| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Saying, "Help me clear this river
Of its sunken logs and sand-bars."
Straight into the river Kwasind
Plunged as if he were an otter,
Dived as if he were a beaver,
Stood up to his waist in water,
To his arm-pits in the river,
Swam and scouted in the river,
Tugged at sunken logs and branches,
With his hands he scooped the sand-bars,
With his feet the ooze and tangle.
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Montezuma's Daughter by H. Rider Haggard: some relief from our sufferings, for the air grew cooler. But the
rain we prayed for did not fall, and so great was the heat that,
when the sun rose again in a cloudless sky, we knew, if no help
reached us, that it must be the last which we should see.
An hour after dawn another child died, and as we were in the act of
casting the body into the sea, I looked up and saw a vessel far
away, that seemed to be sailing in such fashion that she would pass
within two miles of where we were. Returning thanks to God for
this most blessed sight, we took to the oars, for the wind was now
so light that our clumsy sail would no longer draw us through the
water, and rowed feebly so as to cut the path of the ship. When we
Montezuma's Daughter |
| 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: discontent with authority, with direction, with union, with the
European effort. It wants to do nothing. It just wants effort
to stop--even at the price of German victory. If the whole
fabric of society in western Europe were to be handed over to
those pseudo-socialists to-morrow, to be administered for the
common good, they would fly the task in terror. They would make
excuses and refuse the undertaking. They do not want the world
to go right. The very idea of the world going right does not
exist in their minds. They are embodied discontent and hatred,
making trouble, and that is all they are. They want to be
"rebels"--to be admired as "rebels".
|
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 Thus Spake Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche: handlers.
Respectable do ye there stand, and stiff, and with straight backs, ye
famous wise ones!--no strong wind or will impelleth you.
Have ye ne'er seen a sail crossing the sea, rounded and inflated, and
trembling with the violence of the wind?
Like the sail trembling with the violence of the spirit, doth my wisdom
cross the sea--my wild wisdom!
But ye servants of the people, ye famous wise ones--how COULD ye go with
me!--
Thus spake Zarathustra.
XXXI. THE NIGHT-SONG.
Thus Spake Zarathustra |
