“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

[...] I commented on Ruburt’s experience … In his experience, Ruburt is also free enough so that he can open up certain channels of his mind that then comment upon his activity. [...] But, I am not some spooky Big Brother experiencing his reality for him!

(Sessions 12 through 15 are briefly quoted in Note 4 for the 680th session, in Volume 1; Seth remarked upon the impossibility of closed systems, his own senses [including something of their limits], his ability to visit other “planes” of reality, and his “incipient” man’s form.

I do depend upon Ruburt’s willingness to dissociate.¹² There is no doubt that at times he is unaware of his surroundings during a session. [...] It is a phenomenon in which he gives consent, and he could, at any time and in a split second, return his conscious attention upon his physical environment.

(Seth began talking about his connections with Ruburt-Jane — and, therefore, himself and his own reality — almost from the time these sessions began on December 2, 1963. [...]

Ruburt has been lately in a period in which he has been seeking knowledge as to his own abilities. This has been reflected in his dream activities, as well as in his waking situation. The concentration upon psychic phenomena in general, including his concentration in his book, has somewhat made him weary. [...]

[...] It is an excellent idea that he has taken up his painting again, for this turns his awareness to other matters. [...]

[...] It must be remembered that this is new to him, and upon occasion he must distinguish between my communications and his own thoughts. This sort of practice will be most beneficial, and though he may not think so consciously it will build his confidence.

Now, for ourselves: Ruburt must work some things through on his own, as he knows. [...]

[...] Until Ruburt was at his desk this evening, he did not finally decide whether or not he would greet the strangers you knew had earlier tried to reach you. He played with the idea of checking some notes, and then taking his chapter (on James) to the living room table, and darkening his room. [...]

[...] Dr. Hal had a teacher many years ago, a woman, who used to walk with William James; indeed, he read part of his Varieties of Religious Experience to her. James also discussed his own psychic experiences with this woman. [...]

[...] When his weight is on his feet, when they are ready the joints and feet try new positions—that at the time they might not be able to maintain.

[...] The particular connections here are too complicated to try to explain, but they do involve James’s intense interest during his life in the future of his own work, and in the state of the psychic field of the future. [...]

I said (in Session 846) that you have religious and scientific cults, and the male-oriented scientific community uses its power in the same way that the male Jehovah used his power in a different arena, to protect his friends and destroy his enemies. [...]

[...] Because of his belief in his powerlessness [the fanatic] feels that any means to an end is justified. Behind all this is the belief that spontaneously the ideal will never be achieved, and that, indeed, on his own man is getting worse and worse in every aspect: How can flawed selves ever hope to spontaneously achieve any good?

He does not trust his own self-structure, or his ability to act effectively. [...]

(With amusement:) The male scientist considers the rocket his private symbol of sexual power. [...]

Then, however, perhaps with no warning, he may suddenly refuse to make love with his wife, become hostile with his children, stop off for a few drinks after work, before supper, or even begin seeing a prostitute, or begin an affair — often with a woman he considers beneath his own station.

Joe A may be quite startled to discover bottles of whiskey lying around in his dresser drawers, when he hardly drinks liquor himself at all. Joe B may suddenly “come to” in a strange bedroom, in a compromising position with a woman it certainly seems to him he has never seen before in his life.

Joe B, while drinking, might suddenly be sent back to his Joe A self. The kinds of communication can be very unique and bewildering, ranging from number codes to nonsense verses, or to the hearing of imaginary voices, which serve to remind one portion of the self that there is also another seemingly alien personality involved in his or her existence.

[...] One portion of the personality might be whole-heartedly in favor of good expression of personal power, and be stimulated to express and use his or her energy and strength. [...]

These repressed feelings grew just beyond the reach of consciousness, and just below the reach of consciousness, but almost consciously he began to wonder, to judge his condition now with what it must be. (To go on tour.) The feeling-tone colored his other activities.

It was his emotional nature however and spontaneity that opened your eyes to the necessity for emotional expression. [...] Letting him know that you are not afraid of emotional expression on his part is most important.

He has made gains however in understanding the extent of his repressions. [...] The suggestions given tonight are given for his present period, geared to the present state of affairs, and will bring results, and excellent ones.

[...] He has little use for it, or for people who cry, because of his mother’s crying spells. [...]

While indeed I try to understand his ways, nevertheless I find it most difficult to understand on his part these mountains of self-doubt. I am hardly a portion of his personality. Were I a secondary personality of his, I would exhibit those characteristics that are inhibited in his personality, though I must admit I find it difficult to discover where he is inhibited. [...]

[...] Because the words he speaks are not his own. He knows only too well the importance of these sessions, and I am not afraid of his ego, for even his ego knows.

