bursts of emotional expression, who it seems makes emotional demands. In the dream’s meaning, she chased after him, and in that context you felt one portion of yourself making demands upon another portion that resented the emotional involvement, the emotional outbursts that that portion naturally expressed.

As yourself, you were the observer of the conflict, which took place at the table where Ruburt’s conversations with you took place, and his conversations with Tam over the telephone. Obviously, you want to work in peace: you resent the intrusion of having to take the time to express anger or disappointment.

(Pause at 9:4l.) If, hypothetically, either of you believe that Prentice is trying to “screw you up,” and if you accept that statement, or belief, then invisibly you set out to prove it. The evidence comes in. In your society writers need publishing houses. Most publishers are businessmen. They rarely pretend to be themselves creative—yet all publishers, and people who work for them, are also intrigued by the products of creativity, and at least to some degree, being well reimbursed, they do indeed use their quite different abilities to distribute the creative products that they could not themselves initiate. To date, and in the long run, and despite quite legitimate gripes, considering the nature of our books, and your own joint characteristics, Prentice has been a good choice.

If you trust in Framework 2, events will naturally lead to their best fulfillment in publishing, as in anything else. That faith in Framework 2 can indeed work wonders. If you could understand, that faith would be sufficient. The wrinkles in your relationship with Prentice would drop away, or that relationship would naturally and smoothly change into another, if that was the best solution.

(9:56.) A note: Ruburt has felt oddly, since his body has been creatively changing, both the head and eye areas, neck and knees. The knees are beginning to work more properly, and slowly beginning to mimic and adopt a more natural walking posture. The steps he has taken without putting his full weight on the table, for example, are highly important. He should look for that impulse each time he walks with the table.

The entire body is really being worked upon, with resulting looseness of tensions that become more apparent at certain points. Both of you try—try (whispering) to disconnect your creative work from the practical considerations of contracts, and have Ruburt play with his own book. He will find the results of such play excellent.

There is an abundance of energy available this evening for several reasons, and I will help Ruburt’s body utilize much of it. Ruburt mentioned your dream contest. Start it up again. While we are working on our new book you may find yourselves involved with some new types of dreams.

As for our books—I can only tell you that everything is working for your favor, and regardless of any seeming conflicts. You might try taking that for granted.

I bid you a fond good evening—and everything is working in your favor.