In Search of the Miraculous

"But speaking of schools, there are only special schools; there are no

general schools. Every teacher, or guru, is a specialist in some one thing.

One is an astronomer, another a sculptor, a third a musician. And all the

pupils of each teacher must first of all study the subject in which he has

specialized, then, afterwards, another subject, and so on. It would take a

thousand years to study everything."

"But how did you study?"

"I was not alone. There were all kinds of specialists among us. Everyone

studied on the lines of his particular subject. Afterwards, when we forgathered, we put together everything we had found."

"And where are your companions now?"

G. was silent for a time, and then said slowly, looking into the distance:

"Some have died, some are working, some have gone into seclusion."

This word from the monastic language, heard so unexpectedly, gave me a

strange and uncomfortable feeling.

At the same time I felt a certain "acting" on G.'s part, as though he were

deliberately trying from time to time to throw me a word that would interest

me and make me think in a definite direction.

When I tried to ask him more definitely where he had found what he knew,

what the source of his knowledge was, and how far this knowledge went, he

did not give me a direct answer.

"You know," G. said once, "when you went to India they wrote about your

journey and your aims in the papers. I gave my pupils the task of reading

your books, of determining by them what you were, and of establishing on

this basis what you would be able to End. So we knew what you would End

while you were still on. your way there."

With this the talk came to an end.

I once asked G. about the ballet which had been mentioned in the papers

and referred to in the story "Glimpses of Truth" and whether this ballet

would have the nature of a "mystery play."

"My ballet is not a 'mystery,'" said G. "The object I had in view was to

produce an interesting and beautiful spectacle. Of course there is a certain

meaning hidden beneath the outward form, but I have not pursued the aim of

exposing and emphasizing this meaning. An important place in the ballet is

occupied by certain dances. I will explain this to you briefly. Imagine that in

the study of the movements of the heavenly bodies, let us say the planets of

the solar system, a special mechanism is constructed to give a visual

representation of the laws of these movements and to remind us of them. In

this mechanism each planet, which is represented by a sphere of appropriate

size, is placed at a certain distance from a central sphere representing the

sun. The mechanism is set in motion and all the spheres begin to rotate and

to move along prescribed paths, reproducing in a visual form the laws which

govern the movements of the planets. This mechanism reminds you of all

you know about the solar system. There is something like this in the rhythm

of certain dances. In the strictly defined movements and combinations of the

dancers, certain laws are visually reproduced which arc intelligible to those

who know them. Such dances are called 'sacred dances.' In the course of my

travels in the East I have many times witnessed such dances being performed

during sacred services in various ancient temples. Some of these dances are

reproduced in The Struggle of the Magicians.' More-

over there are three ideas lying at the basis of "The Struggle of the Magicians.' But if I produce the ballet on the ordinary stage the public will never understand these ideas."

I understood from what he said subsequently that this would not be a

ballet in the strict meaning of the word, but a series of dramatic and mimic

scenes held together by a common plot, accompanied by music and

intermixed with songs and dances. The most appropriate name for these

scenes would be "revue," but without any comic element. The "ballet" or

"revue" was to be called "The Struggle of the Magicians." The important scenes represented the schools of a "Black Magician" and a "White

Magician," with exercises by pupils of both schools and a struggle between

the two schools. The action was to take place against the background of the

life of an Eastern city, intermixed with sacred dances. Dervish dances, and

various national Eastern dances, all this interwoven with a love story which

itself would have an allegorical meaning.

I was particularly interested when G. said that the same performers would

have to act and dance in the "White Magician" scene and in the "Black

Magician" scene; and that they themselves and their movements had to be

attractive and beautiful in the first scene and ugly and discordant in the

second.

"You understand that in this way they will see and study all sides of

themselves; consequently the ballet will be of immense importance for selfstudy," said G.

I understood this far from clearly at the time, but I was struck by a certain

discrepancy.

"In the notice I saw in the paper it was said that your 'ballet' would be

staged in Moscow and that certain well-known ballet dancers would take