| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Alcibiades I by Plato: the hands and feet which they use?
ALCIBIADES: Clearly.
SOCRATES: And does not a man use the whole body?
ALCIBIADES: Certainly.
SOCRATES: And that which uses is different from that which is used?
ALCIBIADES: True.
SOCRATES: Then a man is not the same as his own body?
ALCIBIADES: That is the inference.
SOCRATES: What is he, then?
ALCIBIADES: I cannot say.
SOCRATES: Nay, you can say that he is the user of the body.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Koran: Not deemed alike shall be the fellows of the Fire and the fellows of
Paradise: the fellows of Paradise they are the blissful!
Had we sent down this Koran upon a mountain, thou wouldst have
seen it humbling itself, splitting asunder from the fear of God! These
parables do we strike out for men; haply they may reflect!
He is God than whom there is no god; who knows the unseen and the
visible; He is the merciful, the compassionate! He is God than whom
there is no god; the King, the Holy, the Peace-Giver, the Faithful,
the Protector, the Mighty, the Repairer, the Great!- celebrated be the
praises of God above what they join with Him.
He is God, the Creator, the Maker, the Fashioner; His are the
 The Koran |