| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Soul of Man by Oscar Wilde: down to a depressing East End and distribute bad cocoa and worse
blankets to starving people, they will have delightful leisure in
which to devise wonderful and marvellous things for their own joy
and the joy of everyone else. There will be great storages of
force for every city, and for every house if required, and this
force man will convert into heat, light, or motion, according to
his needs. Is this Utopian? A map of the world that does not
include Utopia is not worth even glancing at, for it leaves out the
one country at which Humanity is always landing. And when Humanity
lands there, it looks out, and, seeing a better country, sets sail.
Progress is the realisation of Utopias.
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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 Odyssey by Homer: right that you should ill-treat any guest of Telemachus who
comes to this house. If the stranger should prove strong enough
to string the mighty bow of Ulysses, can you suppose that he
would take me home with him and make me his wife? Even the man
himself can have no such idea in his mind: none of you need let
that disturb his feasting; it would be out of all reason."
"Queen Penelope," answered Eurymachus, "we do not suppose that
this man will take you away with him; it is impossible; but we
are afraid lest some of the baser sort, men or women among the
Achaeans, should go gossiping about and say, 'These suitors are
a feeble folk; they are paying court to the wife of a brave man
The Odyssey |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Nada the Lily by H. Rider Haggard: "Cut out their tongues also," said Chaka. "What? shall the land of the
Zulus suffer such a noise? Never! lest the cattle miscarry. To it, ye
black ones! There lies the girl. She is asleep and helpless. Kill her!
What? you hesitate? Nay, then, if you will have time for thought, I
give it. Take these men, smear them with honey, and pin them over ant-
heaps; by to-morrow's sun they will know their own minds. But first
kill these two hunted jackals," and he pointed to Baleka and myself.
"They seem tired and doubtless they long for sleep."
Then for the first time I spoke, for the soldiers drew near to slay
us.
"O Chaka," I cried, "I am Mopo, and this is my sister Baleka."
Nada the Lily |
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 Philebus by Plato: he looks forward to all future systems sharing the fate of the past. All
philosophies remain, says the thinker; they have done a great work in their
own day, and they supply posterity with aspects of the truth and with
instruments of thought. Though they may be shorn of their glory, they
retain their place in the organism of knowledge.
And still there remain many rules of morals which are better explained and
more forcibly inculcated on the principle of utility than on any other.
The question Will such and such an action promote the happiness of myself,
my family, my country, the world? may check the rising feeling of pride or
honour which would cause a quarrel, an estrangement, a war. 'How can I
contribute to the greatest happiness of others?' is another form of the
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