| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Kwaidan by Lafcadio Hearn: and the greatest among them has answered it -- partly in the affirmative.
Herbert Spencer has expressed his belief that humanity will arrive at some
state of civilization ethically comparable with that of the ant:--
"If we have, in lower orders of creatures, cases in which the nature is
constitutionally so modified that altruistic activities have become one
with egoistic activities, there is an irresistible implication that a
parallel identification will, under parallel conditions, take place among
human beings. Social insects furnish us with instances completely to the
point,-- and instances showing us, indeed, to what a marvelous degree the
life of the individual may be absorbed in subserving the lives of other
individuals... Neither the ant nor the bee can be supposed to have a sense
Kwaidan |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from On Revenues by Xenophon: ever to march upon the mines in force? The nearest state, Megara, is
distant, I take it, a good deal over sixty miles;[59] and the next
closest, Thebes, a good deal nearer seventy.[60] Supposing then an
enemy to advance from some such point to attack the mines, he cannot
avoid passing Athens; and presuming his force to be small, we may
expect him to be annihilated by our cavalry and frontier police.[61] I
say, presuming his force to be small, since to march with anything
like a large force, and thereby leave his own territory denuded of
troops, would be a startling achievement. Why, the fortified city of
Athens will be much closer the states of the attacking parties than
they themselves will be by the time they have got to the mines. But,
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Concerning Christian Liberty by Martin Luther: things--for they are already justified by faith--but that in
liberty of spirit they may thus be the servants of others and
subject to powers, obeying their will out of gratuitous love.
Such, too, ought to have been the works of all colleges,
monasteries, and priests; every one doing the works of his own
profession and state of life, not in order to be justified by
them, but in order to bring his own body into subjection, as an
example to others, who themselves also need to keep under their
bodies, and also in order to accommodate himself to the will of
others, out of free love. But we must always guard most carefully
against any vain confidence or presumption of being justified,
|
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 Odyssey by Homer: Thus did he pray, and Minerva heard his prayer. He then led the
way to his own house, followed by his sons and sons in law. When
they had got there and had taken their places on the benches and
seats, he mixed them a bowl of sweet wine that was eleven years
old when the housekeeper took the lid off the jar that held it.
As he mixed the wine, he prayed much and made drink offerings to
Minerva, daughter of Aegis-bearing Jove. Then, when they had
made their drink offerings and had drunk each as much as he was
minded, the others went home to bed each in his own abode; but
Nestor put Telemachus to sleep in the room that was over the
gateway along with Pisistratus, who was the only unmarried son
The Odyssey |
