| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Professor by Charlotte Bronte: was about to walk in, or another candidate, entering before me,
rendered my further advance useless. Feverish and roused, no
disappointment arrested me; defeat following fast on defeat
served as stimulants to will. I forgot fastidiousness, conquered
reserve, thrust pride from me: I asked, I persevered, I
remonstrated, I dunned. It is so that openings are forced into
the guarded circle where Fortune sits dealing favours round. My
perseverance made me known; my importunity made me remarked. I
was inquired about; my former pupils' parents, gathering the
reports of their children, heard me spoken of as talented, and
they echoed the word: the sound, bandied about at random, came
The Professor |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Commission in Lunacy by Honore de Balzac: "That woman owes a hundred thousand crowns," said the judge, as he
stepped into his nephew's cab.
"And what do you think of the case?"
"I," said the judge. "I never have an opinion till I have gone into
everything. To-morrow early I will send to Madame Jeanrenaud to call
on me in my private office at four o'clock, to make her explain the
facts which concern her, for she is compromised."
"I should very much like to know what the end will be."
"Why, bless me, do not you see that the Marquise is the tool of that
tall lean man who never uttered a word? There is a strain of Cain in
him, but of the Cain who goes to the Law Courts for his bludgeon, and
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath by H. P. Lovecraft: a strange stench that the south wind drove into the town. Uneasiness
rustled through the taverns along that waterfront, and after a
while the dark wide-mouthed merchants with humped turbans and
short feet clumped steathily ashore to seek the bazaars of the
jewellers. Carter observed them closely, and disliked them more
the longer he looked at them. Then he saw them drive the stout
black men of Parg up the gangplank grunting and sweating into
that singular galley, and wondered in what lands - or if in any
lands at all - those fat pathetic creatures might be destined
to serve.
And on the third evening of that galley's stay one
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath |
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 Psychology of Revolution by Gustave le Bon: against riots, insurrections, and conspiracies. The cities, the
departments, and the faubourgs of Paris were continually rising
in revolt, although heads were falling by the thousand.
This Assembly, which thought itself sovereign, fought against the
invincible forces which were fixed in men's minds, and which
material constraint was powerless to overcome. Of these hidden
motive forces it never understood the power, and it struggled
against them in vain. In the end the invisible forces triumphed.
CHAPTER V
INSTANCES OF REVOLUTIONARY VIOLENCE
1. Psychological Causes of Revolutionary Violence.
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