“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(Long pause.) Ruburt has at times gone overboard in a feeling of responsibility toward those who write in need. The Sinful Self, so-called, now, is only too willing to accept such responsibility, for it believes to some extent that such responsibility is a kind of penance for its own shortcomings. (Long pause.) Ruburt is not responsible at all in such areas to hold sessions for others, or to provide that particular kind of individual help.

(Pause.) The feeling of responsibility to help those in desperate need is but one facet, however, for he has felt a responsibility (underlined) to get our material to the people as soon as possible—a responsibility to appear on television or otherwise, to promote our ideas, or to present them to the world—a responsibility that I have not encouraged.

(However, I told her we might have to dispense with answering the mail if no other relief is obtained—anything to cut down on the feeling of responsibility. I did mention one good point, I thought: If she must be involved with ideas of responsibility, then let her think that she has already fulfilled her responsibility to help others, through the work/books she’s already done. No need then to carry it further. She did have feelings of panic to a milder degree at times throughout the day.

[...] I said I wanted more material on responsibility, that I wanted Seth to discuss it so it would help free her. “So I should have the session because it’s my responsibility to do it,” she said. “No,” I answered, “but it would be nice to have it in order to learn that your only responsibility is to get rid of the idea of responsibility. [...]

Ruburt saddled himself with a feeling of responsibility, however. [...] The idea of that kind of responsibility is extremely persuasive, however, in your society. (Long pause.) Because women were somehow regarded as less responsible than males, more easily given to frivolity, Ruburt also tried even harder to insure that he was acting in a responsible way. [...]

[...] “I feel responsible to get more on responsibility, I guess, where this afternoon I thought I’d like him to finish that chapter in his book and get started on another one. Then you came out and said you’d like more on responsibility, so....” [...]

There is an overall response of tissue. The skin itself became less responsive in the past, as it did not ripple, say, with ordinary muscular motion. [...]

[...] It is a natural recovery, a natural development in response to Ruburt’s intense desire now to be responsive.

[...] That is perhaps one of the more important issues—to give the body time to accelerate its responses. [...]

[...] On top of that, however, the whole idea of responsibility has played an overheavy hand, and it is this idea of responsibility—overplayed—that is to a large degree responsible for the idealized image of the public person with which Ruburt has unsuccessfully tried to compete. [...]

The only other times there is any such difficulty also involve responsibility when he concentrates upon his responsibility to hold the sessions—that is, when he focuses upon need, function, or utility as separate from other issues involved. [...]

[...] When you are concentrating upon responsibility, however, then each lapse becomes a lapse from responsible action, and complicates the inner spontaneous rhythm that to a large degree is automatically maintained. [...]

[...] Even then the question arises of public response to trance messages when they contradict official thought—and your questions about how the material might be misused as you explained in God of Jane very well, and—How “responsible” is the conscious mind for trance messages?—How responsible are you for Seth’s messages? [...] The very phrasing of the question and the word, responsible, shows its loaded nature. [...]

At the same time you’ve felt a strong responsibility to perform publicly, to sell books, get your message across, let people see that—yes, the sessions do happen—there is no fraud involved. [...]

For some years, to varying extents, Ruburt and you also to a lesser degree became motivated by ideas of who you should (underlined) be, what you should (underlined) be doing, and what your responsibilities were. [...] To some extent—with some important variances, having to do with quite legitimate ideas of art—such feelings have also been behind many of your own responses to, say, the appearance of the books, as public packages in the world (intently). In Ruburt’s case the idea of responsibility became far more pervasive, resulting in what I have referred to as being almost a superself image—an image composed of his ideas of the kind of person he should (underlined) be in his position. [...]

As he began to understand to some degree that he need not be expected to do tours and so forth, he thought of the radio shows as alternate ways of fulfilling his responsibility. [...] In response, he thought about a gadget that would automatically allow him to speak without holding the phone for so long—this in response to Prentice’s latest project. [...]

The overdone sense of responsibility can erode love and satisfaction. [...] Later his ideas of responsibility told him he should be working—not because he wanted to be working, but because he should be. At the same time those same worldly concerns led him to wonder about the validity of his own “messages”—and how responsible he was to the world for them—so the symptoms also served to give him a greater sense of caution, to temper creativity, for all the reasons stated in the Sinful-Self material. [...]

[...] Ruburt does not yet know what his response to the world will be—whether he wants, for example, television shows and so forth, or not—but he is now determined to respond, to be responsive, and not to simply retreat.

[...] To a large extent, however, you agreed on retreat rather than response. To some extent now, you applied discipline in your work and lives to protect yourself against response to a world that you felt was insane, in direct conflict with artistic pursuits, and in which you felt quite alien —both of you, that is, as a unit.

As Ruburt’s body becomes more responsive, it means also that he is becoming more responsive not just physically but in all areas. [...]

(Pause.) Ruburt has felt too responsible to develop his psychic abilities, to produce another “psychically inspired” work of his own. The sense of responsibility of that kind stifles love, which must be free to form its own creativity in its own fashion. [...] When he becomes overly concerned with ideas of responsibility to use his talent, then the love beneath them is smothered to some extent and denied its flow. [...]

