“Not at all; Böhme would not have consented to lay hold of such an obvious analogy. He dives deeper into fire characteristics than to think chiefly of its warmth. It is above all a consuming element; it takes substances of all kinds and transmutes them into itself, a greedy devourer, reckless of the value of what it takes, intent only on increasing and maintaining itself. The fire people are the ambitious conquerors and rulers of the world, who by the strength and attractive warmth of their own natures force others to bend to them and become absorbed in their projects. They are in reality as great egotists as the earth people, only they don’t keep their egotism at smouldering fever heat in their own hearts; they let it blaze forth into a living flame, which draws weaker natures to be consumed in it, or at least forces them to live only in its heat and light. Napoleon Bonaparte, I think, might stand for a typical fire man. In women the fire nature shows rather differently: pure fire women have acted very conspicuous parts in the world’s history, and generally very disastrous ones, they are the women who inspire great passions and feel very little themselves. They draw others to them for the sake of homage to add to their own light. Madame de Chevreuse and Madame de Longueville must have been pure fire women, I should say. Don’t suppose, however, that the fire, more than any other temperament, secures greatness or real superiority; it enables those who follow its complexion to impress themselves more on other people than the air spirits can, but their influence may be only temporary, and it may be very disagreeable, and in the end repelling. Don’t you know people, both men and women, who have a mysterious way of making their will felt, and who always count for something in whatever society they are in as long as they are present, but who leave no permanent impression? Those I suppose would be, according to Böhme, stupid souls acting through the fire temperament. The influence of the air souls, inconspicuous as it is, is more permanent. Like the air it nourishes and changes without destroying; air people give more than they take. Fire people take more than they give.”
K. “And now what are the water followers? I hope we are coming to some amiable, pleasant people at last, for you have not described anything very attractive yet.”
“I am afraid you will like the water complexion least of all, and be obliged to acknowledge too that ‘the subtle and yielding water’ has more followers than any of the other elements. The water element has a sort of resemblance to the air element; it mimics it without having its power. Water people are that large majority of mankind who have too weak a hold on life to be anything very distinctive of themselves. They simulate living and thinking, rather than really think and live. Just as water receives impressions in itself that it cannot clasp and hold, that seem to be part of it and are not. They are easily influenced by others—by air people for example; but they only image their thoughts in themselves. They look like them when they are with them, and when the influence is removed they are empty like a lake when a veil of clouds is drawn over the sky. The distinctive mark of water people is that they are self-conscious, they are always thinking of themselves, because they live a sort of double life—occupied not only with what they are doing but with the thought that they actually are doing it. Unconsciously they are continually acting a part. They have notions about themselves and act up to them. They see themselves in different lights, and everything else as it concerns themselves. Seeing not the real thing, but the thing reflected in themselves. You must know such people, though they are difficult to describe, and I cannot just now think of any historical typical water person to help out my description. Perhaps Napoleon the Third would do. I think he must be what Böhme meant by ‘those who partake of the nature of the subtle and yielding nature;’ and, by the way, Böhme does not describe the water people as really yielding; on the contrary, he says they are very persistent. In a slow, obstinate way, by seeming to yield and always returning to the point from which they had been diverging (always finding their own level) they have more power than the followers of any of the other elements.”
K. “Is there nothing good about these poor water creatures? Have they no redeeming qualities?”
“Oh yes! The water temperament conduces to industry and perseverance. Water men and women are very good imitators, not actors, and do most of the second-rate work in the world. They are not un-sympathizing. Like air people, they take in easily the thoughts and lives of others, only they are always conscious of taking them in; they don’t lose themselves in others, as it is possible for the air followers to do. While they sympathize, they think how nice it is to be sympathetic; or, if they are women, perhaps the thought is how interesting I look while I am listening to this sad story.”
K. “Come now, I believe you have some particular water person in your mind, for you are getting satirical. It is well we are nearly home. What I can’t understand is, why all the four complexions have so much that is disagreeable in them. In which class would Böhme put really good and noble people?”
“They might come into any one of the four classes. You must remember that according to Böhme the temperament is an outer material atmosphere surrounding the soul, and of necessity partly evil, because it is material; the pure soul has to work through it, and conquer it, according to Böhme.”
SKETCHES.
(In a Garden.)
A LADY.—A POET.