| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne: his carriage; till by frequent coming and going, it had so happen'd, that
all his wine had leak'd out at the legal vent of the borrachio, before one
half of the journey was finish'd.
Man is a creature born to habitudes. The day had been sultry--the evening
was delicious--the wine was generous--the Burgundian hill on which it grew
was steep--a little tempting bush over the door of a cool cottage at the
foot of it, hung vibrating in full harmony with the passions--a gentle air
rustled distinctly through the leaves--'Come--come, thirsty muleteer,--come
in.'
--The muleteer was a son of Adam, I need not say a word more. He gave the
mules, each of 'em, a sound lash, and looking in the abbess's and
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Kreutzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoy: When near the house Polikey began to arrange his clothes,
smoothing down his fur collar, re-tying his sash, and stroking
his hair. To do the latter he had to take off his hat, and when
doing so felt in the lining for the envelope. Quicker and
quicker he ran his hand around the lining, and not finding the
money used both hands, first one and then the other. But the
envelope was not to be found.
Polikey was by this time greatly distressed, and his face was
white with fear as he passed his hand through the crown of his
old hat. Polikey stopped the mare and began a diligent search
through the wagon and its contents. Not finding the precious
The Kreutzer Sonata |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Water-Babies by Charles Kingsley: hoped that his turn would come at last; and so it did. For the
lady called him up, and held out her fingers with something in
them, and popped it into his mouth; and, lo and behold, it was a
nasty cold hard pebble.
"You are a very cruel woman," said he, and began to whimper.
"And you are a very cruel boy; who puts pebbles into the sea-
anemones' mouths, to take them in, and make them fancy that they
had caught a good dinner! As you did to them, so I must do to
you."
"Who told you that?" said Tom.
"You did yourself, this very minute."
|
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 Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche: deceive ourselves with that commendation: in short, whether
German depth is not at bottom something different and worse--and
something from which, thank God, we are on the point of
successfully ridding ourselves. Let us try, then, to relearn with
regard to German depth; the only thing necessary for the purpose
is a little vivisection of the German soul.--The German soul is
above all manifold, varied in its source, aggregated and super-
imposed, rather than actually built: this is owing to its origin.
A German who would embolden himself to assert: "Two souls, alas,
dwell in my breast," would make a bad guess at the truth, or,
more correctly, he would come far short of the truth about the
Beyond Good and Evil |
