“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

8. Much could be written about the ageless conflicts the individual feels between society’s demands and his or her urges toward personal freedom. It seems to me that no matter what role in any life the individual decides upon before birth (to incorporate Seth’s ideas here), that individual will carry consciousness’s innate drive toward personal expression — but still within the protection furnished by social organization. This applies even to my Roman selves in their restrictive military environments (which are also protective), and even if their chosen courses of action result in demands or challenges they cannot surmount….

13. Early in this appendix I wrote that I added these notes later, to give “ordinary background material” for my fourth Roman. So now, what do I make of the considerable similarities between my Jerusalem episode and Peter’s? Although his internal data reinforce mine to some extent, he can be no more specific about a physical location in the city for his visions than I can be for mine. (See Note 6.) I’ve also written about the conflicts involving authority that I believe my two Roman soldiers are expressing. Here I feel on more “solid ground” symbolically than physically. Just as I do, Peter rebels in his own peaceful ways against conventional authority, preferring to go his individual route in the arts, no matter how dubious his rewards may be.

“All religions are distortive. For that matter, much of your science is distortive. Both arrive at approximations, at best, of reality. Religion has been the cause of much prejudice and cruelty, but the bombs over Hiroshima were not caused by the Catholic Saint Teresa showering down any roses. Science is apt to turn into another religion, if it has not done so already. The distortions in science and religion have been truly disastrous. Any fanaticism is vicious, one-sided, and limiting, causing an alarming shrinkage of focus that is explosive and dangerous.