| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Essays of Travel by Robert Louis Stevenson: of march, feel as if he also were within the gates?
CHAPTER XIV - ON THE ENJOYMENT OF UNPLEASANT PLACES - 1874
IT is a difficult matter to make the most of any given place, and we
have much in our own power. Things looked at patiently from one side
after another generally end by showing a side that is beautiful. A
few months ago some words were said in the PORTFOLIO as to an
'austere regimen in scenery'; and such a discipline was then
recommended as 'healthful and strengthening to the taste.' That is
the text, so to speak, of the present essay. This discipline in
scenery, it must be understood, is something more than a mere walk
before breakfast to whet the appetite. For when we are put down in
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde: At last he got up from the sofa on which he had been lying,
went over to it, and having unlocked it, touched some hidden spring.
A triangular drawer passed slowly out. His fingers moved instinctively
towards it, dipped in, and closed on something. It was a small
Chinese box of black and gold-dust lacquer, elaborately wrought,
the sides patterned with curved waves, and the silken cords hung with
round crystals and tasselled in plaited metal threads. He opened it.
Inside was a green paste, waxy in lustre, the odour curiously heavy
and persistent.
He hesitated for some moments, with a strangely immobile smile upon his face.
Then shivering, though the atmosphere of the room was terribly hot, he drew
The Picture of Dorian Gray |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Mansion by Henry van Dyke: produces
a vague restlessness, a dumb resentment, which is increased by
the fact that one can hardly explain or justify it. Of this
John Weightman was not conscious. It lay beyond his horizon.
He did not take it into account in the plan of life which he made
for
himself and for his family as the sharers and inheritors of his
success.
"Father plays us," said Harold, in a moment of irritation, to his
mother,
"like pieces in a game of chess.
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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 Pathology of Lying, Etc. by William and Mary Healy: his birth. Two of their children died with convulsions; of the
two living, one was well behaved, but weakly. Rouma's case had
stigmata of degeneracy in ears, palate, and jaw. Tested by the
Binet system, he did three out of five of the tests for five
years satisfactorily. He was easily fatigued, refused at times
to respond, said he had been forbidden to reply, said he would be
whipped if he did. In school he was always poor at manual work,
wanted to be moving about, to go out of classes on errands, was
always calling notice to himself in a good or bad way. He paid
very little attention to his lessons, played alone or with
younger children, leading them often into mischief. It was found
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