| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche: would choke and strangle it, out of jealousy--ah, they know only
too well that it will flee from them!
280. "Bad! Bad! What? Does he not--go back?" Yes! But you
misunderstand him when you complain about it. He goes back like
every one who is about to make a great spring.
281.--"Will people believe it of me? But I insist that they
believe it of me: I have always thought very unsatisfactorily of
myself and about myself, only in very rare cases, only
compulsorily, always without delight in 'the subject,' ready to
digress from 'myself,' and always without faith in the result,
owing to an unconquerable distrust of the POSSIBILITY of self-
Beyond Good and Evil |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Options by O. Henry: tobacco.
"'Come nearer, capitan meeo,' says I, 'and listen.' He so did.
"'I am mighty poor and low down in the world,' says I. 'I am working
for twelve dollars a month trying to keep a lot of animals together
whose only thought seems to be to get asunder. Although,' says I, 'I
regard myself as some better than the State of South Dakota, it's a
come-down to a man who has heretofore regarded sheep only in the form
of chops. I'm pretty far reduced in the world on account of foiled
ambitions and rum and a kind of cocktail they make along the P. R.
R. all the way from Scranton to Cincinnati--dry gin, French vermouth,
one squeeze of a lime, and a good dash of orange bitters. If you're
Options |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Tono Bungay by H. G. Wells: restless little cockney that she was, rustled and struggled in a
hedgerow below, gathering flowers, discovering flowers she had
never seen before. I had. I remember, a letter from Marion in
my pocket. I had even made some tentatives for return, for a
reconciliation; Heaven knows now how I had put it! but her cold,
ill-written letter repelled me. I perceived I could never face
that old inconclusive dullness of life again, that stagnant
disappointment. That, anyhow, wasn't possible. But what was
possible? I could see no way of honour or fine living before me
at all.
"What am I to do with life?" that was the question that besieged
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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 A Collection of Beatrix Potter by Beatrix Potter: and more puzzled. Presently,
he came to a pond where Mr.
McGregor filled his water-cans.
A white cat was staring at
some gold-fish; she sat very,
very still, but now and then
the tip of her tail twitched as
if it were alive. Peter thought
it best to go away without
speaking to her; he had heard
about cats from his cousin,
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