I was very glad indeed to get your letter, but sorry to read of your
troubles. Strangely, too, a similar trouble with a very dear friend of
mine is now uppermost in my mind, and I would like to crave the favour
from you that you would tell me what kind of place the asylum is you
speak of. The only accessible one here is a mere prison, where men do
nothing, and where I do not think the influence would be other than
depressing. Do you think at the one you have in mind a man of active
mind, who merely wishes to get rid of his present trouble, would be
able to occupy himself?
I am indeed sorry that you have to tell me such matters, but they
will rest in my confidence; and I thank you and ---- for your renewed
invitation.
It is best not to inquire into some of the mysteries of life, but
surely a full reliance upon the Spirit within and upon the law that
the hands that smite us are our own, will relieve the pressure of
some events that seem mysteries. I find the greatest consolation in
these reflections, and then I see that each moment is mine, and that
when gone it is passed and merged into the sum of my being: and so I
must strive to Be. Thus I may hope to become in time the conscious
possessor of the whole of Being. So I do not strive after mystery. The
great struggle must be to open up my outer self, that my higher being
may shine through, for I know that in my heart the God sits patient,
and that his pure rays are merely veiled from me by the many strivings
and illusions that I bring on outwardly. This being so, I can only look
at the Society and its work (under my lights) as the best available
channel for my actions in the effort to help others. Its methods, then,
as far as I am concerned, will be only mine, and thus I cannot attach
to it the methods of any other person.
Believe me sincerely yours.