| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from A Second Home by Honore de Balzac: house the shadow of a person who seems to work with heroic constancy."
The Count paused as if he felt some sudden pain. "And I take as great
an interest in that garret," he went on, "as a citizen of Paris must
feel in the finishing of the Palais Royal."
"Well," said Horace Bianchon eagerly, "I can tell you--"
"Tell me nothing," replied Granville, cutting the doctor short. "I
would not give a centime to know whether the shadow that moves across
that shabby blind is that of a man or a woman, nor whether the
inhabitant of that attic is happy or miserable. Though I was surprised
to see no one at work there this evening, and though I stopped to
look, it was solely for the pleasure of indulging in conjectures as
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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 Tao Teh King by Lao-tze: the (proper) service to the heavenly, there is nothing like
moderation.
2. It is only by this moderation that there is effected an early
return (to man's normal state). That early return is what I call the
repeated accumulation of the attributes (of the Tao). With that
repeated accumulation of those attributes, there comes the subjugation
(of every obstacle to such return). Of this subjugation we know not
what shall be the limit; and when one knows not what the limit shall
be, he may be the ruler of a state.
3. He who possesses the mother of the state may continue long. His
case is like that (of the plant) of which we say that its roots are
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