| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Odyssey by Homer: now, old man, get thee home and prophesy to thine own
children, lest haply they suffer harm hereafter: but herein
am I a far better prophet than thou. Howbeit there be many
birds that fly to and fro under the sun's rays, but all are
not birds of fate. Now as for Odysseus, he hath perished
far away, as would that thou too with him hadst been cut
off: so wouldst thou not have babbled thus much prophecy,
nor wouldst thou hound on Telemachus that is already
angered, expecting a gift for thy house, if perchance he
may vouchsafe thee aught. But now will I speak out, and my
word shall surely be accomplished. If thou that knowest
The Odyssey |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Father Sergius by Leo Tolstoy: cap and bowing his bald head.
He rejoiced particularly at this meeting, because he had
disregarded the opinion of men and had done the simplest, easiest
thing--humbly accepted twenty kopeks and given them to his
comrade, a blind beggar. The less importance he attached to the
opinion of men the more did he feel the presence of God within
him.
For eight months Kasatsky tramped on in this manner, and in the
ninth month he was arrested for not having a passport. This
happened at a night-refuge in a provincial town where he had
passed the night with some pilgrims. He was taken to the
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Spirit of the Border by Zane Grey: motive for accompanying this band of hunters?"
"Revenge!"
"And you are a preacher?" Jim's voice did not disguise his astonishment.
"I was a preacher, and now I am thirsting for vengeance," answered Christy,
his face clouding darkly. "Wait until you learn what frontier life means. You
are young here yet; you are flushed with the success of your teaching; you
have lived a short time in this quiet village, where, until the last few days,
all has been serene. You know nothing of the strife, of the necessity of
fighting, of the cruelty which makes up this border existence. Only two years
have hardened me so that I actually pant for the blood of the renegade who has
robbed me. A frontiersman must take his choice of succumbing or cutting his
The Spirit of the Border |
