| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Economist by Xenophon: is this. I take a leaf now out of the laws of Draco and again another
out of the laws of Solon,[3] and so essay to start my household on the
path of uprightness. And indeed, if I mistake not (he proceeded), both
those legislators enacted many of their laws expressly with a view to
teaching this branch of justice.[4] It is written, "Let a man be
punished for a deed of theft"; "Let whosoever is detected in the act
be bound and thrown in prison"; "If he offer violence,[5] let him be
put to death." It is clear that the intention of the lawgivers in
framing these enactments was to render the sordid love of gain[6]
devoid of profit to the unjust person. What I do, therefore, is to
cull a sample of their precepts, which I supplement with others from
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Polity of Athenians and Lacedaemonians by Xenophon: animal spirits flows fast, and the froth of insolence rises to the
surface; when, too, the most violent appetites for divers pleasures,
in serried ranks, invade[2] the mind. This, then, was the right moment
at which to impose tenfold labours upon the growing youth, and to
devise for him a subtle system of absorbing occupation. And by a
crowning enactment, which said that "he who shrank from the duties
imposed on him would forfeit henceforth all claim to the glorious
honours of the state," he caused, not only the public authorities, but
those personally interested[3] in the several companies of youths to
take serious pains so that no single individual of them should by an
act of craven cowardice find himself utterly rejected and reprobate
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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 Marriage Contract by Honore de Balzac: thousand francs a year will suffice for such a life and your
antecedents will enable you to marry some rich English woman hungry
for a title. That's an aristocratic life which seems to me thoroughly
French; the only life in which we can retain the respect and
friendship of a woman; the only life which distinguishes a man from
the present crowd,--in short, the only life for which a young man
should even think of resigning his bachelor blessings. Thus
established, the Comte de Manerville may advise his epoch, place
himself above the world, and be nothing less than a minister or an
ambassador. Ridicule can never touch him; he has gained the social
advantages of marriage while keeping all the privileges of a
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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 Blue Flower by Henry van Dyke: and in the massive golden collars around their necks, marking
them as Parthian nobles, and in the winged circles of gold
resting upon their breasts, the sign of the followers of
Zoroaster.
They took their places around a small black altar at the
end of the room, where a tiny flame was burning. Artaban,
standing beside it, and waving a barsom of thin tamarisk
branches above the fire, fed it with dry sticks of pine and
fragrant oils. Then he began the ancient chant of the Yasna,
and the voices of his companions joined in the hymn to
Ahura-Mazda:
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