The thing about elementals, and which makes them so popular as instructive symbols in countless mythologies, is in their name: they are at the base of everything. Fire, for example, can spread through just about any sort of organic matter, and where it can't spread, or where it dies, a negation can be drawn up which is equally instructive.
This universality points to a basic logic which can be transferred beyond the locality that it arose in. It teaches beyond the confines of its own activity. You can start low, and then work your way up.
This is also why lies, or even logical or social contrivances are more difficult to keep track of. They persist in the web of previous relations they were part of. If one loses sight of those, it becomes possible to get lost, and lose the current lie or contrivance. Matters of the heart however faithfully rise up into whatever is built onto them. One can find the way again by simply returning to the low point.
