| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Memories and Portraits by Robert Louis Stevenson: attained with speed and pleasure, in the hour of mirth; and by the
nature of the process, they are always worthily shared.
There is a certain attitude, combative at once and deferential,
eager to fight yet most averse to quarrel, which marks out at once
the talkable man. It is not eloquence, not fairness, not
obstinacy, but a certain proportion of all of these that I love to
encounter in my amicable adversaries. They must not be pontiffs
holding doctrine, but huntsmen questing after elements of truth.
Neither must they be boys to be instructed, but fellow-teachers
with whom I may wrangle and agree on equal terms. We must reach
some solution, some shadow of consent; for without that, eager talk
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Songs of Travel by Robert Louis Stevenson: Hills of sheep, and the howes of the silent vanished races,
And winds, austere and pure:
Be it granted me to behold you again in dying,
Hills of home! and to hear again the call;
Hear about the graves of the martyrs the peewees crying,
And hear no more at all.
Vailima.
XLIV - EVENSONG
THE embers of the day are red
Beyond the murky hill.
The kitchen smokes: the bed
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne: "Oh, very well," I said. "I am only a little knocked up, but I shall
soon be better."
"Oh," says my uncle, "that's nothing to signify. You are only a
little bit tired."
"But you, uncle, you seem in very good spirits this morning."
"Delighted, my boy, delighted. We have got there."
"To our journey's end?"
"No; but we have got to the end of that endless sea. Now we shall go
by land, and really begin to go down! down! down!"
"But, my dear uncle, do let me ask you one question."
"Of course, Axel."
Journey to the Center of the Earth |
