| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Phaedo by Plato: argument, the soul will be infinitely more like the unchangeable--even the
most stupid person will not deny that.
And the body is more like the changing?
Yes.
Yet once more consider the matter in another light: When the soul and the
body are united, then nature orders the soul to rule and govern, and the
body to obey and serve. Now which of these two functions is akin to the
divine? and which to the mortal? Does not the divine appear to you to be
that which naturally orders and rules, and the mortal to be that which is
subject and servant?
True.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Tales of Unrest by Joseph Conrad: profoundly penetrated by the solemnity of the moment; he felt deeply
the greatness of the occasion. And more than ever the walls of his
house seemed to enclose the sacredness of ideals to which he was about
to offer a magnificent sacrifice. He was the high priest of that
temple, the severe guardian of formulas, of rites, of the pure
ceremonial concealing the black doubts of life. And he was not alone.
Other men, too--the best of them--kept watch and ward by the
hearthstones that were the altars of that profitable persuasion. He
understood confusedly that he was part of an immense and beneficent
power, which had a reward ready for every discretion. He dwelt within
the invincible wisdom of silence; he was protected by an
Tales of Unrest |
