“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(Rather intently:) He would not have had the sessions to begin with over this period of time for your sake alone, or even for your sake primarily—they simply would have petered out. You do have a large role to play, however, and I will go into that more clearly along with the way that you might have sometimes misread some of your own attitudes. Nothing, however, would have kept him at the sessions for this amount of time unless he wanted them.

(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.

Now basically he has the sessions because he enjoys them, and so do you. On top of that, however, the whole idea of responsibility has played an overheavy hand, and it is this idea of responsibility—overplayed—that is to a large degree responsible for the idealized image of the public person with which Ruburt has unsuccessfully tried to compete.

(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.

Ruburt’s own material of late is excellent, and will help enlarge the picture. It came spontaneously and clearly. His body has been attempting to relax. When he feels like so doing, then such activity or lack of it is precisely what is needed at the time, and he need not feel that he should be doing something else.

I will go into the question of Ruburt’s attitude toward me very shortly, as per your own question in a note. There is some application there, but the larger one applies to his own ideas of what someone in his position should (underlined) be doing, and the idealized image is partially a construct to which you also added details unwittingly in the past.

An organization is obviously not characteristic of two people who are very largely loners. Any kind of extensive public life cannot be reasonably expected from two people who value privacy to the extent that you both do. This does not mean, again, that black and white thinking is not involved. Ruburt has been straining to live up to an unreasonable image—sometimes with your unwitting assistance—an attempt that certainly has made him drag his feet, and one that is exhausting.

(Pause.) Most people work so many hours, then relatively speaking follow their pleasures to whatever extent possible. Because you have no set hours in that regard, Ruburt has filled all of them with “I should do this,” or “I should be doing that,” or “What should I be doing now?” —and that alone blocks creative flow.

It is further inhibited if that sense of responsibility is wedded to solving the problems of the world or of correspondents, or when such an attempt is allowed to tinge any book sessions. I am not here referring to Mass Events, which was indeed directed toward the condition of the world, but to matters—whatever they may be—where Ruburt feels a responsibility on his part (underlined) for me to dictate specific material that might answer questions he thinks scientists or others might have in mind about any given subject matter; for I write from a different viewpoint, and our material is of course not to be dictated in any (pause)important way by the statement of your official knowledge at any given time. It is to rise beyond such categories. It is to present a larger thematic framework, which then can be used to put the world together in a different fashion for those who want to do so.

Remember what I told you some time ago, though you have made excellent strides in that regard, apropos natural man, in contrast to what you may think you should (underlined) be doing, in terms of any idealized self with characteristics that are not your own.

(10:42 PM. “Well, I’m glad I did that,” Jane said. “I sat there thinking about it for fifteen minutes before I called you. I thought I should be doing the dishes.... I really want to read that one—I think there’s stuff in it that will help me right away....”