[...] The solution of the problem is in his hands, and recognition on the part of the ego, which has not assimilated past knowledge, will do much to settle his condition.

[...] Nevertheless I cannot help but grow annoyed when I am literally besieged with the protests meant to insist upon his sanity, the point being that if he is sane, then I must be some nefarious seven-eyed monster. [...] But our Ruburt, who has never cared for the opinion of his fellow men, now rises up in great worry. [...]

He did somewhat better on the garage steps today—because he is, as I said, in a period of transition, and now is able to pull his body higher. The stool was no longer comfortable simply because his muscles were stretching further, but his fear at the seeming poor performance previously led him to some negative projections. [...]

He has not had nearly as much difficulty with his trousers in the bathroom, and the old image has been largely altered. [...] He stood at the same time while you put his jacket on, something to him unthinkable a while ago. [...]

[...] That was the result of some of his good work in Framework 2.

[...] Ruburt is always under my protection in his out-of-body experiments. There is nothing to prevent his seeing me on such occasions but his own attitude, as I have said before. He progresses at a natural rate however, at his own rate. He will not overdo, for in this his ego is an aid and it will see to it that over-exertion does not occur. [...]

The identification no longer exists, and he realized today that his success is not dependent (underlined) upon the dream book for once and all, you see. [...] It was like his albatross around his neck, and it is no longer so.

It is an example of the way in which his abilities came to his aid, giving him inner assurances when they were most needed. [...] He has stepped clear of it (pause), its fate no longer seen as his fate, regardless of what happens to the book.

[...] There is some instability of elements this evening, having to do with a natural, overall change taking place in Ruburt—a beneficial one, I add hastily (humorously); but his system is in a state of change.

[...] It would seem as if all of this was dependent upon earlier events: his mother’s prior meeting with Mr. Markle years ago, when both were young; her daydreams and fantasies in later years; her own death; Mr. Markle’s old age, and his own abandonment of the home.

When she sensed any strong feelings that Joseph also wanted such a home, then — in your terms now — she began, from her different framework after death, to bring that opportunity into his experience. [...] It also shows that his desires for a house in Sayre (deeper and stronger) helped bring about certain events: He could have such a house if he wanted one.

The episode also mirrored his beliefs, for to his way of thinking he would have to relinquish certain freedoms, and this he was not ready to do. [...]

[...] She is quite aware, therefore, of his decision not to buy the [Markle] house.⁵ In her level of reality, she was aware of the fact that Joseph wanted the house strongly; that one portion of him thought of possessing a large home, even though this would require upkeep and attention that another part of him did not want to provide because he felt it would take too much time from his painting and our work.

When his senses, his outer senses, do not perceive a physical object in his self-perspective (and hyphenate that please), in his self-perspective, the object simply does not exist. If the object is touched and not seen or otherwise perceived, then in his self-perspective it exists only in the realm of his sensual perception of it. [...] If his father, for example, sees the chair that the boy does not see, then the object exists as a thing to be seen in the father’s self-perspective. [...]

(At 8:00 PM John Bradley arrived to witness the session, and to inform us that his friend in his hometown, Williamsport, PA, had finished copying Volume 1 of the Seth Material and was ready to begin Volume 2.

For Philip’s sake again, I do not anticipate any sort of disaster, but plans may be born at that date which will affect his participation in his professional field. [...]

[...] John Bradley set to work drawing a map of his neighborhood in Williamsport. [...] Of these two families John said that the name of one of them, Snyder, immediately popped into his mind as Seth gave the pertinent material. [...]

If an inhabitant from another reality outside of your own physical system entirely were to visit it, and if “his” intelligence was roughly of the same degree as your own, he would still have to learn to focus his consciousness in the same way that you do, more or less, in order to perceive your world. He would have to alter his native focus and turn it in a direction that was foreign to him. In this way he could “pick up your station.”¹ There would be distortions, because even though he managed such manipulations he might not have the same kind of native physical structure as your own, of course, through which to receive and interpret those data his altered consciousness perceived.

[...] His body was asleep but his consciousness was drifting. [...] It seemed to come literally from out of the sky, down into another room outside of (next-door to, actually) the one in which his body slept. [...] It shocked him because he is used to hearing my words from within his head — he had never before been aware of my voice as existing apart from him. [...]

Your visitor would then be forced to translate that information as best he could through his own native structure, if it were to make any sense to his consciousness in its usual orientation. [...]

When our Wilford dramatically cries out to his mistress: “I am afraid my wife will learn of our affair,” then the symphony playing on another station becomes melodramatic, and the sports program shows that a hero fumbles the football. [...] The crowds then cheer, and our grocer in his soap opera may smile and say: “But it will all work out after all.”

Ruburt is just beginning his own dream endeavors—which could not seriously begin until he learned to have faith in his own being. [...]

