| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Alcibiades II by Platonic Imitator: things which cause more harm than good: but rather, if they had them not,
would have prayed to obtain them. And often in a short space of time they
change their tone, and wish their old prayers unsaid. Wherefore also I
suspect that men are entirely wrong when they blame the gods as the authors
of the ills which befall them (compare Republic): 'their own presumption,'
or folly (whichever is the right word)--
'Has brought these unmeasured woes upon them.' (Homer. Odyss.)
He must have been a wise poet, Alcibiades, who, seeing as I believe, his
friends foolishly praying for and doing things which would not really
profit them, offered up a common prayer in behalf of them all:--
'King Zeus, grant us good whether prayed for or unsought by us;
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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 Crisis in Russia by Arthur Ransome: economic problem was the first, and he spoke of it as the
director of a huge trust might have spoken. But, as he
passed on to talk of what he thought would result from the
Communist method of tackling that problem, and spoke of
the eventual disappearance of political parties, I felt I was
trying to read a kind of palimpsest of the Economist and
News from Nowhere, or listening to a strange compound of
William Morris and, for example, Sir Eric Geddes. He said:
"We may have to wait a long time before the inevitable
arrives and there is a Supreme Economic Council dealing
with Europe as with a single economic whole. If that should
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