| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Dreams by Olive Schreiner: tread was heard no more. In the dark it seemed as if a great hand lay upon
my heart, and crushed it. I tried to breathe and tossed from side to side;
and then again I fell asleep, and dreamed.
God took me to the edge of that world. It ended. I looked down. The
gulf, it seemed to me, was fathomless, and then I saw two bridges crossing
it that both sloped upwards.
I said to God, "Is there no other way by which men cross it?"
God said, "One; it rises far from here and slopes straight upwards.
I asked God what the bridges' names were.
God said, "What matter for the names? Call them the Good, the True, the
Beautiful, if you will--you will yet not understand them."
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Democracy In America, Volume 2 by Alexis de Toqueville: well as those of a man. Look at England throughout the
eighteenth century. No nation was ever more prodigal of
self-applause, no people was ever more self- satisfied; then
every part of its constitution was right - everything, even to
its most obvious defects, was irreproachable: at the present day
a vast number of Englishmen seem to have nothing better to do
than to prove that this constitution was faulty in many respects.
Which was right? - the English people of the last century, or the
English people of the present day?
The same thing has occurred in France. It is certain that
during the reign of Louis XIV the great bulk of the nation was
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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 A Drama on the Seashore by Honore de Balzac: to fish sardine. They lived over there, look!" said the fisherman,
going up a hillock to show us an island in the little Mediterranean
between the dunes where we were walking and the marshes of Guerande.
"You can see the house from here. It belonged to him. Jacquette Brouin
and Cambremer had only one son, a lad they loved--how shall I say?--
well, they loved him like an only child, they were mad about him. How
many times we have seen them at fairs buying all sorts of things to
please him; it was out of all reason the way they indulged him, and so
folks told them. The little Cambremer, seeing that he was never
thwarted, grew as vicious as a red ass. When they told pere Cambremer,
'Your son has nearly killed little such a one,' he would laugh and
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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 Mistress Wilding by Rafael Sabatini: now in his interrupted speech and looked about him a trifle wearily.
"It seems idle to insist," said Mr. Wilding; "such is the temper of Your
Grace's counsellors, that we get no further than contradictions." Grey's
bold eyes were upon Wilding as he spoke. "I would remind Your Grace,
and I am sure that many present will agree with me, that in a desperate
enterprise a sudden unexpected movement will often strike terror."
"That is true," said Monmouth, but apparently without enthusiasm, and
having approved what was urged on one side, he looked at Grey, as if
waiting to hear what might be said on the other. His indecision was
pitiful - tragical, indeed, in the leader of so bold an enterprise.
"We should do better, I think," said Grey, "to deal with the facts as we
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