| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Albert Savarus by Honore de Balzac: front of the house and the shore of the little promontory. On that
side the house had a balcony above the first floor, made of wood, and
covered by the roof, which projected deeply like the roof of a chalet
on all four sides of the building, in the Swiss fashion. Rodolphe had
loudly praised the elegance of this arrangement, and talked of the
view from that balcony, but all in vain. When he had taken leave of
the Bergmanns it struck him that he was a simpleton, like any man of
spirit and imagination disappointed of the results of a plan which he
had believed would succeed.
In the evening he, of course, went out in a boat on the lake, round
and about the spit of land, to Brunnen and to Schwytz, and came in at
Albert Savarus |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Travels of Sir John Mandeville by Sir John Mandeville: number as they may suffice; but the great Chan hath every day folk
at his costage and expense as without number. But the ordinance,
ne the expenses in meat and drink, ne the honesty, ne the
cleanness, is not so arrayed there as it is here; for all the
commons there eat without cloth upon their knees, and they eat all
manner of flesh and little of bread, and after meat they wipe their
hands upon their skirts, and they eat not but once a day. But the
estate of lords is full great, and rich and noble.
And albeit that some men will not trow me, but hold it for fable to
tell them the noblesse of his person and of his estate and of his
court and of the great multitude of folk that he holds, natheles I
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Sophist by Plato: names to the same thing, e.g. white, good, tall, to man; out of which tyros
old and young derive such a feast of amusement. Their meagre minds refuse
to predicate anything of anything; they say that good is good, and man is
man; and that to affirm one of the other would be making the many one and
the one many. Let us place them in a class with our previous opponents,
and interrogate both of them at once. Shall we assume (1) that being and
rest and motion, and all other things, are incommunicable with one another?
or (2) that they all have indiscriminate communion? or (3) that there is
communion of some and not of others? And we will consider the first
hypothesis first of all.
(1) If we suppose the universal separation of kinds, all theories alike are
|
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 King James Bible: MAT 4:6 And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself
down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning
thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou
dash thy foot against a stone.
MAT 4:7 Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt
the Lord thy God.
MAT 4:8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain,
and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
MAT 4:9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou
wilt fall down and worship me.
MAT 4:10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is
King James Bible |
