| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Hated Son by Honore de Balzac: from its source, restores the purity of its surface; but with Etienne
the source itself was polluted, and each new current brought its own
gall.
Bertrand, in his old age, had retained the superintendence of the
stables, so as not to lose the habit of authority in the household.
His house was not far from that of Etienne, so that he was ever at
hand to watch over the youth with the persistent affection and simple
wiliness characteristic of old soldiers. He checked his roughness when
speaking to the poor lad; softly he walked in rainy weather to fetch
him from his reverie in his crevice to the house. He put his pride
into filling the mother's place, so that her child might find, if not
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott: sorrow, "Oh, Beth, come back! Come back!" she did not stretch out
her yearning arms in vain. For, as quick to hear her sobbing as
she had been to hear her sister's faintest whisper, her mother came
to comfort her, not with words only, but the patient tenderness
that soothes by a touch, tears that were mute reminders of a greater
grief than Jo's, and broken whispers, more eloquent than prayers,
because hopeful resignation went hand-in-hand with natural sorrow.
Sacred moments, when heart talked to heart in the silence of the
night, turning affliction to a blessing, which chastened grief and
strengthned love. Feeling this, Jo's burden seemed easier to bear,
duty grew sweeter, and life looked more endurable, seen from the
Little Women |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Symposium by Plato: But why again does this extend not only to men but also to animals?
Because they too have an instinct of immortality. Even in the same
individual there is a perpetual succession as well of the parts of the
material body as of the thoughts and desires of the mind; nay, even
knowledge comes and goes. There is no sameness of existence, but the new
mortality is always taking the place of the old. This is the reason why
parents love their children--for the sake of immortality; and this is why
men love the immortality of fame. For the creative soul creates not
children, but conceptions of wisdom and virtue, such as poets and other
creators have invented. And the noblest creations of all are those of
legislators, in honour of whom temples have been raised. Who would not
|
