| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Salammbo by Gustave Flaubert: with increased fury and joy. Several, from laziness or prudence, had
remained on the threshold of the pass. But some cavalry, debouching
from a wood, beat them down upon the rest with blows of pike and
sabre; and soon all the Barbarians were below in the plain.
Then this great human mass, after swaying to and fro for some time,
stood still; they could discover no outlet.
Those who were nearest to the pass went back again, but the passage
had entirely disappeared. They hailed those in front to make them go
on; they were being crushed against the mountain, and from a distance
they inveighed against their companions, who were unable to find the
route again.
Salammbo |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche: Kant. "By means of a means (faculty)"--he had said, or at least
meant to say. But, is that--an answer? An explanation? Or is it
not rather merely a repetition of the question? How does opium
induce sleep? "By means of a means (faculty),"namely the virtus
dormitiva, replies the doctor in Moliere,
Quia est in eo virtus dormitiva, Cujus est natura sensus
assoupire.
But such replies belong to the realm of comedy, and it is high
time to replace the Kantian question, "How are synthetic
judgments a PRIORI possible?" by another question, "Why is belief
in such judgments necessary?"--in effect, it is high time that we
Beyond Good and Evil |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Riverman by Stewart Edward White: detailed the situation.
"It doesn't amount to much," said he, "except that it complicates
matters. We'll make him scratch gravel, if we have to sit up nights
and work overtime to do it. We can't injure him or leave his logs,
but we can annoy him a lot."
The state of affairs was perfectly well known to the men, and the
entire river entered into the spirit of the contest. The drivers
kept a sharp lookout for "H" logs, and whenever possible thrust them
aside into eddies and backwaters. This, of course, merely made work
for the sackers Heinzman had left above the rear. Soon they were in
charge of a very fair little drive of their own. Their lot was not
|
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 Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift: fourteen men on board, whereof three were of the country, he
appointed me master of the sloop, and gave me power to traffic,
while he transacted his affairs at Tonquin.
We had not sailed above three days, when a great storm arising,
we were driven five days to the north-north-east, and then to the
east: after which we had fair weather, but still with a pretty
strong gale from the west. Upon the tenth day we were chased by
two pirates, who soon overtook us; for my sloop was so deep
laden, that she sailed very slow, neither were we in a condition
to defend ourselves.
We were boarded about the same time by both the pirates, who
Gulliver's Travels |
