“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

You are free-lancers, so that you do not deal with a regular, specified financial state, of course. To that degree your livelihood depends upon many elements. You are never certain of your income’s exact amount per month, say, as you would be if you had salaries. The very nature of the work that you are involved in implies uncertainty—and this aside from psychic activity. That is, writing and painting themselves embark you upon uncertain routes. Again, they are not products with known specifications and measurements. The psychic work brings in a further extension, both of a do-it-yourself element, and the creative uncertainty.

(Long pause.) To some extent it means that you try to live your lives in accord with a philosophy not yet completed, methods not yet completely achieved or stated, and this of course involves you with uncertainty. Ruburt for example feels obligated to tell correspondents with health difficulties to see the established authorities, certainly those with serious illnesses. (Long pause.) He suggests that others follow their own intuitional material, while at the same time holding on to the established frameworks upon which most people depend.

All of the material is not in yet. Now in matters of personal health, this is bound to add to the uncertainty: you are trying to live your lives according to new rules that are as yet not completely given, so to that extent it is somewhat natural that Ruburt and you become at times uneasy, wonder at times about the personal material, wonder if it is distorted in those areas, or whatever—and there are no known ways to check such material—the material itself is that original.

(9:17.) It was therefore beneficial when Adams gave the “diagnosis” on Ruburt’s eyes. Now because of these uncertainties—financial, creative, and psychic—other certainties become highly important, as a framework for such seeming unpredictability. You value therefore the certainty of your love for each other. The certainty of a more or less dependable environment, and Ruburt therefore valued, and values, the certainty that existed for many years with the Prentice connection.

The uncertainty principle, or the principle of indeterminacy (advanced by Heisenberg in 1927, and part of the theory of quantum mechanics), sets definite limits to the accuracy possible in measuring both the motion and position of atoms and elementary particles simultaneously; more importantly to my mind, for the purposes of this note, the uncertainty principle maintains that there is an interaction between the observer (with his instruments) and the object or quality being measured.

[...] Especially, though, I sensed relationships between Seth’s idea on the one hand, and both the uncertainty principle of quantum mechanics and the principle of complementarity on the other.

Jane is largely unfamiliar with the details of the uncertainty principle and the principle of complementarity, although the general ideas fascinate her. [...]

[...] In that regard the Sinful-Self concept represents an exaggerated, distorted version of man’s recognition that in certain ways he seems (underlined) less sure of himself than the other species, less at ease, for he has taken upon himself the creative recognition of uncertainties (all intently. [...]

[...] The possible diversity and the vast assortment of the creative ventures possible mean that he had accepted certain measures of uncertainty. [...]

[...] The principle of uncertainty must operate genetically, or you would have been locked into overspecializations as a species.²

[...] See Note 2 for that session, in Chapter 4, wherein I wrote that as a physical principle the uncertainty principle of quantum mechanics “sets definite limits to the accuracy possible in measuring both the motion and position of atoms and elementary particles simultaneously,” and that “there is an interaction between the observer (with his instruments) and the object or quality being measured.”

Here in Dreams Seth uses the uncertainty principle as an analogy (and an excellent one), meaning that as the positions and motions of elementary particles, say, cannot be simultaneously measured precisely, so our genetic qualities and their motions can not always be specifically determined. [...]

[...] He gave me a knowing, half-smiling look while delivering this paragraph, for it was obvious that his material was related to a note I’d shown Jane today—one I’m finishing for Mass Events. In it, I’m trying to deal very simply with both the uncertainty principle and the complementarity of light, among other tenets of physics. [...]

[...] In daily waking life the shakiness still represents leftover uncertainty, and it is more noticeable whenever any strong interruptions occur.

[...] (Long pause.) Ruburt was therefore impressed to the ears with the necessity of getting a book to market, and of the importance of a decent working relationship with an editor, particularly in the uncertainties of even usual free-lancing writing were taken into consideration. [...]

He realized that at another house he might receive more money or more publicity, or possibly another more esthetically-presented package, yet against the other uncertainties and vicissitudes he felt he had an acceptable framework of operation. [...]

I am not suggesting that you do not visit doctors under such situations, because the weight of your negative beliefs about your bodies usually makes it too difficult for you to bear such uncertainties alone. [...]

It upsets Ruburt when you talk of moving, but make no actions to do so, because subconsciously it reminds him of the deep uncertainty and insecurity he felt when he was in the orphanage. [...]

[...] He also told us about Jesus predicting his own death and resurrection several times in Matthew, Mark and Luke, and of the resulting uncertainty and misunderstanding of the disciples. [...]

[...] It is also responsible of course for the frequent alterations in depth perception, and all of that to some extent helps explain his frequent uncertainty about getting on the couch (from the chair) and so forth. [...]

[...] Ruburt’s general uncertainty and fears with the progress of his improvements led him to over-compensate, in muscular terms, causing lacks of balances otherwise unnecessary as the large areas of the neck and jaws began to relax and release.

Your own symptom, the hand, representing uncertainty in your work. [...]

[...] To put it as simply as possible, there is an almost inconceivable moment in which a no-reality occurs, in which a symbol is caught between motion and no motion, a time of uncertainty. [...]

[...] Your fear was definite, and your uncertainty was next. [...]

(Long pause at 9:38.) All of this should be considered along with the natural uncertainties that exist in creative ventures—his desire for inspiration and so forth. [...]

[...] And because you still seem to believe that your universe is unsafe, all of your creativity must give you the weapon—money—to protect you against the inequities and uncertainties of “fate.”

As far as Ruburt is concerned, uncertainty as to whether or not a session will be held, is disturbing. [...]

In all of these instances however there are uncertainties, for probable future events can be foreseen as clearly as events that will more actually occur. [...]

[...] In some recent deleted material he had discussed Jane’s initial uncertainty about signing a contract for the publication of psychic work before it had been produced. [...]