| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane: seemed a complicated thing. He wondered how
they could remember its formula in the midst of
confusion.
The guns squatted in a row like savage chiefs.
They argued with abrupt violence. It was a
grim pow-wow. Their busy servants ran hither
and thither.
A small procession of wounded men were go-
ing drearily toward the rear. It was a flow of
blood from the torn body of the brigade.
To the right and to the left were the dark
The Red Badge of Courage |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Ball at Sceaux by Honore de Balzac: she reflected on it. There was something in it very painful to her
pride. Accustomed as she was to be the centre of her world, she was
obliged to recognize a force that attracted her outside herself; she
tried to resist, but she could not chase from her heart the
fascinating image of the young man.
Then came some anxiety. Two of Monsieur Longueville's qualities, very
adverse to general curiosity, and especially to Mademoiselle de
Fontaine's, were unexpected modesty and discretion. He never spoke of
himself, of his pursuits, or of his family. The hints Emilie threw out
in conversation, and the traps she laid to extract from the young
fellow some facts concerning himself, he could evade with the
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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 The Soul of Man by Oscar Wilde: And the message of Christ to man was simply 'Be thyself.' That is
the secret of Christ.
When Jesus talks about the poor he simply means personalities, just
as when he talks about the rich he simply means people who have not
developed their personalities. Jesus moved in a community that
allowed the accumulation of private property just as ours does, and
the gospel that he preached was not that in such a community it is
an advantage for a man to live on scanty, unwholesome food, to wear
ragged, unwholesome clothes, to sleep in horrid, unwholesome
dwellings, and a disadvantage for a man to live under healthy,
pleasant, and decent conditions. Such a view would have been wrong
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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 The Second Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling: something opening with a sigh, and saw two slabs of the floor
draw away from each other, while the sticky earth below smacked
its lips.
"Now I see," said Purun Bhagat. "No blame to my brothers that
they did not sit by the fire to-night. The mountain is falling.
And yet-- why should I go?" His eye fell on the empty begging-
bowl, and his face changed. "They have given me good food daily
since--since I came, and, if I am not swift, to-morrow there
will not be one mouth in the valley. Indeed, I must go and warn
them below. Back there, Brother! Let me get to the fire."
The barasingh backed unwillingly as Purun Bhagat drove a pine
The Second Jungle Book |
