| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Myths and Myth-Makers by John Fiske: [43] The Sanskrit myth-teller indeed mixes up his materials in
a way which seems ludicrous to a Western reader. He describes
Indra (the sun-god) as not only cleaving the cloud-mountains
with his sword, but also cutting off their wings and hurling
them from the sky. See Burnouf, Bhagavata Purana, VI. 12, 26.
In early Aryan mythology there is nothing by which the clouds
are more frequently represented than by rocks or mountains.
Such were the Symplegades, which, charmed by the harp of the
wind-god Orpheus, parted to make way for the talking ship
Argo, with its crew of solar heroes.[44] Such, too, were the
mountains Ossa and Pelion, which the giants piled up one upon
Myths and Myth-Makers |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Gorgias by Plato: another. And as we are very far from the best imaginable world at present,
Plato here, as in the Phaedo and Republic, supposes a purgatory or place of
education for mankind in general, and for a very few a Tartarus or hell.
The myth which terminates the dialogue is not the revelation, but rather,
like all similar descriptions, whether in the Bible or Plato, the veil of
another life. For no visible thing can reveal the invisible. Of this
Plato, unlike some commentators on Scripture, is fully aware. Neither will
he dogmatize about the manner in which we are 'born again' (Republic).
Only he is prepared to maintain the ultimate triumph of truth and right,
and declares that no one, not even the wisest of the Greeks, can affirm any
other doctrine without being ridiculous.
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Little Rivers by Henry van Dyke: thirty miles across and nearly round, lying in the broad limestone
basin north of the Laurentian Mountains. The southern and eastern
shores have been settled for twenty or thirty years; and the rich
farm-land yields abundant crops of wheat and oats and potatoes to a
community of industrious habitants, who live in little modern
villages, named after the saints and gathered as closely as
possible around big gray stone churches, and thank the good Lord
that he has given them a climate at least four or five degrees
milder than Quebec. A railroad, built through a region of granite
hills, which will never be tamed to the plough, links this outlying
settlement to the civilised world; and at the end of the railroad
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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 An Historical Mystery by Honore de Balzac: All present looked at each other. With voice, look, and gesture de
Marsay had wonderfully represented the three men.
"The three priests fully understood one another," he continued,
resuming his narrative. "Carnot no doubt looked at his colleagues and
the ex-consul in a dignified manner. He must, however, have felt
bewildered in his own mind.
"'Do you believe in the success of the army?' Sieyes said to him.
"'We may expect everything from Bonaparte,' replied the minister of
war; 'he has crossed the Alps.'
"'At this moment,' said the minister of foreign affairs, with
deliberate slowness, 'he is playing his last stake.'
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