| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Master and Man by Leo Tolstoy: that.
From Grishkino to Goryachkin was about another four miles.
In the middle of the village they almost ran into a tall man
walking down the middle of the street.
'Who are you?' shouted the man, stopping the horse, and
recognizing Vasili Anereevich he immediately took hold of the
shaft, went along it hand over hand till he reached the sledge,
and placed himself on the driver's seat.
He was Isay, a peasant of Vasili Andreevich's acquaintance, and
well known as the principal horse-thief in the district.
'Ah, Vasili Andreevich! Where are you off to?' said Isay,
Master and Man |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Tanach: Ezekiel 8: 14 Then He brought me to the door of the gate of the LORD'S house which was toward the north; and, behold, there sat the women weeping for Tammuz.
Ezekiel 8: 15 Then said He unto me: 'Hast thou seen this, O son of man? thou shalt again see yet greater abominations than these.'
Ezekiel 8: 16 And He brought me into the inner court of the LORD'S house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east.
Ezekiel 8: 17 Then He said unto me: 'Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here in that they fill the land with violence, and provoke Me still more, and, lo, they put the branch to their nose?
Ezekiel 8: 18 Therefore will I also deal in fury; Mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity; and though they cry in Mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them.'
Ezekiel 9: 1 Then he called in mine ears with a loud voice, saying: 'Cause ye them that have charge over the city to draw near, every man with his destroying weapon in his hand.'
Ezekiel 9: 2 And, behold, six men came from the way of the upper gate, which lieth toward the north, every man with his weapon of destruction in his hand; and one man in the midst of them clothed in linen, with a writer's inkhorn on his side. And they went in, and stood beside the brazen altar.
Ezekiel 9: 3 And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon it was, to the threshold of the house; and He called to the man clothed in linen, who had the writer's inkhorn 
The Tanach |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Augsburg Confession by Philip Melanchthon: Way, the Truth, and the Life. John 14, 6.
This doctrine concerning faith is everywhere treated by Paul,
Eph. 2, 8: By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not
of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, etc.
And lest any one should craftily say that a new interpretation
of Paul has been devised by us, this entire matter is
supported by the testimonies of the Fathers. For Augustine, in
many volumes, defends grace and the righteousness of faith,
over against the merits of works. And Ambrose, in his De
Vocatione Gentium, and elsewhere, teaches to like effect. For
in his De Vocatione Gentium he says as follows: Redemption by
|
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 Kwaidan by Lafcadio Hearn: ants in this rain of the fifth month!]
But those big black ants in my garden do not seem to need any sympathy.
They have weathered the storm in some unimaginable way, while great trees
were being uprooted, and houses blown to fragments, and roads washed out of
existence. Yet, before the typhoon, they took no other visible precaution
than to block up the gates of their subterranean town. And the spectacle of
their triumphant toil to-day impels me to attempt an essay on Ants.
I should have like to preface my disquisitions with something from the old
Japanese literature,-- something emotional or metaphysical. But all that my
Japanese friends were able to find for me on the subject,-- excepting some
verses of little worth,-- was Chinese. This Chinese material consisted
Kwaidan |
