| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Manon Lescaut by Abbe Prevost: length perceiving that an explanation was necessary, he gave me
such a one, as on a former occasion I wanted courage to relate to
you, and which, even now, makes my blood curdle in my veins to
remember.
XI
Alack! it is not when we sleep soft and wake merrily that we think
on other people's sufferings; but when the hour of trouble comes,
said Jeanie Deans.--WALTER SCOTT.
"Never did apoplexy produce on mortal a more sudden or terrific
effect than did the announcement of Manon's sentence upon me. I
fell prostrate, with so intense a palpitation of the heart, that
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Tom Sawyer, Detective by Mark Twain: he only shook his head and said if we only knowed what it
was to carry around a murderer's load in your heart we
wouldn't talk that way. Tom and all of us kept telling
him it WASN'T murder, but just accidental killing!
but it never made any difference--it was murder, and he
wouldn't have it any other way. He actu'ly begun to come
out plain and square towards trial time and acknowledge
that he TRIED to kill the man. Why, that was awful,
you know. It made things seem fifty times as dreadful,
and there warn't no more comfort for Aunt Sally and Benny.
But he promised he wouldn't say a word about his murder
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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 Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens: foreign countries, were inhabited by savage nations, who were
perpetually burying pipes of peace, flourishing tomahawks, and
puncturing strange patterns in their bodies. He no sooner heard
this announcement, therefore, than he leaned back in his chair,
took his pipe from his lips, and stared at his son with as much
dismay as if he already beheld him tied to a stake, and tortured
for the entertainment of a lively population. In what form of
expression his feelings would have found a vent, it is impossible
to say. Nor is it necessary: for, before a syllable occurred to
him, Dolly Varden came running into the room, in tears, threw
herself on Joe's breast without a word of explanation, and clasped
Barnaby Rudge |
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 Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche: 186. The moral sentiment in Europe at present is perhaps as
subtle, belated, diverse, sensitive, and refined, as the "Science
of Morals" belonging thereto is recent, initial, awkward, and
coarse-fingered:--an interesting contrast, which sometimes
becomes incarnate and obvious in the very person of a moralist.
Indeed, the expression, "Science of Morals" is, in respect to
what is designated thereby, far too presumptuous and counter to
GOOD taste,--which is always a foretaste of more modest
expressions. One ought to avow with the utmost fairness WHAT is
still necessary here for a long time, WHAT is alone proper for
the present: namely, the collection of material, the
Beyond Good and Evil |
