| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Koran: These, their resort is hell; they shall not find an escape
therefrom! But those who believe, and do what is right, we will make
them enter into gardens beneath which rivers flow, to dwell therein
for aye,- God's promise in truth; and who is truer than God in speech?
Not for your vain desires, nor the vain desires of the people of the
Book. He who doeth evil shall be recompensed therewith, and shall
not find for him beside God a patron, or a help. But he who doeth good
works,- be it male or female,- and believes, they shall enter into
Paradise, and they shall not be wronged a jot.
Who has a better religion than he who resigns his face to God, and
does good, and follows the faith of Abraham, as a 'Hanif?- for God
The Koran |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Bureaucracy by Honore de Balzac: chance of a rapid promotion. But now, ever since the Chamber invented
what they called special training, and the rules and regulations for
civil-service examiners, we are worse off than common soldiers. The
poorest places are at the mercy of a thousand mischances because we
are now ruled by a thousand sovereigns."
Bixiou [returning]. "Are you crazy, Chazelle? Where do you find a
thousand sovereigns?--not in your pocket, are they?"
Chazelle. "Count them up. There are four hundred over there at the end
of the pont de la Concorde (so called because it leads to the scene of
perpetual discord between the Right and Left of the Chamber); three
hundred more at the end of the rue de Tournon. The court, which ought
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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 Under the Andes by Rex Stout: foaming surface. Below, it emptied into a lake which nearly filled
the cavern, some hundreds of yards in diameter. Rough boulders and
narrow ledges surrounded it on every side.
This I saw in time, but the first thing that caught my eye was
no work of nature. Fastened to the wall on the opposite side of
the cavern, casting a dim, flickering light throughout its vast
space, were two golden, flaming urns.
It was not fear, but a sort of nausea, that assailed me as I
realized that I was still in the domain of the Incas.
The ledge on which I lay was exposed to view from nearly every
point of the cavern, and the sight of those urns caused me to make
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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 Walking by Henry David Thoreau: original conditions during the hours of night, when this
excitement was no longer influencing them." Hence it has been
inferred that "the hours of darkness are as necessary to the
inorganic creation as we know night and sleep are to the organic
kingdom." Not even does the moon shine every night, but gives
place to darkness.
I would not have every man nor every part of a man cultivated,
any more than I would have every acre of earth cultivated: part
will be tillage, but the greater part will be meadow and forest,
not only serving an immediate use, but preparing a mould against
a distant future, by the annual decay of the vegetation which it
Walking |
