| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Large Catechism by Dr. Martin Luther: daily pray because it has this excellent testimony, that God loves to
hear it, which we ought not to surrender for all the riches of the
world.
And it has been prescribed also for this reason that we should see and
consider the distress which ought to urge and compel us to pray without
ceasing. For whoever would pray must have something to present, state,
and name which he desires; if not, it cannot be called a prayer.
Therefore we have rightly rejected the prayers of monks and priests,
who howl and growl day and night like fiends; but none of them think of
praying for a hair's breadth of anything. And if we would assemble all
the churches, together with all ecclesiastics, they would be obliged to
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Confessio Amantis by John Gower: That on mai fro that other knowe:
Thei were into his chambre broght,
Bot noman wot why thei be wroght, 2300
And natheles the king hath bede
That thei be set in prive stede.
As he that was of wisdom slih,
Whan he therto his time sih,
Al prively, that non it wiste,
Hise oghne hondes that o kiste
Of fin gold and of fin perrie,
The which out of his tresorie
Confessio Amantis |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Walden by Henry David Thoreau: foot deeper, namely, sixty feet. Of course, a stream running
through, or an island in the pond, would make the problem much more
complicated.
If we knew all the laws of Nature, we should need only one fact,
or the description of one actual phenomenon, to infer all the
particular results at that point. Now we know only a few laws, and
our result is vitiated, not, of course, by any confusion or
irregularity in Nature, but by our ignorance of essential elements
in the calculation. Our notions of law and harmony are commonly
confined to those instances which we detect; but the harmony which
results from a far greater number of seemingly conflicting, but
Walden |
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 Prince Otto by Robert Louis Stevenson: more alive. And the question, Gotthold, the question that I have to
face is this: Can I not, with effort and self-denial, can I not
become a tolerable sovereign?'
'Never,' replied Gotthold. 'Dismiss the notion. And besides, dear
child, you would not try.'
'Nay, Gotthold, I am not to be put by,' said Otto. 'If I am
constitutionally unfit to be a sovereign, what am I doing with this
money, with this palace, with these guards? And I - a thief - am to
execute the law on others?'
'I admit the difficulty,' said Gotthold.
'Well, can I not try?' continued Otto. 'Am I not bound to try? And
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