| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Odyssey by Homer: when he has seen them and tallied them on his five fingers, he
will go to sleep among them, as a shepherd among his sheep. The
moment you see that he is asleep seize him; put forth all your
strength and hold him fast, for he will do his very utmost to
get away from you. He will turn himself into every kind of
creature that goes upon the earth, and will become also both
fire and water; but you must hold him fast and grip him tighter
and tighter, till he begins to talk to you and comes back to
what he was when you saw him go to sleep; then you may slacken
your hold and let him go; and you can ask him which of the gods
it is that is angry with you, and what you must do to reach your
The Odyssey |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Aspern Papers by Henry James: It seemed to be tolerably obvious that she knew my secret:
why therefore drag the matter out? But she did not take what I
had said as a confession; she only asked:
"Do you think it's right to rake up the past?"
"I don't know that I know what you mean by raking it up;
but how can we get at it unless we dig a little?
The present has such a rough way of treading it down."
"Oh, I like the past, but I don't like critics," the old woman declared
with her fine tranquility.
"Neither do I, but I like their discoveries."
"Aren't they mostly lies?"
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson: As first they move a little slow,
But still the faster on they go,
And still beside me close I keep
Until we reach the town of Sleep.
V
Whole Duty of Children
A child should always say what's true
And speak when he is spoken to,
And behave mannerly at table;
At least as far as he is able.
VI
A Child's Garden of Verses |
