| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Lady Susan by Jane Austen: not come till Mainwaring is gone. I am still doubtful at times as to
marrying; if the old man would die I might not hesitate, but a state of
dependance on the caprice of Sir Reginald will not suit the freedom of my
spirit; and if I resolve to wait for that event, I shall have excuse enough
at present in having been scarcely ten months a widow. I have not given
Mainwaring any hint of my intention, or allowed him to consider my
acquaintance with Reginald as more than the commonest flirtation, and he is
tolerably appeased. Adieu, till we meet; I am enchanted with my lodgings.
Yours ever,
S. VERNON.
XXX
Lady Susan |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James: all cases, when the will had done its uttermost towards bringing
one close to the complete unification aspired after, it seems
that the very last step must be left to other forces and
performed without the help of its activity. In other words,
self-surrender becomes then indispensable. "The personal will,"
says Dr. Starbuck, "must be given up. In many cases relief
persistently refuses to come until the person ceases to resist,
or to make an effort in the direction he desires to go."
[110] For instance, C. G. Finney italicizes the volitional
element: "Just at this point the whole question of Gospel
salvation opened to my mind in a manner most marvelous to me at
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Second Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling: happiness beside being put to the sleigh for the first time.
He just sat down on the snow, and played with the seal-hide
trace that ran from his harness to the pitu, the big thong in
the bows of the sleigh. Then the team started, and the puppy
found the heavy ten-foot sleigh running up his back, and
dragging him along the snow, while Kotuko laughed till the tears
ran down his face. There followed days and days of the cruel
whip that hisses like the wind over ice, and his companions all
bit him because he did not know his work, and the harness chafed
him, and he was dot allowed to sleep with Kotuko any more,
but had to take the coldest place in the passage. It was a sad
The Second Jungle Book |
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 Unseen World and Other Essays by John Fiske: In neither or the four genuine epistles of Paul is Jesus
described as superhuman, or as differing in nature from other
men, save in his freedom from sin. As Baur has shown, "the proper
nature of the Pauline Christ is human. He is a man, but a
spiritual man, one in whom spirit or pneuma was the essential
principle, so that he was spirit as well as man. The principle of
an ideal humanity existed before Christ in the bright form of a
typical man, but was manifested to mankind in the person of
Christ." Such, according to Baur, is Paul's interpretation of the
Messianic idea. Paul knows nothing of the miracles, of the
supernatural conception, of the incarnation, or of the Logos. The
The Unseen World and Other Essays |
