| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Talisman by Walter Scott: makes no converts to the law of the Prophet, save those on whom
its precepts shall work conviction. Open thine eyes to the
light, and the great Soldan, whose liberality is as boundless as
his power, may bestow on thee a kingdom; remain blinded if thou
will, and, being one whose second life is doomed to misery,
Saladin will yet, for this span of present time, make thee rich
and happy. But fear not that thy brows shall be bound with the
turban, save at thine own free choice."
"My choice were rather," said the knight, "that my writhen
features should blacken, as they are like to do, in this
evening's setting sun."
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Charmides by Plato: Timaeus): these and similar terms appear to express the same truths from a
different point of view, and to belong to the same sphere with them. But
we are not justified, therefore, in attempting to identify them, any more
than in wholly opposing them. The great oppositions of the sensible and
intellectual, the unchangeable and the transient, in whatever form of words
expressed, are always maintained in Plato. But the lesser logical
distinctions, as we should call them, whether of ontology or predication,
which troubled the pre-Socratic philosophy and came to the front in
Aristotle, are variously discussed and explained. Thus far we admit
inconsistency in Plato, but no further. He lived in an age before logic
and system had wholly permeated language, and therefore we must not always
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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 Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey: himself appeared at the door, bent low, craning his neck. His
dark face flashed out of sight; the door banged; a heavy bar
dropped with a hollow sound.
Then Venters shook Black Star's bridle, and, sharply trotting,
led the other horses to the center of the village. Here at the
intersecting streets and in front of the stores he halted once
more. The usual lounging atmosphere of that prominent corner was
not now in evidence. Riders and ranchers and villagers broke up
what must have been absorbing conversation. There was a rush of
many feet, and then the walk was lined with faces.
Venters's glance swept down the line of silent stone-faced men.
Riders of the Purple Sage |
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 Man against the Sky by Edwin Arlington Robinson: The world went on, their fame went on,
And they went on -- from bad to worse;
Till, goaded hot with nothing done,
And each accoutred with a curse,
The friends of Old King Cole, by twos,
And fours, and sevens, and elevens,
Pronounced unalterable views
Of doings that were not of heaven's.
And having learned again whereby
Their baleful zeal had come about,
King Cole met many a wrathful eye
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