“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(“Bob, all I want to do is get better.” she said in the bathroom, half crying, after another struggle to get back into her chair from the john.

(“Incredible,” I said to myself, thinking about the daily struggle she now had to contend with just to do a few basic things like using the bathroom. Last night’s session was in my mind, of course. And I thought that years ago, [and with my own unwitting cooperation] Jane had given over control of her life in certain large ways to the Sinful Self through the symptoms—and yes, abjectly allowed it to exert such power and influence that now she finally found herself in the grip of a strong force, or set of beliefs. Why such a course of action, such a surrender, as I saw it? A little suffering in life—okay, I thought, considering the session last night—but this? She’d reached her limit in some areas, such as the bathroom.

The feelings themselves are hardly unmanageable, however, and can be coped with. While we are dealing with such material you should definitely try to be a bit more indulgent with yourselves, generally speaking—Ruburt in particular. Make love more if the opportunity arises. See occasional visitors or whatever. (Long pause, then intently but with a touch of humor:) I know you know this, but do not concentrate upon the problem. You undo half of your good work when you do. You narrow your scope of interest.

(“It seems Jane can do little else.” I was thinking of her depressed response today to her symptoms. “She certainly wasn’t up to anything else, it seemed. She felt very bad.”)

Old habits are involved, of course. The part about not concentrating upon the problem, however, is still paramount, and so is the necessity of seeing the situation in its larger framework. I mean that literally. In the face of Ruburt’s background he has managed as well as he has, and that in the other areas of life you are doing far better than you habitually give yourselves credit for.

Give us a moment.... (Long pause.).... I realize that you can only do so much, Joseph, but on a particularly troublesome night, if you would sit up, talk with Ruburt for perhaps 10 or 15 minutes, you could both shorten troublesome episodes to a considerable degree. This last period was intensified also since both of you were in the same mood at the same time. You must remember that the entire problem does indeed exist in a larger personal framework in which life and energy are abundantly and freely given.