| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Mirror of the Sea by Joseph Conrad: the ocean, once the wind has got to the northward of west (as it
did on the 20th, taking the British fleet aback), appearances of
westerly weather go for nothing, and that it is infinitely more
likely to veer right round to the east than to shift back again.
It was in those conditions that, at seven on the morning of the
21st, the signal for the fleet to bear up and steer east was made.
Holding a clear recollection of these languid easterly sighs
rippling unexpectedly against the run of the smooth swell, with no
other warning than a ten-minutes' calm and a queer darkening of the
coast-line, I cannot think, without a gasp of professional awe, of
that fateful moment. Perhaps personal experience, at a time of
The Mirror of the Sea |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Facino Cane by Honore de Balzac: the wall and swimming for my life. I based my hopes on the following
reasons.
"Every time that the jailer came with my food, there was light enough
to read directions written on the walls--'Side of the Palace,' 'Side
of the Canal,' 'Side of the Vaults.' At last I saw a design in this,
but I did not trouble myself much about the meaning of it; the actual
incomplete condition of the Ducal Palace accounted for it. The longing
to regain my freedom gave me something like genius. Groping about with
my fingers, I spelled out an Arabic inscription on the wall. The
author of the work informed those to come after him that he had loosed
two stones in the lowest course of masonry and hollowed out eleven
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Tanach: Psalms 107: 22 And let them offer the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare His works with singing.
Psalms 107: 23 They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters--
Psalms 107: 24 These saw the works of the LORD, and His wonders in the deep;
Psalms 107: 25 For He commanded, and raised the stormy wind, which lifted up the waves thereof;
Psalms 107: 26 They mounted up to the heaven, they went down to the deeps; their soul melted away because of trouble;
Psalms 107: 27 They reeled to and fro, and staggered like a drunken man, and all their wisdom was swallowed up--
Psalms 107: 28 They cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and He brought them out of their distresses.
Psalms 107: 29 He made the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof were still.
Psalms 107: 30 Then were they glad because they were quiet, and He led them unto their desired haven.
Psalms 107: 31 Let them give thanks unto the LORD for His mercy, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!
Psalms 107: 32 Let them exalt Him also in the assembly of the people, and praise Him in the seat of the elders.
The Tanach |
