“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(In his dialogues Timaeus and Critias, the Greek philosopher Plato [427?–347? [...] Looking backward in time, Plato heard the story of Atlantis from his maternal uncle, Critias the Younger, who was told about it by his father, Critias the Elder, who heard about it through the works of the Athenian statesman and lawgiver, Solon, who had lived two centuries earlier [c. 640–559 B.C.]; and Solon got the story of Atlantis from Egyptian priests, who got it from ———? [...]

[...] We were left thinking that the general tone of Seth’s material early in the session, especially in his references to such ideas as “historical sequences” and “alternate realities,” might have served as a trigger.

[...] Without giving away any “secrets,” I can write that on both occasions Seth discussed the subject in conjunction with his postulates about ideals, myths, religion, probabilities, and the simultaneous nature of time.)

His painting will serve him well in this respect, and his psychic energies will indeed be refreshed and renewed.

It was far from inevitable that he turn to this field but the innermost portions of his personality were drawn to it, and within this field he can develop his abilities, mature, and contribute. [...]

These informal tests are an excellent method of building up his self-confidence. And his self-confidence is absolutely necessary to us.

Our Ruburt is indeed relaxing, having just finished his book, and he has my congratulations.

He was made to feel often that he was at least strongly responsible for his mother’s illness. It was also true that on other occasions his mother apologized for such statements—but the statements of course were highly charged and emotional, while the apologies were relatively prosaic. [...]

As I stated before, Ruburt was not responsible for his mother’s illness, the break-up of her marriage, the deaths of his grandmother and housekeeper (long pause), and had he had brothers or sisters, for example, they would have reacted in their own fashions to Marie’s behavior. [...]

(Long pause at 9:58.) When he wrote the letters to his mother they were censored. [...] On the other hand, for the time being he had a very secure belief system against which for quite a full number of years he could test his own mental, emotional and spiritual vigor. [...]

[...] (Long pause.) His mother actually found in the nursing homes a certain kind of comradeship. [...]

Much of that energy had been used to heal his bedsores, to keep his condition stable, and then to begin renewal of excellent health. [...] The rest of his sores will indeed shortly heal themselves completely. [...]

Ruburt is experiencing the first (pause) glimpses of his natural energy. [...]

[...] His eyes “have caught up to themselves”—that is, while certain improvements begin it takes a while for a stability to exist again, so that the new improvements become the natural, habitual condition. [...]

Remind him, again, to trust his own energy—simply a reminder, for certainly he is beginning to do just that. [...]

His society teaches him that such qualities are feminine. He spends his life trying to hide what he thinks of as aggressive — violent — behavior, and trying to be understanding and kind instead. [...] Because he is trying to be so understanding our man inhibits the expression of many of the normal irritations that would serve as a natural system of communication between, say, his superior and himself at work, or perhaps with the members of his family at home.

[...] Man has highly charged contradictory attitudes about aggression, and his beliefs about it cause many of his mass and private problems.

[...] He cannot hit his boss, though he may want to. At the same time his church may tell him to turn the other cheek when he is upset, and to be kind, gentle and understanding.

[...] I’ve been especially curious about this since we received his information on the death of our cat, Rooney, in the 639th session. [A note added later: Seth kept his word. [...]

[...] And he still struggles with questions about his freedom before God’s omnipotence and foreknowledge, and whether those qualities cause events, or can cause them, and whether they involve predestination. Opposing determinism is the idea that man has always fought for his personal responsibility—that instead of being controlled entirely by his heritage, he’s capable of forming new syntheses of thought and action based upon the complicated patterns of his own history.

[...] So physically, and on his physical attributes alone, a man cannot use his free will to fly like a bird, or to perform physical acts for which the human body is not equipped.

[...] The character in the play is seemingly alive (creatively) for the play’s duration, perception being limited to that framework, yet to play that role the actor draws upon the experience of his own life. He brings to bear his own understanding, compassion, artistry, and if he is a good actor, or if she is, then when the play is over the actor is a better person for having played the role.

[...] In a sense, painting is man’s natural attempt to create an original but coherent, mental yet physical interpretation of his own reality—and by extension to create a new version of reality for his species.”

Ruburt’s father always planned to make a new will before his death, and kept putting it off. In the dream Ruburt finds a strange mechanism made by his father that is supposed to dispense some money. A kindly old man appears, who says that Ruburt’s father made this contraption two hours before his death, to ensure Ruburt some inheritance.

