| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Mirror of the Sea by Joseph Conrad: and you with the others stand by to haul the boat alongside quickly
at the word."
The man obeyed, surprised, but silent. The others stirred, and
pricked up their ears at this. I heard their murmurs. "What now?
Are we going to run in somewhere and take to our heels? The
Padrone knows what he is doing."
Dominic went forward. He paused to look down at Cesar, who, as I
have said before, was lying full length face down by the foremast,
then stepped over him, and dived out of my sight under the
foresail. I saw nothing ahead. It was impossible for me to see
anything except the foresail open and still, like a great shadowy
The Mirror of the Sea |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James: mortal men can attain on a given day to absolutely incorrigible
and unimprovable truth about such matters of fact as those with
which religions deal. But I reject this dogmatic ideal not out
of a perverse delight in intellectual instability. I am no lover
of disorder and doubt as such. Rather do I fear to lose truth by
this pretension to possess it already wholly. That we can gain
more and more of it by moving always in the right direction, I
believe as much as any one, and I hope to bring you all to my way
of thinking before the termination of these lectures. Till then,
do not, I pray you, harden your minds irrevocably against the
empiricism which I profess.
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