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 our33 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.