| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Alcibiades II by Platonic Imitator: some are discreet, some foolish, and that some are mad?
ALCIBIADES: Yes.
SOCRATES: And again, there are some who are in health?
ALCIBIADES: There are.
SOCRATES: While others are ailing?
ALCIBIADES: Yes.
SOCRATES: And they are not the same?
ALCIBIADES: Certainly not.
SOCRATES: Nor are there any who are in neither state?
ALCIBIADES: No.
SOCRATES: A man must either be sick or be well?
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Master and Man by Leo Tolstoy: that on the 9th he had to receive payment from the butcher for
his oxen. 'He meant to come himself, but he won't find me, and
my wife won't know how to receive the money. She doesn't know
the right way of doing things,' he thought, recalling how at
their party the day before she had not known how to treat the
police-officer who was their guest. 'Of course she's only a
woman! Where could she have seen anything? In my father's time
what was our house like? Just a rich peasant's house: just an
oatmill and an inn--that was the whole property. But what have
I done in these fifteen years? A shop, two taverns, a
flour-mill, a grain-store, two farms leased out, and a house
Master and Man |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Nada the Lily by H. Rider Haggard: So we bore in Umslopogaas, and I caused broth to be made and poured it
down his throat; also I cleansed his great wound and bound healing
herbs upon it, plying all my skill. Well I knew the arts of healing,
my father; I who was the first of the izinyanga of medicine, and, had
it not been for my craft, Umslopogaas had never lived, for he was very
near his end. Still, there where he had once been nursed by Galazi the
Wolf, I brought him back to life. It was three days till he spoke,
and, before his sense returned to him, I caused a great hole to be dug
in the floor of the cave. And there, in the hole, I buried Nada my
daughter, and we heaped lily blooms upon her to keep the earth from
her, and then closed in her grave, for I was not minded that
Nada the Lily |
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 Golden Sayings of Epictetus by Epictetus: out what places are most pleasant; but rather to return to that
wherein thou wast born and where wert appointed to ba a citizen."
III
Try to enjoy the great festival of life with other men.
IV
But I have one whom I must please, to whom I must be
subject, whom I must obey:-- God, and those who come next to Him.
He hath entrusted me with myself: He hath made my will subject to
myself alone and given me rules for the right use thereof.
V
Rufus used to say, If you have leisure to praise me, what I
The Golden Sayings of Epictetus |
