Symptom & Significance
A Sethian Psychology of Healing
In August of 1990 I sequestered myself within the magnificent stone walls of the Yale Library, repository for the manuscripts of Jane Roberts and Rob Butts. My mission, in the mere two days I could spend at Yale, was to resolve the painful mystery of why Jane had suffered — had, on some level, chosen to, allowed herself to, suffer — a most agonizing and debilitating illness for the latter part of her life.
Previously I had studied everything Rob, Jane and Seth had said publicly about Jane's condition. In the Yale library, I pored over Rob's journal notes written during Jane's last 504 days spent in St. Joseph's Hospital in Elmira, NY. In the end I returned to San Francisco feeling bemused: I could adduce no shattering revelations about the complexities, beliefs, machinations, and inner dialog of Jane's entity. I conceded pro forma that she, and we, created her own reality. I had some insight into the dynamics of Jane's Sinful Self and the struggle of artist-vs-channeler. Much later, the publication of Jane’s The Way Toward Health resolved some questions but raised many more.
As Larry Dossey, MD, points out, Buddha died from food poisoning; Jesus from acute trauma; Ramana Maharishi, the most beloved saint in India, died from cancer as did the great spiritual teachers Krishnamurti and Suzuki. Bernadette, who saw the vision at Lourdes, died from disseminated tuberculosis or cancer. Mother Teresa died of heart failure; Pope Paul VI required an appendectomy; the Dalai Lama wears glasses. If the holiest of holies are thus plagued, what can I offer my patients and other Seth readers and my self when I am under the weather?