| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Dunwich Horror by H. P. Lovecraft: bodily injury? O, least of all! These terrors are of older standing.
They date beyond body - or without the body, they would have been
the same... That the kind of fear here treated is purely spiritual
- that it is strong in proportion as it is objectless on earth,
that it predominates in the period of our sinless infancy - are
difficulties the solution of which might afford some probable
insight into our ante-mundane condition, and a peep at least into
the shadowland of pre-existence.
- Charles Lamb: Witches and
Other Night-Fears
I.
The Dunwich Horror |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde: diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the
train. I am so sorry, dear Cecily, if it is any disappointment to
you, but I am afraid I have the prior claim.
CECILY. It would distress me more than I can tell you, dear
Gwendolen, if it caused you any mental or physical anguish, but I
feel bound to point out that since Ernest proposed to you he
clearly has changed his mind.
GWENDOLEN. [Meditatively.] If the poor fellow has been entrapped
into any foolish promise I shall consider it my duty to rescue him
at once, and with a firm hand.
CECILY. [Thoughtfully and sadly.] Whatever unfortunate
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Three Taverns by Edwin Arlington Robinson: There were silent eyes of envy that saw little but saw well;
And over beauty's aftermath of hazardous ambitions
There were tears for what had vanished as they vanished where they fell.
Not assured of what was theirs, and always hungry for the nameless,
There were some whose only passion was for Time who made them cold:
There were numerous fair women in the Valley of the Shadow,
Dreaming rather less of heaven than of hell when they were old.
Now and then, as if to scorn the common touch of common sorrow,
There were some who gave a few the distant pity of a smile;
And another cloaked a soul as with an ash of human embers,
Having covered thus a treasure that would last him for a while.
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