“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

When you do not approve of yourselves, then you do not approve of your own power, and so you pretend that you have none. Often the word “power” has bad implications: power corrupts, for example. Often you both pretend that you have no power in the society, and this is not the case.

(“Home, sex, power, you and the driveway, hay fever, the impulsive selves that we were talking about earlier tonight”—these are all words dictated to me by Jane abruptly as we sat waiting for the session to begin. [...]

[...] At the same time, both of you to some extent feared what you thought of as the power of sex. [...]

[...] To some extent or another, however, the child in you remembers a certain sense of mastery only half realized, of power nearly grasped, then seemingly lost forever — and a dimension of existence in which dreams quite literally came true. [...]

[...] He is therefore a victim, and his sense of personal power is eroded.

[...] Or he may think that he was simply lucky — but he does not grant himself to have any real power in such an affair. [...]

In that literally power-packed few hours, he also knew that the physical senses did not so much perceive concrete phenomena, but actually had a hand in the creation of events that were then perceived as actual.

[...] But whatever beliefs you accept, for whatever reasons, your point of power is in the present.

(9:54.) Natural disasters possess the great rousing energy of powers unleashed, of nature escaping man’s discipline, and by their very characteristics also remind man of his own psyche; for in their way such profound events always involve creativity being born, rising even from the bowels of the earth, reshaping the land and the lives of men.

Individual reactions follow this innate knowledge, for while man fears the unleashed power of nature and tries to protect himself from it, he revels in it and identifies with it at the same time. [...]

[...] Under such conditions men who feel a part of nothing, of no structure or family or country, can understand in a flash their comradeship with the earth, their place upon it and its energy; through suddenly recognizing that relationship they feel their own power for action.

[...] These powers to project realities of this sort, or pseudorealities of this sort, are meant to be suspended for all intents and purposes during the earth plane. [...] Naturally the subconscious is always linked with the entity, and merely attempts in these cases to imitate the powers of the entity itself. And it does have these powers, although they are usually latent.

It is obvious, however, that all these powers of the entity cannot be vested in its various personalities. [...]

The powers of the seeds are to remain latent, but many times they bear fruit. [...]

One of the most rare and extraordinary developments that can occur in schizophrenic behavior is the construction of a seeming superbeing of remarkable power — one who is able to convince other people of his divinity.

Most such instances historically have involved males, who claim to have the powers of clairvoyance, prophecy, and omnipotence. [...]

If the major religions have been touched, then there have also been numberless smaller cults and sects throughout history into the present that bear that same stamp of great psychological power and energy, coupled with an inborn leaning toward self destruction and vengeance.

[...] The Ottoman Empire ended up stripped of its power then on purpose, where the deceiving nature of power was given to Christendom, and in this our friend saved his people from a probable future in which the unsavory aspects of power predominated for them.

He was at one time possessed of a great desire for power, and led, in those terms now, many astray. [...]

[...] He was a great leader, driven by the desire for power, and by a sense of purpose, in the Ottoman Empire. [...]

He determined then to keep this power to sway people in line, until, if ever, he was sure of his cause. [...]

[...] You both decided to use power indirectly, however, to affect your civilization through thought rather than through combat. [...] At times, however, you refused to lead in this life when circumstances might have warranted a more active role at particular times, because in that previous life you would not buck Ruburt, and because you also were more cautious this time about the use of personal power.

[...] You set up a system of balances so that you would think before using your power. [...] In that joint venture it made little difference which of you accepted the role that would in one way or another prevent the both of you from misusing power, for the one role would be passive while the other was active.

Ruburt was used to the unbridled use of power, and at least among the sect his word was law. [...]

[...] He also played down physical abilities, for toward the end of that life he became hungry for knowledge, and wondered at his own unbridled use of power.

[...] It feels an ever-thrusting power, rushing up from beneath, that erupts in always-changing form. [...] The volcano learns a new lesson: It can direct its power in whatever way it chooses, shooting upward or lying quietly. [...]

