| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Egmont by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe: himself.
Orange. He who is sure of his own motives can, with confidence, advance
or retreat.
Egmont. Your own act will render certain the evil that you dread.
Orange. Wisdom and courage alike prompt us to meet an inevitable evil.
Egmont. When the danger is imminent the faintest hope should be taken
into account.
Orange We have not the smallest footing left; we are on the very brink of
the precipice.
Egmont. Is the king's favour on ground so narrow?
Orange. Not narrow, perhaps, but slippery.
Egmont |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Fisherman's Luck by Henry van Dyke: and you will perceive that the fisherman does care for his luck,
after all.
And why not? I am no friend to the people who receive the bounties
of Providence without visible gratitude. When the sixpence falls
into your hat, you may laugh. When the messenger of an unexpected
blessing takes you by the hand and lifts you up and bids you walk,
you may leap and run and sing for joy, even as the lame man, whom
St. Peter healed, skipped piously and rejoiced aloud as he passed
through the Beautiful Gate of the Temple. There is no virtue in
solemn indifference. Joy is just as much a duty as beneficence is.
Thankfulness is the other side of mercy.
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Sophist by Plato: he disputes?
THEAETETUS: But how can he, Stranger? Is there any doubt, after what has
been said, that he is to be located in one of the divisions of children's
play?
STRANGER: Then we must place him in the class of magicians and mimics.
THEAETETUS: Certainly we must.
STRANGER: And now our business is not to let the animal out, for we have
got him in a sort of dialectical net, and there is one thing which he
decidedly will not escape.
THEAETETUS: What is that?
STRANGER: The inference that he is a juggler.
|
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 One Basket by Edna Ferber: straight, slim, tailored, white-haired woman, bargaining so
shrewdly with these men, was the Emma Byers of the old days. But
he stopped there a moment, in frank curiosity, and the woman
looked up. She looked up, and he knew those intelligent eyes and
that serene brow. He had carried the picture of them in his mind
for more than thirty years, so it was not so surprising.
He did not hesitate. He might have if he had thought a moment,
but he acted automatically. He stood before her. "You're Emma
Byers, ain't you?"
She did not know him at first. Small blame to her, so completely
had the roguish, vigorous boy vanished in this sallow, sad-eyed
One Basket |
