| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Parmenides by Plato: Let us take another direction.
What direction?
We say that the one partakes of being and therefore it is?
Yes.
And in this way, the one, if it has being, has turned out to be many?
True.
But now, let us abstract the one which, as we say, partakes of being, and
try to imagine it apart from that of which, as we say, it partakes--will
this abstract one be one only or many?
One, I think.
Let us see:--Must not the being of one be other than one? for the one is
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Lamentable Tragedy of Locrine and Mucedorus by William Shakespeare: In state of bliss and healthful happiness.
[Exit.]
ACT I. SCENE I.
Enter Brutus carried in a chair, Locrine, Camber, Albanact,
Corineius, Gwendoline, Assarachus, Debon, Thrasimachus.
BRUTUS.
Most loyal Lords and faithful followers,
That have with me, unworthy General,
Passed the greedy gulf of Ocean,
Leaving the confines of fair Italy,
Behold, your Brutus draweth nigh his end,
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from De Profundis by Oscar Wilde: humiliation and exile; they were the lines my mother often quoted
in the troubles of her later life. I absolutely declined to accept
or admit the enormous truth hidden in them. I could not understand
it. I remember quite well how I used to tell her that I did not
want to eat my bread in sorrow, or to pass any night weeping and
watching for a more bitter dawn.
I had no idea that it was one of the special things that the Fates
had in store for me: that for a whole year of my life, indeed, I
was to do little else. But so has my portion been meted out to me;
and during the last few months I have, after terrible difficulties
and struggles, been able to comprehend some of the lessons hidden
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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 Democracy In America, Volume 2 by Alexis de Toqueville: law is deemed necessary, the Intendant's permission must be
obtained. The cause must be pleaded before this first tribunal,
previous to its being carried into a public court; and if the
opinion of the Intendant is opposed to that of the inhabitants,
or if their adversary enjoys his favor, the community is deprived
of the power of defending its rights. Such are the means, Sire,
which have been exerted to extinguish the municipal spirit in
France; and to stifle, if possible, the opinions of the citizens.
The nation may be said to lie under an interdict, and to be in
wardship under guardians." What could be said more to the purpose
at the present day, when the Revolution has achieved what are
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