| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Parmenides by Plato: recur; it will be equal to or greater than any part in which it is.
Certainly.
Then smallness will not be in anything, whether in a whole or in a part;
nor will there be anything small but actual smallness.
True.
Neither will greatness be in the one, for if greatness be in anything there
will be something greater other and besides greatness itself, namely, that
in which greatness is; and this too when the small itself is not there,
which the one, if it is great, must exceed; this, however, is impossible,
seeing that smallness is wholly absent.
True.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from At the Mountains of Madness by H. P. Lovecraft: I can only wonder that we preserved the semblance of equilibrium,
which we did. Of course, we knew that something - chronology,
scientific theory, or our own consciousness - was woefully awry;
yet we kept enough poise to guide the plane, observe many things
quite minutely, and take a careful series of photographs which
may yet serve both us and the world in good stead. In my case,
ingrained scientific habit may have helped; for above all my bewilderment
and sense of menace, there burned a dominant curiosity to fathom
more of this age-old secret - to know what sort of beings had
built and lived in this incalculably gigantic place, and what
relation to the general world of its time or of other times so
At the Mountains of Madness |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Blue Flower by Henry van Dyke: and the sentences moved onward, growing fuller and stronger,
bearing argosies of costly rhetoric and treasures of homely
speech in their bosom, and drawing the hearts of men with a
resistless magic, Hermas knew that the preacher had never been
more potent, more inspired.
He played on that immense congregation as a master on an
instrument. He rebuked their sins, and they trembled. He
touched their sorrows, and they wept. He spoke of the
conflicts, the triumphs, the glories of their faith, and they
broke out in thunders of applause. He hushed them into reverent
silence, and led them tenderly, with the wise men of the East, to
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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 Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie: heart too, Hastings. Though the good God gave her no beauty!"
I followed John's example, and went out into the hall, where Miss
Howard was endeavouring to extricate herself from the voluminous
mass of veils that enveloped her head. As her eyes fell on me, a
sudden pang of guilt shot through me. This was the woman who had
warned me so earnestly, and to whose warning I had, alas, paid no
heed! How soon, and how contemptuously, I had dismissed it from
my mind. Now that she had been proved justified in so tragic a
manner, I felt ashamed. She had known Alfred Inglethorp only too
well. I wondered whether, if she had remained at Styles, the
tragedy would have taken place, or would the man have feared her
The Mysterious Affair at Styles |
