| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Reason Discourse by Rene Descartes: triangle, or as in the idea of a sphere, the equidistance of all points on
its surface from the center, or even still more clearly; and that
consequently it is at least as certain that God, who is this Perfect
Being, is, or exists, as any demonstration of geometry can be.
But the reason which leads many to persuade them selves that there is a
difficulty in knowing this truth, and even also in knowing what their mind
really is, is that they never raise their thoughts above sensible objects,
and are so accustomed to consider nothing except by way of imagination,
which is a mode of thinking limited to material objects, that all that is
not imaginable seems to them not intelligible. The truth of this is
sufficiently manifest from the single circumstance, that the philosophers
Reason Discourse |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Polity of Athenians and Lacedaemonians by Xenophon: foundations of civic liberty are based.
And indeed, one may well ask, for what reason should wealth be
regarded as a matter for serious pursuit[1] in a community where,
partly by a system of equal contributions to the necessaries of life,
and partly by the maintenance of a common standard of living, the
lawgiver placed so effectual a check upon the desire of riches for the
sake of luxury? What inducement, for instance, would there be to make
money, even for the sake of wearing apparel, in a state where personal
adornment is held to lie not in the costliness of the clothes they
wear, but in the healthy condition of the body to be clothed? Nor
again could there be much inducement to amass wealth, in order to be
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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 Crisis in Russia by Arthur Ransome: for a moment that this elaborate mechanism sprang suddenly
into existence when the decree was signed. On the contrary,
all stages of industrial conscription exist simultaneously even
today, and it would be possible by going from one part of
Russia to another to collect a series of specimens of industrial
conscription at every stage of evolution, just as one
can collect all stages of man from a baboon to a company
director or a Communist. Some of the more primitive
kinds of conscription were not among the least successful.
For example, at the time(in the spring of the year)when the
Russians still hoped that the Poles would be content with 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 Hidden Masterpiece by Honore de Balzac: "Old man!" said Poussin, roused from his meditation by Gillette's
voice, "see this sword. I will plunge it into your heart at the first
cry of that young girl. I will set fire to your house, and no one
shall escape from it. Do you understand me?"
His look was gloomy and the tones of his voice were terrible. His
attitude, and above all the gesture with which he laid his hand upon
the weapon, comforted the poor girl, who half forgave him for thus
sacrificing her to his art and to his hopes of a glorious future.
Porbus and Poussin remained outside the closed door of the atelier,
looking at one another in silence. At first the painter of the
Egyptian Mary uttered a few exclamations: "Ah, she unclothes herself!"
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