| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Madam How and Lady Why by Charles Kingsley: round cup. You may prove for yourself that it must be so, if you
will try. Do you not know that if you dig a round hole in the
ground, and leave it to crumble in, it is sure to become cup-
shaped at last, though at first its sides may have been quite
upright, like those of a bucket? If you do not know, get a trowel
and make your little experiment.
And now you ought to understand what "cone" and "crater" mean.
And more, if you will think for yourself, you may guess what would
come out of a volcano when it broke out "in an eruption," as it is
usually called. First, clouds of steam and dust (what you would
call smoke); then volleys of stones, some cool, some burning hot;
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Return of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs: It was Lord Tennington's plan to cruise through the
Mediterranean, and the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean, and
thus down the East Coast, putting in at every port that
was worth the seeing.
And so it happened that on a certain day two vessels passed
in the Strait of Gibraltar. The smaller, a trim white
yacht, was speeding toward the east, and on her deck sat a
young woman who gazed with sad eyes upon a diamondstudded
locket which she idly fingered. Her thoughts were far
away, in the dim, leafy fastness of a tropical jungle--and
her heart was with her thoughts.
The Return of Tarzan |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Mirror of the Sea by Joseph Conrad: belonging thereto - scribes, officers, and guardacostas afloat and
ashore. He was the very man for us, this modern and unlawful
wanderer with his own legend of loves, dangers, and bloodshed. He
told us bits of it sometimes in measured, ironic tones. He spoke
Catalonian, the Italian of Corsica and the French of Provence with
the same easy naturalness. Dressed in shore-togs, a white starched
shirt, black jacket, and round hat, as I took him once to see Dona
Rita, he was extremely presentable. He could make himself
interesting by a tactful and rugged reserve set off by a grim,
almost imperceptible, playfulness of tone and manner.
He had the physical assurance of strong-hearted men. After half an
The Mirror of the Sea |
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 I Have A Dream by Martin Luther King, Jr.: trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow
cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for
freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and
staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the
veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith
that unearned suffering is redemptive.
Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to Georgia,
go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our
northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will
be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.
I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties
|
