“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

Now we have another man, who is also contemplative and determined—but this man is pursued by time. He must show that he produces so much work in a given number of hours, so that others will know that he is diligent and filled with the good male attributes of a provider. He is very concerned about the opinions of others, and he wants to see the effect of his work upon the establishments of the world. He wants to know where he stands, and he wants to fit a neat category, so that he can say to the world: “If you are a shoemaker, I am something as definite; or if you are a professor, I am a writer or an artist, or a —?” He wants his contemplation to pay off, and he is very anxious about where his money goes.

—good evening. Pretend that you have two men. One cares little for the opinions of the world. He wants to spend his days in contemplation. He wants the freedom necessary to ask whatever philosophical questions come into his mind.

Basically, he cares not a jot for time as it is generally understood. He does not care for position or power. He only asks to be left alone in his contemplations, and to express these in whatever manner suits his nature. Actually, he is free of sex roles, and refuses stereotypes of any kind. He views cultural and educational establishments with a clear questioning eye. He cares not a jot for position or for money, but only for the freedom. He wants to study the world and nature, and the nature of men and ideas, and to search from that vantage point for some greater order, and some greater context in which life must reside.

With your projects of the past finished, the “man who needed a job” had no job. It was as if he were laid off, and immediately had to find a new job. That man approves of creative projects only when he thinks of them as jobs, when they become acceptable as legitimate male pursuits. Commercial art is beautiful there, for at one time it allowed you to paint because (underlined) you were immediately repaid, and that made art legitimate. (With some ironic humor:) I am laying it on here. And forgive a bit of gentle—gentle—sarcasm, but to your puritan American soul, art for its own sake, or contemplation, still somehow goes against the grain.

where we can contemplate

(Long pause.) If you are a person who contemplates suicide often, you should indeed talk to a confidante about your problem.

It is also true that persons in ordinary good health who often contemplate suicide have already closed themselves away from the world to an important extent. [...]

[...] A somewhat similar loss of the props can also be achieved by partial immersion in an idea with which you are already familiar, as a stepping stone; and this is really what contemplation is.

[...] Contemplation of an abstract nature often leads further into valid psychic experience. [...]

[...] Any purposes you would like to achieve should be mentioned to the subconscious before such periods of sensuous immersion or contemplation, and then forgotten on a conscious level.

[...] Contemplate going further, to porch, but Stamps are out there and I don’t feel like chatting. [...]

[...] Not for a moment could he then bear to contemplate the inner reality in personal terms.

Through the change of roles, Peg now gains insight on the past failures, and also helps her present husband, indeed, to become more contemplative, and to seek for answers to questions that he would not have asked otherwise. [...]

A large percentage of this improvement is based upon the fact that Ruburt is anticipating a future joyfully again, in the contemplation of classes, privately given. [...]

Considerable thought and contemplation should be used here, and as much energy devoted as would be given in the search for a job, for the potentials are far greater. [...]

[...] In a shorthand you could say that the self is the object which he contemplates, since indeed he constructed the object to begin with from the self.

This will make sense to you as you contemplate it. [...]

[...] I had even contemplated cutting down the number of sessions, but do not want to do this.

[...] I tried mentally contemplating the brick wall in Ed Robbins’ fireplace at his home in New Paltz, N.Y. It seemed to work. [...]

[...] 8/12, 8:12 PM, I made an attempt at contemplation while sitting up but did not achieve anything beyond a slight sensation in my left hand.

(Jane has also been trying contemplation, and has observed the beginnings of a few achievements, after a long period without success in psychological time.

[...] Earlier in the evening Bill Gallagher spent perhaps three-quarters of an hour contemplating the oil painting of an elderly man which I executed in July 1965. [...]

(During that session Seth gave Don Wilbur a little information concerning a job change he was contemplating. [...]

[...] Still with elaborate amusement:) I will pour some wine, and leave you to contemplate in awe the way I show that I understand your thoughts.

With the book you are in torment as you contemplate the difference between what seems to be the ideal, and its feared actuality. [...]

[...] A battle recreated in the mind reinforces the original psychic explosion and contemplation of war helps project that disaster into the future. [...]

[...] You might become an idealist in reverse, so that you find a certain excitement in contemplating the occurrence of natural disasters, such as earthquakes. [...] You may contemplate the end of the world instead, but in either case you are propelled by a sense of personal frustration, and perhaps by some degree of vengeance, seeing in your mind the destruction of a world that fell so far beneath your idealized expectations.

[...] I don’t suppose this description adequately describes the depth of my feelings, since I’ve really been bothered for some time, to the extent that I no longer feel free physically, and once again have contemplated seeking medical help as a last resort.

[...] Is it the best web I can construct?” He certainly does not sit brooding and webless as he contemplates the errors he might make. [...]

[...] Contemplation had little part to play. [...]

In those terms, what value is there in any love of contemplation for its own sake? [...]

Such a person’s days may be so crowded with desperate activity that there is no time with which to even contemplate suicide, because the struggle for life itself is so intent.

(Jane was also encouraged when Ray Van Over told her that many mediums operated in the fashion she contemplated. [...]

Jane liked this trance shot: In a quiet moment during a hilarious session in 1969, Seth contemplates Rich Conz, a photographer for the Elmira Star-Gazette. [...]

[...] Communication between several people, all of whom have contemplated suicide, can also set up an excellent supportive situation, particularly with some direction set by a therapist. [...]

It was, as I believe Ruburt has mentioned, a result of deep contemplation on your part about the bookstore murder, but in a larger context, involving probabilities, murderers, victims, and the beliefs involved.