“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

You were each surrounded by some highly unfortunate beliefs, that were at least partially paranoid, but in any case unfortunate. They were beliefs that had to do with talent, ability, or genius —

(4:12.) These were distortive offshoots connected with misinterpretations of ideas of equality, connected with a democratic government. These same ideas also had involvements with psychology, dealing with “the norm,” the average man, and so forth. People try to be as much as possible like their neighbors, hiding eccentricities, failings and even talents and abilities that might close them off from their fellows. The end result was a series of beliefs that ran as follows:

If you are highly talented in any way, play the talent down or be extremely humble in its performance or expression, because other people will envy you, or be afraid of you, or try to drag you down “to their own level.”

(Long pause at 4:16.) The more unusual and original your gift, the more you must protect yourself from the distrust of others. This line of belief continues as follows: If your talent is extremely unique or original, it may be safer to deny it entirely, or to adopt some disability or handicap that will quell the jealousy or envy of others who might otherwise hunt you down.

This entire belief system was detrimental enough, when you were devoted to writing and painting as these are generally understood. When Ruburt’s psychic abilities began to show themselves, however, those same beliefs made both of you even more cautious than before, and more worried about reprisal from others — and as far as Ruburt was concerned, more worried about criticism or scorn. All of those beliefs existed along with many unfortunate ones that were sexually oriented — those that dictated, for example, the traditional roles of man and wife, or man and woman. Ruburt felt some guilt in expressing psychic abilities in such a marked fashion, when it seemed that the male of the relationship should be the most highly talented, and by far the most successful financially (intently). So your roles in that manner upset both of you at times.