Since we associate air with breathing, I related in my imagination someone enjoying free breath, around the clock, all one cares to inhale, self-service only. This seems ridiculous, until you remember that we once considered water to be free. Now, most of us drink only bottled water-which is not free. The connection of air and the soul is reflected in many languages. Greek, Latin, and Hebrew all have words with double meaning for Air. The spiritual element of air is to unite the mind with the body. Air is associated with the greek god Zeus, who rules the heavens. The qualities of air include justice, honesty, and critical thinking. In a psychological context, air is associated with skill, authority, strength, decisiveness, conscience, selectivity, and leadership. Pollution is our own result of the authority and decisiveness of the wrong people.
Fire
Fire can be a force of destruction. Wildfires burn out of control. At least out of man's control. Again, mankind's parasitic alteration of the planet is to blame. The world is out of balance. Fire actually an agent of change. In Physics, fire corresponds to energy, while the other three elements correspond to states of matter. According to Empedocles, the 5th century BCE philosopher, Fire is the agent of action. He believed so passionately that he ultimately jumped into a volcano, ending his struggle here on earth and freeing his soul. In human Psychology, fire corresponds to the bright flash of intuiton, will, and the creative impulse. The fiery arts of cooking, blacksmithing and the alchemical laboratory are all examples of creative impulse at work. We use fire to impose change upon our environment and cause things to happen. Fire is ultimately what may save the earth from mankind. Never let your fire be extinguished. Think, solve, and create.
Water
Wet and cool, water is the source of all life on our planet. Yet as the world population nears six billion people, fresh water is our most critical element. We have drained vital swampland, re-routed meandering rivers, and dumped toxic chemicals into our own supply. Now a bottle of drinking water, once free-flowing from faucets and fountains, cost more than a bottle of soda.According to Aristotle, the essence of water is receptive, adaptive, form receiving, flexible and pragmatic. Psychologically, the wet qualtities of water represent a personality that is flexible, fluid, unreliable, indefinite, agile, gentle, obedient, conforming, passive, sensitive, understanding, and kind. Water permits the growth and development of form.Seventy-five percent of the earth's surface is covered in water. Unfortunately, most of it is undrinkable salt water. The Pythagoreans identify the bitter salt sea with divine tears. Empedocles, who developed the Doctrine of the Four Elements associates water with Persephone's tears, which were said to dissolve grief.
Earth
As an element, earth is dry and inert. Only when the element of water is added does the earrth blossom. Surrounded by air and with fire at its core, it makes a terrific home for us. Balance is the key. So, what are we doing to our home planet? Our rising populations are depleting its resources faster than it can replenish itself. Our factories and war efforts are polluting it to the point that it is making us sick wiping out species at ever alarming rates. Balance has been left out of the equation in favor of instant gratification.According to Aristotle, earth has specific spiritual qualities: stability, fertility, rigidity, dependability, practicality and stubborness. Dryness dominates, making it concrete and grounded. Air and fire ascend, water descends, but earth is fixed at the bottom. Therefore it is the secure, solid foundation of being. Mother Earth, as we sometimes say, is feminine in spirit. If so, why are the world's important decisions made by men in suits and ties?
