| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Art of War by Sun Tzu: famous occasion when Hannibal was hemmed in among the mountains
on the road to Casilinum, and to all appearances entrapped by the
dictator Fabius. The stratagem which Hannibal devised to baffle
his foes was remarkably like that which T`ien Tan had also
employed with success exactly 62 years before. [See IX. ss. 24,
note.] When night came on, bundles of twigs were fastened to the
horns of some 2000 oxen and set on fire, the terrified animals
being then quickly driven along the mountain side towards the
passes which were beset by the enemy. The strange spectacle of
these rapidly moving lights so alarmed and discomfited the Romans
that they withdrew from their position, and Hannibal's army
The Art of War |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Prufrock/Other Observations by T. S. Eliot: The notion of some infinitely gentle
Infinitely suffering thing.
Wipe your hand across your mouth, and laugh;
The worlds revolve like ancient women
Gathering fuel in vacant lots.
Rhapsody on a Windy Night
Twelve o’clock.
Along the reaches of the street
Held in a lunar synthesis,
Whispering lunar incantations
Dissolve the floors of the memory
Prufrock/Other Observations |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells: I crept back to the coal cellar, shut the door, and began
to cover myself up as much as I could, and as noiselessly as
possible in the darkness, among the firewood and coal
therein. Every now and then I paused, rigid, to hear if the
Martian had thrust its tentacles through the opening again.
Then the faint metallic jingle returned. I traced it slowly
feeling over the kitchen. Presently I heard it nearer--in the
scullery, as I judged. I thought that its length might be in-
sufficient to reach me. I prayed copiously. It passed, scrap-
ing faintly across the cellar door. An age of almost intolerable
suspense intervened; then I heard it fumbling at the latch!
War of the Worlds |
