| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Thus Spake Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche: words: so that the kine wondered anew. Zarathustra, however, kept looking
into his face with a smile, all the time the man talked so severely--and
shook silently his head.
"Thou doest violence to thyself, thou Preacher-on-the-Mount, when thou
usest such severe words. For such severity neither thy mouth nor thine eye
have been given thee.
Nor, methinketh, hath thy stomach either: unto IT all such rage and hatred
and foaming-over is repugnant. Thy stomach wanteth softer things: thou
art not a butcher.
Rather seemest thou to me a plant-eater and a root-man. Perhaps thou
grindest corn. Certainly, however, thou art averse to fleshly joys, and
Thus Spake Zarathustra |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Camille by Alexandre Dumas: voice. "I wish I were a friend, a relation of yours, that I might
keep you from doing yourself harm like this."
"Ah! it is really not worth your while to alarm yourself," she
replied in a somewhat bitter tone; "see how much notice the
others take of me! They know too well that there is nothing to be
done."
Thereupon she got up, and, taking the candle, put it on the
mantel-piece and looked at herself in the glass.
"How pale I am!" she said, as she fastened her dress and passed
her fingers over her loosened hair. "Come, let us go back to
supper. Are you coming?"
Camille |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Jungle Tales of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs: And had she looked up she might have seen a sleek body
crouching almost directly over her and wicked yellow
eyes glaring hungrily down upon her, but Teeka did not look up.
With his wound Taug had backed off growling horribly.
Tarzan had followed him, screaming insults at him,
and menacing him with his brandishing blade. Teeka moved
from beneath the tree in an effort to keep close to
the duelists.
The branch above Teeka bent and swayed a trifle with the
movement of the body of the watcher stretched along it.
Taug had halted now and was preparing to make a new stand.
The Jungle Tales of Tarzan |
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 Pivot of Civilization by Margaret Sanger: Sensuality, on the other hand, is on a level with gluttony--a physical
excess--detached from sentiment, chivalry, or tenderness. It is just
as important to give sex love its place as to avoid its over-emphasis.
Its real and effective restraints are those imposed by a loving and
sympathetic companionship, by the privileges of parenthood, the
exacting claims of career and that civic sense which prompts men to do
social service. Now that the revision of the Prayer Book is receiving
consideration, I should like to suggest with great respect an addition
made to the objects of marriage in the Marriage Service, in these
terms, ``The complete realization of the love of this man and this
woman, the one for the other.''
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