The Four Elements
*Earth-It has been said that all of like is merely rock rearranging itself. We are made of the body of the earth, our bones and flesh composed of its minerals suspended in water, infused by air, animated by fire. The earth is made of the bodies of stars-stardust congealed into a ball.
*Air- Air is the matrix of life. We cannot exist without it for more than a few moments. We are not self-sufficient units: we must constantly interact with the world around us, taking air into our bodies, changing it, giving it out again. Air carries sent, actual molecules of other beings, other lives. Everything that lives leaves traces of itself in the air and that same air moves in and out of lungs, is taken in by pores in green leaves and is carried around the globe. Just by breathing, we interact with all of life.
*Fire-All of life depends on fire. The sun's radiation supports all the living beings on this planet. Death is one way that energy is passed from creature to creature. Plants feed on sunlight. Animals feed on plants or on other animals that feed on plants. Fire transforms itself into a billion diverse bodies. Fire, in turn, can transform the seemingly solid body into vapor and ash Fire unlocks the illusion of form, pries atom from atom, changes the most dense matter into energy, heat, and light.
*Water-Life is born from water. Ocean water was the womb of life on this planet and every womb that shelters a developing embryo is a small, enclosed ocean. Water is part of its own cycle. Rain is wafted up from the surface of the ocean to sail with the clouds, congealing into raindrops that fall to earth. The rain soaks into the soil, feeds the roots of plants, or runs into streams that flow into rivers that flow on until they return to the sea. All the waters on earth are connected. Every drop is part of the larger flow, the continual transformation from wave to vapor to drop to stream, the alteration between salt and sweat.
