In Search of the Miraculous

work. He can be useful to me. And he can be useful to himself. Of course it is desirable that a man's work should produce results in all three directions. Failing this, one can

be reconciled to two. For instance, if a man is useful to me, by this very fact he is

useful also to the work. Or if he is useful to the work, he is useful also to me. But if, let us say, a man is useful to the work and useful to me, but is not able to be useful to himself, this is much worse because it cannot last long. If a man takes nothing for

himself and does not change, if he remains such as he was before, then the fact of his

having by chance been useful for a short time is not placed to his credit, and, what is

more important, his usefulness does not last for long. The work grows and changes. If

a man himself does not grow or change he cannot keep up with the work. The work

leaves him behind and then the very thing that was useful may begin to be harmful."

I return to St. Petersburg, in the summer of 1916.

Soon after our group, or "preparatory group," had been formed, G. spoke to us

about efforts in connection with the tasks he set before us.

"You must understand," he said, "that ordinary efforts do not count. Only super-efforts count. And so it is always and in everything. Those who do not wish to make super-efforts had better give up everything and take care of their health."

"Can not super-efforts be dangerous?" asked one of the audience who was usually particularly careful about his health.

"Of course they can," said G., "but it is better to die making efforts to awaken than to live in sleep. That's one thing. For another thing it is not so easy to die from efforts.

We have much more strength than we think. But we never make use of it. You must

understand one feature of the organization of the human machine.

"A very important role in the human machine is played by a certain kind of

accumulator. There are two small accumulators near each center filled with the

particular substance necessary for the work of the given center.

"In addition, there is in the organism a large accumulator which feeds the small

ones. The small accumulators are connected together, and further, each of them is

connected with the center next to which it stands, as well as with the large

accumulator."

G. drew a general diagram of the "human machine" and pointed out the positions of the large and small accumulators and the connections between them.

"Accumulators work in the following way," he said. "Let us suppose that a man is working or is reading a difficult book and trying to understand it, in which case

several 'rolls' revolve in the thinking apparatus in his head. Or let us suppose that he is walking up a hill and is getting tired, in which case the 'rolls' revolve in the moving

center.

"In the first instance the intellectual center, and in the second the moving center, draw the energy necessary for their work from the small accumulators. When an

accumulator is nearly empty a man feels tired. He would like to stop, to sit down if he

is walking, to think of something else if he is solving a difficult problem. But quite

unexpectedly he feels an inflow of strength, and he is once more able to walk or to

work. This means that the center has become connected with the second accumulator

and is taking energy from it. Meanwhile the first accumulator is refilling with energy

from the large accumulator. The work of the center goes on. The man continues to

walk or to work. Sometimes a short rest is required to insure this connection.

Sometimes a shock, sometimes an effort. Anyway, the work goes on. After a certain

time the store of energy in the second accumulator also becomes exhausted. The man

again feels tired.

"Again an external shock, or a short rest, or a cigarette, or an effort, and he is

connected with the first accumulator. But it may easily happen that the center has

drawn energy from the second accumulator so quickly that the first one has had no

time to refill itself from the large accumulator, and has taken only half the energy it

can hold; it is only half full.

"Having become reconnected with the first accumulator the center begins to draw

energy from it, while the second accumulator becomes connected with and draws

energy from the large accumulator. But this time the first accumulator was only half

full. The center quickly exhausts its energy, and in the meantime the second

accumulator has succeeded in getting only a quarter full. The center becomes

connected with it, swiftly exhausts all its energy, and connects once more with the

first accumulator, and so on. After a certain time the organism is brought to such a

state that neither of the small accumulators has a drop of energy left. This time the

man feels really tired. He almost falls down, he almost drops asleep, or else his

organism becomes affected, he starts a headache, palpitations begin, or he feels sick.