| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Almayer's Folly by Joseph Conrad: inner sides. The fourth side was open, and faced the river.
Between the rough supports of the high-pitched roof hung torn
rattan screens. There was no ceiling, and the harsh brilliance
of the lamp was toned above into a soft half-light that lost
itself in the obscurity amongst the rafters. The front wall was
cut in two by the doorway of a central passage closed by a red
curtain. The women's room opened into that passage, which led to
the back courtyard and to the cooking shed. In one of the side
walls there was a doorway. Half obliterated words--"Office:
Lingard and Co."--were still legible on the dusty door, which
looked as if it had not been opened for a very long time. Close
Almayer's Folly |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Theaetetus by Plato: presents a similar difficulty: in his etymologies, as in the number of the
State, we cannot tell how far Socrates is serious; for the Socratic irony
will not allow him to distinguish between his real and his assumed wisdom.
No one is the superior of the invincible Socrates in argument (except in
the first part of the Parmenides, where he is introduced as a youth); but
he is by no means supposed to be in possession of the whole truth.
Arguments are often put into his mouth (compare Introduction to the
Gorgias) which must have seemed quite as untenable to Plato as to a modern
writer. In this dialogue a great part of the answer of Protagoras is just
and sound; remarks are made by him on verbal criticism, and on the
importance of understanding an opponent's meaning, which are conceived in
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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 The Odyssey by Homer: his comely feet, girded his sword about his shoulder, and left
his room looking like an immortal god. He at once sent the
criers round to call the people in assembly, so they called them
and the people gathered thereon; then, when they were got
together, he went to the place of assembly spear in hand--not
alone, for his two hounds went with him. Minerva endowed him
with a presence of such divine comeliness that all marvelled at
him as he went by, and when he took his place in his father's
seat even the oldest councillors made way for him.
Aegyptius, a man bent double with age, and of infinite
experience, was the first to speak. His son Antiphus had gone
The Odyssey |
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 Travels of Sir John Mandeville by Sir John Mandeville: man may do is to piss in their houses that they dwell in, and whoso
that may be found with that sin sikerly they slay him. And of
everych of these sins it behoveth them to be shriven of their
priests, and to pay great sum of silver for their penance. And it
behoveth also, that the place that men have pissed in be hallowed
again, and else dare no man enter therein. And when they have paid
their penance, men make them pass through a fire or through two,
for to cleanse them of their sins. And also when any messenger
cometh and bringeth letters or any present to the emperor, it
behoveth him that he, with the thing that he bringeth, pass through
two burning fires for to purge them, that he bring no poison ne
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