| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Reason Discourse by Rene Descartes: of the Physical questions which he has investigated, and, in particular,
the explication of the motion of the heart and of some other difficulties
pertaining to Medicine, as also the difference between the soul of man and
that of the brutes; and, in the last, what the Author believes to be
required in order to greater advancement in the investigation of Nature
than has yet been made, with the reasons that have induced him to write.
PART 1
Good sense is, of all things among men, the most equally distributed; for
every one thinks himself so abundantly provided with it, that those even
who are the most difficult to satisfy in everything else, do not usually
desire a larger measure of this quality than they already possess. And in
Reason Discourse |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Heap O' Livin' by Edgar A. Guest: And I pray that I may proudly hold my head
up high and smile
When I come to my September in the golden
afterwhile.
HOW DO YOU TACKLE YOUR WORK?
How do you tackle your work each day?
Are you scared of the job you find?
Do you grapple the task that comes your way
With a confident, easy mind?
Do you stand right up to the work ahead
Or fearfully pause to view it?
A Heap O' Livin' |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens: friends like you and I, may be allowed some freedoms, or the deuce
is in it.'
Gashford, who had been very restless all this time, but had not
once looked up, now turned to Sir John, and ventured to mutter
something to the effect that he must go, or my lord would perhaps
be waiting.
'Don't distress yourself, good sir,' said Mr Haredale, 'I'll take
my leave, and put you at your ease--' which he was about to do
without ceremony, when he was stayed by a buzz and murmur at the
upper end of the hall, and, looking in that direction, saw Lord
George Gordon coming in, with a crowd of people round him.
Barnaby Rudge |
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 Dunwich Horror by H. P. Lovecraft: of three or four might well be proud. The boy was not talkative,
yet when he spoke he seemed to reflect some elusive element wholly
unpossessed by Dunwich and its denizens. The strangeness did not
reside in what he said, or even in the simple idioms he used;
but seemed vaguely linked with his intonation or with the internal
organs that produced the spoken sounds. His facial aspect, too,
was remarkable for its maturity; for though he shared his mother's
and grandfather's chinlessness, his firm and precociously shaped
nose united with the expression of his large, dark, almost Latin
eyes to give him an air of quasi-adulthood and well-nigh preternatural
intelligence. He was, however, exceedingly ugly despite his appearance
The Dunwich Horror |
