Initiation and initiative : an exploration of the life and ideas of Dimitrije Mitrinović

THE EXILE 95

The three of them would meet regularly in Mitrinović's rooms. Occasionally Mairet and Soden received personal instruction but more frequently they met to discuss’ what they had been reading. In such sessions Mitrinovic would try to convey something of his own understanding of the relevance of ancient mythology and oriental philosophy which expressed so strongly the inter-relatedness between all things. Together they explored the significance of Solovyov’s vision of Christ as the God-Man, the archetype for humanity to emulate, and of humanity working in conjunction with God, realising their own divinity through working with others to create the Kingdom of God and Man, Sophia, on earth. There was also Gutkind’s significance to be explained. Just how much of this the two students absorbed during the period of their early association with Mitrinovi¢ is doubtful. Perhaps it mattered less to them than the fact that they felt they were in the company of a great man whose mind, spirit and soul was beyond their common experience. Certainly, to Mairet, Mitrinovi¢ at times appeared in the guise of a prophet who presented him with a glimpse of a new life. Something of Mairet’s mood and attitude is conveyed in the account he gave of one of their early encounters that took place in Mitrinovi¢’s rooms, with Mitrinovic still in his pyjamas having just finished breakfast:

The memory image of his face is more yivid to me than almost all he said. His appearance was somewhat changed since my earlier meetings with him. The black hair, now close cropped, and the shaven lips and chin made him look more like one’s imagination of a prophet .. . To my heightened sensitivity, his face seemed more radiant with the supersensitive light which the ancient Christian artists used to symbolise by putting aureoles round the heads of Saints and Apostles. Indeed, I can clearly remember thinking, as I looked at him, that when the first Christian neophytes heard the great preachers St. Paul and St. Augustine for instance proclaiming the Gospel that was to make all things new, it must sometimes have been just like this. Then too, I thought, the scene may have been as peculiar as this rather dishevelled bedroom and the audience as small and undistinguished as we were now, besides this untidy bed; for this impassioned orator, speaking with his whole being, finally worked himself right out of bed onto the floor where he finished his allocution seated cross-legged on the carpet like an Indian Sadhu.”

If Mitrinovi¢ appeared to Mairet, on such occasions, as a prophet, then Mairet for his part became an active proselytiser on his behalf. He introduced his wife, Ethelmary, to Mitrinovic. A skilled and talented weaver, her work was much admired by Douglas Pepler who was, in turn, a close friend of Edward Johnston the calligrapher and Eric Gill the sculptor. Gill had moyed to the Sussex village of Ditchling in 1907 and was followed there by the Johnston family in 1912. Ethelmary Mairet was easily persuaded