| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Parmenides by Plato: No.
Then the one cannot touch itself any more than it can be two?
It cannot.
Neither can it touch others.
Why not?
The reason is, that whatever is to touch another must be in separation
from, and next to, that which it is to touch, and no third thing can be
between them.
True.
Two things, then, at the least are necessary to make contact possible?
They are.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Confessio Amantis by John Gower: For who is bounden, he mot bowe. 540
So wol I bowe unto youre heste,
For I dar make this beheste,
That I to yow have nothing hid,
Bot told riht as it is betid;
And otherwise of no mispeche,
Mi conscience forto seche,
I can noght of Envie finde,
That I mispoke have oght behinde
Wherof love owhte be mispaid.
Now have ye herd and I have said; 550
Confessio Amantis |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Sesame and Lilies by John Ruskin: soon as you try to do honestly, you will discover that the thoughts
even of the wisest are very little more than pertinent questions.
To put the difficulty into a clear shape, and exhibit to you the
grounds for INdecision, that is all they can generally do for you!--
and well for them and for us, if indeed they are able "to mix the
music with our thoughts and sadden us with heavenly doubts." This
writer, from whom I have been reading to you, is not among the first
or wisest: he sees shrewdly as far as he sees, and therefore it is
easy to find out its full meaning; but with the greater men, you
cannot fathom their meaning; they do not even wholly measure it
themselves,--it is so wide. Suppose I had asked you, for instance,
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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 Hermione's Little Group of Serious Thinkers by Don Marquis: glad when your own little group meets here, be-
cause it keeps you at home. But I will NOT have
all the different kinds of freaks here at the SAME
TIME, sitting around discussing free love and sex
education."
I was indignant. "Mamma," I said, "what right
have you to say they would discuss that all the
time?"
"Because," she said, "I have noticed that no mat-
ter whether they start with sociology or psychology,
they always get around to Sex in the end."
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