| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Underdogs by Mariano Azuela: times without being able to force it open. For a few min-
utes he stood there, hesitating.
No--he had not dreamed it. Everything had really oc-
curred just as he recalled it. He had left the table with
his bride and taken her to the bedroom, but just as he
was closing the door, Demetrio staggered after them
and made one leap toward them. Then War Paint dashed
in after Demetrio and began to struggle with him. Deme-
trio, his eyes white-hot, his lips covered with long blond
hairs, looked for the bride, in despair. But War Paint
pushed him back vigorously.
The Underdogs |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Rig Veda: He springs to life each month, each day that passes; so Gods
have made
him their oblation-bearer.
4 The Gods have made me bearer of oblations, who slipped away
and
passed through many troubles.
Wise Agni shall ordain for us the worship, whether five-wayed,
threefold, or seven-threaded.
5 So will I win you strength and life for ever. O Gods, that
I may
give you room and freedom.
The Rig Veda |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Alexandria and her Schools by Charles Kingsley: but not even to feel it," and other such mighty questions, which in
those days hid that deep unbelief in any truth whatsoever which was
spreading fast over the minds of men. Such word-splitters were Stilpo
and Diodorus, the slayer and the slain. They were of the Megaran
school, and were named Dialectics; and also, with more truth, Eristics,
or quarrellers. Their clique had professed to follow Zeno and Socrates
in declaring the instability of sensible presumptions and conclusions,
in preaching an absolute and eternal Being. But there was this deep
gulf between them and Socrates; that while Socrates professed to be
seeking for the Absolute and Eternal, for that which is, they were
content with affirming that it exists. With him, as with the older
|
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 A Footnote to History by Robert Louis Stevenson: Catholic mission and cathedral standing by the mouth of a small
river. The bridge which crosses here (bridge of Mulivai) is a
frontier; behind is Matafele; beyond, Apia proper; behind, Germans
are supreme; beyond, with but few exceptions, all is Anglo-Saxon.
Here the reader will go forward past the stores of Mr. Moors
(American) and Messrs. MacArthur (English); past the English
mission, the office of the English newspaper, the English church,
and the old American consulate, till he reaches the mouth of a
larger river, the Vaisingano. Beyond, in Matautu, his way takes
him in the shade of many trees and by scattered dwellings, and
presently brings him beside a great range of offices, the place and
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