We may begin close to home. The four beasts may be destructive monsters in our own minds that are working to destroy our souls. The lion is our own vanity, expressing a love of power over others. The bear is that same vanity, having crystallized in gluttony. The leopard shows how we try to blend in, getting what we want from others while appearing to be their friend. The fourth beast is the final triumph of ego and idol over whatever tendency to goodness that the lost soul has remaining.
History may be encapsulated by the four beasts, each of which represents a stage of governmental corruption. The lion, whether Caesar, William the Conqueror, or Napoleon, or their private-sector equivalents, begins by taking over parts of the world or the marketplace.
Their originating genius is quickly replaced by greedy successors who work to apportion to themselves parts of what their illustrious predecessor has gained. They are soon replaced by more cunning, who take over because they don’t owe their positions to their relationship with the originator, but to their own abilities.
The fourth stage of collapse is exactly that, collapse. The institution becomes so corrupt and distorted, much like a modern bureaucracy, that no one, least of all those involved with it, can figure out what they are. Their separation from God becomes a separation from reality, and final collapse is ever-nearer.
In history, the beasts represent distance from God. The originator, from Solomon to Cyrus to the Founding Fathers, is faithful to a higher power. Whether God, Ahura-Mazda, or the Protestant Establishment, there is faith in something above and beyond by which the originator is motivated.
The bear, halfway between lion and pig, symbolizes greed combined with power. The seeds of destruction are sown. The temple of Apollo takes bribes from Persians to make favorable predictions. Priests of Isis are made pawns of Pharaohs. Princes finance Martin Luther to replace The Church with a complaisant structure.
Bears are easier targets than leopards. Their destruction is as assured as any manifestation of sin. Next, the leopard-govenment tries to be all things to all people, much like Franklin Roosevelt in the 1930s.
The final beast is the complete separation of power from any pretence at goodness. We see that in Stalin and Sulieman.