[...] The old man also stands for Ruburt’s father, as Ruburt thought of him bumming around, frittering away his time and energy, so he was stealing from the pot. [...] (Pause.) The old man also stood for old man time in the dream, and reinstated the fact that an executor is important, for the old man also stood for —in the dream, now—Ruburt’s father acting as his own executor—meaning that his nature led him to leave ends loose.

On the other hand, of course, the very individuality implied in art itself tells you that even the ideal must follow its own eccentric patterns, and that man must find his own way out of his l-a-c-k-s (spelled). [...]

[...] The creative artist is always involved in the expression of the ideal, and his work expresses that ideal as best he can.

[...] Put yourself in his place, and with all of his capacities, and with his wisdom, and what would you be saying, and what emotion would move the muscles of your face?

By the time the painting is done you should almost be able to hear his words, even though they are in a language you do not know. [...] Is he only aware of the unseen power or person his lips address? [...]

Look out through his eyes, and cry out through his lips. [...]

Do his words go back into the background from which he himself emerged, and does the answer emerge also? Or is there any clear answer to his question? [...]

In this life Ruburt knew his neighborhood as a child, and his feelings about people were not tempered by television programs showing normal families, or other ways of life. He believed that life was a life-and-death struggle, and having finally found what he wanted to do, his mode of survival, he brought out all of his artillery to protect himself while he did his thing.

[...] Writing would get him the fullest use of his abilities and fulfillment, his own approval and yours, financial security, and hopefully some kind of success in terms of a reputation. [...]

[...] He knows he feels softer—both ordinary tissue and his muscles.

[...] His body can raise up further while standing, though not as yet while walking. [...]

[...] (Pause.) His unspoken anger grew. [...] Your later, better communication and rapport made matters worse, for his unexpressed feelings seemed then completely unjustified, and his fear of hurting you grew stronger.

He feels that you have not tried to make a success of your art, but have used excuses while blaming him for using excuses; that he tries desperately to sell his books, while you will not lift a finger to sell your paintings; that if he waited until he did his best work, he would never have sold a thing.

[...] He was afraid of his mother’s wrath. [...]

[...] When you were ill they began, but he felt even less able to acknowledge them as his own. [...]

[...] But, as I later discovered through one of his students, his attitude was anything but objective and hardly scientific. He let the class know through his statements and general behavior that he thought such tests were beneath serious consideration. Oddly enough, the results weren’t bad at all, but his attitude was so poor that only five girls took part in the experiment. I suggested that he try the experiment too, but he wouldn’t; and his attitude discouraged enough students so that he could say, later, that the low number participating made tests results impossible to evaluate. [...]

Not too long ago, a young psychology professor called and asked me to speak to his class at the local college. [...] Personally he wouldn’t touch a medium with a ten-foot pole, but since they did exist and he knew of one, he felt duty-bound to “expose” his students to the phenomenon. And undoubtedly, he patted himself on the back for his broad-mindedness.

[...] But he didn’t want to reconsider or evaluate his preconceived ideas of the nature of personality. He missed an opportunity to broaden his outlook, and, perhaps, to find the kind of evidence that would convince him that human personality was far less limited than he supposed.

[...] He had some interesting things to say about his own reality, too. In a way, it is not the kind of in-depth discussion Seth would give in one of our private sessions, but it contains an excellent thumbnail description of his theories on personality, for those who have no previous knowledge of the Seth Material. [...]

Ruburt realizes the desperation behind his own sudden impetus to dance, and the effort behind it. [...] He does this particularly since he realizes he cannot count upon his reactions. [...]

[...] To him this meant that his emotional mobility could be expressed privately at home under conditions you both found acceptable, but not physically through the body. [...] The spotlight serves as an impetus for him, and as an impediment to some extent for you—so he was trying to use the spotlight as an impetus for action precisely because he doubted his abilities. [...]

[...] He to some extent (underlined twice) recognizes his projections, is consciously aware of them, and tries to deal with them, but in that particular situation you do not recognize yours, though you understand to some degree your different individual reactions.

Here Ruburt tries to force a situation, to set up on his part an incentive where he will be spotlighted, and therefore knows he will perform well, having chosen a “critical,” dramatic framework.

[...] Nevertheless the child, to an unrealized degree, is free of the environmental necessities of his existence. Even while he molds and is molded by his environment, a part of his psyche is still uninvolved. His subconscious, on an uppermost personal level, is concerned with infantile fears of course.

(Also while on this walk, Jane had the thought that death approaches a personality when the personality becomes less and less able to focus his energies fully on this plane, when he can no longer control his physical image as well as in the past. [...]

He has brownish hair and glasses, and a slight mole on one of his cheeks. He is not even aware of his own feelings in the matter, but considers himself something of a father image as far as Philip is concerned, and feels somewhat betrayed.

