| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Art of War by Sun Tzu: come to be used in the sense of "military maneuvers."]
Strike at its head, and you will be attacked by its tail; strike
at its tail, and you will be attacked by its head; strike at its
middle, and you will be attacked by head and tail both.
30. Asked if an army can be made to imitate the SHUAI-JAN,
[That is, as Mei Yao-ch`en says, "Is it possible to make the
front and rear of an army each swiftly responsive to attack on
the other, just as though they were part of a single living
body?"]
I should answer, Yes. For the men of Wu and the men of Yueh are
enemies;
The Art of War |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Bureaucracy by Honore de Balzac: capital if he could insure himself against LEAKAGE?"
The Deputy [a manufacturer]. "The manufacturing interests of all
nations would joyfully unite against that evil genius of theirs called
leakage."
Des Lupeaulx. "After all, though statistics are the childish foible of
modern statesmen, who think that figures are estimates, we must cipher
to estimate. Figures are, moreover, the convincing argument of
societies based on self-interest and money, and that is the sort of
society the Charter has given us,--in my opinion, at any rate. Nothing
convinces the 'intelligent masses' as much as a row of figures. All
things in the long run, say the statesmen of the Left, resolve
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf: as the conversation took this auspicious turn, and she felt Mrs
Ramsay's gratitude (for Mrs Ramsay was free now to talk for a moment
herself), ah, she thought, but what haven't I paid to get it for you?
She had not been sincere.
She had done the usual trick--been nice. She would never know him. He
would never know her. Human relations were all like that, she thought,
and the worst (if it had not been for Mr Bankes) were between men and
women. Inevitably these were extremely insincere she thought. Then
her eye caught the salt cellar, which she had placed there to remind
her, and she remembered that next morning she would move the tree
further towards the middle, and her spirits rose so high at the thought
To the Lighthouse |
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 Travels of Sir John Mandeville by Sir John Mandeville: to come from heaven and bathe them within. And what man, that
first bathed him after the moving of the water, was made whole of
what manner of sickness that he had. And there our Lord healed a
man of the palsy that lay thirty-eight year, and our Lord said to
him, TOLLE GRABATUM TUUM ET AMBULA, that is to say, 'Take thy bed
and go.' And there beside was Pilate's house.
And fast by is King Herod's house, that let slay the innocents.
This Herod was over-much cursed and cruel. For first he let slay
his wife that he loved right well; and for the passing love that he
had to her when he saw her dead, he fell in a rage and out of his
wit a great while; and sithen he came again to his wit. And after
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