| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad: to pretend anything. I had felt utterly incapable of playing
the part of ignorance properly, and therefore was afraid to try.
It is also certain that he had brought some ready-made suspicions
with him, and that he viewed my politeness as a strange and
unnatural phenomenon. And yet how else could I have received him?
Not heartily! That was impossible for psychological reasons,
which I need not state here. My only object was to keep off
his inquiries. Surlily? Yes, but surliness might have provoked
a point-blank question. From its novelty to him and from its nature,
punctilious courtesy was the manner best calculated to restrain the man.
But there was the danger of his breaking through my defense bluntly.
 The Secret Sharer |
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 Art of War by Sun Tzu: paid for their services. But it is surely false economy to
grudge a comparatively trifling amount for this purpose, when
every day that the war lasts eats up an incalculably greater sum.
This grievous burden falls on the shoulders of the poor, and
hence Sun Tzu concludes that to neglect the use of spies is
nothing less than a crime against humanity.]
3. One who acts thus is no leader of men, no present help
to his sovereign, no master of victory.
[This idea, that the true object of war is peace, has its
root in the national temperament of the Chinese. Even so far
back as 597 B.C., these memorable words were uttered by Prince
 The Art of War |