| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Ion by Plato: a moment, and your soul leaps within you, and you have plenty to say; for
not by art or knowledge about Homer do you say what you say, but by divine
inspiration and by possession; just as the Corybantian revellers too have a
quick perception of that strain only which is appropriated to the God by
whom they are possessed, and have plenty of dances and words for that, but
take no heed of any other. And you, Ion, when the name of Homer is
mentioned have plenty to say, and have nothing to say of others. You ask,
'Why is this?' The answer is that you praise Homer not by art but by
divine inspiration.
ION: That is good, Socrates; and yet I doubt whether you will ever have
eloquence enough to persuade me that I praise Homer only when I am mad and
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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 Girl with the Golden Eyes by Honore de Balzac: to the vast saloons, gilded and airy; the hotels in their gardens, the
rich, indolent, happy moneyed world. There the faces are lined and
scarred with vanity. There nothing is real. To seek for pleasure is it
not to find /ennui/? People in society have at an early age warped
their nature. Having no occupation other than to wallow in pleasure,
they have speedily misused their sense, as the artisan has misused
brandy. Pleasure is of the nature of certain medical substances: in
order to obtain constantly the same effects the doses must be doubled,
and death or degradation is contained in the last. All the lower
classes are on their knees before the wealthy, and watch their tastes
in order to turn them into vices and exploit them. Thus you see in
The Girl with the Golden Eyes |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Tom Sawyer, Detective by Mark Twain: all dressed up in Jubiter's clothes, and hire Jim Lane
and Bill Withers and the others to swear to some handy
lies--which they done. And there they set, now, and I
told them they would be looking sick before I got done,
and that is the way they're looking now.
"Well, me and Huck Finn here, we come down on the boat
with the thieves, and the dead one told us all about the
di'monds, and said the others would murder him if they got
the chance; and we was going to help him all we could.
We was bound for the sycamores when we heard them killing
him in there; but we was in there in the early morning
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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 Spirit of the Border by Zane Grey: had succeeded in interesting the savages west of the Village of Peace to the
extent of permitting him to establish missionary posts in two other
localities--one near Goshhocking, a Delaware town; and one on the Muskingong,
the principal river running through central Ohio. He had, with his helpers,
Young and Edwards, journeyed from time to time to these points, preaching,
making gifts, and soliciting help from chiefs.
The most interesting feature, perhaps, of the varied life of the missionary
party was a rivalry between Young and Edwards for the elder Miss Wells.
Usually Nell's attractiveness appealed more to men than Kate's; however, in
this instance, although the sober teachers of the gospel admired Nell's
winsome beauty, they fell in love with Kate. The missionaries were both under
The Spirit of the Border |
