| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Iron Puddler by James J. Davis: CHAPTER XLIV
A CHANCE TO REALIZE A DREAM
On October 27, 1906, I joined the Loyal Order of Moose at
Crawfordsville, Indiana, and a new chapter in my life began. The
purpose of the Order was merely social, but its vast
possibilities took my imagination by storm. For I believed that
man's instinct for fraternity was a great reservoir of social
energy which, if harnessed aright, could lift our civilization
nearer to perfection.
On the night of my election and initiation to membership, the
Supreme Lodge was in convention and they requested me to make a
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Burning Daylight by Jack London: to all this, his was that super-strength that is the dower of but
one human in millions--a strength depending not on size but on
degree, a supreme organic excellence residing in the stuff of the
muscles themselves. Thus, so swiftly could he apply a stress,
that, before an opponent could become aware and resist, the aim
of the stress had been accomplished. In turn, so swiftly did he
become aware of a stress applied to him, that he saved himself by
resistance or by delivering a lightning counter-stress.
"It ain't no use you-all standing there," Daylight addressed the
waiting group. "You-all might as well get right down and take
your baptizing. You-all might down me any other day in the year,
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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 In Darkest England and The Way Out by General William Booth: It will help to feed the rabbits, whose hutches will be close by every
cottage on the estate, and the hens of the Colony will flourish on the
crumbs which fall from the table of Dives. But after the horses and
the rabbits and poultry have been served, there will remain a residuum
of eatable matter, which can only be profitably disposed of to the
voracious and necessary pig. I foresee the rise of a piggery in
connection with the new Social Scheme, which will dwarf into
insignificance all that exist in Great Britain and Ireland. We have
the advantage of the experience of the whole world as to the choice of
breeds, the construction of sties, and the rearing of stock. We shall
have the major part of our food practically for the cost of collection,
In Darkest England and The Way Out |
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 Psychology of Revolution by Gustave le Bon: disintegration! We are still suffering as a result of the
latter. These brutal pages in the book of history will take long
to efface: they are not effaced as yet.
Our young men of to-day seem to prefer action to thought.
Disdaining the sterile dissertations of the philosophers, they
take no interest in vain speculation concerning matters whose
essential nature remains unknown.
Action is certainly an excellent thing, and all real progress is
a result of action, but it is only useful when properly directed.
The men of the Revolution were assuredly men of action, yet the
illusions which they accepted as guides led them to disaster.
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