Through the eyes of different well known pionieers, we are living in a fourfold world. A world reigned by forces of nature – the four elements.
These forces are registered as figments of fifth century lore. There are overwhelming theories of the four elements, trying to explain them the physical, cosmological, alchemistic or philosophical way. Our knowledge of them depends entirely on fragments preserved by later authors. In literature, for any words we use for translation and interpretation are freighted with a ballast of associations accumulated over thousands of years.

The four elements were even used to describe human temperaments as well as humour of a person. Alchemie were developed in Egypt based on the four elements, which embody different metals. Platons theory talks about pairs of opposites, as well as psychological theories say, illness comes from imbalance of the four elements (…).

In that sense, at least, some theories do survive in modern consciousness and in an alternative, spiritual lifestyle. While we do know there are a lot of false theories, we can definitely focus on four states of matter modern science agreed on:
Earth stands for nourishment and solid, Water for liquid, Air for the gasous as well as plasma and Fire for the warmth.