| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Whirligigs by O. Henry: The season of irresponsibility is at hand. Come,
let us twine round our brows wreaths of poison ivy (that
is for idiocy), and wander hand in hand with sociology
in the summer fields.
Likely as not the world is flat. The wise men have
tried to prove that it is round, with indifferent success.
They pointed out to us a ship going to sea, and bade us
observe that, at length, the convexity of the earth hid
from our view all but the vessel's topmast. But we
picked up a telescope and looked, and saw the decks
and hull again. Then the wise men said: "Oh, pshaw!
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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 Varieties of Religious Experience by William James: and vast and sentimental, and without a base in either facts or
logic. For some writers a "mystic" is any person who believes in
thought-transference, or spirit-return. Employed in this way the
word has little value: there are too many less ambiguous
synonyms. So, to keep it useful by restricting it, I will do
what I did in the case of the word "religion," and simply propose
to you four marks which, when an experience has them, may justify
us in calling it mystical for the purpose of the present
lectures. In this way we shall save verbal disputation, and the
recriminations that generally go therewith.
1. Ineffability.--The handiest of the marks by which I classify
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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 A treatise on Good Works by Dr. Martin Luther: shall be heard. So St. Bernard instructs his brethren and says:
"Dear brethren, you shall by no means despise your prayer, as if
it were in vain, for I tell you of a truth that, before you have
uttered the words, the prayer is already recorded in heaven; and
you shall confidently expect from God one of two things: either
that your prayer will be granted, or that, if it will not be
granted, the granting of it would not be good for you."
Prayer is, therefore, a special exercise of faith, and faith
makes the prayer so acceptable that either it will surely be
granted, or something better than we ask will be given in its
stead. So also says St. James: "Let him who asketh of God not
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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 Albert Savarus by Honore de Balzac: Jura, Bourg, Nantua, Lous-le-Saulnier. The concurrence was invited of
the learning and energy of every scientific student in the districts
of le Bugey, la Bresse, and Franche Comte. By the influence of
commercial interests and common feeling, five hundred subscribers were
booked in consideration of the low price; the /Review/ cost eight
francs a quarter.
To avoid hurting the conceit of the provincials by refusing their
articles, the lawyer hit on the good idea of suggesting a desire for
the literary management of this /Review/ to Monsieur Boucher's eldest
son, a young man of two-and-twenty, very eager for fame, to whom the
snares and woes of literary responsibilities were utterly unknown.
Albert Savarus |
