April 29, 1975

[DELETED SESSION]

[APRIL 29, 1975 9:28 PM TUESDAY]

(We sat for the usual Monday session last night, but I was so tired that it never developed.)

(Tonight we had several points we thought Seth might cover:)

[1. Seth's letter for correspondents.]

[2. Material on Jane's symptoms.]

[3. Material on organizations involving us, Seth, etc.]

(A fourth category---publishing/advertising---developed shortly before the session began. I happened to discover a full-page ad of Prentice-Hall's in the) New York Times [book section for April 27, 1975. Four books were featured, but none of Jane's. I showed it to her, and it got as negative a reaction from her as it did me. Such instances always make me angry, almost at once.]

("Don't start raving," she said. "I don't want to get mad before the session.")

("I won't," I said. "There's nothing to say. I'm in favor of taking drastic action to get action from Prentice-Hall re ads), but I know you're not."]

("Just the same," she said, scanning the page, "this is a little too much....")

Good evening.

(Good evening, Seth.)

Now: with your permission, and Ruburt's, I have a few comments about the ublishing business.

First of all, you do not realize or appreciate our joint accomplishment to date in that regard. You have induced a reputable, well-known ublishing firm to accept highly unconventional material. It was not delegated, if you will forgive me, to Parker's "crackpot" catchall. Even in the beginning, in that regard, the work was appreciated. A difference was seen between it, and the catchall, do-it-yourself manuals.

It falls, however, in a category of its own. One for which no reputable publishing house has any automatic place.

Castaneda's books, for all their seeming unconventionality, had a niche to fall into, for here was the quite conventional scholar exploring a culture, even of the mind; not his own---but safely, within an academic framework to which he then returned, and to which academic readers could identify. Castaneda had his society's credentials ahead of time. That society could then accept his journeys, and the individuals could allow themselves to follow his adventures, and forgive him for his cultural transgression because he brought home goodies.

(Pause at 9:37.) Give us a moment.... The point, however, was always made that Don Juan's inner culture was alien---natural perhaps to Don Juan, but not to Castaneda or to the reader.

Castaneda could report. Other so-called psychic books of current nature are reported also, but usually by someone even further removed from the original experiences. A writer, free-lance, will do the life story of so-and-so, because the "psychic" himself is considered too erratic, too out of it, and too untrustworthy to honestly record his own experience.

Most of them do not have the writing ability to do so. But beyond that the feeling is that one who has such experiences is by temperament unreliable. The story must then be authenticated by someone else. There are publishing niches for such books.

Both varieties of books allow the reader a built-in distance that rovides a cushion against cultural shock: the story is, after all, secondhand. Castaneda told his own story, but it was still secondhand, because his own opaqueness added the necessary distance that rotected the reader.

Our books, and I am including Ruburt's, fall into no such neat category---presenting publishers with problems. In the beginning, articularly, and for that matter now, Ruburt has no accepted credentials. He is not a doctor of anything, for there is no one alive who could give him a degree in his particular line of research, or in yours.

Tam instantly saw the quality in our work, and Ruburt's. In the beginning only his enthusiasm sold our first book. Prentice would have taken it had you allowed [another writer] to report the experience. Tam's boss did go along with him, however. It was Tam who saw in Ruburt's original manuscript the importance of his work, and the way in which Ruburt was trying to hide it by playing down his relationship with me.

(Pause at 9:49.) It would have been highly impractical, then , to expect Prentice to advertise the book. Times are changing. There is a so-called occult climate, yet we do not fall recisely into that category for them, the publishers, either; and Ruburt refuses to take advantage of "the trappings." At least then they could say they had an occult personality who played the new part. It might be farce, from the publisher's viewpoint, but they could sell it, and they would know how to advertise it.

Publishers deal with the culture that you know, with people who follow it. Prentice does not understand why the books have sold. Castaneda does not become Don Juan. He holds himself clearly apart from the reality he explores. If our material was not excellent it might have found its way to some spooky underground publisher.

An ordinary, reputable publisher does not know what to do with a Jane Roberts who produces a Seth of another reality---books on her own also, and books moreover of quality.

No other publishing house would have treated you any better to this oint. They would have tried, most of them, to have turned Ruburt into a erforming circus. Advertising men cannot handle that kind of copy. You would have been put through experiences most difficult to cope with, that would have so disrupted your peace of mind that the work might well have not progressed to this stage.

Fiction, again, puts a lovely distance between the reader and experience. Publishers can handle it. But Ruburt is saying "This experience of mine means that this other kind of mental and spiritual world-view is natural---not alien, not a part of another culture."

He hides behind no other credentials, or social system, or dogma. It is important that our books make their way, and as unhampered as possible by the commercial distortions that would automatically be applied by men interested in advertising a product.

Now Tam can write some good ads. (Long pause.) There will be some good advertisements. In the meantime, Prentice has given a framework---a reputable one---in which the books could find their growth and audience.

