| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Richard III by William Shakespeare: But I shall live, my lord, to give them thanks
That were the cause of my imprisonment.
GLOUCESTER. No doubt, no doubt; and so shall Clarence too;
For they that were your enemies are his,
And have prevail'd as much on him as you.
HASTINGS. More pity that the eagles should be mew'd
Whiles kites and buzzards prey at liberty.
GLOUCESTER. What news abroad?
HASTINGS. No news so bad abroad as this at home:
The King is sickly, weak, and melancholy,
And his physicians fear him mightily.
Richard III |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians by Martin Luther: lived in a cloister, twenty, thirty, forty years; what was the sense of having
vowed chastity, poverty, obedience; what good are all the masses and
canonical hours that we read; what profit is there in fasting, praying, etc.,
if any man or woman, any beggar or scour woman is to be made equal to
us, or even be considered more acceptable unto God than we?"
Reason takes offense at the statement of Paul: "The law was added because
of transgressions." People say that Paul abrogated the Law, that he is a
radical, that he blasphemed God when he said that. People say: "We might
as well live like wild people if the Law does not count. Let us abound in
sin that grace may abound. Let us do evil that good may come of it."
What are we to do? Such scoffing distresses us, but we cannot stop it.
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