| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Soul of the Far East by Percival Lowell: most artistic. Even politeness, which, as we have seen,
distinguishes both, is itself but a form of art,--the social art of
living agreeably with one's fellows.
This impersonality comes out with all the more prominence when we
pass from the consideration of art in itself to the spirit which
actuates that art, and especially when we compare their spirit with
our own. The mainsprings of Far Eastern art may be said to be
three: Nature, Religion, and Humor. Incongruous collection that
they are, all three witness to the same trait. For the first
typifies concrete impersonality, the second abstract impersonality,
while the province of the last is to ridicule personality generally.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Men of Iron by Howard Pyle: giving time to answer, "Thou canst not deny that I met thee then
at thy bidding, canst thou, Falworth?"
"Nay," said Myles, "nor haply canst thou deny it either." And at
this covert reminder of his defeat Myles's followers laughed
scoffingly and Blunt bit his lip.
"Thou hast said it," said he. "Then sin. I met thee at thy
bidding, I dare to thee to meet me now at mine, and to fight this
battle out between our two selves, with sword and buckler and
bascinet as gentles should, and not in a wrestling match like two
country hodges."
"Thou art a coward caitiff, Walter Blunt!" burst out Wilkes, who
Men of Iron |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Reminiscences of Tolstoy by Leo Tolstoy: thinking he was engaged on a virtuous and momentous task, but when
he saw the sufferings of the people, he simply could not bear to go
on living comfortably at Yásnaya or in Moscow any longer,
but had to go out and help in order to relieve his own feelings.
Once he wrote:
There is much about it that is not what it ought to be; there
is S. A.'s money¹ and the subscriptions; there is the relation
of those who feed and those who are fed. There is sin without
end, but I cannot stay at home and write. I feel the necessity
of taking part in it, of doing something.
Six years later I worked again at the same job with my father
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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 Thus Spake Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche: Better, however, to be foolish with happiness than foolish with misfortune,
better to dance awkwardly than walk lamely. So learn, I pray you, my
wisdom, ye higher men: even the worst thing hath two good reverse sides,--
--Even the worst thing hath good dancing-legs: so learn, I pray you, ye
higher men, to put yourselves on your proper legs!
So unlearn, I pray you, the sorrow-sighing, and all the populace-sadness!
Oh, how sad the buffoons of the populace seem to me to-day! This to-day,
however, is that of the populace.
20.
Do like unto the wind when it rusheth forth from its mountain-caves: unto
its own piping will it dance; the seas tremble and leap under its
Thus Spake Zarathustra |
