| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Koran: an evil couch shall it be. But those who fear their Lord, for them are
gardens beneath which rivers flow, and they shall dwell therein for
aye,- an entertainment from God; and that which is with God is best
for the righteous.
Verily, of the people of the Book are some who do believe in God,
and in what has been revealed to you, and what was revealed to them,
humbling themselves before God, and selling not the signs of God for a
little price. These shall have their reward with their Lord; verily,
God is quick at reckoning up.
O ye who believe! be patient and vie in being patient, and be on the
alert, and fear God, that haply ye may prosper.
The Koran |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne: the brook, and own thy mother, now that she has her shame upon
her -- now that she is sad?"
"Yes; now I will!" answered the child, bounding across the
brook, and clasping Hester in her arms "Now thou art my mother
indeed! and I am thy little Pearl!"
In a mood of tenderness that was not usual with her, she drew
down her mother's head, and kissed her brow and both her cheeks.
But then -- by a kind of necessity that always impelled this
child to alloy whatever comfort she might chance to give with a
The Scarlet Letter |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Ursula by Honore de Balzac: raising her veil.
Notwithstanding the dim light Savinien then recognized her by the
heavy braids of her hair and the brilliancy of her blue eyes.
"I, too, leave Paris to bury myself in Nemours without regret now that
I meet my charming neighbour again," he said; "I hope, Monsieur le
docteur that you will receive me in your house; I love music, and I
remember to have listened to Mademoiselle Ursula's piano."
"I do not know," replied the doctor gravely, "whether your mother
would approve of your visits to an old man whose duty it is to care
for this dear child with all the solicitude of a mother."
This reserved answer made Savinien reflect, and he then remembered the
|
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 Kwaidan by Lafcadio Hearn: its ordinary acceptation. A greedy ant, a sensual ant, an ant capable of
any one of the seven deadly sins, or even of a small venial sin, is
unimaginable. Equally unimaginable, of course, a romantic ant, an
ideological ant, a poetical ant, or an ant inclined to metaphysical
speculations. No human mind could attain to the absolute matter-of-fact
quality of the ant-mind;-- no human being, as now constituted, could
cultivate a mental habit so impeccably practical as that of the ant. But
this superlatively practical mind is incapable of moral error. It would be
difficult, perhaps, to prove that the ant has no religious ideas. But it is
certain that such ideas could not be of any use to it. The being incapable
of moral weakness is beyond the need of "spiritual guidance."
Kwaidan |
