| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Three Taverns by Edwin Arlington Robinson: And their last of empty trophies was a gilded cup of nothing,
Which a contemplating vagabond would not have come to steal.
Long and often had they figured for a larger valuation,
But the size of their addition was the balance of a doubt:
There were gentlemen of leisure in the Valley of the Shadow,
Not allured by retrospection, disenchanted, and played out.
And among the dark endurances of unavowed reprisals
There were silent eyes of envy that saw little but saw well;
And over beauty's aftermath of hazardous ambitions
There were tears for what had vanished as they vanished where they fell.
Not assured of what was theirs, and always hungry for the nameless,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Menexenus by Plato: feel the need of us, and, what is the greatest miracle of all, the Persian
king himself was driven to such extremity as to come round to the opinion,
that from this city, of which he was the destroyer, and from no other, his
salvation would proceed.
And if a person desired to bring a deserved accusation against our city, he
would find only one charge which he could justly urge--that she was too
compassionate and too favourable to the weaker side. And in this instance
she was not able to hold out or keep her resolution of refusing aid to her
injurers when they were being enslaved, but she was softened, and did in
fact send out aid, and delivered the Hellenes from slavery, and they were
free until they afterwards enslaved themselves. Whereas, to the great king
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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 The Apology by Xenophon: [45] Or, "must have a heavy load on their minds in the consciousness
of their impiety and injustice."
"And then the young--how could I corrupt them by habituating them to
manliness and frugality? since not even my accusers themselves allege
against me that I have committed any of those deeds[46] of which death
is the penalty, such as robbery of temples,[47] breaking into houses,
selling freemen into slavery, or betrayal of the state; so that I must
still ask myself in wonderment how it has been proved to you that I
have done a deed worthy of death. Nor yet again because I die
innocently is that a reason why I should lower my crest, for that is a
blot not upon me but upon those who condemned me.
The Apology |
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 Smalcald Articles by Dr. Martin Luther: believed, as Christ declares, Mark 1,15: Repent and believe
the Gospel, i.e., become different and do otherwise, and
believe My promise. And John, preceding Him, is called a
preacher of repentance, however, for the remission of sins,
i.e., John was to accuse all, and convict them of being
sinners, that they might know what they were before God, and
might acknowledge that they were lost men, and might thus be
prepared for the Lord, to receive grace, and to expect and
accept from Him the remission of sins. Thus also Christ
Himself says, Luke 24, 47: Repentance and remission of sins
must be preached in My name among all nations.
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