| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Red Inn by Honore de Balzac: said to him--
"I suppose he was shot, was he not?"
"Yes. I was present at the execution."
"Oh! monsieur," she said, "how could you--"
"He desired it, madame. There was something really dreadful in
following the funeral of a living man, a man my heart cared for, an
innocent man! The poor young fellow never ceased to look at me. He
seemed to live only in me. He wanted, he said, that I should carry to
his mother his last sigh."
"And did you?"
"At the peace of Amiens I went to France, for the purpose of taking to
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Monster Men by Edgar Rice Burroughs: and turned up toward its head without meeting
with resistance or even catching a glimpse
of the brown-skinned people who watched him
from their hiding places in the brush.
That night they slept in the long-house near the bank
of the greater stream, while its rightful occupants
made the best of it in the jungle behind. The next
morning found the four again on the march ere the sun
had scarcely lighted the dark places of the forest,
for Bulan was now sure that he was on the right trail
and that the new river that he had come to was indeed the
The Monster Men |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James: then to Calvinism; from that to Wesleyanism; and from this,
outside of technical Christianity altogether, to pure
"liberalism" or transcendental idealism, whether or not of the
mind-cure type, taking in the mediaeval mystics, the quietists,
the pietists, and quakers by the way, we can trace the stages of
progress towards the idea of an immediate spiritual help,
experienced by the individual in his forlornness and standing in
no essential need of doctrinal apparatus or propitiatory
machinery.
Psychology and religion are thus in perfect harmony up to this
point, since both admit that there are forces seemingly outside
|
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 Eugenie Grandet by Honore de Balzac: who never has a penny to spare. Taxes swallow up everything."
"We do not wish to intrude, Grandet," said the banker; "you may want
to talk to your nephew, and therefore we will bid you good-night."
At these words the assembly rose, and each made a parting bow in
keeping with his or her own character. The old notary went to the door
to fetch his lantern and came back to light it, offering to accompany
the des Grassins on their way. Madame des Grassins had not foreseen
the incident which brought the evening prematurely to an end, her
servant therefore had not arrived.
"Will you do me the honor to take my arm, madame?" said the abbe.
"Thank you, monsieur l'abbe, but I have my son," she answered dryly.
Eugenie Grandet |
