| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Arrow of Gold by Joseph Conrad: conservatory sort of place where you have put him. I'll try to
find somebody we can trust to look after him. Meantime, I will
leave the case to you."
CHAPTER VIII
Directly I had shut the door after the doctor I started shouting
for Therese. "Come down at once, you wretched hypocrite," I yelled
at the foot of the stairs in a sort of frenzy as though I had been
a second Ortega. Not even an echo answered me; but all of a sudden
a small flame flickered descending from the upper darkness and
Therese appeared on the first floor landing carrying a lighted
candle in front of a livid, hard face, closed against remorse,
The Arrow of Gold |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Second Inaugural Address by Abraham Lincoln: It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's
assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces;
but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both
could not be answered--that of neither has been answered fully.
The Almighty has his own purposes. "Woe unto the world because
of offenses! for it must needs be that offenses come; but woe
to that man by whom the offense cometh." If we shall suppose
that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the
providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued
through his appointed time, he now wills to remove, and that he
gives to both North and South this terrible war, as the woe due
Second Inaugural Address |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Memoir of Fleeming Jenkin by Robert Louis Stevenson: London. And Fleeming had already made his mark among the few who
had an opportunity of knowing him.
His marriage was the one decisive incident of his career; from that
moment until the day of his death, he had one thought to which all
the rest were tributary, the thought of his wife. No one could
know him even slightly, and not remark the absorbing greatness of
that sentiment; nor can any picture of the man be drawn that does
not in proportion dwell upon it. This is a delicate task; but if
we are to leave behind us (as we wish) some presentment of the
friend we have lost, it is a task that must be undertaken.
For all his play of mind and fancy, for all his indulgence - and,
|
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 The Mirror of the Sea by Joseph Conrad: unsuspected. The stillness around us became crushing.
For a moment the succession of silky undulations ran on innocently.
I saw each of them swell up the misty line of the horizon, far, far
away beyond the derelict brig, and the next moment, with a slight
friendly toss of our boat, it had passed under us and was gone.
The lulling cadence of the rise and fall, the invariable gentleness
of this irresistible force, the great charm of the deep waters,
warmed my breast deliciously, like the subtle poison of a love-
potion. But all this lasted only a few soothing seconds before I
jumped up too, making the boat roll like the veriest landlubber.
Something startling, mysterious, hastily confused, was taking
The Mirror of the Sea |
