| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Mountains by Stewart Edward White: the mountains is no joke.
Some men possess it; others do not. The distinction
seems to be almost arbitrary. It can be largely
developed, but only in those with whom original
endowment of the faculty makes development possible.
No matter how long a direction-blind man
frequents the wilderness, he is never sure of himself.
Nor is the lack any reflection on the intelligence. I
once traveled in the Black Hills with a young fellow
who himself frankly confessed that after much
experiment he had come to the conclusion he could
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Dark Lady of the Sonnets by George Bernard Shaw: penetrating its illusions and idolatries, and with all Swift's horror
of its cruelty and uncleanliness.
Now it happens to some men with these powers that they are forced to
impose their fullest exercise on the world because they cannot produce
popular work. Take Wagner and Ibsen for instance! Their earlier
works are no doubt much cheaper than their later ones; still, they
were not popular when they were written. The alternative of doing
popular work was never really open to them: had they stooped they
would have picked up less than they snatched from above the people's
heads. But Handel and Shakespear were not held to their best in this
way. They could turn out anything they were asked for, and even heap
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Kwaidan by Lafcadio Hearn: was a tall, slim girl, very good-looking; and she answered Minokichi's
greeting in a voice as pleasant to the ear as the voice of a song-bird.
Then he walked beside her; and they began to talk. The girl said that her
name was O-Yuki [2]; that she had lately lost both of her parents; and that
she was going to Yedo (2), where she happened to have some poor relations,
who might help her to find a situation as a servant. Minokichi soon felt
charmed by this strange girl; and the more that he looked at her, the
handsomer she appeared to be. He asked her whether she was yet betrothed;
and she answered, laughingly, that she was free. Then, in her turn, she
asked Minokichi whether he was married, or pledge to marry; and he told her
that, although he had only a widowed mother to support, the question of an
Kwaidan |
