| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from 1984 by George Orwell: astonishment of the biological uselessness of pain and fear, the treachery
of the human body which always freezes into inertia at exactly the moment
when a special effort is needed. He might have silenced the dark-haired
girl if only he had acted quickly enough: but precisely because of the
extremity of his danger he had lost the power to act. It struck him that
in moments of crisis one is never fighting against an external enemy, but
always against one's own body. Even now, in spite of the gin, the dull
ache in his belly made consecutive thought impossible. And it is the same,
he perceived, in all seemingly heroic or tragic situations. On the
battlefield, in the torture chamber, on a sinking ship, the issues that
you are fighting for are always forgotten, because the body swells up until
1984 |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Smalcald Articles by Dr. Martin Luther: IV.
That the Son became man in this manner, that He was conceived,
without the cooperation of man, by the Holy Ghost, and was
born of the pure, holy [and always] Virgin Mary. Afterwards He
suffered, died, was buried, descended to hell, rose from the
dead, ascended to heaven, sits at the right hand of God, will
come to judge the quick and the dead, etc. as the Creed of the
Apostles, as well as that of St. Athanasius, and the Catechism
in common use for children, teach.
Concerning these articles there is no contention or dispute,
since we on both sides confess them. Therefore it is not
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe: the wall there hung a shield of shining brass with this legend
enwritten--
Who entereth herein, a conquerer hath bin;
Who slayeth the dragon, the shield he shall win;
and Ethelred uplifted his mace, and struck upon the head of the
dragon, which fell before him, and gave up his pesty breath, with
a shriek so horrid and harsh, and withal so piercing, that
Ethelred had fain to close his ears with his hands against the
dreadful noise of it, the like whereof was never before heard."
Here again I paused abruptly, and now with a feeling of wild
amazement--for there could be no doubt whatever that, in this
The Fall of the House of Usher |
