| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Cousin Pons by Honore de Balzac: Schmucke, on the other hand, pondered deeply over this phenomenon, and
could not understand it; your true stoic never can understand the
courtier that dwells in a Frenchman. Pons was a born Frenchman of the
Empire; a mixture of eighteenth century gallantry and that devotion to
womankind so often celebrated in songs of the type of /Partant pour la
Syrie/.
So Schmucke was fain to bury his chagrin beneath the flowers of his
German philosophy; but a week later he grew so yellow that Mme. Cibot
exerted her ingenuity to call in the parish doctor. The leech had
fears of icterus, and left Mme. Cibot frightened half out of her wits
by the Latin word for an attack of the jaundice.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians by Martin Luther: addition we serve each other in love because true faith is not idle. Our
love, however, is faulty. In bidding you to walk in the Spirit I indicate to
you that our love is not sufficient to justify us. Neither do I demand that
you should get rid of the flesh, but that you should control and subdue it."
VERSE 17. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit
against the flesh.
When Paul declares that "the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit
against the flesh," he means to say that we are not to think, speak or do the
things to which the flesh incites us. "I know," he says, "that the flesh
courts sin. The thing for you to do is to resist the flesh by the Spirit. But
if you abandon the leadership of the Spirit for that of the flesh, you are
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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 A Legend of Montrose by Walter Scott: conceived might be easily attained by lending to the Parliament
the effectual assistance of the Scottish forces. The
Presbyterians, a numerous and powerful party in the English
Parliament, had hitherto taken the lead in opposition to the
King; while the Independents and other sectaries, who afterwards,
under Cromwell, resumed the power of the sword, and overset the
Presbyterian model both in Scotland and England, were as yet
contented to lurk under the shelter of the wealthier and more
powerful party. The prospect of bringing to a uniformity the
kingdoms of England and Scotland in discipline and worship,
seemed therefore as fair as it was desirable.
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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 Gorgias by Plato: first sent down Prometheus to take away from them the foreknowledge of
death. Minos, Rhadamanthus, and Aeacus were appointed to be the judges;
Rhadamanthus for Asia, Aeacus for Europe, and Minos was to hold the court
of appeal. Now death is the separation of soul and body, but after death
soul and body alike retain their characteristics; the fat man, the dandy,
the branded slave, are all distinguishable. Some prince or potentate,
perhaps even the great king himself, appears before Rhadamanthus, and he
instantly detects him, though he knows not who he is; he sees the scars of
perjury and iniquity, and sends him away to the house of torment.
For there are two classes of souls who undergo punishment--the curable and
the incurable. The curable are those who are benefited by their
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