Dearest Suzanne,

Thank you for the photographs of your tender earth-message - I am indeed "better." You must know that just as you have touched the earth to plant those seeds in the form of the letters B E T T E R, so you have touched my being, causing healing and new growth, throughout this period of my "retreat."

The circle tapes sparked many new intuitions in me, primarily the deep sense of friendship I feel for the circle itself (which includes both the old friends and the new friends whose voices I do not recognize). Friendship is rare and delicious, but a circle where friendship reigns automatically, as it were, and always in the service of the highest good - how can we evaluate such a treasure! This is my overall feeling, my basic vision of the circle, but here are some specific points that came up while listening to the tapes. I applaud the person (was it Leela?) who indicated freedom to be the essential "form" of the circle (truly a "formless form"). My heart resonates completely with this. I don't want to be part of another "group" or "group consciousness" - I have so many of those commitments already (as we all do). Some of my "groups" are thousands of years old and they have enlisted me to defend their "group-mind" against the ignorant critiques of the modern world. I do this wholeheartedly. But in L.A., I want to be outside "groups" (no matter how venerable). I want to be able to be myself, whoever that is. I hunger for more diversity (a wider reflection of L.A. and the world) in our circle, not more sameness - but it is the harmony and freedom of true human diversity, not an empty diversity for its own sake. I would miss Tom in the circle. My reaction to his…