| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Common Sense by Thomas Paine: which we might expect in a country WITHOUT GOVERNMENT, our calamity
is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer.
Government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence; the palaces of kings
are built on the ruins of the bowers of paradise. For were the impulses
of conscience clear, uniform, and irresistibly obeyed, man would need
no other lawgiver; but that not being the case, he finds it necessary
to surrender up a part of his property to furnish means for the protection
of the rest; and this he is induced to do by the same prudence which in every
other case advises him out of two evils to choose the least. WHEREFORE,
security being the true design and end of government, it unanswerably follows,
that whatever FORM thereof appears most likely to ensure it to us,
Common Sense |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne: touching it here--then there, and so on--it set something at least in
motion.
This, tho' slight skirmishing, and at a distance from the main body, yet
drew on the rest; for here, the map usually falling with the back of it,
close to the side of the sentry-box, my uncle Toby, in the simplicity of
his soul, would lay his hand flat upon it, in order to go on with his
explanation; and Mrs. Wadman, by a manoeuvre as quick as thought, would as
certainly place her's close beside it; this at once opened a communication,
large enough for any sentiment to pass or re-pass, which a person skill'd
in the elementary and practical part of love-making, has occasion for--
By bringing up her forefinger parallel (as before) to my uncle Toby's--it
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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 Sesame and Lilies by John Ruskin: of a man the master is;--whatsoever kind of a man he is, you at
least give him full authority over your son, and show some respect
to him yourself;--if he comes to dine with you, you do not put him
at a side table: you know also that, at college, your child's
immediate tutor will be under the direction of some still higher
tutor,--for whom you have absolute reverence. You do not treat the
Dean of Christ Church or the Master of Trinity as your inferiors.
But what teachers do you give your girls, and what reverence do you
show to the teachers you have chosen? Is a girl likely to think her
own conduct, or her own intellect, of much importance, when you
trust the entire formation of her character, moral and intellectual,
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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 The Elixir of Life by Honore de Balzac: sitting at the foot of his bed by the intent gaze of dying eyes.
That steady remorseless look was the more appalling because the
head that lay upon the pillow was passive and motionless as a
skull upon a doctor's table. The outlines of the body, revealed
by the coverlet, were no less rigid and stiff; he lay there as
one dead, save for those eyes. There was something automatic
about the moaning sounds that came from the mouth. Don Juan felt
something like shame that he must be brought thus to his father's
bedside, wearing a courtesan's bouquet, redolent of the fragrance
of the banqueting-chamber and the fumes of wine.
"You were enjoying yourself!" the old man cried as he saw his
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