| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Woman and Labour by Olive Schreiner: and developed females, we imagine males of the same highly evolved class
thrown into contact with the lowest form of primitive females. A Darwin, a
Schiller, a Keats, though all men capable of the strongest sex emotion and
of the most durable sex affections, would probably be untouched by any
emotion but horror, cast into the company of a circle of Bushmen females
with greased bodies and twinkling eyes, devouring the raw entrails of
slaughtered beasts.
But leaving out even such extreme instances of diversity, the mere division
in culture and mental habits, dividing individuals of the same race but of
different classes, tends largely to exclude the possibility of at least the
nobler and more enduring forms of sex emotion. The highly cultured denizen
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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: pass on to the variability of species in a state of nature; but I shall,
unfortunately, be compelled to treat this subject far too briefly, as it
can be treated properly only by giving long catalogues of facts. We shall,
however, be enabled to discuss what circumstances are most favourable to
variation. In the next chapter the Struggle for Existence amongst all
organic beings throughout the world, which inevitably follows from their
high geometrical powers of increase, will be treated of. This is the
doctrine of Malthus, applied to the whole animal and vegetable kingdoms.
As many more individuals of each species are born than can possibly
survive; and as, consequently, there is a frequently recurring struggle for
existence, it follows that any being, if it vary however slightly in any
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 Father Sergius by Leo Tolstoy: but here that temptation arose with terrible strength and even
took definite shape. There was a lady known for her frivolous
behaviour who began to seek his favour. She talked to him and
asked him to visit her. Sergius sternly declined, but was
horrified by the definiteness of his desire. He was so alarmed
that he wrote about it to the starets. And in addition, to keep
himself in hand, he spoke to a young novice and, conquering his
sense of shame, confessed his weakness to him, asking him to keep
watch on him and not let him go anywhere except to service and to
fulfil his duties.
Besides this, a great pitfall for Sergius lay in the fact of his
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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 An Unsocial Socialist by George Bernard Shaw: husband. You must let me take off these atrocious French boots.
Your feet must be perfectly dead."
By this time her voice and tears were thawing in the warmth of
the chalet and of his caresses. "You shall not take them off,"
she said, crying with cold and sorrow. "Let me alone. Don't touch
me. I am going away--straight back. I will not speak to you, nor
take off my things here, nor touch anything in the house."
"No, my darling," he said, putting her into a capacious wooden
armchair and busily unbuttoning her boots, "you shall do nothing
that you don't wish to do. Your feet are like stones. Yes, yes,
my dear, I am a wretch unworthy to live. I know it."
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