| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from A Personal Record by Joseph Conrad: bore no grudge for what was past; he protested loudly of his
constant affection for his wife and stepchildren. It was true,
he said, that they had tried to strip him as naked as a Turkish
saint in the decline of his days; and because he had defended
himself from spoliation, as anybody else in his place would have
done, they had abandoned him now to the horrors of a solitary old
age. Nevertheless, his love for them survived these cruel blows.
And there might have been some truth in his protestations. Very
soon he began to make overtures of friendship to his eldest
stepson, my maternal grandfather; and when these were
peremptorily rejected he went on renewing them again and again
A Personal Record |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Love Songs by Sara Teasdale: A circle round it only they can cross
When they come back again!" . . . Look at the lake --
Do you remember how we watched the swans
That night in late October while they slept?
Swans must have stately dreams, I think. But now
The lake bears only thin reflected lights
That shake a little. How I long to take
One from the cold black water -- new-made gold
To give you in your hand! And see, and see,
There is a star, deep in the lake, a star!
Oh, dimmer than a pearl -- if you stoop down
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Tanach: Isaiah 45: 3 And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I am the LORD, who call thee by thy name, even the God of Israel.
Isaiah 45: 4 For the sake of Jacob My servant, and Israel Mine elect, I have called thee by thy name, I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known Me.
Isaiah 45: 5 I am the LORD, and there is none else, beside Me there is no God; I have girded thee, though thou hast not known Me;
Isaiah 45: 6 That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside Me; I am the LORD; and there is none else;
Isaiah 45: 7 I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil; I am the LORD, that doeth all these things.
Isaiah 45: 8 Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness; let the earth open, that they may bring forth salvation, and let her cause righteousness to spring up together; I the LORD have created it.
Isaiah 45: 9 Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker, as a potsherd with the potsherds of the earth! Shall the clay say to him that fashioned it: 'What makest thou?' Or: 'Thy work, it hath no hands'?
Isaiah 45: 10 Woe unto him that saith unto his father. 'Wherefore begettest thou?' Or to a woman: 'Wherefore travailest thou?'
Isaiah 45: 11 Thus saith the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker: Ask Me of the things that are to come; concerning My sons, and concerning the work of My hands, command ye Me.
The Tanach |
