| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Falk by Joseph Conrad: fined space, the close contact, the imminent menace
of the waves, seem to draw men together, in spite
of madness, suffering and despair. But there was
a ship--safe, convenient, roomy: a ship with beds,
bedding, knives, forks, comfortable cabins, glass
and china, and a complete cook's galley, pervaded,
ruled and possessed by the pitiless spectre of star-
vation. The lamp oil had been drunk, the wicks
cut up for food, the candles eaten. At night she
floated dark in all her recesses, and full of fears.
One day Falk came upon a man gnawing a splinter
Falk |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Odyssey by Homer: outer courts. Then she went inside to call the women and tell
them what had happened; whereon they came from their apartment
with torches in their hands, and pressed round Ulysses to
embrace him, kissing his head and shoulders and taking hold of
his hands. It made him feel as if he should like to weep, for he
remembered every one of them. {179}
Book XXIII
PENELOPE EVENTUALLY RECOGNISES HER HUSBAND--EARLY IN THE MORNING
ULYSSES, TELEMACHUS, EUMAEUS, AND PHILOETIUS LEAVE THE TOWN.
Euryclea now went upstairs laughing to tell her mistress that
her dear husband had come home. Her aged knees became young
The Odyssey |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Art of War by Sun Tzu: present moment when the river is in flood, we shall appear before
his capital with startling suddenness, like the thunder which is
heard before you have time to stop your ears against it. [See
VII. ss. 19, note.] This is the great principle in war. Even if
he gets to know of our approach, he will have to levy his
soldiers in such a hurry that they will not be fit to oppose us.
Thus the full fruits of victory will be ours." All came about as
he predicted, and Hsiao Hsien was obliged to surrender, nobly
stipulating that his people should be spared and he alone suffer
the penalty of death.]
take advantage of the enemy's unreadiness, make your way by
The Art of War |
