| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Meno by Plato: and have been vehemently affirmed when they could be least explained and
were incapable of proof. The world has often been led away by a word to
which no distinct meaning could be attached. Abstractions such as
'authority,' 'equality,' 'utility,' 'liberty,' 'pleasure,' 'experience,'
'consciousness,' 'chance,' 'substance,' 'matter,' 'atom,' and a heap of
other metaphysical and theological terms, are the source of quite as much
error and illusion and have as little relation to actual facts as the ideas
of Plato. Few students of theology or philosophy have sufficiently
reflected how quickly the bloom of a philosophy passes away; or how hard it
is for one age to understand the writings of another; or how nice a
judgment is required of those who are seeking to express the philosophy of
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Footnote to History by Robert Louis Stevenson: the existing government. A council of two Germans and two Samoans
were to be invested with the right to make laws and impose taxes as
might be "desirable for the common interest of the Samoan
government and the German residents." The provisions of this
council the king and vice-king were to sign blindfold. And by a
last hardship, the Germans, who received all the benefit, reserved
a right to recede from the agreement on six months' notice; the
Samoans, who suffered all the loss, were bound by it in perpetuity.
I can never believe that my friend Dr. Stuebel had a hand in
drafting these proposals; I am only surprised he should have been a
party to enforcing them, perhaps the chief error in these islands
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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 Facino Cane by Honore de Balzac: of six millions, I was smitten with blindness. I do not doubt but that
my infirmity was brought on by my sojourn in the cell and my work in
the stone, if, indeed, my peculiar faculty for 'seeing' gold was not
an abuse of the power of sight which predestined me to lose it. Bianca
was dead.
"At this time I had fallen in love with a woman to whom I thought to
link my fate. I had told her the secret of my name; she belonged to a
powerful family; she was a friend of Mme. du Barry; I hoped everything
from the favor shown me by Louis XV.; I trusted in her. Acting on her
advice, I went to London to consult a famous oculist, and after a stay
of several months in London she deserted me in Hyde Park. She had
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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 Ten Years Later by Alexandre Dumas: will there read that the lion, fatigued, harassed, out of
breath, at length cried for quarter, and the justice must be
rendered him to say that he gave as much as he required. Oh!
those were glorious times, sire, strewed over with battles
like one of Tasso's or Ariosto's epics. The wonders of those
times, to which the people of ours would refuse belief, were
every-day occurrences. For five years together, I was a hero
every day; at least, so I was told by persons of judgment;
and that is a long period for heroism, trust me, sire, a
period of five years. Nevertheless, I have faith in what
these people told me, for they were good judges. They were
Ten Years Later |
