| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Lysis by Plato: friendship be for the sake of some ulterior end? and what can that final
cause or end of friendship be, other than the good? But the good is
desired by us only as the cure of evil; and therefore if there were no evil
there would be no friendship. Some other explanation then has to be
devised. May not desire be the source of friendship? And desire is of
what a man wants and of what is congenial to him. But then the congenial
cannot be the same as the like; for like, as has been already shown, cannot
be the friend of like. Nor can the congenial be the good; for good is not
the friend of good, as has been also shown. The problem is unsolved, and
the three friends, Socrates, Lysis, and Menexenus, are still unable to find
out what a friend is.
Lysis |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Recruit by Honore de Balzac: Madame de Dey re-entered her salon, affecting gaiety, and began to
play loto with the young people; but after a while she complained of
feeling ill, and returned to her chimney-corner.
Such was the situation of affairs, and of people's minds in the house
of Madame de Dey, while along the road, between Paris and Cherbourg, a
young man in a brown jacket, called a "carmagnole," worn de rigueur at
that period, was making his way to Carentan. When drafts for the army
were first instituted, there was little or no discipline. The
requirements of the moment did not allow the Republic to equip its
soldiers immediately, and it was not an unusual thing to see the roads
covered with recruits, who were still wearing citizen's dress. These
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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 Lady Susan by Jane Austen: chance of prevailing with her. If you will, therefore, have the unspeakably
great kindness of taking my part with her, and persuading her to send Sir
James away, I shall be more obliged to you than it is possible for me to
express. I always disliked him from the first: it is not a sudden fancy, I
assure you, sir; I always thought him silly and impertinent and
disagreeable, and now he is grown worse than ever. I would rather work for
my bread than marry him. I do not know how to apologize enough for this
letter; I know it is taking so great a liberty. I am aware how dreadfully
angry it will make mamma, but I remember the risk.
I am, Sir, your most humble servant,
F. S. V.
Lady Susan |
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 Smalcald Articles by Dr. Martin Luther: even though on this account we must die in God s name. This
all proceeds from the fact that the Pope has wished to be
called the supreme head of the Christian Church by divine
right. Accordingly he had to make himself equal and superior
to Christ, and had to cause himself to be proclaimed the head
and then the lord of the Church, and finally of the whole
world, and simply God on earth, until he has dared to issue
commands even to the angels in heaven. And when we distinguish
the Pope s teaching from, or measure and hold it against, Holy
Scripture, it is found [it appears plainly] that the Pope s
teaching, where it is best, has been taken from the imperial
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