| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Gobseck by Honore de Balzac: not able to pay, they would show me more respect than they would show
their own fathers. What tricks and grimaces would not the Countess try
for a thousand francs! She would be so nice to me, she would talk to
me in that ingratiating tone peculiar to endorsers of bills, she would
pour out a torrent of coaxing words, perhaps she would beg and pray,
and I . . .' (here the old man turned his pale eyes upon me)--'and I
not to be moved, inexorable!' he continued. 'I am there as the
avenger, the apparition of Remorse. So much for hypotheses. I reached
the house.
" ' "Madame la Comtesse is asleep," says the maid.
" ' "When can I see her?"
 Gobseck |
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 Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin A. Abbot: I have said that all figures in Flatland present the appearance
of a straight line; and it was added or implied, that it is
consequently impossible to distinguish by the visual organ
between individuals of different classes: yet now I am about
to explain to my Spaceland critics how we are able to recognize
one another by the sense of sight.
If however the Reader will take the trouble to refer to the passage
in which Recognition by Feeling is stated to be universal,
he will find this qualification -- "among the lower classes".
It is only among the higher classes and in our temperate climates
that Sight Recognition is practised.
 Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions |