| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Silverado Squatters by Robert Louis Stevenson: thoughtfully, and thoroughly alive to all that touches it;
the other in the inert and bestial state, walking in a faint
dream, and taking so dim an impression of the myriad sides of
life that he is truly conscious of nothing but himself. It
is only in the fastnesses of nature, forests, mountains, and
the back of man's beyond, that a creature endowed with five
senses can grow up into the perfection of this crass and
earthy vanity. In towns or the busier country sides, he is
roughly reminded of other men's existence; and if he learns
no more, he learns at least to fear contempt. But Irvine had
come scatheless through life, conscious only of himself, of
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Ion by Plato: and have plenty to say?
SOCRATES: The reason, my friend, is obvious. No one can fail to see that
you speak of Homer without any art or knowledge. If you were able to speak
of him by rules of art, you would have been able to speak of all other
poets; for poetry is a whole.
ION: Yes.
SOCRATES: And when any one acquires any other art as a whole, the same may
be said of them. Would you like me to explain my meaning, Ion?
ION: Yes, indeed, Socrates; I very much wish that you would: for I love
to hear you wise men talk.
SOCRATES: O that we were wise, Ion, and that you could truly call us so;
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Jungle by Upton Sinclair: younger and more beautiful, they went out to follow upon the
trail of the workingmen. Sometimes they came of themselves,
and the saloon-keepers shared with them; or sometimes they were
handled by agencies, the same as the labor army. They were in
the towns in harvest time, near the lumber camps in the winter,
in the cities when the men came there; if a regiment were
encamped, or a railroad or canal being made, or a great
exposition getting ready, the crowd of women were on hand, living
in shanties or saloons or tenement rooms, sometimes eight or ten
of them together.
In the morning Jurgis had not a cent, and he went out upon the
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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 The Sportsman by Xenophon: the first step is to bring up the pack,[11] which done, they will
loose a single Laconian bitch, and keeping the rest in leash, beat
about with this one hound.[12] As soon as she has got on the boar's
track, let them follow in order, one after another, close on the
tracking hound, who gives the lead to the whole company.[13] Even to
the huntsmen themselves many a mark of the creature will be plain,
such as his footprints on soft portions of the ground, and in the
thick undergrowth of forests broken twigs; and, where there are single
trees, the scars made by his tusks.[14] As she follows up the trail
the hound will, as a general rule, finally arrive at some well-wooded
spot; since, as a general rule, the boar lies ensconced in places of
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