| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Symposium by Plato: common to all.' 'Why, then,' she rejoined, 'are not all men, Socrates,
said to love, but only some of them? whereas you say that all men are
always loving the same things.' 'I myself wonder,' I said, 'why this is.'
'There is nothing to wonder at,' she replied; 'the reason is that one part
of love is separated off and receives the name of the whole, but the other
parts have other names.' 'Give an illustration,' I said. She answered me
as follows: 'There is poetry, which, as you know, is complex and manifold.
All creation or passage of non-being into being is poetry or making, and
the processes of all art are creative; and the masters of arts are all
poets or makers.' 'Very true.' 'Still,' she said, 'you know that they are
not called poets, but have other names; only that portion of the art which
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Second Inaugural Address by Abraham Lincoln: Both parties deprecated war; but one of them would make war rather
than let the nation survive; and the other would accept war rather
than let it perish. And the war came.
One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed
generally over the Union, but localized in the Southern part of it.
These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew
that this interest was, somehow, the cause of the war. To strengthen,
perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the
insurgents would rend the Union, even by war; while the government claimed
no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it.
Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration
Second Inaugural Address |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Within the Tides by Joseph Conrad: to himself: "This fellow will end by giving me away. The last
thing that I . . . No! That mustn't be." And feeling his hand
being forced he discovered the whole extent of his cowardice.
CHAPTER X
That morning wandering about his plantation, more like a frightened
soul than its creator and master, he dodged the white parasol
bobbing up here and there like a buoy adrift on a sea of dark-green
plants. The crop promised to be magnificent, and the fashionable
philosopher of the age took other than a merely scientific interest
in the experiment. His investments were judicious, but he had
always some little money lying by, for experiments.
Within the Tides |
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 Tik-Tok of Oz by L. Frank Baum: true I have invited several mortals to make their
home here, and all of them have proved true and
loyal subjects. Indeed, no one of you three was a
native of Oz. Dorothy and the Wizard came here
from the United States, and Tik-Tok came from the
Land of Ev. But of course he is not a mortal.
Shaggy is another American, and he is the cause of
all my worry, for our dear Shaggy will not return
here and desert the new friends he has found in
his recent adventures, because he believes they
need his services."
Tik-Tok of Oz |
