| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Sesame and Lilies by John Ruskin: amazement, the unconquerable apathy in ourselves and hearers, no
less than in these the teachers; and that while the wisdom and
rightness of every act and art of life could only be consistent with
a right understanding of the ends of life, we were all plunged as in
a languid dream--our hearts fat, and our eyes heavy, and our ears
closed, lest the inspiration of hand or voice should reach us--lest
we should see with our eyes, and understand with our hearts, and be
healed.
This intense apathy in all of us is the first great mystery of life;
it stands in the way of every perception, every virtue. There is no
making ourselves feel enough astonishment at it. That the
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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 Adam Bede by George Eliot: end on't he's more addle-headed than he was at the beginning.
He's full o' this peace now, as they talk on; he's been reading
and reading, and thinks he's got to the bottom on't. 'Why, Lor'
bless you, Mills,' says I, 'you see no more into this thing nor
you can see into the middle of a potato. I'll tell you what it
is: you think it'll be a fine thing for the country. And I'm not
again' it--mark my words--I'm not again' it. But it's my opinion
as there's them at the head o' this country as are worse enemies
to us nor Bony and all the mounseers he's got at 's back; for as
for the mounseers, you may skewer half-a-dozen of 'em at once as
if they war frogs.'"
 Adam Bede |