| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from War and the Future by H. G. Wells: to find the sylvan peace of Essex invaded by a number of ladies
in blue dresses adorned with large white crosses, who, regardless
of the present shortage of nurses, were visiting every home in
the place on some mission of invitation whose details remained
obscure. So far as I was able to elucidate this project, it was
in the nature of a magic incantation; a satisfactory end of the
war was to be brought about by convergent prayer and religious
assiduities. The mission was shy of dealing with me personally,
although as a lapsed communicant I should have thought myself a
particularly hopeful field for Anglican effort, and it came to my
wife and myself merely for our permission and countenance in an
|
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 Memorabilia by Xenophon: the training of our choruses.
[26] Epistatoi, i.e. stewards and training-masters.
Yes (he answered), there's the wonder of it; to think that all those
good people should so obey their leaders, but that our hoplites and
our cavalry, who may be supposed to rank before the rest of the
citizens in excellence of manhood,[27] should be so entirely
unamenable to discipline.
[27] {kalokagathia}.
Then Socrates: Well, but the council which sits on Areopagos is
composed of citizens of approved[28] character, is it not?
[28] Technically, they must have passed the {dokimasia}. And for the
The Memorabilia |
