| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from 'Twixt Land & Sea by Joseph Conrad: the back verandah, which was his own special nook in the
distribution of that house, with the kind purpose of engaging him
in conversation lest he should start roaming about and intrude
unwittingly where he was not wanted just then.
He knew that the brig had arrived, though he did not know that
Jasper was already with his daughter. I suppose he didn't think it
was possible in the time. A father naturally wouldn't. He
suspected that Allen was sweet on his girl; the fowls of the air
and the fishes of the sea, most of the traders in the Archipelago,
and all sorts and conditions of men in the town of Singapore were
aware of it. But he was not capable of appreciating how far the
'Twixt Land & Sea |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Human Drift by Jack London: twelve men and as much alone as if he had died on some desolate
mountain peak. No kindly word, no last word, was passed between.
He died as he had lived, a beast, and he died hating us and hated
by us.
And now I come to the most startling moment of my life. No sooner
was he dead than he was flung overboard. He died in a night of
wind, drawing his last breath as the men tumbled into their
oilskins to the cry of "All hands!" And he was flung overboard,
several hours later, on a day of wind. Not even a canvas wrapping
graced his mortal remains; nor was he deemed worthy of bars of
iron at his feet. We sewed him up in the blankets in which he
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Charmides by Plato: to the whole body. And he who taught me the cure and the charm at the same
time added a special direction: 'Let no one,' he said, 'persuade you to
cure the head, until he has first given you his soul to be cured by the
charm. For this,' he said, 'is the great error of our day in the treatment
of the human body, that physicians separate the soul from the body.' And
he added with emphasis, at the same time making me swear to his words, 'Let
no one, however rich, or noble, or fair, persuade you to give him the cure,
without the charm.' Now I have sworn, and I must keep my oath, and
therefore if you will allow me to apply the Thracian charm first to your
soul, as the stranger directed, I will afterwards proceed to apply the cure
to your head. But if not, I do not know what I am to do with you, my dear
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