| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Voyage to Arcturus by David Lindsay: too shall leave Sant, to reflect on all this."
Maskull shuddered. "Then these two deaths were not a necessity, but
a crime!"
"His part was played and henceforward the woman would have dragged
down his ideas, with her soft love and loyalty. Regret nothing,
stranger, but go away at once out of the land."
"Tonight? Where shall I go?"
"To Wombflash, where you will meet the deepest minds. I will put you
on the way."
He linked his arm in Maskull's, and they walked away into the night.
For a mile or more they skirted the edge of the precipice. The wind
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Republic by Plato: than our citizens, may not grow to be too much for them and become savage
tyrants instead of friends and allies?
Yes, great care should be taken.
And would not a really good education furnish the best safeguard?
But they are well-educated already, he replied.
I cannot be so confident, my dear Glaucon, I said; I am much more certain
that they ought to be, and that true education, whatever that may be, will
have the greatest tendency to civilize and humanize them in their relations
to one another, and to those who are under their protection.
Very true, he replied.
And not only their education, but their habitations, and all that belongs
The Republic |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Great God Pan by Arthur Machen: "I should like to believe it is all true." Clarke knit
his brows, and looked doubtfully at Dr. Raymond. "Are you
perfectly sure, Raymond, that your theory is not a
phantasmagoria--a splendid vision, certainly, but a mere
vision after all?"
Dr. Raymond stopped in his walk and turned sharply.
He was a middle-aged man, gaunt and thin, of a pale yellow
complexion, but as he answered Clarke and faced him, there was a
flush on his cheek.
"Look about you, Clarke. You see the mountain, and
hill following after hill, as wave on wave, you see the woods
The Great God Pan |
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 Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin A. Abbot: more accurately, I am many Circles in one." Then he added
more mildly, "I have a message, dear Madam, to your husband,
which I must not deliver in your presence; and, if you would suffer us
to retire for a few minutes ----" But my Wife would not listen
to the proposal that our august Visitor should so incommode himself,
and assuring the Circle that the hour of her own retirement
had long passed, with many reiterated apologies for her
recent indiscretion, she at last retreated to her apartment.
I glanced at the half-hour glass. The last sands had fallen.
The third Millennium had begun.
Section 16. How the Stranger vainly endeavoured to reveal to me
Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions |
