| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James: the older gods have fallen below the common secular level, and
can no longer be believed in. Today a deity who should require
bleeding sacrifices to placate him would be too sanguinary to be
taken seriously. Even if powerful historical credentials were
put forward in his favor, we would not look at them. Once, on
the contrary, his cruel appetites were of themselves credentials.
They positively recommended him to men's imaginations in ages
when such coarse signs of power were respected and no others
could be understood. Such deities then were worshiped because
such fruits were relished.
Doubtless historic accidents always played some later part, but
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Salome by Oscar Wilde: . . Mais pourquoi ne me regardes-tu pas, Iokanaan? Tes yeux qui
etaient si terribles, qui etaient si pleins de colere et de mepris,
ils sont fermes maintenant. Pourquoi sont-ils fermes? Ouvre tes
yeux! Souleve tes paupieres, Iokanaan. Pourquoi ne me regardes-tu
pas? As-tu peur de moi, Iokanaan, que tu ne veux pas me regarder? .
. . Et ta langue qui etait comme un serpent rouge dardant des
poisons, elle ne remue plus, elle ne dit rien maintenant, Iokanaan,
cette vipere rouge qui a vomi son venin sur moi. C'est etrange,
n'est-ce pas? Comment se fait-il que la vipere rouge ne remue plus?
. . . Tu n'as pas voulu de moi, Iokanaan. Tu m'as rejetee. Tu m'as
dit des choses infames. Tu m'as traitee comme une courtisane, comme
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Gambara by Honore de Balzac: the immortal author of /Don Giovanni/ and the /Requiem/ was named
Mozart; and I am so unhappy as not to know the name of the
inexhaustible writer of quadrilles which are so popular in our
drawing-rooms----"
"Music exists independently of execution," said the retired conductor,
who, in spite of his deafness, had caught a few words of the
conversation. "As he looks through the C-minor symphony by Beethoven,
a musician is transported to the world of fancy on the golden wings of
the subject in G-natural repeated by the horns in E. He sees a whole
realm, by turns glorious in dazzling shafts of light, gloomy under
clouds of melancholy, and cheered by heavenly strains."
Gambara |
