“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(Long pause, eyes closed, leaning back.) Ruburt cannot understand all of the processes that are involved, but the body knows what is to be done, and is working with its own rhythms. This may cause temporary disorientation, but that will also pass, as you can see. Certain portions of the body were released this evening. By all means let Ruburt continue to express his feelings to you about the situation, however, and reassure him of his body’s competence.

These were not elements of behavior that seem particularly businesslike, however. Overall Ruburt felt quite competent, however, even in battling away at his advances two-thousand dollars at a time. He valued the relative permanency of the association, judging it in his mind against other situations in which time might otherwise be necessary to find a different publisher for each book, or an agent with whom Ruburt might feel rapport. Period.

Now overall he wanted an attractive package, of course, yet to him the book was in the copy mainly. (Long pause.) The Bantam photograph covers did displease him, but in a fashion he did not expect any more from the mass paperback situation. For some time he felt competent then in those business dealings. He felt loyalty to Tam, who he felt was loyal to him. At the same time he did not idealize Tam, and was well aware of some of his natural failings.

(9:38.) He therefore became upset whenever there were difficulties in which you and Prentice disagreed, or you and he disagreed, and he became highly uneasy if you and Tam seemed to disagree. He began to feel less competent in his dealings. He began to feel somewhat humiliated that as a woman he needed his husband to take care of such matters, and he felt threatened not only by such circumstances, but of course by the changes going on at Prentice itself and by Tam’s own growing restlessness.

[...] Children are taught to compete against each other. The child naturally “competes” against herself or himself (amused) in an urge to outdo old performance with new. [...]

[...] He feels caught between that image of expected super-competence and the image of the Sinful Self, which feels competent of doing very little. [...]

[...] Tam has requested that we send him a letter outlining our position re a competent professional translator of the French Seth Speaks. I was going to do the letter this weekend, but didn’t. I asked Jane if she would write the letter, and she agreed to. [...]

[...] Therefore God was seen to be on the side of those who competed most strenuously, so that to be poor or sick was almost seen as a sign of God’s disfavor. [...]

[...] The breath’s integrity arises directly from the proper give-and-take between cells, the functioning of the tissues; and all that is the expression of molecular competence. That competence is obviously responsible for language, but beyond that it is intimately connected with the patterns of languages themselves, the construction of syntax, and even with the figures of speech used.

[...] Ruburt may therefore feel like performing acts, and he should try them before their competent execution can be carried through.

[...] Mankind “competed” against nature, which was to be conquered, so the universe seemed to be a threatening place. [...]

Now when either of you, or both of you, feel that there might be something wrong in spending your time thinking, writing, painting, or worse, daydreaming, you feel that way because your way of life meets some conflict from old Darwinian and Freudian beliefs: you should be out there in the world—active, competing, or even just riding bicycles. [...]

[...] You hastened, Joseph, to put your talent to the proper Darwinian and Freudian goals: to make money, and to compete. [...]

[...] The species do not compete with each other over a given territory, no matter how frequently that appears to be the case. [...]

[...] Once again, her Seth voice was quiet, and I had to pay close attention to hear it competing with other hospital sounds. [...]

[...] It is much better that the books compete in such a fashion with the other material of your times, rather than be published, say, by a specialty house, or coddled along the way, for we speak to all of those people.

[...] But in the lifetime of many artists it must compete with personal vibrations, if you’ll forgive the word, of the artist himself.

[...] He never could compete with you in this respect, and it has made its mark. [...]

Dick, being so much younger, saw no reason why he should be able to compete. [...]

(9:32.) Your waking life is the result of the most precise kind of organization, held competently and with amazing clarity. [...]

[...] You think that Margo is extremely competent in those areas where you are not competent. [...]

[...] As a result, you do not have any culturally acceptable patterns that allow you to use your dreams competently.

[...] He felt somewhat physically competent.

Your interest in these sessions must indeed compete with ordinary daily endeavors, and there will be, as you realize, fluctuations in your interest and indeed energy. [...]

[...] Vivid memories, out of context but given immediate neurological validity, could compete with the brilliant focus necessary in his present.¹

[...] When ego consciousness reached a certain point of biological and mental competence, when experience in the present became extensive enough, then ego consciousness would be at the stage where it could begin to accept greater data. [...]

[...] Several of these may compete for the individual’s attention. [...]

[...] On top of that, however, the whole idea of responsibility has played an overheavy hand, and it is this idea of responsibility—overplayed—that is to a large degree responsible for the idealized image of the public person with which Ruburt has unsuccessfully tried to compete. [...]