| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from I Have A Dream by Martin Luther King, Jr.: transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful
symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work
together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail
together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will
be free one day.
This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to
sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of
liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the
pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."
And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So
let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Parmenides by Plato: a part of greatness, for that will not make them great, etc.; nor can each
object monopolise the whole. The only answer to this is, that 'partaking'
is a figure of speech, really corresponding to the processes which a later
logic designates by the terms 'abstraction' and 'generalization.' When we
have described accurately the methods or forms which the mind employs, we
cannot further criticize them; at least we can only criticize them with
reference to their fitness as instruments of thought to express facts.
Socrates attempts to support his view of the ideas by the parallel of the
day, which is one and in many places; but he is easily driven from his
position by a counter illustration of Parmenides, who compares the idea of
greatness to a sail. He truly explains to Socrates that he has attained
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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 Aeroplanes and Dirigibles of War by Frederick A. Talbot: and the observer is equally industrious in picking up the range
of the hostile guns for the benefit of his friends below.
When the captive balloon is aloft in a wind the chances of the
enemy picking up the range thereof are extremely slender, as it
is continually swinging to and fro. While there is always the
possibility of a shell bursting at such a lucky moment as to
demolish the aerial target, it is generally conceded to be
impossible to induce a shell to burst within 100 yards of a
balloon, no matter how skilfully the hostile battery may be
operated.
The value of the captive balloon has been demonstrated very
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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 Moral Emblems by Robert Louis Stevenson: Some like to cry,
Some like chaff;
Not I.
Poem: II
Here, perfect to a wish,
We offer, not a dish,
But just the platter:
A book that's not a book,
A pamphlet in the look
But not the matter.
I own in disarray:
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