“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

The spontaneous love-making is an improvement, and important, and Ruburt’s remarks to you today were pertinent in that regard. If Ruburt tries to do physical things the ability to do them will come. You cannot insist upon the proof ahead of time. You cannot say “I will walk in the driveway gladly when I can walk easily.” You must walk in the driveway, showing your body your intent to do so, and it will respond by walking easily. And it will respond because you do want it to walk.

Now Ruburt does walk more around the house than he did, but he should extend this to your ground. It would help if you walked with him in the beginning, though this is not necessarily a prerequisite. Show the body what you want and it will respond. Then, however, in the meantime forget it.

You also avoided some issues to your advantage, though it may not seem so. Ruburt was to go to the bathroom, period. He did not have to walk straighter or faster—the getting there, or the destination, regardless of the method, was stressed.

Actually, many times he walks to the bathroom faster at night, since he is not worried about how he looks. The larger point is that you believed, each of you, that change in that particular area was possible. Ruburt moves about faster at night because the patterned behavior of the day is not present.

[...] Then thought, nearly crying: I cut down desire—like loving to shop, and am afraid now to mix with people—then said Rob would help me there—in decent walking shape surely my attitude would be entirely different—so different it’s hard for me to imagine then to the importance that I make distinctions between the natural world; and the social or cultural one. I must be free to walk in the natural world, to see its wonders. Obviously now I don’t feel free to walk outside or down our road—surely those feelings will fade with decent walking? [...]

All of this changed my walking tonight; right foot trying to walk properly, but not synchronized... [...]

1. Right foot breaking loose inside; can feel bones bottom of foot when walking; put weight on it in a new way; and it moves with the knee. [...]

[...] Her walking has been impaired also by the extreme sensitivity of her upper body. Her stress relieved itself to some degree today as the hours passed, although she was still quite uncomfortable, still unable to walk as much as she had been doing recently. [...]

(I also wondered when Jane would show some improvement in walking for there’s no doubt about it. She’s walking considerably less these days than ever before.

[...] Ruburt in particular, and you also, must understand that he can indeed recover normally, that he can indeed walk normally again—and moreover that normal walking is the body’s natural tendency—his body’s as well as anyone else’s.

[...] Definitely encourage his walking as you have planned to together. The disorientation leading to lesser walking for a while was simply the body’s way of protecting itself during periods of initial imbalances. [...]

[...] Ruburt felt he could not go out again until he could do so without embarrassing himself or you, and until he walked normally. If he walked all-right-enough in the house, however, then the time would come for another dentist visit or whatever. And he would have to go—so he would not walk that well in the house either—hence the table.

(1. Why did Jane have to start using the typing table as an aid in walking, approximately a year ago from last June, when before that she could get around without it? [...] To us this was a regression from using the table, let alone from walking without any aid. [...]

[...] You must both be on guard against comparing his walking with normal walking.

[...] He actually concentrated upon Seven, typed it creatively, walked several times a day, began to help with meals and with the house, and comparatively speaking you both had a fairly good week. [...]

[...] Almost impossible to describe but it’s as if a million tiny things in my head were just off enough, so that the rest of the body didn’t work right, walk right; as if the body wasn’t synchronized and as if this afternoon it was fitting together again correctly; all the parts lining up or something. My vision would change minute by minute; I walked some faster but felt so light on my feet that I called Rob... Was going to walk around but felt I should wait...

11–Noon: Copied James, then lunch—walked out to porch. [...]

(Through the day Jane herself received periodic insights from Seth about the condition, mostly having to do with her fears that she wasn’t walking enough, and not trusting the body to do its own thing in the recovery process. The gist of the impressions seemed to be that she ought to ease off walking while the body recovered —a very strange state of affairs, it seems to me, and a situation that has bothered me often before: Why should the body give up certain functions if it’s in the process of recovering? [...] Yet Jane said the material from Seth blamed her panic-stricken attempts to see if she was walking enough each day.

Shortly after Ruburt began using the chair, for example, he decided that he would try to walk to the end of the living room. [...] He felt a sense of accomplishment, and some delight with himself when he walked to the end of the room and back without needing the chair. Spontaneously he began wanting to walk more, and again was quite pleased when he made the circle for the first time.

