| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Kreutzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoy: deceive his wife.
"The great majority look upon this journey to the church as a
condition necessary to the possession of a certain woman. Think
then of the supreme significance which material details must take
on. Is it not a sort of sale, in which a maiden is given over to
a debauche, the sale being surrounded with the most agreeable
details?
CHAPTER XI.
"All marry in this way. And I did like the rest. If the young
people who dream of the honeymoon only knew what a disillusion it
The Kreutzer Sonata |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift: morning before company came, that the offensive matter should be
carried off in wheel-barrows, by two servants appointed for that
purpose. I would not have dwelt so long upon a circumstance
that, perhaps, at first sight, may appear not very momentous, if
I had not thought it necessary to justify my character, in point
of cleanliness, to the world; which, I am told, some of my
maligners have been pleased, upon this and other occasions, to
call in question.
When this adventure was at an end, I came back out of my house,
having occasion for fresh air. The emperor was already descended
from the tower, and advancing on horse-back towards me, which had
Gulliver's Travels |
