| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Philebus by Plato: accurately, in order, as we were saying, that the second place may be duly
assigned.
PROTARCHUS: Right.
SOCRATES: Have we not found a road which leads towards the good?
PROTARCHUS: What road?
SOCRATES: Supposing that a man had to be found, and you could discover in
what house he lived, would not that be a great step towards the discovery
of the man himself?
PROTARCHUS: Certainly.
SOCRATES: And now reason intimates to us, as at our first beginning, that
we should seek the good, not in the unmixed life but in the mixed.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Trooper Peter Halket of Mashonaland by Olive Schreiner: "'The rocks closed over it. Nine hundred fathoms deep, in a still, dark
pool it lay. The green lichen hung from the rocks. No sunlight came
there, and the stars could not look down at night. The pool lay still and
silent. Then, because it was alive and could not rest, it gathered its
strength together, through fallen earth and broken debris it oozed its way
silently on; and it crept out in a deep valley; the mountains closed it
around. And the streamlet laughed to itself, 'Ha, ha! I shall make a
great lake here; a sea!' And it oozed, and it oozed, and it filled half
the plain. But no lake came--only a great marsh--because there was no way
outwards, and the water rotted. The grass died out along its edges; and
the trees dropped their leaves and rotted in the water; and the wood dove
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Bureaucracy by Honore de Balzac: between them, and dinner was eaten in the midst of gloomy meditations.
"And it is my Wednesday," she said at last.
"All is not lost, dear Celestine," said Rabourdin, laying a kiss on
his wife's forehead; "perhaps to-morrow I shall be able to see the
minister and explain everything. Sebastien sat up all last night to
finish the writing; the papers are copied and collated; I shall place
them on the minister's desk and beg him to read them through. La
Briere will help me. A man is never condemned without a hearing."
"I am curious to see if Monsieur des Lupeaulx will come here to-
night."
"He? Of course he will come," said Rabourdin; "there's something of
|
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 United States Constitution: according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined
by adding to the whole number of free Persons, including those
bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed,
three fifths of all other Persons. The actual Enumeration shall be made
within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the
United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years,
in such Manner as they shall by law Direct. The number of
Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand,
but each State shall have at least one Representative;
and until such enumeration shall be made, the State of New Hampshire
shall be entitled to chuse three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode Island
The United States Constitution |
