| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Horse's Tale by Mark Twain: she lays siege to it, and makes military approaches by make-believe
trenches in make-believe night, and finally at make-believe dawn
she draws her sword and sounds the assault and takes it by storm.
It is for practice. And she has invented a bugle-call all by
herself, out of her own head, and it's a stirring one, and the
prettiest in the service. It's to call ME - it's never used for
anything else. She taught it to me, and told me what it says: 'IT
IS I, SOLDIER - COME!' and when those thrilling notes come floating
down the distance I hear them without fail, even if I am two miles
away; and then - oh, then you should see my heels get down to
business!
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Charmides by Plato: attainable, how can such a knowledge be of any use?
The difficulty of the Charmides arises chiefly from the two senses of the
word (Greek), or temperance. From the ethical notion of temperance, which
is variously defined to be quietness, modesty, doing our own business, the
doing of good actions, the dialogue passes onto the intellectual conception
of (Greek), which is declared also to be the science of self-knowledge, or
of the knowledge of what we know and do not know, or of the knowledge of
good and evil. The dialogue represents a stage in the history of
philosophy in which knowledge and action were not yet distinguished. Hence
the confusion between them, and the easy transition from one to the other.
The definitions which are offered are all rejected, but it is to be
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Koran: be wretched; only as a reminder to him who fears-descending from Him
who created the earth and the high heavens, the Merciful settled on
the throne! His are what is in the heavens, and what is in the
earth, and what is between the two, and what is beneath the ground!
And if thou art public in thy speech-yet, verily, he knows the secret,
and more hidden still.
God, there is no god but He! His are the excellent names.
Has the story of Moses come to thee? When he saw the fire and said
to his family, 'Tarry ye; verily, I perceive a fire! Haply I may bring
you therefrom a brand, or may find guidance by the fire.' And when
he came to it he was called to, 'O Moses! verily, I am thy Lord, so
The Koran |
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 Pair of Blue Eyes by Thomas Hardy: 'To-morrow morning. Name a time, will you, and bind me to it? I
want you to fix an hour, because I am weak, and may otherwise try
to get out of it.' She added a little artificial laugh, which
showed how timorous her resolution was still.
'Well, say after breakfast--at eleven o'clock.'
'Yes, eleven o'clock. I promise you. Bind me strictly to my
word.'
Chapter XXVIII
'I lull a fancy, trouble-tost.'
Miss Swancourt, it is eleven o'clock.'
She was looking out of her dressing-room window on the first
A Pair of Blue Eyes |
