| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Finished by H. Rider Haggard: tied his kilt of white oxtails about my middle, precautions to
which I have little doubt I owe my life, since from a distance
they made me look like a Kaffir mounted on a captured pony.
Then I started on again, whither I knew not.
CHAPTER XIX
ALLAN AWAKES
Now I have no intention of setting down all the details of that
dreadful journey through Zululand, even if I could recall them,
which, for a reason to be stated, I cannot do. I remember that
at first I thought of proceeding to Ulundi with some wild idea of
throwing myself on the mercy of Cetewayo under pretence that I
|
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 Republic by Plato: experience, there is a danger that dialectic may be the source of many
evils. The danger may be illustrated by a parallel case:--Imagine a person
who has been brought up in wealth and luxury amid a crowd of flatterers,
and who is suddenly informed that he is a supposititious son. He has
hitherto honoured his reputed parents and disregarded the flatterers, and
now he does the reverse. This is just what happens with a man's
principles. There are certain doctrines which he learnt at home and which
exercised a parental authority over him. Presently he finds that
imputations are cast upon them; a troublesome querist comes and asks, 'What
is the just and good?' or proves that virtue is vice and vice virtue, and
his mind becomes unsettled, and he ceases to love, honour, and obey them as
 The Republic |