| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Art of War by Sun Tzu: VII. MANEUVERING
1. Sun Tzu said: In war, the general receives his commands
from the sovereign.
2. Having collected an army and concentrated his forces, he
must blend and harmonize the different elements thereof before
pitching his camp.
["Chang Yu says: "the establishment of harmony and
confidence between the higher and lower ranks before venturing
into the field;" and he quotes a saying of Wu Tzu (chap. 1 ad
init.): "Without harmony in the State, no military expedition
can be undertaken; without harmony in the army, no battle array
The Art of War |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Gambara by Honore de Balzac: science. It is founded in physics by the very nature of the matter it
works on. Sound is air in motion. The air is formed of constituents
which, in us, no doubt, meet with analogous elements that respond to
them, sympathize, and magnify them by the power of the mind. Thus the
air must include a vast variety of molecules of various degrees of
elasticity, and capable of vibrating in as many different periods as
there are tones from all kinds of sonorous bodies; and these
molecules, set in motion by the musician and falling on our ear,
answer to our ideas, according to each man's temperament. I myself
believe that sound is identical in its nature with light. Sound is
light, perceived under another form; each acts through vibrations to
Gambara |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Sportsman by Xenophon: V
The tracks of hares are long in winter owing to the length of night,
and short for the opposite reason during summer. In winter, however,
their scent does not lie in early morning, when the rime is on the
ground, or earth is frozen.[1] The fact is, hoar frost by its own
inherent force absorbs its heat, whilst black frost freezes it.[2]
[1] Or, "when there is hoar frost or black frost" (lit. "ice").
[2] Or, "the ice congeals them," "encases as it were in itself the
heat," i.e. the warm scent; aliter, "causes the tracks to freeze
at the top."
The hounds, moreover, with their noses nipped by the cold,[3] cannot
|
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 Paradise Lost by John Milton: I fly not, but have sought thee far and nigh.
They ended parle, and both addressed for fight
Unspeakable; for who, though with the tongue
Of Angels, can relate, or to what things
Liken on earth conspicuous, that may lift
Human imagination to such highth
Of Godlike power? for likest Gods they seemed,
Stood they or moved, in stature, motion, arms,
Fit to decide the empire of great Heaven.
Now waved their fiery swords, and in the air
Made horrid circles; two broad suns their shields
Paradise Lost |
