| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Pagan and Christian Creeds by Edward Carpenter: as of the divinities of Earth, and of Nature and Death. Crude,
no doubt, at first, they gradually became (especially in their
Eleusinian form) more refined and philosophical; the rites
were gradually thrown open, on certain conditions, not
only to men generally, but also to women, and even to slaves;
and in the end they influenced Christianity deeply.[1]
[1] See Edwin Hatch, D.D., The Influence of Greek Ideas and
Usages on the Christian Church (London, 1890), pp. 283-5.
There were apparently three forms of teaching made
use of in these rites: these were , things SAID;
, things SHOWN; and , things PERFORMED
Pagan and Christian Creeds |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Lucile by Owen Meredith: At one moment he rose--rose and open'd the door,
And wistfully look'd down the dark corridor
Toward the room of Matilda. Anon, with a sigh
Of an incomplete purpose, he crept quietly
Back again to his place in a sort of submission
To doubt, and return'd to his former position,--
That loose fall of the arms, that dull droop of the face,
And the eye vaguely fix'd on impalpable space.
The dream, which till then had been lulling his life,
As once Circe the winds, had seal'd thought; and his wife
And his home for a time he had quite, like Ulysses,
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Eugenie Grandet by Honore de Balzac: water, heat, and clouds to suit their fancy. A perpetual duel goes on
between the heavens and their terrestrial interests. The barometer
smooths, saddens, or makes merry their countenances, turn and turn
about. From end to end of this street, formerly the Grand'Rue de
Saumur, the words: "Here's golden weather," are passed from door to
door; or each man calls to his neighbor: "It rains louis," knowing
well what a sunbeam or the opportune rainfall is bringing him.
On Saturdays after midday, in the fine season, not one sou's worth of
merchandise can be bought from these worthy traders. Each has his
vineyard, his enclosure of fields, and all spend two days in the
country. This being foreseen, and purchases, sales, and profits
Eugenie Grandet |
