In Search of the Miraculous

upon twenty different subjects in an evening. Much was repeated, much depended

upon the questions asked by those present, many ideas were so closely connected that

they could 'only be separated artificially.

At this time certain definite types of people had already begun to show a negative

attitude towards our work. Besides the absence of "love" many people were very

indignant at the demand for payment, for money. In this connection it was very

characteristic that those who were indignant were not those who could pay only with

difficulty, but people of means for whom the sum demanded was a mere trifle.

Those who could not pay or who could pay very little always understood that they

could not count upon getting something for nothing, and that G.'s work, his journeys

to Petersburg, and the time that he and others gave to the work cost money. Only those

who had money did not understand and did not want to understand this.

"Does this mean that we must pay to enter the Kingdom of Heaven?" they said.

"People do not pay nor is money asked for such things. Christ said to his disciples:

'Take neither purse nor scrip,' and you want a thousand roubles. A very good business

could be made of it. Suppose that you had a hundred members. This would already

make a hundred thousand, and if there were two hundred, three hundred? Three

hundred thousand a year is very good money."

G. always smiled when I told him about talks like this.

"Take neither purse nor scrip! And need not a railway ticket be taken either? The

hotel paid? You see how much falsehood and hypocrisy there is here. No, even if we

needed no money at all it would still be necessary to keep this payment. It rids us at

once of many useless people. Nothing shows up people so much as their attitude

towards money. They are ready to waste as much as you like on their own personal

fantasies but they have no valuation whatever of another person's labor. I must work

for them and give them gratis everything that they vouchsafe to take from me. 'How

is it possible to trade in knowledge? This ought to be free.' It is precisely for this reason that the demand for this payment is necessary. Some people will never pass

this barrier. And if they do not pass this one, it means that they will never pass

another. Besides, there are other considerations. Afterwards you will see."

The other considerations were very simple ones. Many people indeed could not

pay. And although in principle G. put the question very strictly, in practice he never

refused anybody on the grounds that they had no money. And it was found out later

that he even supported many of his pupils. The people who paid a thousand roubles

paid not only for themselves but for others.

Chapter Nine

AT ONE lecture G. began to draw the diagram of the universe in an entirely new way.

"So far we have spoken of the forces that create worlds," he said, "of the process of creation proceeding from the Absolute. We will now speak of the processes which

take place in the already created and existing world. But you must remember that the

process of creation never stops, although, on a planetary scale, growth proceeds so

slowly that if we reckon it in our time planetary conditions can be regarded as permanent for us.

"Therefore, let us take the 'ray of creation' after the universe has already been

created.

"The action of the Absolute upon the world, or upon the worlds created by it or

within it, continues. The action of each of these worlds upon subsequent worlds

continues in exactly the same way. 'All suns' of the Milky Way influence our sun. The

sun influences the planets. 'All planets' influence our earth and the earth influences the moon. These influences are transmitted by means of radiations passing through starry

and interplanetary space.

"In order to study these radiations let us take the 'ray of creation' in an abridged form: Absolute-sun-earth-moon, or in other words let us imagine the 'ray of creation'

in the form of three octaves of radiations:

the first octave between the Absolute and the sun, the second octave between the sun

and the earth, and the third octave between the earth and the moon; and let us examine

the passage of radiations between these four fundamental points of the universe.

"We have to find our place and understand our functions in this universe, which is

taken in the form of three octaves of radiations between four points.

"In the first octave the Absolute will include two notes, do and si, with the 'interval'

between them.

"Then will follow notes la, sol, fa: that is,

"Then an interval, and the 'shock' filling it, unknown to us but nevertheless

inevitably existing, then mi, re.

"The radiations reach the sun. Two notes are included in the sun itself, do, an

'interval,' and si, then follow la, sol, fa—radiations going towards the earth.