| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Kwaidan by Lafcadio Hearn: Apparently, the highest possible strength is the strength of unselfishness;
and power supreme never will be accorded to cruelty or to lust. There may
be no gods; but the forces that shape and dissolve all forms of being would
seem to be much more exacting than gods. To prove a "dramatic tendency" in
the ways of the stars is not possible; but the cosmic process seems
nevertheless to affirm the worth of every human system of ethics
fundamentally opposed to human egoism.
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
Notes
THE STORY OF MIMI-NASHI-HOICHI
[1] See my Kotto, for a description of these curious crabs.
Kwaidan |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Camille by Alexandre Dumas: Prudence incapable. I had nothing to reply, except that she was
right; I took her hand and thanked her for her counsels.
"Come, come," said she, "put these foolish theories to flight,
and laugh over them. Life is pleasant, my dear fellow; it all
depends on the colour of the glass through which one sees it. Ask
your friend Gaston; there's a man who seems to me to understand
love as I understand it. All that you need think of, unless you
are quite a fool, is that close by there is a beautiful girl who
is waiting impatiently for the man who is with her to go,
thinking of you, keeping the whole night for you, and who loves
you, I am certain. Now, come to the window with me, and let us
Camille |
