| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A treatise on Good Works by Dr. Martin Luther: gradually led back again to faith, as a sick man is treated, and
must be allowed for a time, for their conscience sake, to cling
to some works and do them as necessary to salvation, so long as
they rightly grasp the faith; lest if we try to tear them out so
suddenly, their weak consciences be quite shattered and confused,
and retain neither faith nor works. But the hardheaded, who,
hardened in their works, give no heed to what is said of faith,
and fight against it, these we must, as Christ did and taught,
let go their way, that the blind may lead the blind.
XVI. But you say: How can I trust surely that all my works are
pleasing to God, when at times I fall, and talk, eat, drink and
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Life in the Iron-Mills by Rebecca Davis: looks out, with its thwarted life, its mighty hunger, its
unfinished work. Its pale, vague lips seem to tremble with a
terrible question. "Is this the End?" they say,--"nothing
beyond? no more?" Why, you tell me you have seen that look in
the eyes of dumb brutes,--horses dying under the lash. I know.
The deep of the night is passing while I write. The gas-light
wakens from the shadows here and there the objects which lie
scattered through the room: only faintly, though; for they
belong to the open sunlight. As I glance at them, they each
recall some task or pleasure of the coming day. A half-moulded
child's head; Aphrodite; a bough of forest-leaves; music; work;
Life in the Iron-Mills |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Russia in 1919 by Arthur Ransome: my hard-working friends had been drawn away by interests
nearer home.
The Executive Committee met as usual in the big hall of the
Hotel Metropole, and it met as usual very late. The sitting
was to begin at seven, and, foolishly thinking that Russians
might have changed their nature in the last six months, I was
punctual and found the hall nearly empty, because a
party meeting of the Communists in the room next door was
not finished. The hall looked just as it used to look, with a
red banner over the presidium and another at the opposite
end, both inscribed "The All Russian Executive Committee,"
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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 The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas: understand by instinct, but which reason is powerless to
explain; in such cases the greatest poet is he who gives
utterance to the most natural and vehement outburst of
sorrow. Those who hear the bitter cry are as much impressed
as if they listened to an entire poem, and when the sufferer
is sincere they are right in regarding his outburst as
sublime.
It would be difficult to describe the state of stupor in
which Villefort left the Palais. Every pulse beat with
feverish excitement, every nerve was strained, every vein
swollen, and every part of his body seemed to suffer
The Count of Monte Cristo |
