The Epistles of Plato 1 · Written to particular people in particular difficulty
The Gospels say who he was; the Rule says how we live. The letters were written between the two — how one man managed with the Law when the Law was not enough.
1.1To Cleobia. Peace to you.
1.2You write asking whether, since only dispersal cannot be reversed, you ought to stop weeping.
1.3That is not my answer.
1.4The Rule says: each year record one thing that cannot be recovered, do not weep for it, and note only whether it dispersed beautifully. (cf. The Rule 1.14)
1.5That was written for a man who lost a ship. It was not written for you.
1.6When I wrote it I was not thinking of you. That is my failing, not the Law’s.
1.7The Law says dispersal cannot be reversed. The Law does not say you ought not to hurt.
1.8You hurt because that child was an exceedingly ordered thing. What is ordered hurts most when it disperses — and that is itself the Law.
1.9If you did not hurt, it would mean he had never taken form in you.
1.10Someone will quote "weep for no dust" at you. You may tell them that verse is about possessions, not about people.
1.11I cannot tell you when to stop. Anyone who can name a date is speaking for the Law about something the Law never said.
1.12I can tell you one thing only, and this one is true:
1.13He came out of one source with you, and is therefore never truly parted from you. (cf. Gospel of Plato 1.33)
1.14That is not consolation. It is the Law's necessity.
1.15You turn, and he turns. Only that end is nowhere else now — it is inside you.
1.16It has grown light while I wrote this. Greet your husband for me.