“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

It shows itself particularly in any kind of obsessive behavior, mental or physical. It is the overly developed, exaggerated, “unnatural” need for safety. Such an exaggerated need for safety is quite rampant in your society. It leads to the setting up of barrier after barrier, to protect the self both against the self and against the outside world.

Briefly—for I have said this before—all of your disciplines have seen the natural self as unsavory in its basic character. You cannot be afraid of yourself and not be afraid of others. Such attitudes lead to overcontrol of body or environment—or of other people. A family tyrant, for example, may have no physical symptoms at all, yet be quite obsessed with controlling the family members, stuffing the household with regulations, limiting the family’s freedom, or whatever.

People generally in your society find little opportunity to work with the natural self, to explore its characteristics, much less be convinced of its good intent.

Tonight Ruburt has evidence for the good intent of his natural self. It surprised him because he allowed it to. He treated his body like a tyrant treats his people, and the body strenuously objected. But the body does not hold a grudge, and so it has begun to respond to Ruburt’s new attitude—and the new attitude allows him to allow the body’s expression.

He has decided to walk. The body instantly knows when the decision is made. A prudent understanding of the need for safety is wise, and built-in— but no animal or person can operate fully under constant implied threats. The sense of safety can be amplified by a concentration upon the moment. And by the realization that those feared threats are indeed imaginary, and self-created.