| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Death of the Lion by Henry James: our invalid must go straight home - I mean to-morrow or next day;
but he quite refuses to talk about the future. Absolute quiet and
warmth and the regular administration of an important remedy are
the points he mainly insists on. He returns this afternoon, and
I'm to go back to see the patient at one o'clock, when he next
takes his medicine. It consoles me a little that he certainly
won't be able to read - an exertion he was already more than unfit
for. Lady Augusta went off after breakfast, assuring me her first
care would be to follow up the lost manuscript. I can see she
thinks me a shocking busybody and doesn't understand my alarm, but
she'll do what she can, for she's a good-natured woman. 'So are
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Odyssey by Homer: swift North and brake the waves before him, that so
Odysseus, of the seed of Zeus, might mingle with the
Phaeacians, lovers of the oar, avoiding death and the
fates.
So for two nights and two days he was wandering in the
swell of the sea, and much his heart boded of death. But
when at last the fair-tressed Dawn brought the full light
of the third day, thereafter the breeze fell, and lo, there
was a breathless calm, and with a quick glance ahead, (he
being upborne on a great wave,) he saw the land very near.
And even as when most welcome to his children is the sight
The Odyssey |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Glimpses of the Moon by Edith Wharton: answered at once, and with equal conviction: "Yes, isn't it?
The old darlings--all the same!"
A fear of the future again laid its cold touch on Lansing.
Susy's independence and self-sufficiency had been among her
chief attractions; if she were to turn into an echo their
delicious duet ran the risk of becoming the dullest of
monologues. He forgot that five minutes earlier he had resented
her being glad to see their friends, and for a moment he found
himself leaning dizzily over that insoluble riddle of the
sentimental life: that to be differed with is exasperating, and
to be agreed with monotonous.
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