| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Emerald City of Oz by L. Frank Baum: more awful in appearance. All the rocks had the shapes of frightful
beings and even the tree trunks were gnarled and twisted like serpents.
Suddenly there appeared before the Nome a man with the head of an owl.
His body was hairy like that of an ape, and his only clothing was a
scarlet scarf twisted around his waist. He bore a huge club in his
hand and his round owl eyes blinked fiercely upon the intruder.
"What are you doing here?" he demanded, threatening Guph with his club.
"I've come to see the First and Foremost Phanfasm of Phantastico,"
replied the General, who did not like the way this creature looked at
him, but still was not afraid.
"Ah; you shall see him!" the man said, with a sneering laugh. "The
The Emerald City of Oz |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Commission in Lunacy by Honore de Balzac: customs; he made me heir to this knowledge at an age when it is
difficult not to become a fanatic for the things we learn. At five-
and-twenty I knew Chinese, and I confess I have never been able to
check myself in an exclusive admiration for that nation, who conquered
their conquerors, whose annals extend back indisputably to a period
more remote than mythological or Bible times, who by their immutable
institutions have preserved the integrity of their empire, whose
monuments are gigantic, whose administration is perfect, among whom
revolutions are impossible, who have regarded ideal beauty as a barren
element in art, who have carried luxury and industry to such a pitch
that we cannot outdo them in anything, while they are our equals in
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Divine Comedy (translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) by Dante Alighieri: Then I turned round, as one who is impatient
To see what it behoves him to escape,
And whom a sudden terror doth unman,
Who, while he looks, delays not his departure;
And I beheld behind us a black devil,
Running along upon the crag, approach.
Ah, how ferocious was he in his aspect!
And how he seemed to me in action ruthless,
With open wings and light upon his feet!
His shoulders, which sharp-pointed were and high,
A sinner did encumber with both haunches,
The Divine Comedy (translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) |
