“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(“The insight also reminds me of one of my questions for Seth: I plan to ask him for hints about what sort of ideas he would advance if he’s given the freedom to do so by Jane. He’s already alluded to this notion through a rather recent reference to the fact that he “toned down” some of his material for Mass Events in order to make it more acceptable. I now wish I’d asked him at the time, acceptable to whom? Jane and me, Prentice-Hall, the world, critics, the post office?”

—for our friend. (Pause.) He has indeed of late made a decision to let go of a good deal of his bodily armor.

The body is softening. The affair frightens him nevertheless because, as mentioned earlier, he identifies strongly with his own bodily tensions. Letting them go brings him into a more or less constant encounter with many of the fears that helped generate them. Some of these have to do with an erroneous idea of relaxation in general, of course, with his father, and with spontaneity.

It often seems to him that to relax is to be lax, to let down, do nothing, achieve nothing, as if spontaneously left alone he would be lazy, unambitious, and again lax. He has those feelings and fears. (Pause.) At the same time there are feelings that to relax would be to let go too much (louder)—slide into overly spontaneous behavior, to lack control over one’s life, to lose the observer’s fine focus. As his body begins to relax—as indeed it has—those feelings become more prominent than before. Under the circumstances he is handling them rather well.

(Pause.) The rigidity that was a general characteristic is breaking up, you see, so that by contrast portions of his body do feel vulnerable to him—soft, unprotected—but those feelings were to a large degree covered over before. Now he is physically aware of them, and mentally also. They can be encountered far more directly then, and as they are the body will feel more and more able to respond more, and let go the other stops that still do operate.

(Long pause at 9:35.) Give us a moment.... the displacement aspect mentioned (in the last private session) helped in the improvement of Ruburt’s lumps on the arm. For example (gesturing to the area), when he had simply momentarily forgotten about them in other concerns about his condition.

I am trying to hit all important points. (Pause.) I will in time, along with your questions, give some material, again, on Ruburt’s attitudes toward both of his parents as these relate to his difficulties. For now, however, I will bring the session to a close, though he may hold brief spontaneous sessions, you know, at other nights than our usual ones. I bid you a fond good evening.