Bantam is helping---but no one there would have had the guts to make any initial investment. What I have said however applies now to Bantam, as it did to Prentice in the beginning. You give them no handle of a recognizable nature in your culture, upon which their kind of advertisement can be written.

You are lucky that Bantam was unable to use the exorcist type of ublicity---and that is their idea at this point of how to handle such unconventional material. Such publicity could be devastating.

Grace's (Bechtold) visit was highly important from that viewpoint. If you were, or if Ruburt was, a conventional Philip Roth, a novelist, safely within that framework, or if he were willing to set himself up as an "occult" mistress of the spirit, then you would have ublicity galore.

(Pause at 10:11.) You would not necessarily want to handle those results. You would not want to handle the phone calls, the interviews, [so do not blame Prentice for not giving you what you do not want] . If that was what you really wanted, you would have had it yesterday.

You are correct (to me) : Prentice does follow your beliefs.

But these are not as negative as you often suppose. They have not taken advantage of you as a "highly fired" firm might, and they have actually tried to protect your privacy.

They knew they had something , but they had no idea of what it was---or how to handle it. In the beginning they did expect that you might pressure them ---perhaps you were opportunists.

They were highly impressed because you [did not] press for ublicity. You were not publicity seekers, then. They have no idea of how many books they should have for advance printings---first printings.

They have given you much more freedom than [any other]

reputable, now, publisher would have. The books are forming their own secure basis, and they will do far better. In the meantime you have rogressed.

(10:20.) Rest your fingers.... Do you understand me?

("Yes. I think the material is very good.")

(Jane, as Seth, paused. As I commented after the session, it seems that we'll have to pull in our horns as far as our feelings about advertising and Prentice are concerned; it may be a relief to do just that. But I think that Seth's material here is the best we could possibly come across on our publisher, Castaneda, etc., and I'm sure that Jane will agree.)

[(Resume at 10:22.)

Dear correspondent:

Ruburt has read your letter. So has Joseph. I am aware of its contents.

We have no organization yet of an exterior kind, so there are no secretaries to take dictation, no middlemen---or---women to write flowery, prepackaged replies.

Ruburt and Joseph, or Jane and Rob if you prefer, are private people.

They also have a kind of one-to-one relationship with the universe. This articular quality means that they resist forming any kind of organization, even though such an organization might help in answering the mail. I am, therefore, dictating this letter, while it will be sent to many of you, it is written to each of you, and I only regret that I cannot go into your aspirations, challenges and problems on a more individual basis.

Some of you have written in joy, some in sorrow. Some of you have written to tell of answers you have found, and some of you have written requesting answers. In any case, energy is being sent out to you with this letter.

That energy will arouse in you your own abilities. It will lead you to insights and solutions that can be yours alone. It will put you in touch with the ground of your being---from which, eventually, all exultation and answers spring. My purpose is not to solve your problems for you, but to put you in touch with your own power.

My purpose is not to come between you and your own freedom by giving you "answers," even to the most tragic of problems. My purpose is to reinforce your own strength, for ultimately the magic of your being is well-equipped (?) to help you find fulfillment, understanding, exuberance, and peace.

Your problems are caused by your own doubts. These doubts arise because you have been out of touch with the validity of your own existence. Let me here reinforce that validity. Let me reinforce faith in your innate ability to find joyful acquiescence, and to rise above any problems that you have.

If I presume to solve problems for you, then I deny you your own power, and further reinforce any feelings of powerlessness that you have. I know that you can grow tired, however, and that sometimes a gift of energy can be quite a boost; so, again, with this letter I send my joyful recognition of your existence---and energy that you can use to reinforce your own vitality and strength.

All mail does not come from the postman, so each of you should have your own kind of inner response from me to whatever letter you have sent by mail. I serve in many ways as a speaker for your own psyche, however, so the inner message will be from your own greater being to yourself, and at that multidimensional level of reality I salute you.

Seth.

(Thank you.)

Take your break.

(10:43---11:02.)

Now. I will give you information on organizations as they are related to you. For now, however, simply stay clear of them, as you are.

I would rather make some remarks about Ruburt, his condition, and about his beliefs and frameworks.

Frank (Longwell) is far more open-minded than most chiropractors or doctors, and he has learned much. I would like to correct a few misconceptions, however, pertinent not just here but generally.

Give us a moment.... Ruburt's muscles know their own abilities.

They do not need to be convinced, basically. They know they can move easily and quickly. They are not weak, though they may appear so. It is Ruburt who must be convinced that his muscles can move correctly. When Frank moves Ruburt's arms thus-and-so (with gestures) , the beneficial results occur because Ruburt recognizes that his arms can move. It is no surprise to the joints and muscles involved.

Frank, however, takes it for granted that there must be some resistance on the part of the body, that it will be reluctant, and this is not the case.

The body is willing, itself, to move---and anxious to do so. Your beliefs however tell you that reluctance is involved, and such a condition will result according to beliefs. By physically manipulating the body however in a given framework, Frank shows Ruburt that the body can move better. The stages involved are largely artificial. Whatever mechanisms or methods are used in any illness, they are efficient and productive only to the extent that they convince the atient of his or her power to overcome the condition.

