| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from First Inaugural Address by Abraham Lincoln: such decision may be erroneous in any given case, still the evil effect
following it, being limited to that particular case, with the chance that
it may be overruled and never become a precedent for other cases,
can better be borne than could the evils of a different practice.
At the same time, the candid citizen must confess that if the policy
of the government, upon vital questions affecting the whole people,
is to be irrevocably fixed by decisions of the Supreme Court,
the instant they are made, in ordinary litigation between parties
in personal actions, the people will have ceased to be their own rulers,
having to that extent practically resigned their government into the hands
of that eminent tribunal. Nor is there in this view any assault upon
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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: we've got to go on fighting, eh? All right! Let's go to it!
I'm game to the end, you know."
"Good, but on what side?"
Demetrio, nonplussed, scratched his head:
"Look here, don't ask me any more questions. I never
went to school, you know. . . . You gave me the eagle
I wear on my hat, didn't you? All right then; you just
tell me: 'Demetrio, do this or do that,' and that's all
there's to it!"
PART THREE
"Villa? Obregon? Carranza? What's the difference? I love
The Underdogs |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Tour Through Eastern Counties of England by Daniel Defoe: says they seldom end without some considerable match or intrigue;
and yet he owns that during the fair these assemblies are held
every night. Now that these fine ladies go intriguing every night,
and that too after the comedy is done, which is after the fair and
raffling is over for the day, so that it must be very late. This
is a terrible character for the ladies of Bury, and intimates, in
short, that most of them are loose women, which is a horrid abuse
upon the whole country.
Now, though I like not the assemblies at all, and shall in another
place give them something of their due, yet having the opportunity
to see the fair at Bury, and to see that there were, indeed,
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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 Symposium by Xenophon: A." i. 17.
[17] Lit. "dealing with her," "finding in her"; {khro} corresponding
to {khresthai} in Socrates' remarks.
Well now, I will tell you (he answered). I follow the example of the
rider who wishes to become an expert horseman: "None of your soft-
mouthed, docile animals for me," he says; "the horse for me to own
must show some spirit":[18] in the belief, no doubt, if he can manage
such an animal, it will be easy enough to deal with every other horse
besides. And that is just my case. I wish to deal with human beings,
to associate with man in general; hence my choice of wife.[19] I know
full well, if I can tolerate her spirit, I can with ease attach myself
The Symposium |