[...] Yet in the peace, what power! [...] Great changes appear, and showers of power — quick bursts of rain, explosive inundations of energy.

She identified with you to some extent, and to some unrecognized degree was “only masculine, now,” in her understanding of power. I hope you will recognize what I mean: but in the light of her understanding at the time, children were to be used as power, as a man might use weapons.⁷

[...] Perhaps then you will understand the great majesty and explosive power of my exotic world.”

[...] At the same time, Iran’s mullahs want a continuing war with Iraq to help consolidate their total power; they do not want victorious, high-ranking military leaders back home from the front to challenge their undisputed power (as internal resistance groups like the Mujahedin-e Khalq are doing). [...] I wrote in Note 3 for Session 936, in Chapter 11, that despite their egoistic orientations, ultimately Iranians bow to the ancient power of their religion, including the demands of martyrdom. [...]

I last discussed the cleanup at Three Mile Island, and nuclear power challenges in general, including safety and costs, in the opening notes for the 936th session, with its Note 2. That was almost three months ago, in November 1981; see Chapter 11. Lesser accidents, or “events,” as they are called within the nuclear-power industry, have continued to happen within the context of that primary accident at TMI—the loss of coolant for the nuclear reactor of Unit No. [...]

In Note 2 for the 936th session, I also described how the NRC had asked the operators of certain nuclear power plants to check for cracks in the vessel walls of their pressurized-water reactors, which are the kind installed at TMI. [...] In February, again, company officials revealed the discovery of extensive corrosion in the bundles of small-diameter tubes in the two steam generators powered by Unit No. [...]

[...] (Very long pause.) The forest is the world of your imagination, surely, the imagination of your minds, and yet given force and power by the innate creativity that rises up from an inner world that represents much more truly the origins of man and beast. [...]

[...] They are also in other terms entities, fragments of All That Is, if you prefer—divine fragments of power and majesty, containing (pause) all of the powers of consciousness as you think of it, concentrations without substance in your terms.

Following the accident at TMI, and aside from the great fears “generated” by it, a host of problems began accumulating for the nuclear power industry—involving everything from poor plant design (as Seth commented in the 914th session for Chapter 7 of Dreams), to enormous cost overruns and the fear of default on bond issues, shoddy construction and quality control, human and mechanical error, the disposal of radioactive waste, conflicts with antinuclear and environmental groups, arguments over evacuation plans at various nuclear-plant sites, a greatly expanded list of steps (numbering in the thousands) that the NRC is compiling for utilities to take in order to increase the safety of their plants, and even governmental concern over the possible manipulation and falsification of plant safety records. [...] Unheard of, in view of all of those predictions that we must continue to build nuclear power generating plants to meet projected demands!

[...] 2] at the Three Mile Island nuclear power generating plant in southeastern Pennsylvania. [...]

[...] There’s talk that the nuclear power industry will fail in our country, but Jane and I don’t think it will. [...]

[...] They further erode the power of the individual, so that he is frightened to leave. The group has power. The individual has none, except that the power of the group is vested in its leader. [...]

The severity of the “event” at Three Mile Island has spurred antinuclear protesters into action in many areas of the country; and the proliferating state, federal, and industry investigations into the accident promise to generate a collective fallout of a kind that’s bound to have far more impact on the nuclear power industry, and society, than anything that’s come from the crippled plant itself so far. Jane and I believe that eventually this worst accident yet will be seen as a most fortunate occurrence, emphasizing — indeed, as it already has — the great dangers inherent in the growing worldwide emphasis upon nuclear power at this time. [...]

Those people look to cults of various kinds, where decisions are made for them, where they are relieved of the burden of an individuality that has been robbed of its sense of power by conflicting beliefs. [...]

Nuclear power stands for power, plain and simple. [...] It stands in man’s dreams as belonging to God: the power of the universe (intently). Man has always considered himself, in your terms, as set apart from nature, so he must feel set apart from nature’s power—and there must be a great division in his dreams between the two. [...]

