| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells: although my French windows face towards Ottershaw and
the blind was up (for I loved in those days to look up at
the night sky), I saw nothing of it. Yet this strangest of all
things that ever came to earth from outer space must have
fallen while I was sitting there, visible to me had I only
looked up as it passed. Some of those who saw its flight say
it travelled with a hissing sound. I myself heard nothing
of that. Many people in Berkshire, Surrey, and Middlesex
must have seen the fall of it, and, at most, have thought
that another meteorite had descended. No one seems to have
troubled to look for the fallen mass that night.
War of the Worlds |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Sesame and Lilies by John Ruskin: all its real duties,--an instinct which you cannot quench, but only
warp and corrupt if you withdraw it from its true purpose:- as there
is the intense instinct of love, which, rightly disciplined,
maintains all the sanctities of life, and, misdirected, undermines
them; and MUST do either the one or the other;--so there is in the
human heart an inextinguishable instinct, the love of power, which,
rightly directed, maintains all the majesty of law and life, and,
misdirected, wrecks them.
Deep rooted in the innermost life of the heart of man, and of the
heart of woman, God set it there, and God keeps it there.--Vainly,
as falsely, you blame or rebuke the desire of power!--For Heaven's
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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 Collected Articles by Frederick Douglass: to do the rest. One element in my favor was the kind feeling which prevailed
in Baltimore and other sea-ports at the time, toward "those who go down
to the sea in ships." "Free trade and sailors' rights" just then expressed
the sentiment of the country. In my clothing I was rigged out in sailor style.
I had on a red shirt and a tarpaulin hat, and a black cravat tied
in sailor fashion carelessly and loosely about my neck. My knowledge
of ships and sailor's talk came much to my assistance, for I knew a ship
from stem to stern, and from keelson to cross-trees, and could talk sailor
like an "old salt." I was well on the way to Havre de Grace before
the conductor came into the negro car to collect tickets and examine
the papers of his black passengers. This was a critical moment in the drama.
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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 Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals by Charles Darwin: and we consequently open our eyes fully, so that the field of vision
may be increased, and the eyeballs moved easily in any direction.
But this hardly accounts for the eyebrows being so greatly raised
as is the case, and for the wild staring of the open eyes.
The explanation lies, I believe, in the impossibility of opening
the eyes with great rapidity by merely raising the upper lids.
To effect this the eyebrows must be lifted energetically.
Any one who will try to open his eyes as quickly as possible
before a mirror will find that he acts thus; and the energetic
lifting up of the eyebrows opens the eyes so widely that they stare,
the white being exposed all round the iris. Moreover, the elevation
Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals |
