| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Manon Lescaut by Abbe Prevost: tasted food since we quitted Amiens. Passionately in love as I
felt with Manon, she knew how to convince me that she was equally
so with me. So little did we restrain our fondness, that we had
not even patience to reserve our caresses till we were alone.
The postilions and innkeepers stared at us with wonder, and I
remarked that they appeared surprised at such uncontrollable love
in children of our age.
"Our project of marriage was forgotten at St. Denis; we
defrauded the Church of her rights; and found ourselves united as
man and wife without reflecting on the consequences. It is
certain that with my easy and constant disposition, I should have
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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 1 by Alexis de Toqueville: aristocracy. The mass of the people may be led astray by
ignorance or passion; the mind of a king may be biased, and his
perseverance in his designs may be shaken - besides which a king
is not immortal - but an aristocratic body is too numerous to be
led astray by the blandishments of intrigue, and yet not numerous
enough to yield readily to the intoxicating influence of
unreflecting passion: it has the energy of a firm and enlightened
individual, added to the power which it derives from perpetuity.
Chapter XIV: Advantages American Society Derive From Democracy -
Part I
What The Real Advantages Are Which American Society Derives From
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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 Buttered Side Down by Edna Ferber: life, forgave him the look that he had brought into his mother's
eyes.
There had never been anything extraordinary about Eddie
Houghton. He had had his faults and virtues, and good and bad
sides just like other boys of his age. He--oh, I am using too many
words, when one slang phrase will express it. Eddie had been just
a nice young kid. I think the worst thing he had ever said was
"Damn!" perhaps. If he had sworn, it was with clean oaths,
calculated to relieve the mind and feelings.
But the men that he shipped with during that year or more--I
am sure that he had never dreamed that such men were. He had never
Buttered Side Down |
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 Jungle by Upton Sinclair: There was, for instance, a Lithuanian who was a cattle butcher for the
plant where Marija had worked, which killed meat for canning only; and to
hear this man describe the animals which came to his place would have been
worthwhile for a Dante or a Zola. It seemed that they must have agencies
all over the country, to hunt out old and crippled and diseased cattle
to be canned. There were cattle which had been fed on "whisky-malt,"
the refuse of the breweries, and had become what the men called "steerly"--
which means covered with boils. It was a nasty job killing these, for when
you plunged your knife into them they would burst and splash foul-smelling
stuff into your face; and when a man's sleeves were smeared with blood,
and his hands steeped in it, how was he ever to wipe his face, or to clear
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