| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The People That Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs: rifle, which he could have found for me, since I have been
adept with the rope from early childhood; but I must confess
that I was less favorably inclined toward my apparel. In so
far as the sensation was concerned, I might as well have been
entirely naked, so short and light was the tunic. When I asked
Chal-az for the Caspakian name for rope, he told me ga, and
for the first time I understood the derivation of the word
Galu, which means ropeman.
Entirely outfitted I would not have known myself, so strange
was my garb and my armament. Upon my back were slung my bow,
arrows, shield, and short spear; from the center of my girdle
The People That Time Forgot |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Unseen World and Other Essays by John Fiske: the popes and the Roman emperors, the constituent baronies and
municipalities of the Empire succeeded in acquiring and
maintaining a practical though unrecognized independence; and
this is the original reason why Italy and Germany, unlike the
three western European communities, have remained fragmentary
until our own time. By reason of the practical freedom of action
thus secured, the Italian civic republics, the Hanse towns, and
the cities of Holland and Flanders, were enabled gradually to
develop a vast commerce. The outlying position of the
Netherlands, remote from the imperial authorities, and on the
direct line of commerce between Italy and England, was another
The Unseen World and Other Essays |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Lysis by Plato: And is health a friend, or not a friend?
A friend.
And disease is an enemy?
Yes.
Then that which is neither good nor evil is the friend of the good because
of the evil and hateful, and for the sake of the good and the friend?
Clearly.
Then the friend is a friend for the sake of the friend, and because of the
enemy?
That is to be inferred.
Then at this point, my boys, let us take heed, and be on our guard against
Lysis |
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 Barlaam and Ioasaph by St. John of Damascus: kings ruled throughout the world, then others too in succession
emulated the Martyrs' zeal and divine desire, and, wounded at
heart with the same love, considered well how they might present
soul and body without blemish unto God, by cutting off all the
workings of sinful lusts and purifying themselves of every
defilement of flesh and spirit. But, as they perceived that this
could only be accomplished by the keeping of the commandments of
Christ, and that the keeping of his commandments and the practice
of the virtues was difficult to attain in the midst of the
turmoils of the world, they adopted for themselves a strange and
changed manner of life, and, obedient to the voice divine,
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