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“I believe, though, it will be long enough before we reach
that stage,” went on Kudrin. “Even the professor and his
friends seem to agree that man must exercise his body as well
as his brains, if he would be really healthy, since they praise
gymnastics so highly, and that is merely a substitution of
artificial exercise for natural work. To-day, among
upper-class people, it is considered a great achievement to handle
iron balls with ease and skill, to exhibit extraordinary powers
of climbing, jumping, running, &c., without any other
object than that of excelling others. About these matters
telegrams fly round the world, long newspaper articles are
written, books are published, and costly institutions are
established, while our fellow men, who need our help in their
struggle for mere existence, are left to themselves.”
Here the doctor made some objections, which Kudrin
answered, and then went on:
“I stick to my proposition, that it behoves man to live and
work in accordance with his true nature; to procure for himself
the sustenance for his body, to protect it against hurtful
influences, keep it in a healthy condition, and give to both
soul and body the power to use, create, and enjoy life, thus
attaining to the highest good.
“But in this work, that should be harmonious, an unnatural
division has arisen, so that one part of mankind uses only the
brain or mind, and the other only the body. But, just as an
engine cannot work well without an engineer, so it cannot be
good for physical work to he done without the mind to guide
it. As the mind can do great things within the sphere of
imagination and theory, but cannot provide the body with
its necessaries, so the brain-workers have become men of
imagination and theory only, while the bodily toilers, deprived
of necessary mental culture, have sunk to the level of beasts of
burden, or soulless machines.
“If the engineer leaves his engine, it may certainly run for
a time, but sooner or later it will stop work; the water in the
boiler will be exhausted, the bearings wear out or perhaps take
fire, or something will happen, and the machine either come to
a standstill or be destroyed. Now we see that the great mass
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