| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Virginibus Puerisque by Robert Louis Stevenson: be but an irksome task." The old gentleman seems to have been
unaware that many other things besides reading grow irksome,
and not a few become impossible, by the time a man has to use
spectacles and cannot walk without a stick. Books are good
enough in their own way, but they are a mighty bloodless
substitute for life. It seems a pity to sit, like the Lady of
Shalott, peering into a mirror, with your back turned on all
the bustle and glamour of reality. And if a man reads very
hard, as the old anecdote reminds us, he will have little time
for thought.
If you look back on your own education, I am sure it will
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift: Being one day abroad with my protector the sorrel nag, and the
weather exceeding hot, I entreated him to let me bathe in a river
that was near. He consented, and I immediately stripped myself
stark naked, and went down softly into the stream. It happened
that a young female YAHOO, standing behind a bank, saw the whole
proceeding, and inflamed by desire, as the nag and I conjectured,
came running with all speed, and leaped into the water, within
five yards of the place where I bathed. I was never in my life
so terribly frightened. The nag was grazing at some distance,
not suspecting any harm. She embraced me after a most fulsome
manner. I roared as loud as I could, and the nag came galloping
Gulliver's Travels |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Anthem by Ayn Rand: to forget our lessons, but we always remembered.
We tried not to understand what the Teachers taught,
but we always understood it before the Teachers
had spoken. We looked upon Union 5-3992,
who were a pale boy with only half a brain,
and we tried to say and do as they did,
that we might be like them, like Union 5-3992,
but somehow the Teachers knew that we were not.
And we were lashed more often than all the other children.
The Teachers were just, for they had
been appointed by the Councils, and the
Anthem |
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 Ball at Sceaux by Honore de Balzac: she endeavored to bring upon the scene the hitherto unseen figure of
Mademoiselle Clara Longueville. The family party at the Villa Planat
soon expressed the greatest desire to make the acquaintance of so
amiable a young lady, and to give her some amusement. An informal
dance was proposed and accepted. The ladies did not despair of making
a young girl of sixteen talk.
Notwithstanding the little clouds piled up by suspicion and created by
curiosity, a light of joy shone in Emilie's soul, for she found life
delicious when thus intimately connected with another than herself.
She began to understand the relations of life. Whether it is that
happiness makes us better, or that she was too fully occupied to
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