| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from De Profundis by Oscar Wilde: one of which is a fresh mode of perfection. I long to live so that
I can explore what is no less than a new world to me. Do you want
to know what this new world is? I think you can guess what it is.
It is the world in which I have been living. Sorrow, then, and all
that it teaches one, is my new world.
I used to live entirely for pleasure. I shunned suffering and
sorrow of every kind. I hated both. I resolved to ignore them as
far as possible: to treat them, that is to say, as modes of
imperfection. They were not part of my scheme of life. They had
no place in my philosophy. My mother, who knew life as a whole,
used often to quote to me Goethe's lines - written by Carlyle in a
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin: Saurophagus sulphuratus
Schiodte on blind insects
Schlegel on snakes
Sea-water, how far injurious to seeds
Sebright, Sir J., on crossed animals; on selection of pigeons
Sedgwick, Prof., on groups of species suddenly appearing
Seedlings destroyed by insects
Seeds, nutriment in; winged; power of resisting salt-water; in crops and
intestines of birds; eaten by fish; in mud; hooked, on islands
Selection of domestic products, principle not of recent origin;
unconscious; natural; sexual; natural, circumstances favourable to
On the Origin of Species |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from A treatise on Good Works by Dr. Martin Luther: ceremonies to which they cling; we must rather blame their
ignorant, blind teachers, who have never taught them the faith,
and have led them so deeply into works. They must be gently and
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,
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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 Twelve Stories and a Dream by H. G. Wells: brought his round-eyed scrutiny to the shopman, who smiled.
"You may have those too," said the shopman, "and, if you DON'T mind,
one from my mouth. SO!"
Gip counselled me mutely for a moment, and then in a profound silence
put away the four balls, resumed my reassuring finger, and nerved
himself for the next event.
"We get all our smaller tricks in that way," the shopman remarked.
I laughed in the manner of one who subscribes to a jest. "Instead
of going to the wholesale shop," I said. "Of course, it's cheaper."
"In a way," the shopman said. "Though we pay in the end. But not
so heavily--as people suppose. . . . Our larger tricks, and our daily
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