The next two days his hips were going through considerable changes and it hurt him, so he did not walk nearly as much, and you both became frightened—Ruburt more than you. Following this he instantly decided that he must walk considerably more—at least 3 or 4 times around the circle—and at the last count, once an hour whether or not he felt like it, and particularly when he did not feel like it.

Now walking is obviously good for him, and I have encouraged it. [...] There are times, according to the changes occurring, when naturally it would not walk, say, for a good part of the day, and often left alone, it might suddenly want to exercise new positions. [...]

[...] I asked Jane if she had given up using the typing table as a help in walking, and if so, why? [...] I said I needed reinforcement myself over my fears about her condition, and she answered that she might have to initiate a program of walking with the table, soon, if she didn’t spontaneously start doing more walking.

[...] Ruburt has exercised often because separate portions of the body were ready for certain motions, while the overall balance for walking, for example, was not present, since various areas of the body were changing at different rates. There will be periods when he feels like walking often, and shortly, and they well may be followed by periods when separate portions of the body may want to be exercised, say, alone.

[...] 2. What about her lack of activity walking?

[...] She’s written her own account of the event, so I’ll just note here that at the end of the visit, she spontaneously felt like standing up and walking normally—an impulse that she hasn’t been aware of for a number of years, but is so normal to most people.)

[...] to car—(didn’t walk otherwise—except the usual.)

Walk around house twice.

I didn’t hold on stuff quite as much & walked a trifle easier.

(10:29.) He is beginning to release the desire to walk normally, rather just to ask for improvements—for before, he was not sure where he wanted those improvements to lead. [...] The desire to walk, released and expressed, again automatically triggers in Framework 2 all of the necessary conditions. [...]

[...] This week she has experienced many more small but important physical improvements throughout her body, all adding up to a considerable change in her physical condition as far as sitting, walking, etc. [...]

[...] For the time of his walk that space is empty. [...]

[...] Stories of walking on water give you the same kind of proposition, where you have to all effects and purposes dry water, or solid water.

The walking however is also important. [...] The walking will become easier, and as it does he can then walk further. For now let him continue as he has, but daily, walking to the corner when he feels the impetus.

[...] Tell him that in that order of events he can walk so well at this point, now, that anyone would have to look twice to discover that he was not walking perfectly. [...]

He is more embarrassed now by his walking because of a healthy impatience that is understandable, but this must be kept under control so that it does not hamper him. [...] He used the last episode (on the back stairs) to trigger an important development in walking up the stairs, but he is not to imagine that everyone else is perfect because they look all right; then he deals with absolutes, becomes frightened, and exaggerates his condition, thinking in physical terms alone and forgetting those inner abilities of his, of creativity, that are indeed so important.

[...] Your point is vital—that he separate the belief from himself, and recognize it as a belief: that he cannot walk properly (at break). [...]

For now only, let him put aside images of himself walking. Instead, have him imagine comments by others, such as you or a doctor or a friend, expressing their delight and amazement because Ruburt is walking (softly). [...]

After he has done these exercises, then he can begin again seeing his body walking or sitting, or whatever. [...] You breathe whether or not you understand how breathing happens—so remind Ruburt that he must get to the point where he realizes that walking is as easy as writing a book, or thinking a thought, or having a session. [...]

(“Has he been inhibiting his recovery toward walking by worrying about it?”)

[...] He is not to walk normally because he should, any more than he should write “because he should.” He is a writing kind of being, and he is a walking kind of being.

[...] As he said once, he does not walk on his arms, so the improvement in the legs takes place in such a way that balance can be maintained. [...]

Physically Ruburt is making great strides, but do not become impatient, again, with the walking, for certain improvements cannot show physically until a certain overall proficiency is reached. [...]

Not walking properly was an inappropriate defense mechanism no longer needed, a reaction in response to a program that made him feel unsafe.

(I had another question for Seth: What should Jane do about her walking on days when she doesn’t feel like doing so—as today? I’d told her to forget it, to trust that her body would know when it wanted to walk. She’s concerned, however, lest she find herself giving up on walking, at least to a greater degree than she now walks.)

