| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James: stick to non-personal elements exclusively seems like saying that
we ought to be satisfied forever with reading the naked bill of
fare. I think, therefore, that however particular questions
connected with our individual destinies may be answered, it is
only by acknowledging them as genuine questions, and living in
the sphere of thought which they open up, that we become
profound. But to live thus is to be religious; so I
unhesitatingly repudiate the survival-theory of religion, as
being founded on an egregious mistake. It does not follow,
because our ancestors made so many errors of fact and mixed them
with their religion, that we should therefore leave off being
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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 Ballads by Robert Louis Stevenson: And spat in his ear a command, and pointed and uttered a name,
And hid in the shade of the house his impotent anger and shame.
Now Tamatea the fool was far on the homeward way,
The rising night in his face, behind him the dying day.
Rahero saw him go by, and the heart of Rahero was glad,
Devising shame to the king and nowise harm to the lad;
And all that dwelt by the way saw and saluted him well,
For he had the face of a friend and the news of the town to tell;
And pleased with the notice of folk, and pleased that his journey was done,
Tamatea drew homeward, turning his back to the sun.
And now was the hour of the bath in Taiarapu: far and near
Ballads |
