| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Pellucidar by Edgar Rice Burroughs: upon me than the loss of Perry, for I loved the old
fellow.
That I should ever win the opposite slopes of the
range I began to doubt, for though I am naturally
sanguine, I imagine that the bereavement which had
befallen me had cast such a gloom over my spirits that I
could see no slightest ray of hope for the future.
Then, too, the blighting, gray oblivion of the cold,
damp clouds through which I wandered was distress-
ing. Hope thrives best in sunlight, and I am sure that it
does not thrive at all in a fog.
Pellucidar |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Lone Star Ranger by Zane Grey: ready, he strode away through the grove. Accounting for the
short cut across grove and field, it was about five minutes'
walk up to Bland's house. To Duane it seemed long in time and
distance, and he had difficulty in restraining his pace. As he
walked there came a gradual and subtle change in his feelings.
Again he was going out to meet a man in conflict. He could have
avoided this meeting. But despite the fact of his courting the
encounter he had not as yet felt that hot, inexplicable rush of
blood. The motive of this deadly action was not personal, and
somehow that made a difference.
No outlaws were in sight. He saw several Mexican herders with
The Lone Star Ranger |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Koran: straight-forward one!'
He said, 'O my people! Do ye see? If I stand upon a manifest sign
from my Lord, and He provides me from Himself with a goodly provision,
and I consent not with you to that which I forbid you, I only wish
to better you so far as I can,- nor comes my grace through any one but
God; on Him do I rely, and unto Him I turn. O my people! let not a
breach with me make you so sin that there befall you the like of
that which befel the people of Noah, or the people of Hud, or the
people of Zali'h- nor are the people of Lot so far from you! Ask
pardon, then, from your Lord, then turn to Him; verily, my Lord is
merciful, loving!'
The Koran |
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 Pivot of Civilization by Margaret Sanger: then to pay the penalty, the bitter penalty that Society to-day is
paying in innumerable ways.
If I am criticized for the seeming ``selfishness'' of this conception
it will be through a misunderstanding. The individual is fulfiling
his duty to society as a whole by not self-sacrifice but by self-
development. He does his best for the world not by dying for it, not
by increasing the sum total of misery, disease and unhappiness, but by
increasing his own stature, by releasing a greater energy, by being
active instead of passive, creative instead of destructive. This is
fundamentally the greatest truth to be discovered by womankind at
large. And until women are awakened to their pivotal function in the
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