[...] His purpose and his psychological progress have led him to further activations, and as I have said several times, this means that sometimes he will feel like walking, and will do so with a relative amount of balance, and on other occasions, perhaps 20 minutes earlier or later, his walking might be uncomfortable and “worse” in performance.

[...] Let him give himself the opportunity, as he has been, to walk twice a day, as far as he wants, or as briefly. [...] Now he tries to walk when you are in the kitchen so as not to bother you, but there will be times when he will want to, and can simply call.

[...] The left knee has also loosened, and the entire back of the left leg, the altered position of the right leg however means that the left leg is also uncomfortable when he walks. [...]

[...] The walking will be greatly improved as his inner alterations make themselves more obviously known, and as the muscles learn to work together again in their new framework. [...] He will naturally feel like walking as the muscles themselves demand to be used when they are ready.

[...] The walking is easier than it was. [...]

[...] Ruburt walked up a few stairs yesterday and today without using a banister. [...]

[...] He is however somewhat improved walking, but you have not noticed it. [...]

[...] Understand that per se, basically, Ruburt has nothing against walking. Not walking well in the past served certain purposes. [...]

[...] Several times he felt like walking, and he walked for brief periods three or four times. [...]

(9:57.) That kind of activity would automatically and naturally stimulate him to further walking. He gets upset and irritated with the chair, because now he is getting around the house more, and realizes that walking would be the natural way to do so—where before he was content to be in one place.

[...] You are dealing with—in a way, now—two separate sets of “facts,” and each work, so when you insist upon emphasizing the facts of Framework 1, then there is apt to be soreness as muscles readjust, uncomfortable periods, and rules that must be followed, like walking every hour, or walking at least once a day or face feelings of hopelessness, or whatever.

Ruburt constantly tells himself he cannot walk properly. It is reasonable for him to say that now he is not walking properly. The ability to walk properly is his, however. He can walk properly. [...]

[...] You said “But he was walking,” meaning that Ruburt was not. Ruburt is walking—as poorly as our hypothetical writer is writing. His walking is impaired, but the ability is there. [...]

[...] Jane was so relaxed that she could hardly walk. [...]

[...] Years ago, when walking down the street with Ruburt, he exuberantly ahead of you, you often said “Slow down.” [...]

[...] He will, as he walks around the house, begin to feel the natural inclination to walk further. [...]

[...] A walk, simply about the house outdoors, each day. [...]

Ruburt’s walking will improve, but the rapidity of the improvement is dependent upon the suggestions given. [...]

[...] He is able to walk in the meantime. The constant activity however prepares the body for normal walking, and exercises necessary portions, then stretches them further, so that while Ruburt is not walking more noticeably upright, he is indeed taller, particularly when standing; different portions are exercised when he is sitting or standing, so that each change can be counted upon for the next alteration in posture.

The man not only walks, but he walks on fire—to most, a seeming impossibility. [...]

[...] He walks on coals as automatically as Ruburt writes, or speaks for me. [...]

[...] His brother did not know that the urban renewal gentleman was in that particular restaurant where the two might meet, and until the meeting did occur nothing showed in Framework 1, though much was occurring in Framework 2. The creative potential knows exactly what changes must occur in Ruburt’s body so that he can walk normally. [...]

Beside at least walking around the house, Ruburt is to do five minutes of exercise a day, of his choice; but devote it to the idea of expressing freedom for his body—not absolute freedom, but to experience that feeling. [...]

[...] He feared for a while, again, that it was not possible for him to walk properly or move normally. [...]

[...] The actual physical suggestions I am giving—the walk and exercises—are necessary reinforcements. [...]

[...] As he goes to sleep this evening, have him try imagining a scene in springtime, with him walking briskly or running. When he walks now on the streets, he should keep the mental image just given in his mind, picturing the whole flexible and fleet image, and the inner self will take steps to see that the suitable adjustments are made. [...]

[...] He should make a definite determined effort to walk home, for his confidence will grow with the success, you see.

When he discovers he can walk home, this difficulty will vanish. [...]

He should take frequent walks to build up his confidence, and to break up the patterns further.