| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche: which we have to fear and love, this almost invisible, inaudible
world of delicate command and delicate obedience, a world of
"almost" in every respect, captious, insidious, sharp, and
tender--yes, it is well protected from clumsy spectators and
familiar curiosity! We are woven into a strong net and garment of
duties, and CANNOT disengage ourselves--precisely here, we are
"men of duty," even we! Occasionally, it is true, we dance in our
"chains" and betwixt our "swords"; it is none the less true that
more often we gnash our teeth under the circumstances, and are
impatient at the secret hardship of our lot. But do what we will,
fools and appearances say of us: "These are men WITHOUT duty,"--
Beyond Good and Evil |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Vailima Prayers & Sabbath Morn by Robert Louis Stevenson: Then came the singing of one or more hymns in the native tongue,
and the recitation in concert of the Lord's Prayer, also in Samoan.
Many of these hymns were set to ancient tunes, very wild and
warlike, and strangely at variance with the missionary words.
Sometimes a passing band of hostile warriors, with blackened faces,
would peer in at us through the open windows, and often we were
forced to pause until the strangely savage, monotonous noise of the
native drums had ceased; but no Samoan, nor, I trust, white person,
changed his reverent attitude. Once, I remember a look of
surprised dismay crossing the countenance of Tusitala when my son,
contrary to his usual custom of reading the next chapter following
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Virginibus Puerisque by Robert Louis Stevenson: bottle of sherry and a cold chicken." I should wish to quote
more, for though we are mighty fine fellows nowadays, we
cannot write like Hazlitt. And, talking of that, a volume of
Hazlitt's essays would be a capital pocket-book on such a
journey; so would a volume of Heine's songs; and for TRISTRAM
SHANDY I can pledge a fair experience.
If the evening be fine and warm, there is nothing better
in life than to lounge before the inn door in the sunset, or
lean over the parapet of the bridge, to watch the weeds and
the quick fishes. It is then, if ever, that you taste
Joviality to the full significance of that audacious word.
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