| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Mirror of the Sea by Joseph Conrad: several other pressing questions, some of which have remained
unanswered to this day. The resonant, laughing voices of these
gorgeous maidens scared away the multitude of humming-birds, whose
delicate wings wreathed with the mist of their vibration the tops
of flowering bushes.
No, they were not princesses. Their unrestrained laughter filling
the hot, fern-clad ravine had a soulless limpidity, as of wild,
inhuman dwellers in tropical woodlands. Following the example of
certain prudent travellers, I withdrew unseen - and returned, not
much wiser, to the Mediterranean, the sea of classic adventures.
XL.
The Mirror of the Sea |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Mirror of the Sea by Joseph Conrad: strong in rib and planking, as well-found in gear, as ever was sent
upon the seas, manned by hardy crews and commanded by young
masters, was engaged in that now long defunct trade. "That was the
school I was trained in," he said to me almost boastfully, lying
back amongst his pillows with a rug over his legs. And it was in
that trade that he obtained his first command at a very early age.
It was then that he mentioned to me how, as a young commander, he
was always ill for a few days before making land after a long
passage. But this sort of sickness used to pass off with the first
sight of a familiar landmark. Afterwards, he added, as he grew
older, all that nervousness wore off completely; and I observed his
The Mirror of the Sea |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Concerning Christian Liberty by Martin Luther: unclean, to him it is unclean. It is evil for that man who eateth
with offence" (Rom. xiv. 14, 20).
Thus, though we ought boldly to resist those teachers of
tradition, and though the laws of the pontiffs, by which they
make aggressions on the people of God, deserve sharp reproof, yet
we must spare the timid crowd, who are held captive by the laws
of those impious tyrants, till they are set free. Fight
vigorously against the wolves, but on behalf of the sheep, not
against the sheep. And this you may do by inveighing against the
laws and lawgivers, and yet at the same time observing these laws
with the weak, lest they be offended, until they shall themselves
|
