| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad: and was in the water before I had made up my mind fairly.
Somebody heard the splash and they raised an awful hullabaloo.
`He's gone! Lower the boats! He's committed suicide!
No, he's swimming.' Certainly I was swimming. It's not
so easy for a swimmer like me to commit suicide by drowning.
I landed on the nearest islet before the boat left the ship's side.
I heard them pulling about in the dark, hailing, and so on, but after
a bit they gave up. Everything quieted down and the anchorage
became still as death. I sat down on a stone and began to think.
I felt certain they would start searching for me at daylight.
There was no place to hide on those stony things--
The Secret Sharer |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The King of the Golden River by John Ruskin: such merry singing.
Then he went on for another hour, and the thirst increased
on him so that he thought he should be forced to drink. But as
he raised the flask he saw a little child lying panting by the
roadside, and it cried out piteously for water. Then Gluck
struggled with himself and determined to bear the thirst a little
longer; and he put the bottle to the child's lips, and it drank
it all but a few drops. Then it smiled on him and got up and ran
down the hill; and Gluck looked after it till it became as small
as a little star, and then turned and began climbing again. And
then there were all kinds of sweet flowers growing on the rocks--
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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 The Kreutzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoy: because I was sure that toward me she had no other feeling than
of perpetual irritation, sometimes interrupted by the customary
sensuality, and that this man,--thanks to his external elegance
and his novelty, and, above all, thanks to his unquestionably
remarkable talent, thanks to the attraction exercised under the
influence of music, thanks to the impression that music produces
upon nervous natures,--this man would not only please, but would
inevitably, and without difficulty, subjugate and conquer her,
and do with her as he liked.
"I could not help seeing this. I could not help suffering, or
keep from being jealous. And I was jealous, and I suffered, and
The Kreutzer Sonata |
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 Bride of Lammermoor by Walter Scott: Dick on his walk to Edinburgh. We parted about a mile from the
village, just as we heard the distant cheer of the boys which
accompanied the mounting of the new symbol of the Wallace Head.
Dick Tinto mended his pace to get out of hearing, so little had
either early practice or recent philosophy reconciled him to the
character of a sign-painter.
In Edinburgh, Dick's talents were discovered and
appreciated, and he received dinners and hints from several
distinguished judges of the fine arts. But these gentlemen
dispensed their criticism more willingly than their cash, and
Dick thought he needed cash more than criticism. He therefore
The Bride of Lammermoor |
