| 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: two with you."
"Listen, Tuan Almayer," said Dain. "To-morrow's sun shall see me
in your house, and then we will talk. Now I must go to the
Rajah."
"To the Rajah! Why? What do you want with Lakamba?"
"Tuan, to-morrow we talk like friends. I must see Lakamba
to-night."
"Dain, you are not going to abandon me now, when all is ready?"
asked Almayer, in a pleading voice.
"Have I not returned? But I must see Lakamba first for your good
and mine."
Almayer's Folly |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Richard III by William Shakespeare: So season'd with your faithful love to me,
Then, on the other side, I check'd my friends.
Therefore-to speak, and to avoid the first,
And then, in speaking, not to incur the last-
Definitively thus I answer you:
Your love deserves my thanks, but my desert
Unmeritable shuns your high request.
First, if all obstacles were cut away,
And that my path were even to the crown,
As the ripe revenue and due of birth,
Yet so much is my poverty of spirit,
Richard III |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Lysis by Plato: things which he is allowed to do, although he is not allowed to do others?'
'Yes, because he knows them, and does not know the others.' This leads to
the conclusion that all men everywhere will trust him in what he knows, but
not in what he does not know; for in such matters he will be unprofitable
to them, and do them no good. And no one will love him, if he does them no
good; and he can only do them good by knowledge; and as he is still without
knowledge, he can have as yet no conceit of knowledge. In this manner
Socrates reads a lesson to Hippothales, the foolish lover of Lysis,
respecting the style of conversation which he should address to his
beloved.
After the return of Menexenus, Socrates, at the request of Lysis, asks him
Lysis |
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 U. S. Project Trinity Report by Carl Maag and Steve Rohrer: Between 20 July 1945 and 21 November 1945, 67 groups entered the
ground zero area. Most of these parties entered in the month after
shot-day. These were the scientists and technicians conducting
experiments or retrieving data. By the beginning of September, most
of those who entered the ground zero area were invited guests (1).
Also during the period 20 July through 21 November, at least 71
soldiers were at the TRINITY test site. Twenty-five of these men were
support personnel who never went within 460 meters of ground zero.
The remaining 46 men were technical personnel, laborers who erected
the 460-meter fence, or military policemen who served as guides.
Eleven of these men, probably members of the fence detail, spent
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