| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Russia in 1919 by Arthur Ransome: He called together all the workmen, and proposed that they
should form an artel or co-operative society
and take the factory into their own hands, each man
contributing a thousand roubles towards the capital with
which to run it. Of course the workmen had
not got a thousand roubles apiece, "so uncle offered to pay it
in for them, on the understanding that they would eventually
pay him back." This was illegal, but the little town was a
long way from the centre of things, and it seemed a good
way out of the difficulty. He did not expect to get it back,
but he hoped in this way to keep control of the tannery,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Dracula by Bram Stoker: Morris paid the cabman, who touched his hat and drove away.
Together the two ascended the steps, and Lord Godalming pointed
out what he wanted done. The workman took off his coat leisurely
and hung it on one of the spikes of the rail, saying something
to a policeman who just then sauntered along. The policeman nodded
acquiescence, and the man kneeling down placed his bag beside him.
After searching through it, he took out a selection of tools
which he proceeded to lay beside him in orderly fashion.
Then he stood up, looked in the keyhole, blew into it, and turning
to his employers, made some remark. Lord Godalming smiled,
and the man lifted a good sized bunch of keys. Selecting one of them,
Dracula |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Reason Discourse by Rene Descartes: to be joined and united more closely to the body, in order to have
sensations and appetites similar to ours, and thus constitute a real man.
I here entered, in conclusion, upon the subject of the soul at
considerable length, because it is of the greatest moment: for after the
error of those who deny the existence of God, an error which I think I
have already sufficiently refuted, there is none that is more powerful in
leading feeble minds astray from the straight path of virtue than the
supposition that the soul of the brutes is of the same nature with our
own; and consequently that after this life we have nothing to hope for or
fear, more than flies and ants; in place of which, when we know how far
they differ we much better comprehend the reasons which establish that the
Reason Discourse |
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 Democracy In America, Volume 1 by Alexis de Toqueville: Accidental causes which may check this tendency - Ease with which
the aristocracy coalesces with legal men - Use of lawyers to a
despot - The profession of the law constitutes the only
aristocratic element with which the natural elements of democracy
will combine - Peculiar causes which tend to give an aristocratic
turn of mind to the English and American lawyers - The
aristocracy of America is on the bench and at the bar - Influence
of lawyers upon American society - Their peculiar magisterial
habits affect the legislature, the administration, and even the
people.
In visiting the Americans and in studying their laws we
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