| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Last War: A World Set Free by H. G. Wells: descending a ladder into a pit. Then whispering and then heavy
breathing as Kurt came struggling up with the first of the hidden
bombs.
'We shall do it yet,' said the king. And then he gasped. 'Curse
that light. Why in the name of Heaven didn't we shut the barn
door?' For the great door stood wide open and all the empty,
lifeless yard outside and the door and six feet of the floor of
the barn were in the blue glare of an inquiring searchlight.
'Shut the door, Peter,' said Pestovitch.
'No,' cried the king, too late, as Peter went forward into the
light. 'Don't show yourself!' cried the king. Kurt made a step
The Last War: A World Set Free |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Kwaidan by Lafcadio Hearn: the midway-blue there hangs a faint, faint vision of palace towers, with
high roofs horned and curved like moons,-- some shadowing of splendor
strange and old, illumined by a sunshine soft as memory.
...What I have thus been trying to describe is a kakemono,-- that is to
say, a Japanese painting on silk, suspended to the wall of my alcove;-- and
the name of it is Shinkiro, which signifies "Mirage." But the shapes of the
mirage are unmistakable. Those are the glimmering portals of Horai the
blest; and those are the moony roofs of the Palace of the Dragon-King;--
and the fashion of them (though limned by a Japanese brush of to-day) is
the fashion of things Chinese, twenty-one hundred years ago...
Thus much is told of the place in the Chinese books of that time:--
Kwaidan |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin: and I doubted whether some error had not insinuated itself unperceiv'd
into my argument, so as to infect all that follow'd, as is common
in metaphysical reasonings.
I grew convinc'd that truth, sincerity and integrity in dealings
between man and man were of the utmost importance to the felicity
of life; and I form'd written resolutions, which still remain
in my journal book, to practice them ever while I lived.
Revelation had indeed no weight with me, as such; but I entertain'd
an opinion that, though certain actions might not be bad because they
were forbidden by it, or good because it commanded them, yet probably
these actions might be forbidden because they were bad for us,
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin |
