In Search of the Miraculous

interests as the most ignorant savages. Modem civilization is based on violence and

slavery and fine words. But all these fine words about 'progress' and 'civilization' are

merely words."

This of course produced a particularly deep impression on us, because it was said in

1916, when the latest manifestation of "civilization," in the form of a war such as the world had not yet seen, was continuing to grow and develop, drawing more and more

millions of people into its orbit.

I remembered that a few days before this talk I had seen two enormous lorries on

the Liteiny loaded to the height of the first floor of the houses with new unpainted

wooden crutches. For some reason I was particularly struck by these lorries. In these mountains of crutches for legs which were not yet torn off there was a particularly cynical mockery of all the things with which people deceive themselves. Involuntarily

I imagined that similar lorries were sure to be going about in Berlin, Paris, London,

Vienna, Rome, and Constantinople. And, as a result, all these cities, almost all of

which I knew so well and liked just because they were so different and because they

supplemented and gave contrast to one an-

other, had now become hostile both to me and to each other and separated by new

walls of hatred and crime.

I spoke to our people about these lorry-loads of crutches and of my thoughts about

them at a meeting.

"'What do you expect?" said G. "People are machines. Machines have to be blind and unconscious, they cannot be otherwise, and all their actions have to correspond to

their nature. Everything happens. No one does anything. 'Progress' and 'civilization,'

in the real meaning of these words, can appear only as the result of conscious efforts.

They cannot appear as the result of unconscious mechanical actions. And what conscious effort can there be in machines? And if one machine is unconscious, then a hundred machines are unconscious, and so are a thousand machines, or a hundred

thousand, or a million. And the unconscious activity of a million machines must

necessarily result in destruction and extermination. It is precisely in unconscious

involuntary manifestations that all evil lies. You do not yet understand and cannot

imagine all the results of this evil. But the time will come when you will understand."

With this, so far as I remember, the talk ended.

Chapter Three

BY THE beginning of November, 1915, I already had a grasp of some of the

fundamental points of G.'s system in relation to man. The first point, on which he laid

stress, was the absence of unity in man.

"It is the greatest mistake," he said, "to think that man is always one and the same.

A man is never the same for long. He is continually changing. He seldom remains the

same even for half an hour. We think that if a man is called Ivan he is always Ivan.

Nothing of the kind. Now he is Ivan, in another minute he is Peter, and a minute later

he is Nicholas, Sergius, Matthew, Simon. And all of you think he is Ivan. You know

that Ivan cannot do a certain thing. He cannot tell a lie for instance. Then you find he

has told a lie and you are surprised he could have done so. And, indeed, Ivan cannot

lie; it is Nicholas who lied. And when the opportunity presents itself Nicholas cannot help lying. You will be astonished when you realize what a multitude of these Ivans and Nicholases live in one man. If you learn to observe them there is no need to go to

a cinema."

"Has this anything to do with the consciousnesses of separate parts and organs of

the body?" I asked him on this occasion. "I understand this idea and have often felt the reality of these consciousnesses. I know that not only separate organs, but every part

of the body having a separate function has a separate consciousness. The right hand

has one consciousness and the left hand another. Is that what you mean?"

"Not altogether," said G. "These consciousnesses also exist but they are

comparatively harmless. Each of them knows its own place and its own business. The

hands know they must work; the feet know they must walk. But these Ivans, Peters,

and Nicholases are different. They all call themselves 'I.' That is, they consider

themselves masters and none wants to recognize another. Each of them is caliph for

an hour, does what he likes regardless of everything, and, later on, the others have to

pay for it. And there is no order among them whatever. Whoever gets the upper hand

is master. He whips everyone on all sides and takes heed of nothing. But the next

moment another seizes the whip and beats him. And so it goes on all one's life.

Imagine a country where everyone can be king for

five minutes and do during these five minutes just what he likes with the whole

kingdom. That is our life."

During one of the talks G. again returned to the idea of the different bodies of man.