| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Blue Flower by Henry van Dyke: wild waters with incredible swiftness; marvellous creatures
appeared and vanished; he lived with all sorts of men, in
battles, in whirling crowds, in lonely huts. He was cast into
prison. He fell into dire distress and want. All experiences
seemed to be sharpened to an edge. He felt them keenly, yet
they did not harm him. He died and came alive again; he loved to
the height of passion, and then was parted forever from his
beloved. At last, toward morning, as the dawn was stealing
near, his soul grew calm, and the pictures showed more clear
and firm.
It seemed as if he were walking alone through the deep
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Kreutzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoy: "Just as it often happens among gay young people that, in the
absence of jokes, they laugh at their own laughter, so we found
no reasons for our hatred, and we hated each other because hatred
was naturally boiling up in us. More extraordinary still was the
absence of causes for reconciliation.
"Sometimes words, explanations, or even tears, but sometimes, I
remember, after insulting words, there tacitly followed embraces
and declarations. Abomination! Why is it that I did not then
perceive this baseness?
CHAPTER XIII.
The Kreutzer Sonata |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Democracy In America, Volume 2 by Alexis de Toqueville: himself as a sojourner in the dwelling of his masters. He knew
nothing of their forefathers - he will see nothing of their
descendants -he has nothing lasting to expect from their hand.
Why then should he confound his life with theirs, and whence
should so strange a surrender of himself proceed? The reciprocal
position of the two men is changed - their mutual relations must
be so too.
I would fain illustrate all these reflections by the example
of the Americans; but for this purpose the distinctions of
persons and places must be accurately traced. In the South of
the Union, slavery exists; all that I have just said is
|
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 Ten Years Later by Alexandre Dumas: roller to be introduced. There can be no doubt that every
time the stone escaped them, they bounded quickly backwards,
to keep their feet from being crushed by the refalling
stone. Every time, the stone, abandoned by them, sunk deeper
into the damp earth, which rendered the operation more and
more difficult. A third effort was followed by no better
success, but with progressive discouragement. And yet, when
the six men were bent towards the stone, the man with the
feathers had himself, with a powerful voice, given the word
of command, "Ferme!" which regulates maneuvers of strength.
Then he drew himself up.
Ten Years Later |
