| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Pagan and Christian Creeds by Edward Carpenter: ecstasy, which he may inherit by nature and have improved
by art--he HAS access to a wonder-working power. . . .
And the great need of primitive folk is for this healer of
souls." Our author further insists on the enormous play
and influence of Fear in the savage mind--a point we have
touched on already--and gives instances of Thanatomania,
or cases where, after a quite slight and superficial wound,
the patient becomes so depressed that he, quite needlessly,
persists in dying! Such cases, obviously, can only be countered
by Faith, or something (whatever it may be) which
restores courage, hope and energy to the mind. Nor need
Pagan and Christian Creeds |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Muse of the Department by Honore de Balzac: mediocrities; provincial fathers marry their daughters to provincial
sons; crossing the races is never thought of, and the brain inevitably
degenerates, so that in many country towns intellect is as rare as the
breed is hideous. Mankind becomes dwarfed in mind and body, for the
fatal principle of conformity of fortune governs every matrimonial
alliance. Men of talent, artists, superior brains--every bird of
brilliant plumage flies to Paris. The provincial woman, inferior in
herself, is also inferior through her husband. How is she to live
happy under this crushing twofold consciousness?
But there is a third and terrible element besides her congenital and
conjugal inferiority which contributes to make the figure arid and
The Muse of the Department |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Middlemarch by George Eliot: aspect for him; self-prostration was no longer enough, and he must
bring restitution in his hand. It was really before his God that
Bulstrode was about to attempt such restitution as seemed possible:
a great dread had seized his susceptible frame, and the scorching
approach of shame wrought in him a new spiritual need. Night and day,
while the resurgent threatening past was making a conscience within him,
he was thinking by what means he could recover peace and trust--
by what sacrifice he could stay the rod. His belief in these
moments of dread was, that if he spontaneously did something right,
God would save him from the consequences of wrong-doing. For religion
can only change when the emotions which fill it are changed; and the
Middlemarch |
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 The Dunwich Horror by H. P. Lovecraft: took a wrong direction, Joe Osborn warned him and walked ahead
to show the right one. Courage and confidence were mounting, though
the twilight of the almost perpendicular wooded hill which lay
towards the end of their short cut, and among whose fantastic
ancient trees they had to scramble as if up a ladder, put these
qualities to a severe test.
At length they emerged on a muddy
road to find the sun coming out. They were a little beyond the
Seth Bishop place, but bent trees and hideously unmistakable tracks
showed what had passed by. Only a few moments were consumed in
surveying the ruins just round the bend. It was the Frye incident
The Dunwich Horror |
