Spirit Communication

We continue Harry and Helen's letters to their mother, Lucia E. Blount, written through their sister, Mary Blount White —

Sister, please forgive me for being so awfully blind and selfish this past summer. I can see now I was not half myself, and —

Harry

Harry is too weak to write, Sister. I am here, Helen. Yes, it is years since I have written, but I have been on the upper planes working at fine things, really big things. Yes, violin, and also colour. I am working on colour with musical tones at high rates of vibration, which also register in form. All things have roots in common. That is the beauty of the work here, its relation not to allied arts, but to material expression of life forms. Creations have, first, life as the tap root; then form, then tone, then colour, then spirit; what you call character, or temperamental essence. Oh, words fail me here. I can't now express what I mean. One needs a larger vocabulary to convey a sense of these higher forms of life. No matter, you get a suggestion of the idea, which suffices for the moment.

When artists fail, it is mainly from the lack of proper balance, due to overstimulation of certain destructive qualities springing from selfishness. Success is as easy as failure. If you and I could only see the whole structure for one illuminating instant! It is the digging out of the thing, one limb at a time, which requires such tedious effort. Two elements combine to bring this about: first, the building of the individual ego as an independent force; and second, the bringing into proper relationship of this three-fold nature: atomic, mental, and' psychic. No, three-fold is not as the word is used with you. The three-fold unit of life is that which registers on different planes of expression, so when an artist turns too far in one direction he finds that destiny, or law, steps in. Success is only the knowledge which belongs to Truth, and that has no fear of so-called death, or change. I happen to be one of the humbler students of art, and was fortunate enough to escape here long before being taught the false standards of art and success on your plane. It is a boon for which I cannot be too grateful.

Tell my brother Tee* that what he most lacks is not a chance, but a more direct contact with his fellow humans. Let him get at that side of his art and he will have all the work he can perform, both there and here. This art is one of the most comprehensive, and takes a high rank here as a developer of individual growth, as you may readily see. His career is being thwarted at that point, so what he must do is to sit in the silence, and wait till his inner sense tells him what is needed to right his balance, and allow his further progress; that is, if he is really a true artist, one of the elect, as it were. The sham product achieves worldly success, and arrives here a blank. His foundation has been laid narrowly, so his structure topples over as soon as the truth breathes upon it.

Helen

* Helen died years before her sister Mary married Tee, by which nickname the members of her family addressed her husband.