The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Some Reminiscences by Joseph Conrad: the tenderness, the indignation, the high tranquillity of a
steeled heart, the detached curiosity of a subtle mind--that's
our affair! And the unwearied self-forgetful attention to every
phase of the living universe reflected in our consciousness may
be our appointed task on this earth. A task in which fate has
perhaps engaged nothing of us except our conscience, gifted with
a voice in order to bear true testimony to the visible wonder,
the haunting terror, the infinite passion and the illimitable
serenity; to the supreme law and the abiding mystery of the
sublime spectacle.
Chi lo sa? It may be true. In this view there is room for every
Some Reminiscences |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald: by sneering at family life and family institutions, and next they'll
throw everything overboard and have intermarriage between black
and white."
Flushed with his impassioned gibberish, he saw himself standing alone on
the last barrier of civilization.
"We're all white here," murmured Jordan.
"I know I'm not very popular. I don't give big parties. I suppose
you've got to make your house into a pigsty in order to have any
friends--in the modern world."
Angry as I was, as we all were, I was tempted to laugh whenever he opened
his mouth. The transition from libertine to prig was so complete.
The Great Gatsby |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Virginian by Owen Wister: blankets. You're warm. He likes that, same as a cat does. And he
tramps with pleasure and comfort, same as a cat. And you move.
You get bit, that's all. And you die of hydrophobia. Ask
anybody."
"Most extraordinary!" said I. "But did you ever see a person die
from this?"
"No, sir. Never happened to. My cousin at Bald Knob did."
"Died?"
"No, sir. Saw a man."
"But how do you know they're not sick skunks?"
"No, sir! They're well skunks. Well as anything. You'll not meet
The Virginian |