| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Cratylus by Plato: (diaiontos), need not be considered. Well, then, the name of andreia seems
to imply a battle;--this battle is in the world of existence, and according
to the doctrine of flux is only the counterflux (enantia rhon): if you
extract the delta from andreia, the name at once signifies the thing, and
you may clearly understand that andreia is not the stream opposed to every
stream, but only to that which is contrary to justice, for otherwise
courage would not have been praised. The words arren (male) and aner (man)
also contain a similar allusion to the same principle of the upward flux
(te ano rhon). Gune (woman) I suspect to be the same word as goun (birth):
thelu (female) appears to be partly derived from thele (the teat), because
the teat is like rain, and makes things flourish (tethelenai).
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Some Reminiscences by Joseph Conrad: But not a bit of it. When I presented myself to be examined for
Master the examiner who received me was short, plump, with a
round, soft face in grey, fluffy whiskers, and fresh, loquacious
lips.
He commenced operations with an easy-going "Let's see. H'm.
Suppose you tell me all you know of charter-parties." He kept it
up in that style all through, wandering off in the shape of
comment into bits out of his own life, then pulling himself up
short and returning to the business in hand. It was very
interesting. "What's your idea of a jury-rudder now?" he queried
suddenly, at the end of an instructive anecdote bearing upon a
Some Reminiscences |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Warlord of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs: and I passed through, the fellow closed the door quickly upon us.
The nasty laugh that came to my ears through the heavy
planking of the door after the lock clicked was my first intimation
that all was not as it should be.
I found myself in a small, circular chamber within the buttress.
Before me a door opened, presumably, upon the inner court beyond.
For a moment I hesitated, all my suspicions now suddenly,
though tardily, aroused; then, with a shrug of my shoulders,
I opened the door and stepped out into the glare of torches
The Warlord of Mars |
The fourth excerpt represents the element of Earth. It speaks of physical influences and the impact of the unseen on the visible world, and is drawn from Frankenstein by Mary Shelley: "I remember, the first time that I did this, the young woman,
when she opened the door in the morning, appeared greatly
astonished on seeing a great pile of wood on the outside.
She uttered some words in a loud voice, and the youth joined her,
who also expressed surprise. I observed, with pleasure, that he
did not go to the forest that day, but spent it in repairing the
cottage and cultivating the garden.
"By degrees I made a discovery of still greater moment. I found
that these people possessed a method of communicating their
experience and feelings to one another by articulate sounds.
I perceived that the words they spoke sometimes produced pleasure or
Frankenstein |
