| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain: seem to get over that seven dollars. Well, it stunned
me so, when I first found it out, that I couldn't believe
it; it didn't seem natural. But as soon as my mental
sight cleared and I got a right focus on it, I saw I was
mistaken; it WAS natural. For this reason: a king is
a mere artificiality, and so a king's feelings, like the
impulses of an automatic doll, are mere artificialities;
but as a man, he is a reality, and his feelings, as a
man, are real, not phantoms. It shames the average
man to be valued below his own estimate of his worth,
and the king certainly wasn't anything more than an
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane: It was useless to expect appreciation of his pro-
found and fine senses from such men as the lieu-
tenant. He must look to the grave for compre-
hension.
The skirmish fire increased to a long chatter-
ing sound. With it was mingled far-away cheer-
ing. A battery spoke.
Directly the youth would see the skirmishers
running. They were pursued by the sound of
musketry fire. After a time the hot, dangerous
flashes of the rifles were visible. Smoke clouds
The Red Badge of Courage |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Concerning Christian Liberty by Martin Luther: the works done, but into him who does them, who glorifies God,
and brings forth good works. This is faith of heart, the head and
the substance of all our righteousness. Hence that is a blind and
perilous doctrine which teaches that the commandments are
fulfilled by works. The commandments must have been fulfilled
previous to any good works, and good works follow their
fulfillment, as we shall see.
But, that we may have a wider view of that grace which our inner
man has in Christ, we must know that in the Old Testament God
sanctified to Himself every first-born male. The birthright was
of great value, giving a superiority over the rest by the double
|
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 Koran: associate any one with my Lord. Why couldst- thou not have said,
when thou didst go into thy garden, "What God pleases! there is no
power save in God,"-to look at, I am less than thee in wealth and
children; but haply my Lord will give me something better than thy
garden, and will send upon it thunder-claps from the sky, and it shall
be on the morrow bare slippery soil; or on the morrow its water may be
deeply sunk, so that thou canst not get thereat.
And his fruits were encompassed, and on the morrow he turned down
the palms of his hands for what he had spent thereon, for it was
fallen down upon its trellises. And he said, 'Would that I had never
associated any one with my Lord!' And he had-not any party to help him
The Koran |
