| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Tales of Unrest by Joseph Conrad: There could not be! There could not be! And yet how near to . . . With
a short thrill he saw himself an exiled forlorn figure in a realm of
ungovernable, of unrestrained folly. Nothing could be foreseen,
foretold--guarded against. And the sensation was intolerable, had
something of the withering horror that may be conceived as following
upon the utter extinction of all hope. In the flash of thought the
dishonouring episode seemed to disengage itself from everything
actual, from earthly conditions, and even from earthly suffering; it
became purely a terrifying knowledge, an annihilating knowledge of a
blind and infernal force. Something desperate and vague, a flicker of
an insane desire to abase himself before the mysterious impulses of
Tales of Unrest |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy: of life continually occurred in the captain's stories) and the Pole
had entrusted to him his enchanting wife (parisienne de coeur) while
himself entering the French service. The captain was happy, the
enchanting Polish lady wished to elope with him, but, prompted by
magnanimity, the captain restored the wife to the husband, saying as
he did so: "I have saved your life, and I save your honor!" Having
repeated these words the captain wiped his eyes and gave himself a
shake, as if driving away the weakness which assailed him at this
touching recollection.
Listening to the captain's tales, Pierre- as often happens late in
the evening and under the influence of wine- followed all that was
War and Peace |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Odyssey by Homer: And Odysseus of many counsels answered him, saying: My lord
Alcinous, most notable of all the people, if ye bade me
tarry here even for a year, and would speed my convoy and
give me splendid gifts, even that I would choose; and
better would it be for me to come with a fuller hand to
mine own dear country, so should I get more love and
worship in the eyes of all men, whoso should see me after I
was returned to Ithaca.'
And Alcinous answered him, saying: 'Odysseus, in no wise do
we deem thee, we that look on thee, to be a knave or a
cheat, even as the dark earth rears many such broadcast,
The Odyssey |