[...] The dream material is highly important because it signifies his acquiescence to the inner authority of his own being. [...]

[...] He has also done well in trusting his inclinations toward work, exercise, and relaxation, for the mind-body relationship will work as a unit. [...]

[...] They were not in the old locked position, and he was beginning to enlarge his peripheral vision, which though he did not know it, had previously been limited by the head motion. [...] The tenseness from his fear would alternately relax and tighten the muscles, then.

[...] He “hit upon” the word “responsive” in relationship to his body. He decided that above all he now wanted his body to be responsive.

As a result of that definite improvement, Ruburt was able to lift his head slightly as he walked. [...]

[...] These ligaments in particular had been in the process of loosening, before Ruburt suddenly found he could thusly move his head, and look up toward the ceiling while walking.

(Here Seth refers to an article by Donald Hebb, a Canadian psychologist, who wrote in Psychology Today for November, 1978 about the decline in his own cognitive abilities. He was busily tracing these out as he aged—he’s now 74—in order to prove out his own theory of aging and senility, about which he’s evidently written extensively. He makes no reference in his writing to the part the negative suggestions he constantly gives himself may have to do with his growing forgetful state—rather amazing, we’d say. The man is regarded as a leading authority, unfortunately; we wonder how many students he’s inculcated with the same negative thinking over the years of his teaching career. [...]

(Another point I want to mention in connection with Seth’s material earlier in the session on psychology: His reference on page 3 to “evolutionary science” stems probably from our reading lately an article on Robert Jastrow, an astronomer connected with NASA. [...] In it Jastrow goes on to talk about how silicon-based computer life is going to replace man and his messy emotions—theories quite in keeping with current “scientific” thinking about man’s innate worthlessness and his accidental creation. [...]

You are lucky, in that his character is not given to fanaticism, but is tempered in that regard. He will have his finger in too many pies, while a fanatic concentrates unduly on one.

[...] He wrote about his experiences in an unpublished novel.

(4:44.) Ruburt’s unfortunate evening was the result of his own fears about the body — related to the fact that he then picked up Joe’s own dire fears, and these fueled his own.

It will be a good idea, even if it is not pleasant, for Ruburt to do some more free association in relationship to his fears about his body’s performance — and those fears should not then be treated impatiently. [...]

(At the close of yesterday’s session I wrote that I visited Joe Bumbalo after leaving Jane at 7:00 p.m. While I was up in his room, 522, Margaret went down to say hello to Jane. [...]

[...] I told her that at lunch time John Bumbalo had called and said that his father wouldn’t be going home for a while: the doctor has found an infection in a lung. [...]

I am trying to induce Ruburt to drop his muscular armor. In the world of his experience he does not need it. His direct experience has not included it, the cruel adult world that he must protect himself against. [...] Any fears he had there he picked up through reading, or through the reports of others, so let him also separate his private experience in that respect.

His experiences are entirely different than they would have been. In terms of probability, he took a new probable road, which means that his individual impact upon the world, and everyone he meets, will also be different and more creative than it would have been before.

[...] Yet at the same time in a way I feel sorry for Seth, for his unceasing efforts to help seem to usually fall on infertile ground. Perhaps his attempts to reach us are often like battering at a brick wall. [...]

History is written according to the present beliefs of a historian in his time. [...]

[...] His creativity, in other words, is renewing itself now. [...] The more Ruburt relaxes the quicker his body will show the improvements that are now developing. [...] You can help him there as he discusses his feelings. [...]

(Pause.) Ruburt’s depression-part of today represented, again, his recognition and expression of feelings that before were to a large degree buried in the symptoms, or translated into them. [...]

Such expressions do not mean backsliding on his part. [...]

Ruburt receives esthetic pleasure from looking at the clean rugs or windows—a pleasure which actually encourages his creativity. [...]

[...] The contrast represented his own interpretation of his private reality, of course—yet they also represent the main issues involved right now in your society at large. [...]

[...] To some extent then the child with all of his wonder about his own body is aroused in each act of love-making, whatever its variety. [...]

Again, you have evidence of his body’s willingness to change for the better. His faith is growing, and both of you can help reinforce it. [...]

[...] Ruburt set out, of course, to handle his own purposes and challenges, but he chose those in the context of your world, so that in encountering them personally he would encounter them for your society as well. [...]

[...] He should in his exercises imagine strenuous exercise, running very fast for example, until in his mind’s eye his muscles are fully relaxed.

His imagined exploits should definitely include such vigorous pursuits with the accompanying relaxation. His physical day should include as much of this as possible. [...]

Let him use his arms and hands more. He has thought of returning to his habit of sitting on the floor. [...]

He is indeed too careful of his motions out of habit and fear of the consequences. [...]