| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Common Sense by Thomas Paine: in instances, where a republican government, by being formed on more
natural principles, would negotiate the mistake.
If there is any true cause of fear respecting independence,
it is because no plan is yet laid down. Men do not see their way out--
Wherefore, as an opening into that business, I offer the following hints;
at the same time modestly affirming, that I have no other opinion
of them myself, than that they may be the means of giving rise to
something better. Could the straggling thoughts of individuals
be collected, they would frequently form materials for wise
and able men to improve into useful matter.
LET the assemblies be annual, with a President only.
Common Sense |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Koran: two crews could best calculate the time of their tarrying. We will
narrate to thee their story in truth. Verily, they were youths who
believed in their Lord, and we added to their guidance, and we
braced up their hearts, when they stood up and said, 'Our Lord is
the Lord of the heavens and the earth, we will not call upon any god
beside Him, for then we should have said an extravagant thing. These
people of ours have taken to other gods beside Him. Though they do not
bring any manifest authority for them. And who is more unjust than
he who forges against God a lie?
'So when ye have gone apart from them and what they serve other than
God, then resort ye to the cave. Our Lord will unfold His mercy to
The Koran |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Travels with a Donkey in the Cevenne by Robert Louis Stevenson: never a sack by more than courtesy: only a sort of long roll or
sausage, green waterproof cart-cloth without and blue sheep's fur
within. It was commodious as a valise, warm and dry for a bed.
There was luxurious turning room for one; and at a pinch the thing
might serve for two. I could bury myself in it up to the neck; for
my head I trusted to a fur cap, with a hood to fold down over my
ears and a band to pass under my nose like a respirator; and in
case of heavy rain I proposed to make myself a little tent, or
tentlet, with my waterproof coat, three stones, and a bent branch.
It will readily be conceived that I could not carry this huge
package on my own, merely human, shoulders. It remained to choose
|
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 1984 by George Orwell: (the telescreen, it was called) could be dimmed, but there was no way of
shutting it off completely. He moved over to the window: a smallish, frail
figure, the meagreness of his body merely emphasized by the blue overalls
which were the uniform of the party. His hair was very fair, his face
naturally sanguine, his skin roughened by coarse soap and blunt razor
blades and the cold of the winter that had just ended.
Outside, even through the shut window-pane, the world looked cold. Down in
the street little eddies of wind were whirling dust and torn paper into
spirals, and though the sun was shining and the sky a harsh blue, there
seemed to be no colour in anything, except the posters that were plastered
everywhere. The blackmoustachio'd face gazed down from every commanding
1984 |
