| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Myths and Myth-Makers by John Fiske: Greek conception of Hermes there have been fused together the
attributes of two deities who were originally distinct. The
Hermes of the Homeric Hymn is a wind-god; but the later Hermes
Agoraios, the patron of gymnasia, the mutilation of whose
statues caused such terrible excitement in Athens during the
Peloponnesian War, is a very different personage. He is a
fire-god, invested with many solar attributes, and represents
the quickening forces of nature. In this capacity the
invention of fire was ascribed to him as well as to
Prometheus; he was said to be the friend of mankind, and was
surnamed Ploutodotes, or "the giver of wealth."
Myths and Myth-Makers |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from In the South Seas by Robert Louis Stevenson: how did you know that crane to be a spirit?' was asked. 'I will
tell you,' he answered; and this was the purport of his
inconclusive narrative. His father had been dead nearly a
fortnight; others had wearied of the watch; and as the sun was
setting, he found himself by the grave alone. It was not yet dark,
rather the hour of the afterglow, when he was aware of a snow-white
crane upon the coral mound; presently more cranes came, some white,
some black; then the cranes vanished, and he saw in their place a
white cat, to which there was silently joined a great company of
cats of every hue conceivable; then these also disappeared, and he
was left astonished.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Hidden Masterpiece by Honore de Balzac: bits of paper on which were crayon sketches; he possessed only four
clean canvases. Colors were at that time costly, and the poor
gentleman gazed at a palette that was well-nigh bare. In the midst of
this poverty he felt within himself an indescribable wealth of heart
and the superabundant force of consuming genius. Brought to Paris by a
gentleman of his acquaintance, and perhaps by the monition of his own
talent, he had suddenly found a mistress,--one of those generous and
noble souls who are ready to suffer by the side of a great man;
espousing his poverty, studying to comprehend his caprices, strong to
bear deprivation and bestow love, as others are daring in the display
of luxury and in parading the insensibility of their hearts. The smile
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