| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Essays of Travel by Robert Louis Stevenson: many prudent men. I cannot be very grateful to such men for their
excellence, and wisdom, and prudence. I find myself facing as
stoutly as I can a hard, combative existence, full of doubt,
difficulties, defeats, disappointments, and dangers, quite a hard
enough life without their dark countenances at my elbow, so that what
I want is a happy-minded Smethurst placed here and there at ugly
corners of my life's wayside, preaching his gospel of quiet and
contentment.
ANOTHER
I was shortly to meet with an evangelist of another stamp. After I
had forced my way through a gentleman's grounds, I came out on the
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Underdogs by Mariano Azuela: "Coreligionist, sir, that is to say, a person who posses-
ses the same religion, who is inspired by the same ideals,
who defends and fights for the same cause you are now
fighting for."
Demetrio smiled:
"What are we fighting for? That's what I'd like to
know."
In his disconcertment, Luis Cervantes could find no
reply.
"Look at that mug, look at 'im! Why waste any time,
Demetrio? Let's shoot him," Pancracio urged impatiently.
The Underdogs |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from 1984 by George Orwell: hands against the bars, and fiercely sniffed the air. Winston could see
the whiskers and the yellow teeth. Again the black panic took hold of him.
He was blind, helpless, mindless.
'It was a common punishment in Imperial China,' said O'Brien as
didactically as ever.
The mask was closing on his face. The wire brushed his cheek. And then--no,
it was not relief, only hope, a tiny fragment of hope. Too late, perhaps
too late. But he had suddenly understood that in the whole world there was
just ONE person to whom he could transfer his punishment--ONE body that he
could thrust between himself and the rats. And he was shouting frantically,
over and over.
1984 |
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 Forged Coupon by Leo Tolstoy: comfort endured by the sensitive Slav in the
company of the frigid and silent English frequent-
ers of the Schweitzerhof ("Journal of Prince D.
Nekhludov " Lucerne, 1857), whose reserve,
he realised, was "not based on pride, but on the
absence of any desire to draw nearer to each
other"; while he looked back regretfully to the
pension in Paris where the table d' hote was a scene
of spontaneous gaiety. The problem of British
taciturnity passed his comprehension; but for us
the enigma of Tolstoy's temperament is half
The Forged Coupon |
