I recently completed reading book five of The Personal Sessions, by Seth, Jane Roberts, and Robert Butts, and I found a certain section coming to mind, I wanted to, well, “run off at the mouth,” about. About two-thirds of the way into the book, Rob and Jane discussed problems they were having with Prentice Hall, their publisher for the bulk of the Seth material (it no longer does metaphysical publishing as far as I know). This is of particular interest to me, because I’m also a writer. And it’s not so much that what Seth said was such a surprise, but it was the corroborative nature of his comments that hit home, you know, once you get past those out there who say, “nothing mystical about what was said there.” Point taken from those of you from that particular point of view, but to those like me who do believe in these teachings, we—I—find it corroborative.
But there’s more.
Seth went on to discuss how things—at least things for Jane and Rob—took the best course of action possible, and reminded them that still, we all create our own reality, and this occurred here, too. Seth reminded Jane and Rob, back in October of 1979, that for all they were both interested in doing—and not doing—Prentice Hall suited them extremely well…and allowed them to, essentially, publish their efforts in as untouched and as pure a manner as they came in to Prentice. That Prentice Hall did not distort their work. Seth also went on to say that had Jane and Rob desired to do more in promoting their books, Prentice Hall would have done more, too. That Jane and Rob had to better trust the Framework 2 of their lives, the nonphysical origin of our physical selves, of Framework 1 (have to scroll a ways down to find these terms). Essentially, go with the flow, maaan.
Then Seth discussed the business side of things. Seth pointed out that businessmen and women run businesses. We (writers) don’t always think of that as writers—well, maybe nowadays most of us do—I do, given all my “schooling” in the world of publishing, but this is something that needs to be remembered and pointed out, if not known. Business people, for the most part, are not artists. They are business…people…yet, in the publishing world, they do have an interest in publishing for some reason, or they’d go run another business in mining or vacuum cleaners. They (these business people) do what they do best, and artists (us neurotic sacks of flesh and bone) do what we do best, and together we two [should] work together in the best possible way to make our collective dreams and goals come together. It is, Seth says (quoted form page 219 of book five of The personal Sessions), “…foolhardy to expect them to have a sense of the artists’ values, whatever the may be, and then to become upset when they do not live up to that picture.” That really struck me. Yeah. Completely true! To them, and this is being heavily pushed to the author level these days, books are products, and as such, businesspeople do their damnedest to get those products out and sold as best as they know how (here I might add, that this, IMHO, doesn’t necessarily absolve them from continuing to use outmoded publishing practices developed during the Great Depression—no, not 2008—the Great Depression…), all things considered. But even considering books as “product” (this is my running off at the mouth, now…), we need to not forget that they are, first and foremost…books. Period. Ideas and emotion and all of humanity captured between various types of binding.
Books.
What it comes down to, Seth continues, is that at the end of the day, these are cubicle workers who just want to get through their day so they can go home. Now, maybe this was all geared toward the publishing world of the 1970s, but I’m sure there are definite elements that continue to thrive in today’s world. I understand this, also being a cubicle worker myself.
Seth also pointed out where one people, in this case, the Dutch, might cut a few words from the book, another people, such as the French or Spanish, might add. That no idea written in one language can really be totally translated into another language word-for-word. That the mindsets behind each language are different and don’t always translate, well, basically. Makes sense. If they were absolutely the same then they would be of the same language.
The overall message of this passage seemed to be, “don’t take life too hard.” That in Jane and Rob’s lives they had it pretty perfect, the two of them. They published books, pretty much untouched (not sure how the actual editing was handled or how much was actually bestowed upon their work—I’ve always wondered about that!), they was spreading across the world, and they only did as much or as little promotional efforts as they wanted to do.
Pretty much unheard of in today’s publishing world, yeah.
What I take away from all this is that if we go into our efforts with a good heart, some smarts, and expect the best, the best will come. It may not be exactly as we want or expect it, but come it will. I know many out there probably laugh at these words, but I ask…how is your life working?
Do you have lots of conflict, strife, and negativity? How do you look at life?
Do you think pessimistically?
I always say, I’d much rather be happy and positive in life than the alternative, no matter the outcome. And reading this section on the publishing world gave me a new perspective fro a different angle, if you will. Yeah, there are contracts and such, oligarchies that decide the fate of our efforts in no less swift a manner than in the days of sword and mace, but if we properly form our desire in Framework 2, then act it out, it will work its way into reality in the best possible way. We all just have to be open to that.
And keep writing.
Frank