The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Smalcald Articles by Dr. Martin Luther: see in the bishoprics everywhere so many parishes vacant and
desolate that one's heart would break, and yet neither the
bishops nor canons care how the poor people live or die, for
whom nevertheless Christ has died, and who are not permitted
to hear Him speak with them as the true Shepherd with His
sheep. This causes me to shudder and fear that at some time He
may send a council of angels upon Germany utterly destroying
us, like Sodom and Gomorrah, because we so wantonly mock Him
with the Council.
Besides such necessary ecclesiastical affairs, there would be
also in the political estate innumerable matters of great
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot: Followed by a weekend at the Metropole.
At the violet hour, when the eyes and back
Turn upward from the desk, when the human engine waits
Like a taxi throbbing waiting,
I Tiresias, though blind, throbbing between two lives,
Old man with wrinkled female breasts, can see
At the violet hour, the evening hour that strives 220
Homeward, and brings the sailor home from sea,
The typist home at teatime, clears her breakfast, lights
Her stove, and lays out food in tins.
Out of the window perilously spread
 The Waste Land |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Odyssey by Homer: contribute, each of you, a clean cloak, a shirt, and a talent of
fine gold; let us give him all this in a lump down at once, so
that when he gets his supper he may do so with a light heart. As
for Euryalus he will have to make a formal apology and a present
too, for he has been rude."
Thus did he speak. The others all of them applauded his saying,
and sent their servants to fetch the presents. Then Euryalus
said, "King Alcinous, I will give the stranger all the
satisfaction you require. He shall have my sword, which is of
bronze, all but the hilt, which is of silver. I will also give
him the scabbard of newly sawn ivory into which it fits. It will
 The Odyssey |