In Search of the Miraculous

he saves in this way. If he does not know what to do with it, nothing whatever can be

gained by abstinence."

"Speaking in general, what is the most correct form of life in this connection from

the point of view of the work?"

"It is impossible to say. I repeat that while a man does not know it is better for him not to attempt anything. Until he has new and exact knowledge it will be quite enough if his life is guided by the usual rules and principles. If a man begins to theorize and

invent in this sphere, it will lead to nothing except psychopathy. But it must again be

remembered

that only a person who is completely normal as regards sex has any chance in the

work. Any kind of 'originality,' strange tastes, strange desires, or, on the other hand,

fears, constantly working 'buffers,' must be destroyed from the very beginning.

Modem education and modem life create an enormous number of sexual psychopaths.

They have no chance at all in the' work.

"Speaking in general, there are only two correct ways of expending sexual energy—

normal sexual life and transmutation. All inventions in this sphere are very dangerous.

"People have tried abstinence from times beyond memory. Sometimes, very rarely,

it has led to something but in most cases what is called abstinence is simply

exchanging normal sensations for abnormal, because the abnormal are more easily

hidden. But it is not about this that I wish to speak. You must understand where lies

the chief evil and what makes for slavery. It is not in sex itself but in the abuse of sex.

But what the abuse of sex means is again misunderstood. People usually take this to

be either excess or perversion. But these are comparatively innocent forms of abuse of

sex. And it is necessary to know the human machine very well in order to grasp what

abuse of sex in the real meaning of these words is. It means the wrong work of centers

in relation to sex, that is, the action of the sex center through other centers, and the

action of other centers through the sex center; or, to be still more precise, the

functioning of the sex center with energy borrowed from other centers and the

functioning of other centers with energy borrowed from the sex center."

"Can sex be regarded as an independent center?" asked one of those present.

"It can," said G. "At the same time if all the lower story is taken as one whole, then sex can be regarded as the neutralizing part of the moving center."

"With what 'hydrogen' does the sex center work?" asked another.

This question had interested us for a long time but we had not previously been able

to answer it. And G., when he had been asked before, had never given a direct reply.

"The sex center works with 'hydrogen' 12," he said on this occasion, "that is to say, it ought to work with it. This is si 12. But the fact is that it very rarely works with its proper hydrogen. Abnormalities in the working of the sex center require special study.

"In the first place it must be noted that normally in the sex center as well as in the higher emotional and the higher thinking centers, there is no negative side. In all the

other centers except the higher ones, in the thinking, in the emotional, in the moving,

in the instinctive, in all of them there are, so to speak, two halves—the positive and

the negative;

affirmation and negation, or 'yes' and 'no,' in the thinking center, pleasant and

unpleasant sensations in the moving and instinctive centers. There is

no such division in the sex center. There are no positive and negative sides in it. There are no unpleasant sensations or unpleasant feelings in it; there is either a pleasant

sensation, a pleasant feeling, or there is nothing, an absence of any sensation,

complete indifference. But in consequence of the wrong work of centers it often

happens that the sex center unites with the negative part of the emotional center or

with the negative part of the instinctive center. And then, stimulation of a certain kind of the sex center, or even any stimulation at all of the sex center, calls forth unpleasant feelings and unpleasant sensations. People who experience unpleasant feelings and

sensations which have been evoked in them through ideas and imagination connected

with sex are inclined to regard them as a great virtue or as something original; in

actual fact it is simply disease. Everything connected with sex should be either

pleasant or indifferent. Unpleasant feelings and sensations all come from the

emotional center or the instinctive center.

"This is the 'abuse of sex.' It is necessary, further, to remember that the sex center works with 'hydrogen' 12. This means that it is stronger and quicker than all other

centers. Sex, in fact, governs all other centers. The only thing in ordinary

circumstances, that is, when man has neither consciousness nor will, that holds the sex

center in submission is 'buffers.' 'Buffers' can entirely bring it to nought, that is, they can stop its normal manifestation. But they cannot destroy its energy. The energy