In Search of the Miraculous

all other animals.

"Let us take another example—a flour worm. It feeds on flour, a 'hydrogen' far

coarser than 'hydrogen' 768 because the worm can also live on rotten flour. Let us say

that this also is 1536. It breathes 'hydrogen' 192 and lives in 'hydrogen' 1536.

"A fish feeds on 'hydrogen' 1536, lives in 'hydrogen' 384, and breathes 'hydrogen'

192.

"A tree feeds on 'hydrogen' 1536, breathes only partly 'hydrogen' 192 and partly

'hydrogen' 96, and lives partly in 'hydrogen' 192 and partly in 'hydrogen' 3072 (soil).

"If you try to continue these definitions you will see that this plan, so simple at the first glance, makes it possible to determine the most subtle distinctions between

classes of living beings, especially if you bear in mind that 'hydrogens,' taking them as we have by octaves, are very broad concepts. For example, we took it that a dog, a

fish, and a flour worm alike

feed on 'hydrogen' 1536, implying by this 'hydrogen' substances of organic origin

which are not good for human food. Now, if we realize that these substances in their

turn can be divided into definite classes, we shall see the possibility of very exact

definitions. It is exactly the same with air and exactly the same with the medium.

"These cosmic traits of being are immediately connected with the definition of

intelligence according to the 'table of hydrogens.'

"The intelligence of a matter is determined by the creature for whom it can serve as food. For example, which is more intelligent from this point of view, a raw potato or a

baked potato? A raw potato can serve as food for pigs and a baked potato as food for

man. A baked potato is more intelligent than a raw potato.

"If these principles of classification and definition are understood in the right way, many things become clear and comprehensible. No living being can change its food at

will, or the air it breathes, or the medium in which it lives. The cosmic order of each

being determines its food as well as the air it breathes and the medium in which it

lives.

"When we talked before about the octaves of food in the three-story factory we saw

that 'all the finer 'hydrogens' needed for the working, the growth, and the evolution of

the organism were prepared from three kinds of food, that is, from food in the strict

meaning of the word—eatables and drink, from air which we breathe, and from

impressions. Now let us suppose that we could improve the quality of food and air, feed, let us say, on 'hydrogen' 384 instead of 768 and breathe 'hydrogen' 96 instead of

192. How much simpler and easier the preparation of fine matters in the organism

would be then. But the whole point is that this is impossible. The organism is adapted

to transform precisely these coarse matters into fine matters, and if you give it fine matters instead of coarse matters it will not be in a position to transform them and it

will very soon die. Neither air nor food can be changed. But impressions, that is, the

quality of the impressions possible to man, are not subject to any cosmic law. Man

cannot improve his food, he cannot improve the air. Improvement in this case would be actually making things worse. For instance 'hydrogen* 96 instead of 192 would be either very rarefied air or very hot incandescent gases which man cannot possibly

breathe; fire is 'hydrogen' 96. It is exactly the same with food. 'Hydrogen' 384 is water.

If man could improve his food, that is, make it finer, he would have to feed on water

and breathe fire. It is clear that this is impossible. But while it is not possible for him to improve his food and air he can improve his impressions to a very high degree and

in this way introduce fine 'hydrogens' into the organism. It is precisely on this that the possibility of evolution is based. A man is not at all obliged to feed on the dull

impressions of H48, he can have both H24, H12, and H6, and even H3. This changes

the whole picture and a man who makes higher 'hydrogens' the food for the upper

story

of his machine will certainly differ from one who feeds on the lower 'hydrogens.'"

In one of the following conversations G. again returned to the subject of

classification according to cosmic traits.

"There is still another system of classification,"' he said, "which you also ought to understand. This is a classification in an altogether different ratio of octaves. The first classification by 'food,' 'air,' and medium definitely refers to 'living beings' as we

know them, including plants, that is to say, to individuals. The other classification of

which I shall now speak leads us far beyond the limits of what we call 'living beings'

both upwards, higher than living beings, as well as downwards, lower than living

beings, and it deals not with individuals but with classes in a very wide sense. Above

all this classification shows that there are no jumps whatever in nature. In nature

everything is connected and everything is alive. The diagram of this classification is