“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

Now Ruburt had only one parent available most of the time (long pause), and he did not feel secure in that relationship—a situation chosen ahead of time, now. There is greater leeway in the nature of such bondings. There are also periods in people’s lives, rhythmic times, when the self seeks to cast off certain such bindings for the pursuit and acceptance of still further data and knowledge.

(Long pause at 8:15.) With some people (long pause), such bindings are so secure that in one way or another they provide an overall, fairly permanent inner and outer framework. The people within that framework will stray only so far from conventional beliefs. (Long pause.) They still enjoy—relatively—a good deal of freedom, however, of a sideways extension, so to speak, or in a horizontal manner, as excellent athletes, perhaps. Ruburt’s relationship with his mother left much to be desired. The bonding did not secure him that important and vital sense of safety, and to some extent or another he felt at least threatened by abandonment. The bonding to cultural beliefs of religion (long pause) was very strong to make up for that initial lack. The strength of such binding elements, again, varies through a lifetime, and the binding to the parents’ beliefs of course helps strengthen social structure. In a curious fashion, however, that circle of safety provides each individual with the freedom and curiosity to go ahead and test independent theories and situations—so it also serves the purposes of creativity and knowledge, and even allows for the acquisition of new knowledge that was not in the original belief structures.

The point at which such a situation happens is of course internal, and it may or may not have anything to do with the quality of material, but with its nature. Each society—or each system of knowledge, for that matter—has its own taboos built in, and most of these imply abandonment by the community. A firm bonding with the parent ideally implies however that the child will not be abandoned, despite for example parental anger at any given time. Now remember that Ruburt’s mother used words like “I hereby disown you,” or “You are hereby disinherited,” or “I consider you no longer my daughter.” Such a situation increased Ruburt’s sense of not being safe, of course, and yet also reinforced feelings of independence, for he did not have to feel as dependent upon Marie as he might otherwise.

In a fashion therefore he possessed a greater leeway of mental activity (long pause). Our material, and his own abilities, represented various kinds of trials, development and growth, and also implied various kinds of threats of different strengths throughout the years. He could assimilate much new knowledge by means of the creative mechanisms, which could not transform troublesome ideas into other symptoms that could become quite acceptable.

The time would come, however, when the old bondings had to be encountered, for they simply could not hold the newer frameworks of understanding which were larger than they were. The ideas presented by the so-called Sinful Self represent several layers of activity, then, that should be understood as represented. Some of the most troublesome aspects of one’s belief structures are shared by millions in your society, and by certain levels of Ruburt’s own personality, where they exist with varying strengths. The personality is now trying to assimilate a greater framework to become bonded to a higher sequence of knowledge.

The old attitude kept reinforcing the idea of self-disapproval, accusation, period. What is wanted is another matrix or support from which the personality can assimilate still newer knowledge, and continue to develop—generally speaking—with a sense of relative freedom.

His idea of a project on the magical approach now is excellent, for it suggests a new concentration or focus in which the natural and magical aspects of existence are courted, and the characteristics of the natural magical person encouraged to show themselves. In such a way the old fears do not go underground and are not concentrated upon either—but they are taken into consideration and acknowledged, let out into the open daylight, so to speak, where they can also benefit from the personality’s newer knowledge.

Now the body has suffered its difficulties, and there is no way out of it except to understand that there are difficulties of growth, regrettable at certain levels in particular—but growing pains nevertheless, extending over a period of time, tensions resulting over a person’s natural tendencies toward value fulfillment and knowledge.