| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Edingburgh Picturesque Notes by Robert Louis Stevenson: one of those remarkable tenures of land which linger on
into the modern world from Feudalism. Whenever the
reigning sovereign passes by, a certain landed proprietor
is held bound to climb on to the top, trumpet in hand,
and sound a flourish according to the measure of his
knowledge in that art. Happily for a respectable family,
crowned heads have no great business in the Pentland
Hills. But the story lends a character of comicality to
the stone; and the passer-by will sometimes chuckle to
himself.
The district is dear to the superstitious. Hard by,
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Salammbo by Gustave Flaubert: she is! there she is!" he stammered out. Spendius took up the lamp in
order to light himself.
"What an impious man you are!" murmured Matho, following him
nevertheless.
The apartment which they entered had nothing in it but a black
painting representing another woman. Her legs reached to the top of
the wall, and her body filled the entire ceiling; a huge egg hung by a
thread from her navel, and she fell head downwards upon the other
wall, reaching as far as the level of the pavement, which was touched
by her pointed fingers.
They drew a hanging aside, in order to go on further; but the wind
Salammbo |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Tao Teh King by Lao-tze: their minds, fills their bellies, weakens their wills, and strengthens
their bones.
3. He constantly (tries to) keep them without knowledge and without
desire, and where there are those who have knowledge, to keep them
from presuming to act (on it). When there is this abstinence from
action, good order is universal.
4. 1. The Tao is (like) the emptiness of a vessel; and in our
employment of it we must be on our guard against all fulness. How
deep and unfathomable it is, as if it were the Honoured Ancestor of
all things!
2. We should blunt our sharp points, and unravel the complications of
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