Today's Stichomancy for Chris Rock

The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche:

by ancient and modern philosophers with regard to tragedy--may no longer wander about virtuously and boldly. Almost everything that we call "higher culture" is based upon the spiritualising and intensifying of CRUELTY--this is my thesis; the "wild beast" has not been slain at all, it lives, it flourishes, it has only been- -transfigured. That which constitutes the painful delight of tragedy is cruelty; that which operates agreeably in so-called tragic sympathy, and at the basis even of everything sublime, up to the highest and most delicate thrills of metaphysics, obtains its sweetness solely from the intermingled ingredient of cruelty. What the Roman enjoys in the arena, the Christian in the

Beyond Good and Evil

The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Children of the Night by Edwin Arlington Robinson:

Contents

The Children of the Night Three Quatrains The World An Old Story Ballade of a Ship Ballade by the Fire Ballade of Broken Flutes Ballade of Dead Friends Her Eyes Two Men

The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Vailima Letters by Robert Louis Stevenson:

yet I am not yet certain. The crowded UP-steamer sticks in my throat.

TUESDAY, 12TH SEPT.

Yesterday was perhaps the brightest in the annals of Vailima. I got leave from Captain Bickford to have the band of the KATOOMBA come up, and they came, fourteen of 'em, with drum, fife, cymbals and bugles, blue jackets, white caps, and smiling faces. The house was all decorated with scented greenery above and below. We had not only our own nine out- door workers, but a contract party that we took on in charity to pay their war-fine; the band besides, as it came up the

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 A Heap O' Livin' by Edgar A. Guest:

Most every night when they're in bed.......... 64 Most folks, as I've noticed, in pleasure an' strife...................................... 176 My father often used to say................... 185 My Pa he eats his breakfast................... 50

Never a sigh for the cares that she bore...... 19 Nobody hates me more than I................... 170 None knows the day that friends must part..... 33 No one is beat till he quits.................. 111 Not for the sake of the gold.................. 93

One day, in ages dim and dark................. 177

A Heap O' Livin'