| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Kreutzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoy: conclusions. Why, then, is it strange that the same thing should
result from moral Doctrine? 'Let those who can, contain,' said
Christ. And I take this passage literally, as it is written.
That morality may exist between people in their worldly
relations, they must make complete chastity their object. In
tending toward this end, man humiliates himself. When he shall
reach the last degree of humiliation, we shall have moral
marriage.
"But if man, as in our society, tends only toward physical love,
though he may clothe it with pretexts and the false forms of
marriage, he will have only permissible debauchery, he will know
The Kreutzer Sonata |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Symposium by Plato: but I will reveal him to you; having begun, I must go on. See you how fond
he is of the fair? He is always with them and is always being smitten by
them, and then again he knows nothing and is ignorant of all things--such
is the appearance which he puts on. Is he not like a Silenus in this? To
be sure he is: his outer mask is the carved head of the Silenus; but, O my
companions in drink, when he is opened, what temperance there is residing
within! Know you that beauty and wealth and honour, at which the many
wonder, are of no account with him, and are utterly despised by him: he
regards not at all the persons who are gifted with them; mankind are
nothing to him; all his life is spent in mocking and flouting at them. But
when I opened him, and looked within at his serious purpose, I saw in him
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Almayer's Folly by Joseph Conrad: He landed at the water-gate of the stockade enclosing the group
of houses which composed the residence of the Rajah of Sambir.
Evidently somebody was expected there, for the gate was open, and
men with torches were ready to precede the visitor up the
inclined plane of planks leading to the largest house where
Lakamba actually resided, and where all the business of state was
invariably transacted. The other buildings within the enclosure
served only to accommodate the numerous household and the wives
of the ruler.
Lakamba's own house was a strong structure of solid planks,
raised on high piles, with a verandah of split bamboos
Almayer's Folly |
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 Misalliance by George Bernard Shaw: where Tarleton's would have been three of four times if it hadnt been
for me. _[With a snort and a nod to emphasize the implied warning, he
retreats to the Turkish bath, and lolls against it with an air of
good-humoured indifference]._
TARLETON. Well, who denies it? Youre quite right, my boy. I don't
mind confessing to you all that the circumstances that condemned me to
keep a shop are the biggest tragedy in modern life. I ought to have
been a writer. I'm essentially a man of ideas. When I was a young
man I sometimes used to pray that I might fail, so that I should be
justified in giving up business and doing something: something
first-class. But it was no good: I couldnt fail. I said to myself
|
