| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Songs of Travel by Robert Louis Stevenson: the eyes:
With the half of a broken hope for a pillow at night
That somehow the right is the right
And the smooth shall bloom from the rough:
Lord, if that were enough?
XXVI - MY WIFE
TRUSTY, dusky, vivid, true,
With eyes of gold and bramble-dew,
Steel-true and blade-straight,
The great artificer
Made my mate.
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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 Soul of Man by Oscar Wilde: power, not over mere mimicry but over imaginative and intellectual
creation, Mr Irving, had his sole object been to give the public
what they wanted, could have produced the commonest plays in the
commonest manner, and made as much success and money as a man could
possibly desire. But his object was not that. His object was to
realise his own perfection as an artist, under certain conditions,
and in certain forms of Art. At first he appealed to the few: now
he has educated the many. He has created in the public both taste
and temperament. The public appreciate his artistic success
immensely. I often wonder, however, whether the public understand
that that success is entirely due to the fact that he did not
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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 The Spirit of the Border by Zane Grey: man addressed the brothers.
"Who're you, an' where you goin'?" he asked gruffly, confronting Jim.
"My name is Downs. I am a preacher, and was on my way to the Moravian Mission
to preach to the Indians. You are a white man; will you help us?"
If Jim expected the information would please his interrogator, he was
mistaken.
"So you're one of 'em? Yes, I'll do suthin' fer you when I git back from this
hunt. I'll cut your heart out, chop it up, an' feed it to the buzzards," he
said fiercely, concluding his threat by striking Jim a cruel blow on the head.
Joe paled deathly white at this cowardly action, and his eyes, as they met the
gaze of the ruffian, contracted with their characteristic steely glow, as if
The Spirit of the Border |
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 A treatise on Good Works by Dr. Martin Luther: a long time had much experience of fasting, although they have
never tried it.
No less are we to guard against offending those who, not
sufficiently informed, regard it a great sin if we do not fast
or eat as they do. These we must kindly instruct, and not
haughtily despise, nor eat this or that in despite of them, but
we must tell them the reason why it is right to do so, and thus
gradually lead them to a correct understanding. But if they are
stubborn and will not listen, we must let them alone, and do as
we know it is right to do.
XXII. The second form of discipline which we receive at the hands
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