“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

You have taken it, subconsciously now, as a personal failure that you are not farther ahead, not only financially but in terms of the amount of power you would like to hold. You would like to kick out, but you feel you have lost your footing, hence the symptoms in the feet.

This was reflected in other portions of the body as well. As you noted, you felt off balance subjectively, and unsure. Now. You had grown used to smoking as a way of comforting yourself. You removed the comfort. You refused to add another, and at the same time you did not face the inner problem that was bothering you, that made the comfort so necessary to begin with. We will go into this more deeply, for you can indeed rid yourself of the symptoms, but I would like to make one point here first. When you bought the dog, subconsciously you felt that the dog was almost a symbol of your failure.

She knew subconsciously that you would consider that a failure. We will have much more to say. In the meantime take your break, but (smiling) keep yourself together.

The family all knew, subconsciously again, that the dog had to go. Everyone was overly nice to the dog, so no one would know consciously, what they knew subconsciously—that you considered the dog the symbol of failure. It was a closely guarded secret by all, hidden, but not entirely, from the conscious minds of those involved. No one wanted the dog killed, but it was not coincidence that you yourself loosened the dog’s collar, or that your wife was the one who left the dog; for symbolically the two of you were connected here. Now give us a moment. The act itself was symbolic, and the dog picked up all of your attitudes through its own sense of communication.

(4:28.) Even when biological “failures” develop, as with stillborn infants, or malformed ones, the inner consciousness involved does not give up, and even though death results, the consciousness tries again under different conditions. In such cases death is not experienced by the organism as a failure, or as a biological mistake. [...]

[...] “I do get feelings while delivering the stuff,” she said, “wondering if I’m giving it the best way — like that material about the fetus not taking its death as a failure, but an experience. [...]

No animal considers itself a failure, obviously. [...] The conscious mind can indeed have such thoughts because it so often tries to solve all problems on its own, until it begins to feel frightened, overburdened, and a failure in its own eyes.

[...] Do not identify with what you think of as past failures. [...]

[...] Old patterns of thought can at times rearouse feelings of hopelessness and failure. [...]

You are very afraid of failure—hardly any crime—many are afraid of failure. [...]

[...] But in working toward a goal that is very distant, a goal that will be extremely difficult for you to achieve, you feel subconsciously that you will be excused from failure; if you fail you can then say that it was because so many obstacles were in your way.

[...] You need not be afraid of failure, and this is your main difficulty. [...]

[...] Now then: on the one hand you attempted to be virile by identifying with your father, yet he was also to you the symbol of a failure. To be a failure therefore was virile (as my pendulum told me).

[...] You did indeed see your father (as my pendulum told me) not as a man who failed in several important areas, but as a failure in all areas: as a husband, breadwinner, father. (Pause.) You identified with him however out of fear of your mother’s emotionalism. [...]

[...] To be like him then represented safety, for she did not like failures.

[...] Two of these at least made the difference between hits and failures, and they are noted in the test results.

[...] To back down now would result not only in business failure, but in a personal failure that would plague you for the rest of your life.

If he does not follow through with his beliefs, then the meeting will result in failure as far as his hopes are concerned.

We will let the demented bit pass for now, but this represents a failure on your part, and a somewhat smug attitude of hiding what is best from view. [...]

[...] He was not identified with his failures or limitations, but instead with his potential.

[...] You could admit failings, transgressions of one kind or another without identifying yourself, say, with failure. [...]

You both became extremely depressed, thinking in time terms and concentrating upon past failures, with which you identified. [...]

His symptoms were meant, in a way, now, in regard to you, to make you feel better, for by contrast you became the success and he the failure. That failure was also meant to take your mind away from what he believed you believed was your own failure as an artist.

(Pause.) I give you my blessings as always, and I want to reassure you, saying again that all issues are redeemed, and any failures seem finally to be only steps along the way, seen as failure only because they seemed lacking in the light of your own expectations. [...]

You always reinforce the failures. [...]

([Brad:] “Am I using this in any way as an excuse for my failures? [...]

[...] But no one but yourself can make you recreate the failure that you have been recreating. [...]

[...] By not acting, I may even be excusing myself from failure: “Had I really tried, I would have succeeded. [...]

[...] Some loving, gentle but firm encouragement and practice on the stairs would be of help, and definitely a concentration upon achievements in any area rather than on failures.

[...] Fred stayed overnight, was let go, went to the local Holiday Inn, and was arrested for failure to pay for services. [...]

[...] In fact, his lecture tour of the United States turned out to be a failure because of the hostile press reaction.

[...] The friend committed suicide, and Jane regarded the session as a failure. My question simply wanted to explore the relationship between the onset of symptoms before the psychic work, and the fact that a psychic “failure” had the ability to deepen them. [...]

[...] He had also been reading about the great percentage of successes with faith healers, for example, and he considered this a personal failure of an important magnitude.

[...] All of this made him feel that he was not living up to expectations, that he was to some extent a failure for not doing all of those things. [...]

[...] However accomplished they might be, however, some consider themselves failures because they have not lived up to those ghost images. [...]

(Late yesterday afternoon my pendulum told me that Jane’s symptoms stemmed from her feeling that she had failed to become a successful “straight” writer—a novelist, poet, essayist, et al.; that she felt she had failed as the serious writer she had always dreamed of becoming, that the psychic work represented a turning down a wrong path; that actually, basically, the psychic work represented failure to her rather than success. [...]

For some time Ruburt felt he was a failure, as a wife and as a writer. [...]

[...] She also told me that to her the idea of stairs represented success and failure—up and down, etc.)

[...] At times he was convinced that he had made a failure of his life so far—with you and his work.

[...] You must find within yourselves the willingness, the energy, and the intent—the willingness to take a chance, and not to so fear failure.

[...] Do not be so afraid of failure or of making mistakes. [...]

[...] And therefore the fact for example that you withheld certain kinds of emotion from it is not a failure.

[...] Instead you project ponderous ideas of success or failure, consider work as a series of problems to be solved, and forget the idea of spontaneously creating.