Real Life Thrills in the Seven Brains of the Heart

William Quan Judge, Julia Wharton Lewis Campbell Ver Planck · Higher Ethics and Devotion Series · 85 pages

At eighty-five pages the longest document in this batch: the letters exchanged between Z and Jasper Niemand — the pen-name of Julia Wharton Lewis Campbell Ver Planck — with introductory notes by the series editor and an abstract and train of thoughts giving each letter its source pages. Further letters of Judge appear in “A worthy life is a virtuous life” in this same batch.

The first letter sets the tone in its opening request: that the correspondent should not think too much of the writer but direct her thoughts to the Eternal Truth, since only one free from the heresy of separateness — brought forth by false self-identity and self-importance — can rise above the trappings of personal life and live for others. The instruction that follows is to seek knowledge or power for no purpose other than to sacrifice it on the altar of the Great Heart, which is humanity at large. The letter then addresses discouragement directly, telling her not to fear or fail because she feels dark and heavy, since after a while the very rage she feels will break the shrine that covers the mystery, and no one can really help her until then. The second letter turns to the practical business of the Society: that admission requires moral character, and that while a universal brotherhood can make no distinctions, it can see that people do not enter with mistaken notions of what is on offer. A qualification follows that is unusually accommodating — that nobody is obliged to be in full sympathy with all three objects of the Society, but should be in sympathy with at least one, ideally the first, and willing not to oppose the other two. The third and subsequent letters continue the correspondence, with an addendum drawn from Judge's own Letter 18.

Read the full text (PDF, 2.6 MB, 85 pages)