| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Lysis by Plato: being hated by them.
I think that what you say is true.
And, if so, not the lover, but the beloved, is the friend or dear one?
Yes.
And the hated one, and not the hater, is the enemy?
Clearly.
Then many men are loved by their enemies, and hated by their friends, and
are the friends of their enemies, and the enemies of their friends. Yet
how absurd, my dear friend, or indeed impossible is this paradox of a man
being an enemy to his friend or a friend to his enemy.
I quite agree, Socrates, in what you say.
 Lysis |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Road to Oz by L. Frank Baum: observed the shaggy man. The grey donkey paid no attention to this
speech because he had just stopped before a house which had painted
over the doorway a pair of hoofs, with a donkey tail between them and
a rude crown and sceptre above.
"I'll see if his magnificent Majesty King Kik-a-bray is at home," said
he. He lifted his head and called "Whee-haw! whee-haw! whee-haw!"
three times, in a shocking voice, turning about and kicking with his
heels against the panel of the door. For a time there was no reply;
then the door opened far enough to permit a donkey's head to stick out
and look at them.
It was a white head, with big, awful ears and round, solemn eyes.
 The Road to Oz |