| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad: I was morbidly anxious to change my shoes and socks. `He is dead,'
murmured the fellow, immensely impressed. `No doubt about it,'
said I, tugging like mad at the shoe-laces. `And by the way,
I suppose Mr. Kurtz is dead as well by this time.'
"For the moment that was the dominant thought. There was a sense
of extreme disappointment, as though I had found out I had been
striving after something altogether without a substance.
I couldn't have been more disgusted if I had travelled all
this way for the sole purpose of talking with Mr. Kurtz.
Talking with . . . I flung one shoe overboard, and became aware
that that was exactly what I had been looking forward to--
Heart of Darkness |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Call of the Canyon by Zane Grey: wind and cold had not made Carley so uncomfortable she might have found the
scene picturesque. How black the night! She could scarcely distinguish the
sky at all. The cedar branches swished in the wind, and from the gloom came
a low sound of waves lapping a rocky shore. Presently Glenn held up a hand.
"Listen, Carley!" he said.
Then she heard strange wild yelps, staccato, piercing, somehow infinitely
lonely. They made her shudder.
"Coyotes," said Glenn. "You'll come to love that chorus. Hear the dogs bark
back."
Carley listened with interest, but she was inclined to doubt that she would
ever become enamoured of such wild cries.
The Call of the Canyon |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Old Indian Legends by Zitkala-Sa: "Grandfather, what is it so tightly packed in all these
buckskin bags placed against the tent poles?" he asked.
"My grandchild, those are dried buffalo meat and venison.
These are magic bags which never grow empty. I am blind and cannot
go on a hunt. Hence a kind Maker has given me these magic bags of
choicest foods."
Then the old, bent man pulled at a rope which lay by his right
hand. "This leads me to the brook where I drink! and this," said
he, turning to the one on his left, "and this takes me into the
forest, where I feel about for dry sticks for my fire."
"Grandfather, I wish I lived in such sure luxury! I would
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