You need not have stiff muscles if you sit for a long period---but you will indeed if you believe that you will. The body literally changes instantaneously, but if, you believe that time must be involved to whatever degree, then, it will of course happen that way. The muscles will need time to readjust.

(11:15.) The healer's purpose and function, however he or she operates, is to convince the patient that healing is not only possible but inevitable. Few doctors, chiropractors, or healers of any kind can effectively feel or portray such faith. Faith is required because healer and patient alike are directly encountering a set of circumstances evident to the senses. The healer is usually equipped with his or her own beliefs, to which the patient is highly suggestible, because this is the area of conflict.

The healthy man or woman, in excellent condition, may be quite as blind in other areas, but the healer and the patient are united in a strange fashion by their belief in the existence of dis-ease as far as personal experience is concerned. The doctor is usually as obsessed with dis-ease as his patient, though from a different viewpoint.

The man or woman who seems obsessively concerned with health, is also however obsessed with disease---and afraid of falling into it, as the conventional saint might be of the devil.

Now Ruburt is moving more since you moved here, and to a greater degree than either of you realize. The original reasons behind the condition have largely been taken care of, but he is left with hysical beliefs about his body. Habits have an important function in your lives. They enable you to act in a certain fashion that you consider necessary, without involving you in constant decisions. At one time Ruburt thought he should restrain himself. He learned to do this habitually. The reasons for such behavior are now leaving him. He set up a bodily behavior pattern, however, and it had to be based on body beliefs.

In the old frame of reference he had to convince himself that his body could not move well, or fast. Then he did not need to deal with [what he thought of as] distracting elements---to leave his desk.

Also, he could not travel too far inward without being drawn back to the body's discomfort. This gave him a feeling of safety. He found, in time, that the symptoms however were far more limiting than he had counted upon, and as his experience grew he found he needed less so-called "safeguards."

Then however he was faced with habitual behavior. It took time from daily life to break the pattern even when he understood it, so often he went along on the one hand, while making half-assed efforts to free himself on the other.

(11:31.) The feeling of hopelessness resulted when he felt that perhaps he could not alter the pattern, that he had made his bed, as his mother used to say, and he must lie in it. A quite literal remark that was when his mother made it, for that is what she did.

So it seems, even to you at times, easier to go along with the old attern than to break it. You can shop faster alone than with Ruburt, so that "chores" take less time. It is easier for you to comb Ruburt's hair in the back. It looks better, and you are helping him. It would help him more if you actively and lovingly encouraged him to comb his own hair, and told him that he could do it better each time.

It is good of you to make the bed, and at this state at least the condition of his arms makes it difficult. But when you take over the responsibility for washing his clothes you are denying him acts that he did do---and can do, and adding to a sense of powerlessness in that regard. Help him wring out his slacks, for example, when he has trouble doing so, but do not automatically wash his things for him.

To Ruburt now: he began to know this, and some results have shown: but as you realize, his body can perform better. As he understands this, it will do so. There is nothing basically wrong with the muscles or the joints. They will respond to this understanding. They know they can move.

Now. Some of this is related to organizations, and served as a method of rotection. Ruburt wondered how far he should go in publicizing his work. Ads would mean requests to speak. He discovered that he was a good speaker. He could go out into the world, but he didn't want to. Your remarks about his telephone behavior often reinforce his feelings that he could not say "no" without the symptoms to back him up.

It is important then that you take a firm stand, both of you, in that regard. Your own fear, Joseph, sometimes---but not always---pushes you to exaggerate what you think of as Ruburt's suggestibility on the phone.

For a while, simply to aid in Ruburt's recovery, and for present operational procedure, I suggest that you have the final word---that if you feel a firm "no" is not given, you give it.

Ruburt's body can move normally now. This does not mean that he need feel like an idiot, but that he set up a body habit for reasons that he once considered valid, and that to change it requires some conscious effort. It requires patience, and [loving understanding] on his part, and on yours.

The new environment and the coming spring will help. I would like to have a session on Thursday, to give you more specific suggestions that will be of benefit. After a few sessions devoted to practical concerns we will let you rest so that you will not have current sessions plus the book to do.

I will make suggestions pertaining to class, but suggestions only. You will have no money problems. Some kind of relaxed, intimate class framework will be beneficial, but a far smaller class. I have something in mind that I will tell you at another session. A small gathering of intimates---quite small---that is enough for now.

(11:55. "Good night, Seth." Then, at 11:56:)

Now: I will give that information.

I suggest no more than 15 people at the most. They come here as a touchstone. What they learn they can tell others. There should be a group of ten who come regularly. Ruburt will know who they are.

From his group of 40 the other five can be chosen, and invited on any kind of schedule he chooses. Some may come only once a month. But 15 for the entire number.

I have some things in mind myself, but the atmosphere is to be relaxed, a more intelligent version of Friday night, in which Ruburt feels he can be at ease, and does not need to make a great production. That is when we are all freest.

End of session.

(12:01 AM.)