| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Odyssey by Homer: leap forward and spear all whom I could overtake. Such was I in
battle, but I did not care about farm work, nor the frugal home
life of those who would bring up children. My delight was in
ships, fighting, javelins, and arrows--things that most men
shudder to think of; but one man likes one thing and another
another, and this was what I was most naturally inclined to.
Before the Achaeans went to Troy, nine times was I in command of
men and ships on foreign service, and I amassed much wealth. I
had my pick of the spoil in the first instance, and much more
was allotted to me later on.
"My house grew apace and I became a great man among the Cretans,
The Odyssey |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Garden Party by Katherine Mansfield: staring at the liner. "You got Mrs. Hammond on board, ain't yer?"
"Yes, yes!" said Hammond, and he kept by the harbour-master's side. "Mrs.
Hammond's there. Hul-lo! We shan't be long now!"
With her telephone ring-ringing, the thrum of her screw filling the air,
the big liner bore down on them, cutting sharp through the dark water so
that big white shavings curled to either side. Hammond and the harbour-
master kept in front of the rest. Hammond took off his hat; he raked the
decks--they were crammed with passengers; he waved his hat and bawled a
loud, strange "Hul-lo!" across the water; and then turned round and burst
out laughing and said something--nothing--to old Captain Johnson.
"Seen her?" asked the harbour-master.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Marriage Contract by Honore de Balzac: incomplete and in danger of fatal failure. At this moment Paul was an
optimist; he saw everything to advantage, and did not tell himself
than an ambitious mother-in-law might prove a tyrant. So, every
evening as he left the house, he fancied himself a married man,
allured his mind with its own thought, and slipped on the slippers of
wedlock cheerfully. In the first place, he had enjoyed his freedom too
long to regret the loss of it; he was tired of a bachelor's life,
which offered him nothing new; he now saw only its annoyances; whereas
if he thought at times of the difficulties of marriage, its pleasures,
in which lay novelty, came far more prominently before his mind.
"Marriage," he said to himself, "is disagreeable for people without
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