“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

Now under many situations people, again, behave in the same manner. They use portions of themselves as hostages—or as in Ruburt’s case they use a portion of themselves not so much as hostages, but they take a part of the self under “protective custody.” This almost always occurs when there are misunderstandings in particular areas between the picture of the self or the world as painted by the intellect, and the picture of the world or of the self painted by the emotions.

Ruburt took a portion of himself into protective custody—not wishing to do that portion any damage, but simply to restrain it, to teach it discipline. Some people take portions of themselves, again, as hostages, restraining such portions with the idea of punishing them for imagined wrongs, or for actions not understood.

(Pause at 9:20.) In either case, however, portions of the self are hampered, restrained, and their expression drastically reduced, and there are bound to be repercussions. Ruburt’s body suffered whether or not he intended it to, because value fulfillment was being further denied. In the case of hostages and those in protective custody, a certain kind of enforced isolation is also bound to happen —and to some degree or another, the individual involved will display in certain areas the same kind of exaggerated postures between various portions of the self, as the Americans and the Iranians display in their behavior together.

(Long pause.) By the very fact that a portion of the self is kept, say, in a sort of protective custody, it is kept in isolation, which means that it is not kept up on current events. Like political hostages, it does not get all of the mail—or the mail it does get is apt to be censored, so it is not operating with a full set of facts. That alone of course prolongs the difficulty.

The portions of the self kept in protective custody develop certain characteristics just to get by—modes of behavior that perhaps serve to take off some of the pressure, while ever seeking ways to escape the situation. This applies to all such instances, of course.

We are now involved with reassuring Ruburt that it is safe to move, and ultimately that it is safe to relax. We are trying to reassure him that relaxation is indeed a part of a creative process, and that it also makes all other motion possible. (Pause.) Such a statement can be accepted by all portions of the self, but it must be emphasized time and time again. In the meantime, there can seem to be other reasons, different ones, that crop up to make his attitudes seem more rational. These are part of the modes of behavior adopted by the portion of the self held in custody, so to speak.

When you spoke to him this afternoon, telling him it was safe to relax, you helped break his isolation. The person held in protective custody had someone to talk to, and another party to help in the negotiations. A trusted party, a highly important point.

(Long pause at 9:55.) Because the two of you are so involved, your own position is bound to change, and in years previous—to some extent, now—you also felt that certain portions of Ruburt’s personality should indeed be held in protective custody. For some time you were alarmed only because the treatment given that portion was more severe than you thought it should be. Now you are actively acting as a trusted party, working for the release of the portion held in relative captivity, and your assurances at this point can be extremely important.