| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Dunwich Horror by H. P. Lovecraft: pale and displayed an abnormal degree of fear when a jocose fish-pedlar
tried the locked door leading to the stairway. That pedlar told
the store loungers at Dunwich Village that he thought he heard
a horse stamping on that floor above. The loungers reflected,
thinking of the door and runway, and of the cattle that so swiftly
disappeared. Then they shuddered as they recalled tales of Old
Whateley's youth, and of the strange things that are called out
of the earth when a bullock is sacrificed at the proper time to
certain heathen gods. It had for some time been noticed that dogs
had begun to hate and fear the whole Whateley place as violently
as they hated and feared young Wilbur personally.
 The Dunwich Horror |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Gorgias by Plato: spend the appointed time, we leave the result with God.' Plato does not say
that God will order all things for the best (compare Phaedo), but he
indirectly implies that the evils of this life will be corrected in
another. And as we are very far from the best imaginable world at present,
Plato here, as in the Phaedo and Republic, supposes a purgatory or place of
education for mankind in general, and for a very few a Tartarus or hell.
The myth which terminates the dialogue is not the revelation, but rather,
like all similar descriptions, whether in the Bible or Plato, the veil of
another life. For no visible thing can reveal the invisible. Of this
Plato, unlike some commentators on Scripture, is fully aware. Neither will
he dogmatize about the manner in which we are 'born again' (Republic).
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