| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Phaedrus by Plato: earthly interests and is rapt in the divine, the vulgar deem him mad, and
rebuke him; they do not see that he is inspired.
Thus far I have been speaking of the fourth and last kind of madness, which
is imputed to him who, when he sees the beauty of earth, is transported
with the recollection of the true beauty; he would like to fly away, but he
cannot; he is like a bird fluttering and looking upward and careless of the
world below; and he is therefore thought to be mad. And I have shown this
of all inspirations to be the noblest and highest and the offspring of the
highest to him who has or shares in it, and that he who loves the beautiful
is called a lover because he partakes of it. For, as has been already
said, every soul of man has in the way of nature beheld true being; this
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from First Inaugural Address by Abraham Lincoln: and greatly distinguished citizens have, in succession, administered
the executive branch of the government. They have conducted it through
many perils, and generally with great success. Yet, with all this scope
of precedent, I now enter upon the same task for the brief Constitutional
term of four years under great and peculiar difficulty. A disruption of
the Federal Union, heretofore only menaced, is now formidably attempted.
I hold that, in contemplation of universal law and of the Constitution,
the Union of these States is perpetual. Perpetuity is implied,
if not expressed, in the fundamental law of all national governments.
It is safe to assert that no government proper ever had a provision
in its organic law for its own termination. Continue to execute all
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Secret Places of the Heart by H. G. Wells: one man who came along. But no man fixed his image. After a
year or so I think I began to lose the power which is natural
to a young girl of falling very easily into love. I became
critical of the youths and men who were attracted to me and I
became analytical about myself. . . .
"I suppose it is because you and I are going to part so soon
that I can speak so freely to you. . . . But there are things
about myself that I have never had out even with myself. I
can talk to myself in you--"
She paused baffled. "I know exactly," said Sir Richmond.
"In my composition I perceive there have always been two
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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 The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx: reconstruction of society.
But these Socialist and Communist publications contain also a
critical element. They attack every principle of existing
society. Hence they are full of the most valuable materials for
the enlightenment of the working class. The practical measures
proposed in them -- -such as the abolition of the distinction
between town and country, of the family, of the carrying on of
industries for the account of private individuals, and of the
wage system, the proclamation of social harmony, the conversion
of the functions of the State into a mere superintendence of
production, all these proposals, point solely to the
The Communist Manifesto |
