| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Georgics by Virgil: He too it was, when Caesar's light was quenched,
For Rome had pity, when his bright head he veiled
In iron-hued darkness, till a godless age
Trembled for night eternal; at that time
Howbeit earth also, and the ocean-plains,
And dogs obscene, and birds of evil bode
Gave tokens. Yea, how often have we seen
Etna, her furnace-walls asunder riven,
In billowy floods boil o'er the Cyclops' fields,
And roll down globes of fire and molten rocks!
A clash of arms through all the heaven was heard
Georgics |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Koran: These,- they have their portion from what they have earned; for
God is swift at reckoning up.
Remember God for a certain number of days; but whoso hastens off
in two days, it is no sin to him, and he who lingers on it is no sin
to him,- for him who fears. So fear ye God and know that unto Him
shall ye be gathered.
There is among men one whose speech about the life of this world
pleases thee, and he calls on God to witness what is in his heart; yet
is he most fierce in opposition unto thee. And when he turns away,
he strives upon the earth to do evil therein, and to destroy the tilth
and the stock; verily, God loves not evil doing. And when it is said
The Koran |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Divine Comedy (translated by H.F. Cary) by Dante Alighieri: Ah, Constantine! to how much ill gave birth,
Not thy conversion, but that plenteous dower,
Which the first wealthy Father gain'd from thee!"
Meanwhile, as thus I sung, he, whether wrath
Or conscience smote him, violent upsprang
Spinning on either sole. I do believe
My teacher well was pleas'd, with so compos'd
A lip, he listen'd ever to the sound
Of the true words I utter'd. In both arms
He caught, and to his bosom lifting me
Upward retrac'd the way of his descent.
The Divine Comedy (translated by H.F. Cary) |
