| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Lesser Hippias by Plato: of art or any description of wisdom or cunning, whichever name you use, in
which the true and false are different and not the same: tell me, if you
can, of any. But you cannot.
HIPPIAS: Not without consideration, Socrates.
SOCRATES: Nor will consideration help you, Hippias, as I believe; but then
if I am right, remember what the consequence will be.
HIPPIAS: I do not know what you mean, Socrates.
SOCRATES: I suppose that you are not using your art of memory, doubtless
because you think that such an accomplishment is not needed on the present
occasion. I will therefore remind you of what you were saying: were you
not saying that Achilles was a true man, and Odysseus false and wily?
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Wife, et al by Anton Chekhov: as I lecture I have a clear vision of the degree of its attention
and its power of comprehension, it is in my power. The other foe
I have to overcome is in myself. It is the infinite variety of
forms, phenomena, laws, and the multitude of ideas of my own and
other people's conditioned by them. Every moment I must have the
skill to snatch out of that vast mass of material what is most
important and necessary, and, as rapidly as my words flow, clothe
my thought in a form in which it can be grasped by the monster's
intelligence, and may arouse its attention, and at the same time
one must keep a sharp lookout that one's thoughts are conveyed,
not just as they come, but in a certain order, essential for the
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Rinkitink In Oz by L. Frank Baum: in a boat with forty rowers, and they took with them
the King and Queen of Pingaree!"
Chapter Fifteen
The Flight of the Rulers
Now it seems that when Queen Cor fled from her island
to Regos, she had wit enough, although greatly frightened,
to make a stop at the royal dairy, which was near
to the bridge, and to drag poor Queen Garee from the
butter-house and across to Regos with her. The warriors
of King Gos had never before seen the terrible Queen
Cor frightened, and therefore when she came running
Rinkitink In Oz |
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 Mosses From An Old Manse by Nathaniel Hawthorne: "I have long had a curiosity to visit that old mansion," remarked
I.
"It is not one of our stations, as you perceive," said my
companion "The keeper was violently opposed to the railroad; and
well he might be, as the track left his house of entertainment on
one side, and thus was pretty certain to deprive him of all his
reputable customers. But the footpath still passes his door, and
the old gentleman now and then receives a call from some simple
traveller, and entertains him with fare as old-fashioned as
himself."
Before our talk on this subject came to a conclusion we were
Mosses From An Old Manse |
