| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen: who attempted to DRAW HIM IN; that Mrs. Dashwood could
neither pretend to be unconscious, nor endeavor to be calm.
She gave her an answer which marked her contempt,
and instantly left the room, resolving that, whatever might
be the inconvenience or expense of so sudden a removal,
her beloved Elinor should not be exposed another week
to such insinuations.
In this state of her spirits, a letter was delivered
to her from the post, which contained a proposal
particularly well timed. It was the offer of a small house,
on very easy terms, belonging to a relation of her own,
Sense and Sensibility |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Ion by Plato: you would acknowledge that we did?
ION: Yes.
SOCRATES: Tell me, then, what I was intending to ask you,--whether this
holds universally? Must the same art have the same subject of knowledge,
and different arts other subjects of knowledge?
ION: That is my opinion, Socrates.
SOCRATES: Then he who has no knowledge of a particular art will have no
right judgment of the sayings and doings of that art?
ION: Very true.
SOCRATES: Then which will be a better judge of the lines which you were
reciting from Homer, you or the charioteer?
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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 Off on a Comet by Jules Verne: but it was to be apprehended that, unless the direction of the wind
should change, the return would be a matter of some difficulty;
a system of tacking might be carried out to a certain degree,
but it was not likely that the yawl would answer her helm
in any way corresponding to what would occur in the open sea.
Captain Servadac, however, would not listen to any representation
of probable difficulties; the future, he said, must provide for itself.
The engineer and several of the sailors set vigorously to work,
and before the close of the day the yawl was furnished with a pair
of stout iron runners, curved upwards in front, and fitted with a metal
scull designed to assist in maintaining the directness of her course;
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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 The Soul of the Far East by Percival Lowell: world. For like the mobile water is the mind of man,--quick to
catch emotions, quick to transmit them. Of all waves of feeling,
this is not the least true of religious ones, that, starting from
their birthplace, pass out to stir others, who have but humanity in
common with those who professed them first. Like the ripples in the
pool, they leave their initial converts to sink back again into
comparative quiescence, as they advance to throw into sudden tremors
hordes of outer barbarians. In both of the great religions in
question this wave propagation has been most marked, only the
direction it took differed. Christianity went westward; Buddhism
travelled east. Proselytes in Asia Minor, Greece, and Italy find
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