“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

Use your abilities (underlined); a fine idea, a good policy, an excellent course—but not when it is considered a commandment.

(10:05.) Ruburt’s abilities—and your own, for that matter—came to light because they are natural characteristics of your beings. They bring you enjoyment, fulfillment, understanding, excitement, discovery. Now that can be said of your painting and of Ruburt’s poetry. Ruburt writes poetry by himself, but left alone, enjoys reading it later to others. (Pause.) In a strange fashion he does not feel a responsibility to write poetry—he doesn’t use the ability because he thinks that he should. In fact, sometimes he writes poetry when he thinks that he should not be doing so, but instead doing something more responsible.

It seems to him as if he would—if he were using all of his abilities as he should—be a public figure. He would also be far more capable of helping people solve their problems through some kind of therapeutic framework. (Pause.) He would see to it that as many persons as possible had the opportunity to see a session, and he would furthermore also be developing his own psychic experience at a far greater rate. Against that kind of image, he feels inferior.

(Pause.) You had some time ago an old newspaper article you had saved, on the dangers of using the words “should” or “would” too often—and there is perhaps nothing else you could do that is as detrimental to the true development of the natural self. Part of the difficulty in what Ruburt thinks of as the development of his abilities, or the more frequent insertion of inspirational work of his own, is the very fact that he feels so responsible to so thusly perform. All of these issues are highly important. The idea of responsibility, as described here, blocks creativity, hampers natural psychic and physical flow: “I should be doing thus and so.” “What do I like to do? What do I feel like doing? What makes me feel good?” Those questions are far more pertinent. When you want to do something truly there are usually few real impediments. Desire flows freely into action.

If you would remember natural selves, and your own characteristics, you would have a much better, clearer idea of what to realistically expect from yourselves, and you would let other ideas go when they conflict with your own quite definite inclinations. The full potentials of Ruburt’s abilities and of our work will result from following the natural contours of your beings, from whose resources your own individual and joint problems can also be eradicated.