In Search of the Miraculous

"Now imagine that a man decides to think in a new way. But he feels in the old way. Imagine that he dislikes R." He pointed to one of those present. "This dislike of R. immediately arouses old thoughts and he forgets his decision to think in a new

way. Or let us suppose that he is accustomed to smoking cigarettes while he is

thinking—this is a moving habit. He decides to think in a new way. He begins to

smoke a cigarette and thinks in the old way without noticing it. The habitual

movement of lighting a cigarette has turned his thoughts round to the old tune. You

must remember that a man can never break this accordance by himself. Another man's

will is necessary, and a stick is necessary. All that a man who wants to work on

himself can do at a certain stage of his work is to obey. He can do nothing by himself.

"More than anything else he needs constant supervision and observation. He cannot

observe himself constantly. Then he needs definite rules the fulfillment of which needs, in the first place, a certain kind of self-remembering and which, in the second

place, helps in the struggle with habits. A man cannot do all this by himself. In life

everything is always arranged far too comfortably for man to work. In a school a man

finds himself among other people who are not of his own choosing and with whom

perhaps it is very difficult to live and work, and usually in uncomfortable and

unaccustomed conditions. This creates tension between, him and the others. And this

tension is also indispensable because it gradually chips away his sharp angles.

"Then work on moving center can only be properly organized in a school. As I have

already said, the wrong, independent, or automatic work of the moving center

deprives the other centers of support and they involuntarily follow the moving center.

Often, therefore, the sole possibility of making the other centers work in a new way is

to begin with the moving center; that is with the body. A body which is lazy,

automatic, and full of stupid habits stops any kind of work."

"But theories exist," said one of us, "that a man ought to develop the spiritual and moral side of his nature and that if he attains results in this

direction there will be no obstacles on the part of the body. Is this possible or not?"

"Both yes and no," said G. "The whole point is in the 'if.' If a man attains perfection of a moral and spiritual nature without hindrance on the part of the body, the body

will not interfere with further achievements. But unfortunately this never occurs

because the body interferes at the first step, interferes by its automatism, its

attachment to habits, and chiefly by its wrong functioning. If the development of the

moral and spiritual nature without interference on the part of the body is theoretically

possible, it is possible only in the case of an ideal functioning of the body. And who is able to say that his body functions ideally?

"And besides there is deception in the very words 'moral' and 'spiritual' themselves.

I have often enough explained before that in speaking of machines one cannot begin with their 'morality' or their 'spirituality,' but that one must begin with their

mechanicalness and the laws governing this mechanicalness. The being of man

number one, number two, and number three is the being of machines which are able

to cease being machines but which have not ceased being machines."

"But is it not possible for man to be at once transposed to another stage of being by a wave of emotion?" someone asked.

"I do not know," said G., "we are again talking in different languages. A wave of emotion is indispensable, but it cannot change moving habits;

it cannot of itself make centers work rightly which all their lives have been working

wrongly. To change and repair this demands separate, special, and lengthy work.

Then you say; transpose a man to another level of being. But from this point of view a man does not exist for me. There is a complex mechanism consisting of a whole series of complex parts. 'A wave of emotion' 'takes place in one part but the other parts may

not be affected by it at all. No miracles are possible in a machine. It is miracle enough that a machine is able to change. But you want all laws to be violated."

"What of the robber on the cross?" asked one of those present. "Is there anything in this or not?"

"That is another thing entirely," said G., "and it illustrates an altogether different idea. In the first place it took place on the cross, that is, in the midst of terrible sufferings to which ordinary life holds nothing equal;

secondly, it was at the moment of death. This refers to the idea of man's last thoughts

and feelings at the moment of death. In life these pass by, they are replaced by other

habitual thoughts. There can be no prolonged wave of emotion in life and therefore it

cannot give rise to a change of being.

"And it must be further understood that we are not speaking of exceptions or