“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(10:15.) Of course the personal material did threaten him, with his beliefs, for how could the person responsible for such a weighty lifework have any weaknesses? Certainly the weaknesses said that the material was not true – because when he emphasizes work over creativity he becomes overly conscientious, overly concerned with responsibility, and puts himself in a situation where old fears are indeed triggered.

(10:40.) Rest your fingers.... The most important thing, of course, is that you have set up communication, so that Ruburt’s fears are no longer being inhibited. But those fears must be considered in the light of the material given this evening. Remember, I am speaking of an overemphasis upon the idea of work, not about a normal concern about book publications, or career concerns, those are certainly reasonable. The overemphasis brings up the public image idea, so that Ruburt compares himself personally against some composite image that he imagines other people have of him. First of all, truly creative “work” is timeless. It must appear in time, but its nourishment is not like that of a baker’s loaf, and its “practicality” cannot be reduced to such terms. Ruburt’s lifework so far has been produced—again, so far—because despite such erroneous beliefs he has still allowed himself a creative spontaneity. But in the recent past that spontaneity has had to emerge against those resistances.

[...] Although one can say that her life is over in this reality, her lifework isn’t. Many have written that her books are new each time they read them — that they’re constantly finding new material in them. [...]

[...] The set is one more way to bypass the fragility of a lifework that’s so vulnerable on its brittle dimestore paper in those old binders. [...]

The collection will include our family trees; my father’s journals and photographs; Jane’s and my own grade-school, high-school, college, and family data; our youthful creative efforts in writing and painting; the comic books and other commercial artwork I produced; our early published and unpublished short stories; my original notes for the sessions; session transcripts, whether published or unpublished, “regular,” private, or from ESP class; tapes, including those made in class of Jane speaking for Seth and/or singing in Sumari; our notes, dream records, journals, and manuscripts; our sketches and paintings; Jane’s extensive poetry; our business correspondence; books, contracts, and files; newsletters about the Seth material, published in the United States and abroad (independently of Jane and me); the greater number of letters from readers—in short, a mass of material showing how our separate beginnings flowed together and resulted in the production of a joint lifework.

[...] Our main goal in wanting a home for the Seth material—or for a lifework, really—is one of preservation for future use. [...]

[...] Our joint lifework teetered upon the edge of a physical disaster.

[...] To suit me, I’ve told Jane more than once, the index would have to be practically as long as our lifework itself. [...]

[...] It’s easy to miss, or skip over, the drama in her lifework because it’s so pervasive in all of her creative endeavors. [...]

[...] For if all of a person’s lifework isn’t known, how can its true worth in all of its human complexity ultimately be known? [...]