Part of Ruburt’s dream, you see, did have to do with a ship; and here with a second vessel and the water, you find that information was given on a subconscious level to Ruburt concerning his friend’s journey. [...] However, there was a deep sense of bewilderment upon Ruburt’s part with his friend, who is a mother, since neither of them as adolescents considered motherhood as a part of their personal futures.

[...] He is an older man in his system of reality than Rob is in ours, and while he is engrossed in his painting, this interest is subordinated to his medical work.

[...] … The painter’s intent is embedded in his medium and in his painting.”

[...] There is no basic reason why any of the children could not spend his days at his father’s office, but he would not be able to understand the events or activities there.

[...] I am thinking in particular of some cases of amnesia where the victim ends up suddenly in a different town with another name, occupation, and no memory of his own past. In some instances such an individual is experiencing a probable event, but he must experience it, you see, within his own time system.”

[...] You would have to be blind not to realize that his ankles and feet, his hands and wrists, his neck and jaw, have all improved. [...]

His eyes are changing. [...] In other periods he can work on his preface and his own to notes for the book, and leave himself open to new inspiration.

[...] It is also important, now, that you concentrate upon your own creative works, both of you—Ruburt particularly, so that he takes his mind off of his body, and focuses elsewhere. [...]

[...] Fear, his and yours, makes him concentrate upon the body’s sensations too much, and that prevents him from the frame of mind necessary for his writing.

[...] In early years Ruburt found it difficult even to contradict you, even while he insisted upon his own independence of mind, and upon his use of his abilities. [...]

[...] Ruburt went to battle with all of his men, and only as he grew older did he begin to wonder at his own motives, or the beliefs that were the structure of his life.

Encourage him toward physical activity of a kind that in his physical condition challenges him enough, but is not beyond his physical means. [...]

[...] As we waited for tonight’s session, Jane said she thought that Seth was organizing material about the four of us, our years together at 458 West Water St., and the flood of 1972—but that when we decided upon the questions listed above, Seth changed his tactics: he began to organize that material instead—“reorganizing what he’d already planned, in order to put it all together,” as Jane put it. [...]

[...] The fact is that they can never be condoned, and yet they must be understood for what they are: man, learning through his own errors. He also learns by his successes, and there are times when he holds his hand, moments of deliberation, periods of creativity. [...]

[...] This presentation shows Seth’s way of weaving one subject through another as he inserts new discussions and information while building on past sessions, and points up his method of using Rob’s and my own daily experiences as a launching pad for his own material.

You may even smile at the child’s utter sense of desolation until he finally connects the motion of his own hand with the destruction of the paper cardboard house that is now gone, and in his eyes, gone beyond repair.

[...] (Emphatic.) He feared it even in his fascination, because he was bound to recognize that it would sweep him and his enemy into insanity or death.

The slight but perceivable feeling of lightness in his hands could have given him notice of this fact. The situation began as he completed his psychological time experiment this morning, and has continued. [...]

[...] That is, these symptoms, noticed when the individual is supposed to be going about his normal physically-oriented day, can then be taken as a sign that the personality does not have all of his energies properly directed for the case at hand.

A combination of circumstances has momentarily disrupted his orientation. [...]

[...] His energy today was turned inward more than it was turned outward.

[...] Ruburt has been afraid, because of his background, to accept the negative aspects of your exterior circumstances. [...] He has always thought that you were used, mainly by your mother, but he was afraid that his statements would be misinterpreted because of his own relationship with his parents.

[...] Now you are both afraid of making a move, but it is much easier for Ruburt to adopt the physical symptoms of immobility, because of his own background. [...]

[...] Some of these are of course his own. [...]

[...] He felt you blamed him for this, and thought it was an undisciplined action on his part, forcing you to make changes you did not want to make.

(“Out on the grass, I saw them: my deceased father and his mother. My father had also been 81 at the time of his death seven years ago. I estimate that his very elderly mother had died in 1926, when I was seven years old [I’m almost 59 now].

I also think Seth’s passages in this (826th) session bear upon his remarks in Session 821, concerning man’s “true identification with nature,” his “place in the context of his physical planet.”

[...] I’m not claiming the dream inspired his material for tonight’s session, or that it was precognitive, in that I’d “picked up” on his subject matter for tonight, and constructed the dream around a portion of it in order to give myself that particular information. [...]

[...] He was more shadowy all through the dream, however, not nearly as substantial and real as his mother was. Nor did I see my own mother — his wife — much more clearly. [...]