| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Crisis in Russia by Arthur Ransome: a village must provide, and used them without delay for a
definite purpose, they were perfectly satisfied and
considered it right and proper. In every case, however,
when they saw people being mobilized and sent thither
without obvious purpose or result, they became hostile at
once." I asked Unshlicht how it was that their army still
contained skilled workmen when one of the objects of
industrial conscription was to get the skilled workmen back
into the factories. He said: "We have an accurate census of
the army, and when we get asked for skilled workmen for
such and such a factory, they go there knowing that they still
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Art of War by Sun Tzu: so interesting.
Dr. Giles produced a work primarily intended for scholars of
the Chinese civilization and language. It contains the Chinese
text of Sun Tzu, the English translation, and voluminous notes
along with numerous footnotes. Unfortunately, some of his notes
and footnotes contain Chinese characters; some are completely
Chinese. Thus, a conversion to a Latin alphabet etext was
difficult. I did the conversion in complete ignorance of Chinese
(except for what I learned while doing the conversion). Thus, I
faced the difficult task of paraphrasing it while retaining as
much of the important text as I could. Every paraphrase
The Art of War |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Complete Angler by Izaak Walton: watch to destroy them, especially the spawn of the Carp and Tench,
when 'tis left to the mercy of ducks or vermin.
He, and Dubravius, and all others advise, that you make choice of such
a place for your pond, that it may be refreshed with a little rill, or with
rain water, running or falling into it; by which fish are more inclined
both to breed, and are also refreshed and fed the better, and do prove to
be of a much sweeter and more pleasant taste.
To which end it is observed, that such pools as be large and have most
gravel, and shallows where fish may sport themselves, do afford fish of
the purest taste. And note, that in all pools it is best for fish to have
some retiring place; as namely, hollow banks, or shelves, or roots of
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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 Before Adam by Jack London: of the slough there was a slight current, and in our
excitement we failed to notice that it was drifting us
into the river. We paddled, and Red-Eye kept as close
as he could to us by following along the shore. Then
he discovered larger rocks. Such ammunition increased
his range. One fragment, fully five pounds in weight,
crashed on the log alongside of me, and such was its
impact that it drove a score of splinters, like fiery
needles, into my leg. Had it struck me it would have
killed me.
And then the river current caught us. So wildly were
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