The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Euthyphro by Plato: shipwrecked on a refined distinction between the state and the act,
corresponding respectively to the adjective (philon) and the participle
(philoumenon), or rather perhaps to the participle and the verb
(philoumenon and phileitai). The act is prior to the state (as in
Aristotle the energeia precedes the dunamis); and the state of being loved
is preceded by the act of being loved. But piety or holiness is preceded
by the act of being pious, not by the act of being loved; and therefore
piety and the state of being loved are different. Through such subtleties
of dialectic Socrates is working his way into a deeper region of thought
and feeling. He means to say that the words 'loved of the gods' express an
attribute only, and not the essence of piety.
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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 Koran: hereafter ye shall know!
Or have we sent down to them authority which speaks of what they
do associate with Him?
And when we have made men taste of mercy, they rejoice therein;
and if there befall them evil for what their hands have sent before,
behold! they are in despair.
Have they not seen that God extends provision to whom He pleases, or
doles it out? verily, in that are signs unto a people who believe.
Then give to the kinsman his due, and to the poor and to the
wayfarer; that is better for those who desire the face of God, and
these it is who are prosperous.
The Koran |