[...] Which raised some intriguing questions about the sense of responsibility she would still feel—indulging that very quality we’re supposed to be so on the lookout for. [...] Somehow, somewhere along the line, some sort of responsible decision to have them would be made....

[...] The idea of the public image coming through the correspondence, and as it was interpreted by Ruburt, further deepened the feeling of responsibility. Certainly “a great psychic teacher” had a responsibility of some weight (ironically humorous), and therefore it seemed imperative to Ruburt that he not make errors, that he live up to the characteristics generally ascribed to such an image. [...]

[...] To a large degree they were largely the result of a lack of understanding of himself, brought on by his old religious beliefs of responsibility, then applied to his own creativity. So your dream sparked the discussion that sparked these later emotional realizations on Ruburt’s part—realizations that should go a long way toward removing such feelings of responsibility, and hence relieving the situation considerably. [...]

[...] “It all basically has to do with this idea of responsibility. [...] If it was up to me, I’d throw the idea of responsibility down the hillside and into the river.”

[...] You began to accumulate some ideas of a different nature, wondering more about your responsibilities to the world as adults, wondering how “useful” art should be in the world. [...]

[...] It seldom occurs to you that the feelings themselves might be primary, and that the particular event was somehow a response to your emotions, rather than the other way around. The all-important matter of your focus is largely responsible for your interpretation of any event.

[...] Thoughts, feelings, or beliefs appear to be secondary, subjective — or somehow not real — and they seem to rise in response to an already established field of physical data.

[...] You are, of course, literally hypnotized into believing that your feelings arise in response to events. [...]

[...] Now as long as you expect a god to take on the responsibilities of a god, it seems inconceivable to look inside. [...]

[...] You have made God responsible for all of your (words lost). [...]

[...] You create your own responsibilities. [...]

[...] Again, he was in no way responsible for his mother’s condition, however, or for her unhappiness, nor is he in those terms responsible for the unhappy situations of other people. [...]

[...] Instead he measured her for new reading glasses, and these alone evoked an enthusiastic response from Jane, since she could see to read much better with the test lenses. [...]

[...] Jim Adams is to see us later this week to check on black frames for Jane’s new glasses, and she can question him on Werner’s responses then. [...]

[...] Here the ideas of responsibility also have some application. He does not have a responsibility to sit constantly at his table, as if creative ideas could only find him there. This does not mean, again, that there is anything wrong with his sitting at his table five hours steadily if he wants to, but that he must loosen his beliefs about work and responsibility. [...]

(Amused:) I often break off book dictation also at certain times to help relieve Ruburt of feelings of responsibility, when he thinks that he should have book sessions because of the responsible work involved. [...]

[...] I am saying that you should change your beliefs concerning the nature of time and creativity—and for Ruburt, time, creativity, responsibility, and work. [...]

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

[...] These ligaments control arm motions, head movement, and have been in those terms largely responsible for holding Ruburt in this position, topwise.

The opening of these capillaries was responsible for the itching feeling in both the ankles, and to a lesser extent in the knees.

[...] They are responsive to those conditions, and react to them in a lively fashion. Contact lenses impede that responsiveness, to a greater extent than glasses. They impede the liveliness of the eyes over a period of time; the eyes’ responsiveness is connected with the ears’ responsiveness, and with balance.

[...] Half our problem, we saw in a discussion before the guests arrived, was that we had no planned response for such situations: we ended up feeling guilty at saying no, and resentful at saying yes. [...]

The entire body, as I mentioned, is becoming more responsive, and the flesh more supple. [...]

[...] They serve as focal points of his interest, of course, and initiate various physical and psychological responses. They elicit responses on your part, of course, as well—responses that further help form your questions or note material. [...]

These often involve responses to session material. Ruburt’s message from “The Sinful Self” is a case in point, for it represents a response both to my material and to a question of your own. [...]

(I hadn’t deliberately planned that those notes would do that, yet in retrospect I was glad they had—especially in the unprecedented response Jane was getting from her Sinful Self. [...]

[...] But you are not taking advantage of it, and in not taking advantage of it, you are not fulfilling your responsibilities. [...] You have been shunting aside the full responsibility of yourself, and ignoring them and you cannot for long ignore these responsibilities. You must face these responsibilities and face them, you shall. [...]

[...] I am not usually so severe but all of you in the room are talented and your responsibility is directly in proportion to your talent and therefore you cannot afford self-pity or complacency or regret.

[...] Followed, these suggestions will help you answer the demands put upon you when you feel the need for certain responses. [...]

[...] That would be a healthy and reasonable response. [...]

[...] To begin a program of reasonable adequate response, to annoying stimuli, is your best insurance against overreaction and repression.

(At last break I had asked that Seth deal with three questions tonight after finishing dictation on his book: 1. The ideas behind Jane’s exaggerated response to events, particularly fears. [...]

[...] Expectation now (underlined) is important here, and the fact that he got into the habit of denying impulses toward motion—by blocking, often, not the impulse so much as the motor response.

After sitting and blocking such impulses or responses, then it is only natural that the blockage pattern is set up. [...]

PM—As these improvements occur—and more are happening; both knees feel more responsive and ... [...] not being responsive to my own life....

Now I see I haven’t been entirely responsive to my own... [...]