| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Golden Sayings of Epictetus by Epictetus: XXXIII
Knowest thou what a speck thou art in comparison with the
Universe?---That is, with respect to the body; since with respect
to Reason, thou art not inferior to the Gods, nor less than they.
For the greatness of Reason is not measured by length or height,
but by the resolves of the mind. Place then thy happiness in that
wherein thou art equal to the Gods.
XXXIV
Asked how a man might eat acceptably to the Gods, Epictetus
replied:--If when he eats, he can be just, cheerful, equable,
temperate, and orderly, can he not thus eat acceptably to the
The Golden Sayings of Epictetus |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Mother by Owen Wister: learned that one house in St. Louis alone twirled 50,000 eggs in a day,
the possible profits of the Egg Trust became clear to me. But they were
not so clear to Ethel. She said that you could not monopolise hens. That
they would always be laying eggs and putting it in the power of
competitors to hatch them by incubators. Nor did she have confidence in
the Pasteurised Feeder. 'Even if you get the parents to adopt it,' she
said, 'you cannot get the children. If they do not like the taste of the
milk as it comes out of the bottle through the Feeder, they will simply
not take it.'"
"'Well,' I answered, 'old Mrs. Beverly is holding on to hers.'"
"When I said this, Ethel sat with her mouth tight. Then she opened it and
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Where There's A Will by Mary Roberts Rinehart: thrilled through and through.
"My amiability must be the reason you dislike me!" he suggested.
They had both forgotten me.
"Do I dislike you?" she asked, raising her eyebrows. "I never
really thought about it, but I'm sure I don't." She didn't look
at him, she looked at me. She knew I knew she lied.
His smile faded.
"Well," he said, "speaking of disliking amiability, you don't
hate yourself, I'm sure."
"You are wrong," she retorted, "I loathe myself." And she walked
to the window. He took a step or two after her.
|
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 Marie by H. Rider Haggard: raging river in a fashion suited to romance. Indeed, we interchanged
our young ideas across a small and extremely massive table, which, in
fact, had once done duty as a block for the chopping up of meat. To
this hour I can see the hundreds of lines running criss-cross upon its
surface, especially those opposite to where I used to sit.
One day, several years after my father had emigrated to the Cape, the
Heer Marais arrived at our house in search, I think, of some lost oxen.
He was a thin, bearded man with rather wild, dark eyes set close
together, and a quick nervous manner, not in the least like that of a
Dutch Boer--or so I recall him. My father received him courteously and
asked him to stop to dine, which he did.
Marie |