[...] The entire idea of nuclear power was first a dream—an act of the imagination on the part of private individuals—and then through fiction and the arts a dream on the part of many people. [...]

Fundamentalists think of nuclear power as a force that God might use, say, to destroy the world. [...]

Some of the scientists equate nuclear power with man’s great curiosity, and feel that they wrest this great energy from nature because they are “smarter than” nature is—smarter than nature, smarter than their fellow men—so they read those events in their own way. [...]

(Early last Wednesday an ominous development began unfolding at Three Mile Island, the nuclear-power-plant located on an island in the Susquehanna River below Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. [...] [The entire plant is idle, since unit 1 had already been shut down for refueling.] By now the situation is much more serious, however: There’s a chance of a catastrophic “meltdown” of the uranium fuel rods in the damaged reactor’s core—the worst possible accident that can occur in such circumstances, short of an explosion, and a kind that proponents of nuclear power have long maintained “almost certainly cannot happen.” [...]

[...] “Strange,” I mused to Jane, “that of all the nuclear power plants in the world, we end up living that close to the one that goes wrong….”

The volume of the voice is the result of a buildup of power, or energy. [...] At a particular point the power becomes usable in other terms. [...]

(And at this time Jane’s voice was at its best—very loud and strong and powerful. [...]

(Long pause.) Epilepsy is a disease often experienced also by people who have strongly conflicting beliefs about the use of power or energy, coupled with a sometimes extraordinary amount of mental and physical energy that demands it be used.

[...] Such people are so frightened of the nature of personal power and energy that they short-circuit their nervous systems, blocking the ability for any purposeful action, at least momentarily.

This particular group of people are also usually possessed by an extraordinary anger: they are furious at themselves for not being able to showcase their own strength and power — but “forced” instead into a kind of behavior that appears sometimes frightening and humiliating.

In its natural state, hatred has a powerful rousing characteristic that initiates change and action. [...]

[...] They feel so powerless that this adds to their difficulties — so they try to liberate themselves by showing great power in terms of violence. [...]

[...] It is a sense of powerlessness that also causes nations to initiate wars. This has little to do with their “actual” world situation or with the power that others might assign to them, but to an overall sense of powerlessness — even, sometimes, regardless of world dominance.

[...] They were given the means to power in their own eyes. [...]

(10:15.) The job of trying to make the world better seems impossible, for it appears that you have no power, and any small private beneficial actions that you can (underlined) take seem so puny in contrast to this generalized ideal that you dismiss them sardonically, and so you do not try to use your power constructively. [...]

[...] They point toward definite avenues of expression, avenues that will provide the individual with a sense of actualization, natural power, and that will automatically provide feedback, so that the person knows he is impressing his environment for the better.

[...] You are left with vague idealized feelings of wanting to change the world for the better, for example — but you are denied the personal power of your own impulses that would otherwise help direct that idealism by developing your personal abilities. [...]

[...] You simply bottled it up out of fear of your own ability and of the power that resides within you. [...]

[...] That the power beneath the voice is but a shadow of the vitality that is within each of you. [...]

After the 9th power form shatters, but at the 12th power form is re-established under a new constant. [...]

The multiplicity of the finite, under the establishment of form, causes the renunciation of values, flying under the sign of all before the 9th power.

[...] Its establishment can be found when you understand the hidden minus power that you have not uncovered.

[...] Be brave and move your 6. This has reference again to the 9th power.

When you are taught not to trust your impulses you begin to lose your powers of decision, and to whatever extent involved in the circumstances, you begin to lose your sense of power because you are afraid to act.

[...] Luckily, the child usually walks before it is old enough to be taught that impulses are wrong, and luckily the child’s natural impulses toward exploration, growth, fulfillment, action and power are strong enough to give it the necessary springboard before your belief systems begin to erode its confidence. [...]