| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from God The Invisible King by H. G. Wells: and the light of the world. That briefly is the belief of the
modern mind with regard to God. There is no very novel idea about
this God, unless it be the idea that he had a beginning. This is
the God that men have sought and found in all ages, as God or as the
Messiah or the Saviour. The finding of him is salvation from the
purposelessness of life. The new religion has but disentangled the
idea of him from the absolutes and infinities and mysteries of the
Christian theologians; from mythological virgin births and the
cosmogonies and intellectual pretentiousness of a vanished age.
Modern religion appeals to no revelation, no authoritative teaching,
no mystery. The statement it makes is, it declares, a mere
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Resurrection by Leo Tolstoy: in, and left me alone; a sentinel, with a loaded gun, paced up
and down in front of my door, and every now and then looked in
through a crack--I felt terribly depressed. What struck me most
at the time was that the gendarme officer who examined me offered
me a cigarette. So he knew that people liked smoking, and must
know that they liked freedom and light; and that mothers love
their children, and children their mothers. Then how could they
tear me pitilessly from all that was dear to me, and lock me up
in prison like a wild animal? That sort of thing could not be
borne without evil effects. Any one who believes in God and men,
and believes that men love one another, will cease to believe it
Resurrection |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from King James Bible: Jushabhesed, five.
CH1 3:21 And the sons of Hananiah; Pelatiah, and Jesaiah: the sons of
Rephaiah, the sons of Arnan, the sons of Obadiah, the sons of
Shechaniah.
CH1 3:22 And the sons of Shechaniah; Shemaiah: and the sons of
Shemaiah; Hattush, and Igeal, and Bariah, and Neariah, and Shaphat, six.
CH1 3:23 And the sons of Neariah; Elioenai, and Hezekiah, and Azrikam,
three.
CH1 3:24 And the sons of Elioenai were, Hodaiah, and Eliashib, and
Pelaiah, and Akkub, and Johanan, and Dalaiah, and Anani, seven.
CH1 4:1 The sons of Judah; Pharez, Hezron, and Carmi, and Hur, and
King James Bible |
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 War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy: Secondly, it would have been senseless to block the passage of men
whose whole energy was directed to flight.
Thirdly, it would have been senseless to sacrifice one's own
troops in order to destroy the French army, which without external
interference was destroying itself at such a rate that, though its
path was not blocked, it could not carry across the frontier more than
it actually did in December, namely a hundredth part of the original
army.
Fourthly, it would have been senseless to wish to take captive the
Emperor, kings, and dukes- whose capture would have been in the
highest degree embarrassing for the Russians, as the most adroit
War and Peace |
