Psellos wrote two letters to Ioannes Xiphilinos. One said that Ioannes at last had written, and Psellos hoped he would often descend to talk to him. Ioannes was on course for heaven: Psellos had set out, as promised, but was becalmed. Spiritual helmsmen (like Ioannes) might control winds and seas. Psellos hoped, even with no sail, to reach harbour with his aid. His only ambition at court was study of philosophy and heavenly beauty. When threads holding him to the capital broke, he would leave at once. In another letter he said that even the Cappadocians did not always write, as he had not to Ioannes, not knowing the times of boats. Divided souls (e.g. from the capital to Olympos) were more painful than divided bodies, linked only by memory and imagination. His resolve to join Ioannes was often tested by his possessions and adopted daughter. Yet in his unstable world he envied Ioannes' regular life, saying "Blessed Xiphilinos!". He thanked another correspondent for a sweet letter, which, however, did not persuade him to stay in the capital. The biblical analogues quoted had guarantees from God himself. Psellos, with no secular post, would go to Olympos. In a letter to an archimandrite on Olympos, Psellos listed the latter's criticisms, without defence; the archimandrite's castigation should continue, maybe more gently when Psellos had become a monk. He heard from another monk after a gap in correspondence, replying that his real desire for tonsure would soon be realised. He had not met a visitor to the capital he had been advised to see. He answered a gift of fruit with coins, as spiritual currency was invalid outside the monastery