In Search of the Miraculous

connected with the lies among which a man lives. You must realize that they have

nothing in common with the fear of spiders or of mice or of a dark room, or with

unaccountable nervous fears.

"The struggle against lying in oneself and the struggle against fears is the first

positive work which a man begins to do.

"One must realize in general that positive efforts and even sacrifices in the work do not justify or excuse mistakes which may follow. On the contrary, things that could be

forgiven in a man who has made no efforts and who has sacrificed nothing will not be

forgiven in another who has already made great sacrifices.

"This seems to be unjust, but one must understand the law. There is, as it were, a

separate account kept for every man. His efforts and sacrifices are written down on

one side of the book and his mistakes and misdeeds on the other side. What is written

down on the positive side can never atone for what is written down on the negative

side. What is recorded on the negative side can only be wiped out by the truth, that

is to say, by an instant and complete confession to himself and to others and above all

to the teacher. If a man sees his fault but continues to justify himself, a small offense may destroy the result of whole years of work and effort. In the work, therefore, it is

often better to admit one's guilt even when one is not guilty. But this again is a

delicate matter and it must not be exaggerated. Otherwise the result will again be

lying, and lying prompted by fear."

On another occasion, speaking of groups, G. said:

"Do not think that we can begin straight away by forming a group. A group is a big

thing. A group is begun for definite concerted work, for a definite aim. I should have to trust you in this work and you would have to trust me and one another. Then it

would be a group. Until there is general work it will only be a preparatory group. We

shall prepare ourselves so as in the course of time to become a group. And it is only

possible to prepare ourselves to become a group by trying to imitate a group such as it

ought to be, imitating it inwardly of course, not outwardly.

"What is necessary for this? First of all you must understand that in a group all are responsible for one another. A mistake on the part of one is considered as a mistake

on the part of all. This is a law. And this law is well founded for, as you will see later, what one acquires is acquired also by all.

"The rule of common responsibility must be borne well in mind. It has another side

also. Members of a group are responsible not only for the mistakes of others, but also

for their failures. The success of one is the success of all. The failure of one is the

failure of all. A grave mistake on the part of one, such as for instance the breaking of

a fundamental rule, inevitably leads to the dissolution of the whole group.

"A group must work as one machine. The parts of the machine must know one

another and help one another. In a group there can be no personal interests opposed to

the interests of others, or opposed to the interests of the work, there can be no

personal sympathies or antipathies which hinder the work. All the members of a group

are friends and brothers, but if one of them leaves, and especially if he is sent away by the teacher, he ceases to be a friend and a brother and at once becomes a stranger, as

one who is cut off. It often becomes a very hard rule, but nevertheless it is necessary.

People may be lifelong friends and may enter a group together. Afterwards one of

them leaves. The other then has no right to speak to him about the work of the group.

The man who has left feels hurt, he does not understand this, and they quarrel. In

order to avoid this where relations, such as husband and wife, mother and daughter,

and so on, are concerned, we count them as one, that is, husband and wife are counted

as one member of the group. Thus if one of them cannot go on with the work and

leaves, the other is considered guilty and must also leave.

"Furthermore, you must remember that I can help you only to the extent that you

help me. Moreover your help, especially at the beginning, will be reckoned not by

actual results which are almost certain to be nil, but by the number and the magnitude

of your efforts."

After this G. passed to individual tasks and to the definition of our "chief faults."

Then he gave us several definite tasks with which the work of our group began.

Later, in 1917, when we were in the Caucasus, G. once added several interesting

observations to the general principles of the formation of groups. I think I must quote

them here.

"You take it all too theoretically," he said. "You ought to have known more by now.

There is no particular benefit in the existence of groups in themselves and there is no

particular merit in belonging to groups. The benefit or usefulness of groups is

determined by their results.

"The work of every man can proceed in three directions. He can be useful to the