| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from 1492 by Mary Johntson: Castile, the jade, takes him up!''
Then after absence began again the signs. Flocks of birds
went by us. I saw him watching, and truly these flights
did seem to come from south of west. On the seventh of
October he altered course. We sailed southwest. This day
there floated by a branch with purple berries, and we saw
flying fish. Dolphins played about the ship. The very sea
felt warm to the hand, and yet was no oppression, but light
and easily breathed air, fragrant and lifting the spirits.
And now we saw floating something like a narrow board
or a wide staff. The master ordered the boat lowered; we
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain: gotten where it was, now. It was a great many years
ago, and I can scarcely remember anything about it,
but I think it was in some foreign country.
The minister gave out the hymn, and read it through
with a relish, in a peculiar style which was much ad-
mired in that part of the country. His voice began
on a medium key and climbed steadily up till it reached
a certain point, where it bore with strong emphasis upon
the topmost word and then plunged down as if from a
spring-board:
Shall I be car-ri-ed toe the skies, on flow'ry BEDS
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Ruling Passion by Henry van Dyke: parlour. They rubbed his face and his hands vigorously with snow.
They gave him a drink of hot tea flavoured with whiskey--or perhaps
it was a drink of whiskey with a little hot tea in it--and then, as
his senses began to return to him, they rolled him in a blanket and
left him on a sofa to thaw out gradually, while they went on with
the dance.
Naturally, he was the favourite subject of conversation for the next
hour.
"Who is he, anyhow? I never seen 'im before. Where'd he come
from?" asked the girls.
"I dunno," said Bill Moody; "he didn't say much. Talk seemed all
|
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 Art of War by Sun Tzu: reached the coveted position, and we are behind him, we should
advance with all speed in order to dispute its possession."
Ch`en Hao, on the other hand, assuming that the enemy has had
time to select his own ground, quotes VI. ss. 1, where Sun Tzu
warns us against coming exhausted to the attack. His own idea of
the situation is rather vaguely expressed: "If there is a
favorable position lying in front of you, detach a picked body of
troops to occupy it, then if the enemy, relying on their numbers,
come up to make a fight for it, you may fall quickly on their
rear with your main body, and victory will be assured." It was
thus, he adds, that Chao She beat the army of Ch`in. (See p.
The Art of War |
