| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Golden Threshold by Sarojini Naidu: Hath blown thee out with their sudden breath;
Naught shall revive thy vanished spark . . .
Love, must I dwell in the living dark?
Tree of my life, Death's cruel foot
Hath crushed thee down to thy hidden root;
Nought shall restore thy glory fled . . .
Shall the blossom live when the tree is dead?
Life of my life, Death's bitter sword
Hath severed us like a broken word,
Rent us in twain who are but one . .
Shall the flesh survive when the soul is gone?
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Finished by H. Rider Haggard: the limits of their power and, I think, sail at times to the
uttermost ends of being. But unhappily of their experiences we
remember nothing when we awake. In half sleep it is different;
then we do retain some recollection.
In this curious condition of mind it seemed to me that Rodd said
to Marnham--
"Why have you brought these men here?"
"I did not bring them here," he answered. "Luck, Fate, Fortune,
God or the Devil, call it what you will, brought them here,
though if you had your wish, it is true they would never have
come. Still, as they have come, I am glad. It is something to
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Golden Sayings of Epictetus by Epictetus: the same authority. He must not only prove to the unlearned by
showing them what his Soul is that it is possible to be a good
man apart from all that they admire; but he must also show them,
by his body, that a plain and simple manner of life under the
open sky does no harm to the body either. "See, I am proof of
this! and my body also." As Diogenes used to do, who went about
fresh of look and by the very appearance of his body drew men's
eyes. But if a Cynic is an object of pity, he seems a mere
beggar; all turn away, all are offended at him. Nor should he be
slovenly of look, so as not to scare men from him in this way
either; on the contrary, his very roughness should be clean and
The Golden Sayings of Epictetus |
