| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Moby Dick by Herman Melville: regale themselves with an essence found in the inglorious bowels of a
sick whale! Yet so it is. By some, ambergris is supposed to be the
cause, and by others the effect, of the dyspepsia in the whale. How
to cure such a dyspepsia it were hard to say, unless by administering
three or four boat loads of Brandreth's pills, and then running out
of harm's way, as laborers do in blasting rocks.
I have forgotten to say that there were found in this ambergris,
certain hard, round, bony plates, which at first Stubb thought might
be sailors' trowsers buttons; but it afterwards turned out that they
were nothing more than pieces of small squid bones embalmed in that
manner.
Moby Dick |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from King James Bible: presence of the people.
JOS 4:12 And the children of Reuben, and the children of Gad, and half
the tribe of Manasseh, passed over armed before the children of Israel,
as Moses spake unto them:
JOS 4:13 About forty thousand prepared for war passed over before the
LORD unto battle, to the plains of Jericho.
JOS 4:14 On that day the LORD magnified Joshua in the sight of all
Israel; and they feared him, as they feared Moses, all the days of his
life.
JOS 4:15 And the LORD spake unto Joshua, saying,
JOS 4:16 Command the priests that bear the ark of the testimony, that
King James Bible |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Land of Footprints by Stewart Edward White: divert consequences. He must observe them all; in pain of
terrible punishments. For example, never may he cultivate on the
site of a grave; and the plants that spring up from it must never
be cut.* He must make certain complicated offerings before
venturing to harvest a crop. On crossing the first stream of a
journey he must touch his lips with the end of his wetted bow,
wade across, drop a stone on the far side, and then drink. If he
cuts his nails, he must throw the parings into a thicket. If he
drink from a stream, and also cross it, he must eject a mouthful
of water back into the stream. He must be particularly careful
not to look his mother-in-law in the face. Hundreds of omens by
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