| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Almayer's Folly by Joseph Conrad: Now he wanted but immortality, he thought, to be the equal of
gods, and the creature that could open so the gates of paradise
must be his--soon would be his for ever!
He opened his eyes in time to see through the archway of creepers
the bows of his brig come slowly into view, as the vessel drifted
past on its way down the river. He must go on board now, he
thought; yet he was loth to leave the place where he had learned
to know what happiness meant. "Time yet. Let them go," he
muttered to himself; and he closed his eyes again under the red
shower of scented petals, trying to recall the scene with all its
delight and all its fear.
Almayer's Folly |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson: to look longer at so empty a scene. What with my wet clothes and
weariness, and my belly that now began to ache with hunger, I had
enough to trouble me without that. So I set off eastward along
the south coast, hoping to find a house where I might warm
myself, and perhaps get news of those I had lost. And at the
worst, I considered the sun would soon rise and dry my clothes.
After a little, my way was stopped by a creek or inlet of the
sea, which seemed to run pretty deep into the land; and as I had
no means to get across, I must needs change my direction to go
about the end of it. It was still the roughest kind of walking;
indeed the whole, not only of Earraid, but of the neighbouring
Kidnapped |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Letters of Two Brides by Honore de Balzac: graybeard in the Chamber of Peers? There lies your vocation.
XIV
THE DUC DE SORIA TO THE BARON DE MACUMER
MADRID.
MY DEAR BROTHER,--You did not make me Duc de Soria in order that my
actions should belie the name. How could I tolerate my happiness if I
knew you to be a wanderer, deprived of the comforts which wealth
everywhere commands? Neither Marie nor I will consent to marry till we
hear that you have accepted the money which Urraca will hand over to
you. These two millions are the fruit of your own savings and Marie's.
We have both prayed, kneeling before the same altar--and with what
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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 Proposed Roads To Freedom by Bertrand Russell: 73, 76, 81n., 134, 190
Communism, 10 ff.
anarchist, 1, 38ff., 60, 96n.,
100n., 106n.
Communist Manifesto, 5, 9-18,
114, 148
Competitiveness, 160
Concentration of Capital, Law
of, 8, 23-5
Confederation General du
Travail, 63-65, 71, 74
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