| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Kwaidan by Lafcadio Hearn: voice,-- "I am blind! -- I cannot know who calls!"
"There is nothing to fear," the stranger exclaimed, speaking more gently.
"I am stopping near this temple, and have been sent to you with a message.
My present lord, a person of exceedingly high rank, is now staying in
Akamagaseki, with many noble attendants. He wished to view the scene of the
battle of Dan-no-ura; and to-day he visited that place. Having heard of
your skill in reciting the story of the battle, he now desires to hear your
performance: so you will take your biwa and come with me at once to the
house where the august assembly is waiting."
In those times, the order of a samurai was not to be lightly disobeyed.
Hoichi donned his sandals, took his biwa, and went away with the stranger,
Kwaidan |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Sesame and Lilies by John Ruskin: studied from Scottish life, bear a true witness; and in the whole
range of these, there are but three men who reach the heroic type
{23}--Dandie Dinmont, Rob Roy, and Claverhouse; of these, one is a
border farmer; another a freebooter; the third a soldier in a bad
cause. And these touch the ideal of heroism only in their courage
and faith, together with a strong, but uncultivated, or mistakenly
applied, intellectual power; while his younger men are the
gentlemanly play-things of fantastic fortune, and only by aid (or
accident) of that fortune, survive, not vanquish, the trials they
involuntarily sustain. Of any disciplined, or consistent character,
earnest in a purpose wisely conceived, or dealing with forms of
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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 Of The Nature of Things by Lucretius: From forth the sun's own fire, albeit that fire
Be not a great, may permeate the air
With the fierce hot- if but, perchance, the air
Be of condition and so tempered then
As to be kindled, even when beat upon
Only by little particles of heat-
Just as we sometimes see the standing grain
Or stubble straw in conflagration all
From one lone spark. And possibly the sun,
Agleam on high with rosy lampion,
Possesses about him with invisible heats
Of The Nature of Things |
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 I Have A Dream by Martin Luther King, Jr.: never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue
of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and
the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the
Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one.
We can never be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi
cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for
which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be
satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness
like a mighty stream.
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great
trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow
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