| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Resurrection by Leo Tolstoy: mother's sister, the Countess Tcharsky, wife of a former
minister--Nekhludoff at once found himself in the very midst of
that aristocratic circle which had grown so foreign to him. This
was very unpleasant, but there was no possibility of getting out
of it. To put up at an hotel instead of at his aunt's house would
have been to offend his aunt, and, besides, his aunt had
important connections and might be extremely useful in all these
matters he meant to attend to.
"What is this I hear about you? All sorts of marvels," said the
Countess Katerina Ivanovna Tcharsky, as she gave him his coffee
immediately after his arrival. "Vous posez pour un Howard.
Resurrection |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Myths and Myth-Makers by John Fiske: captive to death with firebrands, they would howl like the
fiends they were, and beat the air with brushwood, to drive
away the distressed and revengeful ghost. "With a kindlier
feeling, the Congo negroes abstained for a whole year after a
death from sweeping the house, lest the dust should injure the
delicate substance of the ghost"; and even now, "it remains a
German peasant saying that it is wrong to slam a door, lest
one should pinch a soul in it."[172] Dante's experience with
the ghosts in hell and purgatory, who were astonished at his
weighing down the boat in which they were carried, is belied
by the sweet German notion "that the dead mother's coming back
Myths and Myth-Makers |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Koran: grievous woe!' He said, 'Your prayer is answered; be upright then,
ye two, and follow not the path of those who do not know!'
And we brought the children of Israel across the sea; and Pharaoh
and his hosts followed them eager and hostile, until when drowning
overtook him, he said, 'I believe that there is no god but He in
whom the children of Israel believe, and I am of those who are
resigned!'- 'Now! but thou didst rebel aforetime, and wert of those
who do evil; but to-day we will save thee in thy body, that thou
mayest be to those who come after thee a sign, for verily, many men
are careless of our signs!'
And we established the people of Israel with a sure establishment,
The Koran |
