| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen: "No governess! How was that possible? Five daughters brought
up at home without a governess! I never heard of such a thing.
Your mother must have been quite a slave to your education."
Elizabeth could hardly help smiling as she assured her that had
not been the case.
"Then, who taught you? who attended to you? Without a
governess, you must have been neglected."
"Compared with some families, I believe we were; but such of us
as wished to learn never wanted the means. We were always
encouraged to read, and had all the masters that were necessary.
Those who chose to be idle, certainly might."
Pride and Prejudice |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Sesame and Lilies by John Ruskin: All such knowledge should be given her as may enable her to
understand, and even to aid, the work of men: and yet it should be
given, not as knowledge,--not as if it were, or could be, for her an
object to know; but only to feel, and to judge. It is of no moment,
as a matter of pride or perfectness in herself, whether she knows
many languages or one; but it is of the utmost, that she should be
able to show kindness to a stranger, and to understand the sweetness
of a stranger's tongue. It is of no moment to her own worth or
dignity that she should be acquainted with this science or that; but
it is of the highest that she should be trained in habits of
accurate thought; that she should understand the meaning, the
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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 Collected Articles by Frederick Douglass: bravery. My means of escape were provided for me by the very men
who were making laws to hold and bind me more securely in slavery.
It was the custom in the State of Maryland to require the free
colored people to have what were called free papers.
These instruments they were required to renew very often,
and by charging a fee for this writing, considerable sums from
time to time were collected by the State. In these papers the name,
age, color, height, and form of the freeman were described,
together with any scars or other marks upon his person which
could assist in his identification. This device in some measure
defeated itself--since more than one man could be found to answer
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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 The Unseen World and Other Essays by John Fiske: toward some good end, even an end in no wise anthropomorphic, it
would be of less consequence whether we were individually to
endure. To the dog under the knife of the experimenter, the world
is a world of pure evil; yet could the poor beast but understand
the alleviation of human suffering to which he is contributing,
he would be forced to own that this is not quite true; and if he
were also a heroic or Christian dog, the thought would perhaps
take away from death its sting. The analogy may be a crude one;
but the reasonableness of the universe is at least as far above
our comprehension as the purposes of man surpass the
understanding of the dog. Believing, however, though as a simple
The Unseen World and Other Essays |
