| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Hated Son by Honore de Balzac: double hedge wound a hidden path, led by the sinuosities of the
stream, which the willows, oaks, and beeches made as leafy as a
woodland glade. From the house to this natural rampart stretched a
mass of verdure peculiar to that rich soil; a beautiful green sheet
bordered by a fringe of rare trees, the tones of which formed a
tapestry of exquisite coloring: there, the silvery tints of a pine
stood forth against the darker green of several alders; here, before a
group of sturdy oaks a slender poplar lifted its palm-like figure,
ever swaying; farther on, the weeping willows drooped their pale
foliage between the stout, round-headed walnuts. This belt of trees
enabled the occupants of the house to go down at all hours to the
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Tao Teh King by Lao-tze: was lost, righteousness appeared; and when righteousness was lost, the
proprieties appeared.
6. Now propriety is the attenuated form of leal-heartedness and good
faith, and is also the commencement of disorder; swift apprehension is
(only) a flower of the Tao, and is the beginning of stupidity.
7. Thus it is that the Great man abides by what is solid, and eschews
what is flimsy; dwells with the fruit and not with the flower. It is
thus that he puts away the one and makes choice of the other.
39. 1. The things which from of old have got the One (the Tao) are--
Heaven which by it is bright and pure;
Earth rendered thereby firm and sure;
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