| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from King Henry VI by William Shakespeare: GLOSTER.
The gates made fast!--Brother, I like not this;
For many men that stumble at the threshold
Are well foretold that danger lurks within.
KING EDWARD.
Tush, man! abodements must not now affright us;
By fair or foul means we must enter in,
For hither will our friends repair to us.
HASTINGS.
My liege, I'll knock once more to summon them.
[Enter on the walls, the Mayor of York and his Brethren.]
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift: their computation. It is true, a child just dropt from its dam,
may be supported by her milk, for a solar year, with little other
nourishment: at most not above the value of two shillings, which
the mother may certainly get, or the value in scraps, by her
lawful occupation of begging; and it is exactly at one year old
that I propose to provide for them in such a manner, as, instead
of being a charge upon their parents, or the parish, or wanting
food and raiment for the rest of their lives, they shall, on the
contrary, contribute to the feeding, and partly to the cloathing
of many thousands.
There is likewise another great advantage in my scheme, that it
A Modest Proposal |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from On Revenues by Xenophon: to invite by public proclamation all whom it may concern to bring
their slaves, and to buy up those produced? Assuming the purchase to
be effected, is it credible that people will hesitate to hire from the
state rather than from the private owner, and actually on the same
terms? People have at all events no hesitation at present in hiring
consecrated grounds, sacred victims,[19] houses, etc., or in
purchasing the right of farming taxes from the state. To ensure the
preservation of the purchased property, the treasury can take the same
securities precisely from the lessee as it does from those who
purchase the right of farming its taxes. Indeed, fraudulent dealing is
easier on the part of the man who has purchased such a right than of
|
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 Thus Spake Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche: ascertained this and that; so that he said of himself jestingly: "Lo, a
river that floweth back unto its source in many windings!" For he wanted
to learn what had taken place AMONG MEN during the interval: whether they
had become greater or smaller. And once, when he saw a row of new houses,
he marvelled, and said:
"What do these houses mean? Verily, no great soul put them up as its
simile!
Did perhaps a silly child take them out of its toy-box? Would that another
child put them again into the box!
And these rooms and chambers--can MEN go out and in there? They seem to be
made for silk dolls; or for dainty-eaters, who perhaps let others eat with
Thus Spake Zarathustra |
