| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Psychology of Revolution by Gustave le Bon: If the renunciation of their rights had been effected by the
nobility a few years earlier, the Revolution would doubtless have
been avoided, but it was now too late. To give way only when one
is forced to do so merely increases the demands of those
to whom one yields. In politics one should always look ahead and
give way long before one is forced to do so.
Louis XVI. hesitated for two months to ratify the decisions voted
by the Assembly on the night of the 4th of August. He had
retired to Versailles. The leaders sent thither a band of 7,000
or 8,000 men and women of the people, assuring them that the
royal residence contained great stores of bread. The railings of
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Proposed Roads To Freedom by Bertrand Russell: to abolish wholly the system of wages, not only, as
most Socialists do, in the sense that a man is to be
paid rather for his willingness to work than for the
actual work demanded of him, but in a more fundamental
sense: there is to be no obligation to work,
and all things are to be shared in equal proportions
among the whole population. Kropotkin relies upon
the possibility of making work pleasant: he holds
that, in such a community as he foresees, practically
everyone will prefer work to idleness, because work will
not involve overwork or slavery, or that excessive
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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 From London to Land's End by Daniel Defoe: of land at low-water mark, and in the very sea--so rich, so
valuable, a treasure is contained in these parts of Great Britain,
though they are supposed to be so poor, because so very remote from
London, which is the centre of our wealth.
Between this town and St. Burien, a town midway between it and the
Land's End, stands a circle of great stones, not unlike those at
Stonehenge, in Wiltshire, with one bigger than the rest in the
middle. They stand about twelve feet asunder, but have no
inscription; neither does tradition offer to leave any part of
their history upon record, as whether it was a trophy or a monument
of burial, or an altar for worship, or what else; so that all that
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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 Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll: shrill voices. `Silence, every one of you!' cried the Tiger-
lily, waving itself passionately from side to side, and trembling
with excitement. `They know I can't get at them!' it panted,
bending its quivering head towards Alice, `or they wouldn't dare
to do it!'
`Never mind!' Alice said in a soothing tone, and stooping down
to the daisies, who were just beginning again, she whispered, `If
you don't hold your tongues, I'll pick you!'
There was silence in a moment, and several of the pink daisies
turned white.
`That's right!' said the Tiger-lily. `The daisies are worst of
Through the Looking-Glass |
