| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx: country, had just begun its contest with feudal absolutism.
German philosophers, would-be philosophers, and beaux esprits,
eagerly seized on this literature, only forgetting, that when
these writings immigrated from France into Germany, French social
conditions had not immigrated along with them. In contact with
German social conditions, this French literature lost all its
immediate practical significance, and assumed a purely literary
aspect. Thus, to the German philosophers of the eighteenth
century, the demands of the first French Revolution were nothing
more than the demands of "Practical Reason" in general, and the
utterance of the will of the revolutionary French bourgeoisie
The Communist Manifesto |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Long Odds by H. Rider Haggard: animal, and as I lay sprawling on the fore-tongue of the waggon, it
occurred to me that he would look uncommonly well in a cage. He stood
there by the carcass of poor Kaptein, and deliberately disembowelled him
as neatly as a butcher could have done. All this while I dared not
move, for he kept lifting his head and keeping an eye on me as he licked
his bloody chops. When he had cleaned Kaptein out he opened his mouth
and roared, and I am not exaggerating when I say that the sound shook
the waggon. Instantly there came back an answering roar.
"'Heavens!' I thought, 'there is his mate.'
"Hardly was the thought out of my head when I caught sight in the
moonlight of the lioness bounding along through the long grass, and
Long Odds |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Fanny Herself by Edna Ferber: slab of wood that jutted out of the ground. She lay there a
moment, dazed. Then she sat up, and bent down to look at
this thing that had tripped her. Probably a tree trunk.
Then she must be near timberline. She bent closer. It was
a rough wooden slab. Closer still. There were words carved
on it. She lay flat and managed to make them out painfully.
"Here lies Sarah Cannon. Lay to rest, and died alone, April
26, 1893."
Fanny had heard the story of Sarah Cannon, a stern spinster
who had achieved the climb to the Peak, and who had met with
mishap on the down trail. Her guide had left her to go for
Fanny Herself |
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 Russia in 1919 by Arthur Ransome: drudgery by handing it over to his subordinates. He is
permanently tired out. You feel it is almost cruel to say
"Good morning" to him when you meet him, because of the
appeal to be left alone that comes unconsciously into his
eyes. Partly in order to avoid people, partly because he is
himself accustomed to work at night, his section of the
foreign office keeps extraordinary hours, is not to be found
till about five in the afternoon and works till four in the
morning. The actual material of his report was interesting,
but there was nothing in its manner to rouse enthusiasm
of any kind. The audience listened with attention, but only
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