| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Dead Souls by Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol: their tables. True, he had differences of opinion with them, and
serious differences at that; but always these were skilfully adjusted
by his slapping the offended ones jovially on the shoulder, drinking a
glass of tea with them, promising to call at their houses and play a
game of chess, asking after their belongings, and, should he learn
that a child of theirs was ill, prescribing the proper medicine. In
short, he bore the reputation of being a very good fellow.
On perceiving the feast to be ready, the host proposed that his guests
should finish their whist after luncheon; whereupon all proceeded to
the room whence for some time past an agreeable odour had been
tickling the nostrils of those present, and towards the door of which
Dead Souls |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Desert Gold by Zane Grey: had turned out to be big men in other ways than in the power to
carry on great enterprises he might have become reconciled to them.
But the father was greedy, grasping, hard, cold; the son added to
those traits an overbearing disposition to rule, and he showed a
fondness for drink and cards. These men were developing the valley,
to be sure, and a horde of poor Mexicans and many Americans were
benefiting from that development; nevertheless, these Chases were
operating in a way which proved they cared only for themselves.
Belding shook off a lethargic spell and decided he had better set
about several by no means small tasks, if he wanted to get them
finished before the hot months. He made a trip to the Sonoyta
Desert Gold |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Theaetetus by Plato: the object which accompanies it. But in later years he sees in the name
only the universal or class word, and the more abstract the notion becomes,
the more vacant is the image which is presented to him. Henceforward all
the operations of his mind, including the perceptions of sense, are a
synthesis of sensations, words, conceptions. In seeing or hearing or
looking or listening the sensible impression prevails over the conception
and the word. In reflection the process is reversed--the outward object
fades away into nothingness, the name or the conception or both together
are everything. Language, like number, is intermediate between the two,
partaking of the definiteness of the outer and of the universality of the
inner world. For logic teaches us that every word is really a universal,
|
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 Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie: same direction. He looked about forty, very dark with a
melancholy clean-shaven face. Some violent emotion seemed to be
mastering him. He looked up at my window as he passed, and I
recognized him, though he had changed much in the fifteen years
that had elapsed since we last met. It was John's younger
brother, Lawrence Cavendish. I wondered what it was that had
brought that singular expression to his face.
Then I dismissed him from my mind, and returned to the
contemplation of my own affairs.
The evening passed pleasantly enough; and I dreamed that night of
that enigmatical woman, Mary Cavendish.
The Mysterious Affair at Styles |
