| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Land that Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs: a run toward the lake. It was over two miles, but we did not pause
until the harbor was in view, and still we could not see the lake
because of the sandstone cliffs which intervened. We ran as fast
as we could around the lower end of the harbor, scrambled up the
cliffs and at last stood upon their summit in full view of the lake.
Far away down the coast, toward the river through which we had come
to reach the lake, we saw upon the surface the outline of the U-33,
black smoke vomiting from her funnel.
Von Schoenvorts had succeeded in refining the oil! The cur had
broken his every pledge and was leaving us there to our fates.
He had even shelled the fort as a parting compliment; nor could
The Land that Time Forgot |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James: advance which the Greek mind made in that direction. The
Epicurean said: "Seek not to be happy, but rather to escape
unhappiness; strong happiness is always linked with pain;
therefore hug the safe shore, and do not tempt the deeper
raptures. Avoid disappointment by expecting little, and by
aiming low; and above all do not fret." The Stoic said: "The
only genuine good that life can yield a man is the free
possession of his own soul; all other goods are lies." Each of
these philosophies is in its degree a philosophy of despair in
nature's boons. Trustful self-abandonment to the joys that
freely offer has entirely departed from both Epicurean and Stoic;
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from St. Ives by Robert Louis Stevenson: admiration for each other's qualities; Candlish exclaiming that Sim
was 'grand company!' and Sim frequently assuring me in an aside
that for 'a rale, auld, stench bitch, there was nae the bate of
Candlish in braid Scotland.' The two dogs appeared to be entirely
included in this family compact, and I remarked that their exploits
and traits of character were constantly and minutely observed by
the two masters. Dog stories particularly abounded with them; and
not only the dogs of the present but those of the past contributed
their quota. 'But that was naething,' Sim would begin: 'there was
a herd in Manar, they ca'd him Tweedie - ye'll mind Tweedie,
Can'lish?' 'Fine, that!' said Candlish. 'Aweel, Tweedie had a dog
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