In Search of the Miraculous

G. hired a large house in Essentuki and sent out a circular letter, dated the 12th of

February, over my signature, to all the members of our Moscow and St. Petersburg

groups inviting them to come with those near to them to live and to work with him.

There was already famine in St. Petersburg and Moscow but there was still an

abundance of everything in the Caucasus. To get through now was not easy and

several failed in spite of their desire to do so. But many came. Altogether about forty

people assembled. With them came Z. to whom also a letter had been sent. He arrived

quite ill.

In February while we were still waiting, G. once said, when he was showing me the

house and everything he had arranged:

"Now do you understand why we collected money in Moscow and St. Petersburg?

You said then that a thousand roubles was too much. And will even this money be

enough? One and a half persons paid. I have now already spent more than was

collected then."

G. intended to hire or buy a plot of land, arrange kitchen gardens, and in general to

organize a colony. But he was prevented by the events which had begun during the

summer.

When our people assembled in March, 1918, very strict rules were established in

our house: it was forbidden to leave the grounds, day and night orderlies were

established, and so on. And work of the most varied kind began.

In the organization of the house and of our lives there was very much of interest.

Exercises on this occasion were much more difficult and varied than during the

preceding summer. We began rhythmic exercises to music, dervish dances, different

kinds of mental exercises, the study of different ways of breathing, and so on.

Particularly intensive were the exercises for studying various imitations of psychic

phenomena, thought-reading, clairvoyance, mediumistic displays, and so forth. Before

these exercises began G. explained to us that the study of these "tricks," as he called them, was an obligatory subject in all Eastern schools, because without having studied

all possible counterfeits and imitations it was not possible to begin the study of

phenomena of a supernormal character. A man is in a position to distinguish the real

from the sham in this sphere only when he knows all the shams and is able to

reproduce them himself. Besides this G. said that a practical study of these "psychic tricks" was in itself an exercise which could be replaced by nothing else, which was the best of all for developing certain special characteristics: keenness of observation,

shrewdness, and more particularly for the enlargement of other characteristics for

which there are no words in ordinary psychological language but which must certainly

be developed.

But the principal part of the work which began at that time were the rhythmics to

music and similar strange dances which afterwards led to the reproduction of the

exercises of various dervishes. G. did not explain his aims and intentions but according

to things he had said before, it was possible to think that the result of these exercises would be to bring under control the physical body.

In addition to exercises, dances, gymnastics, talks, lectures, and housework, special

work was organized for those without means.

I remember that, when we were leaving Alexandropol the year before, G. took with

him a box of skein silk which he told me he had bought cheaply at a sale. This silk

always traveled with him. When our people assembled in Essentuki G. gave this silk to

the women and children to wind onto star-shaped cards which were also made in our

house. Then some of our people who possessed commercial talents sold this silk to

shops in Pyatigorsk, Kislovodsk, and Essentuki itself. One must remember that time.

There were absolutely no goods whatever, shops were empty, and the silk was snapped

up at once because such things as silk,

cotton, and so on were unbelievably difficult to obtain. This work continued for two

months and gave a sure and regular income quite out of proportion with the original

cost of the silk.

In normal times a colony like ours could not have existed in Essentuki nor probably

anywhere else in Russia. We should have excited curiosity, we should have attracted

attention, the police would have appeared, some kind of scandal would undoubtedly

have arisen, all possible kinds of accusations would have made their appearance,

political tendencies would certainly have been ascribed to us, or sectarian or antimoral. People are made in such a way that they invariably make accusations against the things they fail to understand. But at that time, that is, in 1918, those who would

have been curious about us were occupied in saving their own skins from the

bolsheviks, and the bolsheviks were not yet strong enough to be interested in the lives

of private people or private organizations having no direct political character. And,

seeing that, among the intellectuals from the capital who found themselves by the will

of fate at Mineralni Vodi at that time, a number of groups and working associations