In Search of the Miraculous

would kill a man instantaneously. The Biblical legend of the destruction of the walls of

Jericho by music is precisely a legend of objective music. Plain music, no matter of

what kind, will not destroy walls, but objective music indeed can do so. And not only

can it destroy but it can also build up. In the legend of Orpheus there are hints of

objective music, for Orpheus used to impart knowledge by music. Snake charmers'

music in the East is an approach to objective music, of course very primitive. Very

often it is simply one note which is long drawn out, rising and falling only very little; but in this single note 'inner octaves' are going on all the time and melodies of 'inner

octaves' which are inaudible to the ears but felt by the emotional center. And the snake

hears this music or, more strictly speaking, he feels it, and he obeys it. The same

music, only a little more complicated, and men would obey it.

"So you see that art is not merely a language but something much bigger. And if

you connect what I have just said with what I said earlier

about the different levels of man's being, you will understand what is said about art.

Mechanical humanity consists of men number one, number two, and number three

and they, of course, can have subjective art only. Objective art requires at least

flashes of objective consciousness; in order to understand these flashes properly and

to make proper use of them a great inner unity is necessary and a great control of

oneself."

Chapter Fifteen

AMONG the talks of the period I am describing, that is, the end of 1916, G. several

times touched upon questions of religion. And when anyone asked him anything

connected with religion G. invariably began by emphasizing the fact that there is

something very wrong at the basis of our usual attitude towards problems of religion.

"In the first place," he always said, "religion is a relative concept; it corresponds to the level of a man's being; and one man's religion might not be at all suitable for

another man, that is to say, the religion of a man of one level of being is not suitable

for a man of another level of being.

"It must be understood that the religion of man number one is of one kind; the

religion of man number two is of another kind; and the religion of man number three

is of a third kind. The religion of man number four, number five, and further is

something of a kind totally different from the religion of man number one, number

two, and number three.

"In the second place religion is doing; a man does not merely think his religion or feel it, he 'lives' his religion as much as he is able, otherwise it is not religion but

fantasy or philosophy. Whether he likes it or not he shows his attitude towards

religion by his actions and he can show his attitude only by his actions. Therefore if his actions are opposed to those which are demanded by a given religion he cannot

assert that he belongs to that religion. The vast majority of people who call

themselves Christians have no right whatever to do so, because they not only fail to

carry out the demands of their religion but they do not even think that these demands

ought to be carried out.

"Christianity forbids murder. Yet all that the whole of our progress comes to is

progress in the technique of murder and progress in warfare. How can we call

ourselves Christians?

"No one has a right to call himself a Christian who docs not carry out Christ's

precepts. A man can say that he desires to be a Christian if he tries to carry out these precepts. If he does not think of them at all, or laughs at them, or substitutes for them some inventions of his own,

or simply forgets about them, he has no right whatever to call himself a

Christian.

"I took the example of war as it is the most striking example. But even without war

the whole of life is exactly the same. People call themselves Christians but they do not

realize that not only do they not want, but they are unable, to be Christians, because in order to be a Christian it is necessary not only to desire, but to be able, to be one.

"Man in himself is not one, he is not 'I,' he is 'we,' or to speak more correctly, he is

'they.' Everything arises from this. Let us suppose that a man decides according to the

Gospels to turn the left cheek if somebody strikes him on the right cheek. But one 'I'

decides this either in the mind or in the emotional center. One 'I' knows of it, one 'I'

remembers it—the others do not. Let us imagine that it actually happens, that somebody strikes this man. Do you think he will turn the left cheek? Never. He will not even have time to think about it. He will either strike the face of the man who struck

him, or he will begin to call a policeman, or he will simply take to flight. His moving

center will react in its customary way, or as it has been taught to react, before the man realizes what he is doing.

"Prolonged instruction, prolonged training, is necessary to be able to turn the cheek.