| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Tarzan the Untamed by Edgar Rice Burroughs: "No," said the girl, "we cannot do that. We have all been
through so much together and the chances of our escape are
still so remote that whatever comes, let us remain together,
unless," and she looked up at Tarzan, "you, who have done
so much for us to whom you are under no obligations, will
go on without us. I for one wish that you would. It must be
as evident to you as it is to me that you cannot save us, for
though you succeeded in dragging us from the path of our
pursuers, even your great strength and endurance could never
take one of us across the desert waste which lies between
here and the nearest fertile country."
Tarzan the Untamed |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Crowd by Gustave le Bon: intelligence that shapes the destiny of the world, but very
indirectly. The philosophers who evolve ideas have long since
returned to dust, when, as the result of the process I have just
described, the fruit of their reflection ends by triumphing.
3. PRESTIGE
Great power is given to ideas propagated by affirmation,
repetition, and contagion by the circumstance that they acquire
in time that mysterious force known as prestige.
Whatever has been a ruling power in the world, whether it be
ideas or men, has in the main enforced its authority by means of
that irresistible force expressed by the word "prestige." The
|
