| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Commission in Lunacy by Honore de Balzac: "My great-grandfather, the Marquis d'Espard, was, like me, placed
early in life at the head of his family by the death of his father,
who, after dissipating his wife's fortune, left his son nothing but
the entailed estates of the d'Espards, burdened with a jointure. The
young Marquis was all the more straitened for money because he held a
post at Court. Being in great favor with Louis XIV., the King's
goodwill brought him a fortune. But here, monsieur, a blot stained our
escutcheon, an unconfessed and horrible stain of blood and disgrace
which I am making it my business to wipe out. I discovered the secret
among the deeds relating to the estate of Negrepelisse and the packets
of letters."
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from 1984 by George Orwell: foreshadowed by the various systems, generally called totalitarian, which
had appeared earlier in the century, and the main outlines of the world
which would emerge from the prevailing chaos had long been obvious. What
kind of people would control this world had been equally obvious. The new
aristocracy was made up for the most part of bureaucrats, scientists,
technicians, trade-union organizers, publicity experts, sociologists,
teachers, journalists, and professional politicians. These people, whose
origins lay in the salaried middle class and the upper grades of the
working class, had been shaped and brought together by the barren world of
monopoly industry and centralized government. As compared with their
opposite numbers in past ages, they were less avaricious, less tempted by
1984 |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom by William and Ellen Craft: which I hope may be the means of creating in
some minds a deeper abhorrence of the sinful and
abominable practice of enslaving and brutifying our
fellow-creatures.
Without stopping to write a long apology for
offering this little volume to the public, I shall
commence at once to pursue my simple story.
W. CRAFT.
12, CAMBRIDGE ROAD,
HAMMERSMITH,
LONDON.
Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom |
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 Kwaidan by Lafcadio Hearn: letter. They felt sure that the spirit of the writer would give wealth to
the breaker of the bell; and, as soon as the bell had been suspended in the
court of the temple, they went in multitude to ring it. With all their
might and main they swung the ringing-beam; but the bell proved to be a
good bell, and it bravely withstood their assaults. Nevertheless, the
people were not easily discouraged. Day after day, at all hours, they
continued to ring the bell furiously,-- caring nothing whatever for the
protests of the priests. So the ringing became an affliction; and the
priests could not endure it; and they got rid of the bell by rolling it
down the hill into a swamp. The swamp was deep, and swallowed it up,-- and
that was the end of the bell. Only its legend remains; and in that legend
Kwaidan |
