| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Memoir of Fleeming Jenkin by Robert Louis Stevenson: impatient hatred, for which he blamed himself in later life. It is
strange from this point of view to see his childish letters to Mrs.
Jackson; and to think that a man, distinguished above all by
stubborn truthfulness, should have been brought up to such
dissimulation. But this is of course unavoidable in life; it did
no harm to Jenkin; and whether he got harm or benefit from a so
early acquaintance with violent and hateful scenes, is more than I
can guess. The experience, at least, was formative; and in judging
his character it should not be forgotten. But Mrs. Jackson was not
the only stranger in their gates; the Captain's sister, Aunt Anna
Jenkin, lived with them until her death; she had all the Jenkin
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Witch, et. al by Anton Chekhov: poor dear, and nothing for him to do, and there is no making out
what he wants. Either he sits with a hook catching fish, or he
lolls on his back reading, or trots about among the peasants
saying all sorts of th ings to them, and those that are hungry go
in for being clerks. So he spends his life in vain. And he has no
notion of doing something real and useful. The gentry in old days
were half of them generals, but nowadays they are -- a poor lot."
"They are badly off nowadays," said Meliton.
"They are poorer because God has taken away their strength. You
can't go against God."
Meliton stared at a fixed point again. After thinking a little he
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Jungle by Upton Sinclair: veselija! To do that would mean, not merely to be defeated, but to
acknowledge defeat--and the difference between these two things is what
keeps the world going. The veselija has come down to them from a far-off
time; and the meaning of it was that one might dwell within the cave and
gaze upon shadows, provided only that once in his lifetime he could break
his chains, and feel his wings, and behold the sun; provided that once in
his lifetime he might testify to the fact that life, with all its cares
and its terrors, is no such great thing after all, but merely a bubble
upon the surface of a river, a thing that one may toss about and play
with as a juggler tosses his golden balls, a thing that one may quaff,
like a goblet of rare red wine. Thus having known himself for the master
|
