| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Thus Spake Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche: thy humble courage: THAT was forsakenness!"--
O lonesomeness! My home, lonesomeness! How blessedly and tenderly
speaketh thy voice unto me!
We do not question each other, we do not complain to each other; we go
together openly through open doors.
For all is open with thee and clear; and even the hours run here on lighter
feet. For in the dark, time weigheth heavier upon one than in the light.
Here fly open unto me all being's words and word-cabinets: here all being
wanteth to become words, here all becoming wanteth to learn of me how to
talk.
Down there, however--all talking is in vain! There, forgetting and
Thus Spake Zarathustra |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Vicar of Tours by Honore de Balzac: The Abbe Chapeloud, a man of great good sense, whose amiability had
made the leaders of the diocese and the members of the best society in
Tours seek his company, had steadily opposed, though secretly and with
much judgment, the elevation of the Abbe Troubert. He had even
adroitly managed to prevent his access to the salons of the best
society. Nevertheless, during Chapeloud's lifetime Troubert treated
him invariably with great respect, and showed him on all occasions the
utmost deference. This constant submission did not, however, change
the opinion of the late canon, who said to Birotteau during the last
walk they took together: "Distrust that lean stick of a Troubert,--
Sixtus the Fifth reduced to the limits of a bishopric!"
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