| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Voyage to Arcturus by David Lindsay: omen."
When he was about to get up, he found that the shrivelled skin that
had been his third arm was flapping disconcertingly with every
movement of his body. He made perforations in it all around, as
close to his chest as possible, with the fingernails of both hands;
then he carefully twisted it off. In that world of rapid growth and
ungrowth he judged that the stump would soon disappear. After that,
he rose and peered into the darkness.
The forest at that point sloped rather steeply and, without thinking
twice about it, he took the downhill direction, never doubting it
would bring him somewhere. As soon as he started walking, his temper
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne: but in the upper part of its muzzle). Then, taking a spring,
he threw himself upon us.
The pinnace could not avoid the shock, and half upset, shipped at least
two tons of water, which had to be emptied; but, thanks to the coxswain,
we caught it sideways, not full front, so we were not quite overturned.
While Ned Land, clinging to the bows, belaboured the gigantic animal with
blows from his harpoon, the creature's teeth were buried in the gunwale,
and it lifted the whole thing out of the water, as a lion does a roebuck.
We were upset over one another, and I know not how the adventure would
have ended, if the Canadian, still enraged with the beast, had not struck it
to the heart.
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Reason Discourse by Rene Descartes: men of the lowest grade of intellect can do. The second test is, that
although such machines might execute many things with equal or perhaps
greater perfection than any of us, they would, without doubt, fail in
certain others from which it could be discovered that they did not act
from knowledge, but solely from the disposition of their organs: for while
reason is an universal instrument that is alike available on every
occasion, these organs, on the contrary, need a particular arrangement for
each particular action; whence it must be morally impossible that there
should exist in any machine a diversity of organs sufficient to enable it
to act in all the occurrences of life, in the way in which our reason
enables us to act. Again, by means of these two tests we may likewise know
Reason Discourse |
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 Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin: tortoise and of some of the birds, may hereafter prove to be
only well-marked races; but this would be of equally great
interest to the philosophical naturalist. I have said that most
of the islands are in sight of each other: I may specify that
Charles Island is fifty miles from the nearest part of Chatham
Island, and thirty-three miles from the nearest part of
Albemarle Island. Chatham Island is sixty miles from the
nearest part of James Island, but there are two intermediate
islands between them which were not visited by me. James
Island is only ten miles from the nearest part of Albemarle
Island, but the two points where the collections were made
The Voyage of the Beagle |
