| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Soul of Man by Oscar Wilde: For it is through joy that the Individualism of the future will
develop itself. Christ made no attempt to reconstruct society, and
consequently the Individualism that he preached to man could be
realised only through pain or in solitude. The ideals that we owe
to Christ are the ideals of the man who abandons society entirely,
or of the man who resists society absolutely. But man is naturally
social. Even the Thebaid became peopled at last. And though the
cenobite realises his personality, it is often an impoverished
personality that he so realises. Upon the other hand, the terrible
truth that pain is a mode through which man may realise himself
exercises a wonderful fascination over the world. Shallow speakers
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Princess of Parms by Edgar Rice Burroughs: with such a problem, when my heart tells me that I believe
because I wish to believe!"
It was good logic, good, earthly, feminine logic, and if it
satisfied her I certainly could pick no flaws in it. As a
matter of fact it was about the only kind of logic that could
be brought to bear upon my problem. We fell into a general
conversation then, asking and answering many questions on each
side. She was curious to learn of the customs of my people
and displayed a remarkable knowledge of events on Earth.
When I questioned her closely on this seeming familiarity
with earthly things she laughed, and cried out:
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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 Almayer's Folly by Joseph Conrad: towards the sleeping settlement.
"Ah! my friend Abdulla," he cried, "we shall see who will have
the best of it after all these years!"
He looked up the river and remarked calmly:
"Another thunderstorm. Well! No thunder will keep me awake
to-night, I know! Good-night, little girl," he whispered,
tenderly kissing her cheek. "You do not seem to be very happy
to-night, but to-morrow you will show a brighter face. Eh?"
Nina had listened to her father with her face unmoved, with her
half-closed eyes still gazing into the night now made more
intense by a heavy thunder-cloud that had crept down from the
Almayer's Folly |
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 Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas: of another! Oh, Valentine, were I in your place, and did I
feel conscious, as you do, of being worshipped, adored, with
such a love as mine, a hundred times at least should I have
passed my hand between these iron bars, and said, `Take this
hand, dearest Maximilian, and believe that, living or dead,
I am yours -- yours only, and forever!'" The poor girl made
no reply, but her lover could plainly hear her sobs and
tears. A rapid change took place in the young man's
feelings. "Dearest, dearest Valentine," exclaimed he,
"forgive me if I have offended you, and forget the words I
spoke if they have unwittingly caused you pain."
The Count of Monte Cristo |
