| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Father Sergius by Leo Tolstoy: find joy in them.' His director told him that as material food
is necessary for the maintenance of the life of the body, so
spiritual food--the church prayers--is necessary for the
maintenance of the spiritual life. He believed this, and though
the church services, for which he had to get up early in the
morning, were a difficulty, they certainly calmed him and gave
him joy. This was the result of his consciousness of humility,
and the certainty that whatever he had to do, being fixed by the
starets, was right.
The interest of his life consisted not only in an ever greater
and greater subjugation of his will, but in the attainment of all
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Miracle Mongers and Their Methods by Harry Houdini: from the coffin, but the body of Yamadeva gave
no indication of life, and all save Ling Look
decided that they must have been mistaken.
Poor Ling Look, however, sobbingly said to
Kellar, ``I shall never leave Hong Kong alive.
My brother has called me to join him.'' This
prediction was fulfilled, for shortly after their
arrival in Hong Kong he underwent an operation
for a liver trouble, and died under the
knife. The brothers were buried in Happy
Valley, Hong Kong, in the year 1877.
Miracle Mongers and Their Methods |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from A House of Pomegranates by Oscar Wilde: They tore up the cactus by its roots, and trampled on the scarlet
blossoms. They hurried about, calling to each other, and no man
was idle.
From the darkness of a cavern Death and Avarice watched them, and
Death said, 'I am weary; give me a third of them and let me go.'
But Avarice shook her head. 'They are my servants,' she answered.
And Death said to her, 'What hast thou in thy hand?'
'I have three grains of corn,' she answered; 'what is that to
thee?'
'Give me one of them,' cried Death, 'to plant in my garden; only
one of them, and I will go away.'
|
