| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Story of an African Farm by Olive Schreiner: covered with the fossil footprints of great birds, and the beautiful
skeleton of a fish. We have often tried to picture in our mind what the
fossiled remains of creatures must be like, and all the while we sat on
them, we have been so blinded by thinking and feeling that we have never
seen the world.
The flat plain has been to us a reach of monotonous red. We look at it,
and every handful of sand starts into life. That wonderful people, the
ants, we learn to know; see them make war and peace, play and work, and
build their huge palaces. And that smaller people we make acquaintance
with, who live in the flowers. The bitto flower has been for us a mere
blur of yellow; we find its heart composed of a hundred perfect flowers,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from First Inaugural Address by Abraham Lincoln: amendments, I fully recognize the rightful authority of the people
over the whole subject, to be exercised in either of the modes prescribed
in the instrument itself; and I should, under existing circumstances,
favor rather than oppose a fair opportunity being afforded the people
to act upon it. I will venture to add that to me the convention mode
seems preferable, in that it allows amendments to originate with
the people themselves, instead of only permitting them to take or
reject propositions originated by others not especially chosen
for the purpose, and which might not be precisely such as they would
wish to either accept or refuse. I understand a proposed amendment
to the Constitution--which amendment, however, I have not seen--has
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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 Hiero by Xenophon: carry out your every injunction with unhestitating zeal.[2] You shall
be the cynosure of neighbouring eyes; men shall rise from their seats
at your approach; they shall step aside to yield you passage in the
streets.[3] All present shall at all times magnify you,[4] and shall
pay homage to you both with words and deeds. Those, I take it, are
ever the kind of things which subjects do to please the monarch,[5]
and thus they treat each hero of the moment, whom they strive to
honour.[6]
[1] Lit. "that human beings will abide all risks and undergo all pains
to clutch the bait."
[2] Cf. "Cyrop." II. iii. 8; VIII. i. 29.
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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 A Personal Record by Joseph Conrad: met many of his kind ashore and afloat. The second engineer of
the steamer Mavis, for instance, ought to have been his twin
brother. I cannot help thinking that he really was, though for
some reason of his own he assured me that he never had a twin
brother. Anyway, the deliberate, bald-headed Scot with the
coal-black beard appeared to my boyish eyes a very romantic and
mysterious person.
We slipped out unnoticed. Our mapped-out route led over the
Furca Pass toward the Rhone Glacier, with the further intention
of following down the trend of the Hasli Valley. The sun was
already declining when we found ourselves on the top of the pass,
A Personal Record |
