| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Phaedrus by Plato: eating, for example, which gets the better of the higher reason and the
other desires, is called gluttony, and he who is possessed by it is called
a glutton; the tyrannical desire of drink, which inclines the possessor of
the desire to drink, has a name which is only too obvious, and there can be
as little doubt by what name any other appetite of the same family would be
called;--it will be the name of that which happens to be dominant. And now
I think that you will perceive the drift of my discourse; but as every
spoken word is in a manner plainer than the unspoken, I had better say
further that the irrational desire which overcomes the tendency of opinion
towards right, and is led away to the enjoyment of beauty, and especially
of personal beauty, by the desires which are her own kindred--that supreme
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Tanglewood Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne: den. Such misshapen creatures were very numerous in those days;
and nobody ever expected to make a voyage, or take a journey,
without running more or less risk of being devoured by them.
But King Ulysses was a bold man as well as a prudent one; and
on the third morning he determined to discover what sort of a
place the island was, and whether it were possible to obtain a
supply of food for the hungry mouths of his companions. So,
taking a spear in his hand, he clambered to the summit of a
cliff, and gazed round about him. At a distance, towards the
center of the island, he beheld the stately towers of what
seemed to be a palace, built of snow-white marble, and rising
Tanglewood Tales |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from New Poems by Robert Louis Stevenson: Of the great sea, profound and clear;
Or, lastly if in heart ye roam,
Not caring to do else, and hear,
Safe sitting by the fire at home,
Footfalls in Utah or Pamere:
Though long the way, though hard to bear
The sun and rain, the dust and dew;
Though still attainment and despair
Inter the old, despoil the new;
There shall at length, be sure, O friends,
Howe'er ye steer, whate'er ye do -
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