| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table by Oliver Wendell Holmes: Started, therefore, about 1510. The thickness of the rings tells
the rate at which it grew. For five or six years the rate was
slow, - then rapid for twenty years. A little before the year 1550
it began to grow very slowly, and so continued for about seventy
years. In 1620 it took a new start and grew fast until 1714 then
for the most part slowly until 1786, when it started again and grew
pretty well and uniformly until within the last dozen years, when
it seems to have got on sluggishly.
Look here. Here are some human lives laid down against the periods
of its growth, to which they corresponded. This is Shakspeare's.
The tree was seven inches in diameter when he was born; ten inches
The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Tao Teh King by Lao-tze: Heaven; Heaven takes its law from the Tao. The law of the Tao is its
being what it is.
26. 1. Gravity is the root of lightness; stillness, the ruler of
movement.
2. Therefore a wise prince, marching the whole day, does not go far
from his baggage waggons. Although he may have brilliant prospects to
look at, he quietly remains (in his proper place), indifferent to
them. How should the lord of a myriad chariots carry himself lightly
before the kingdom? If he do act lightly, he has lost his root (of
gravity); if he proceed to active movement, he will lose his throne.
27. 1. The skilful traveller leaves no traces of his wheels or
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Poems by T. S. Eliot: To Jean Verdenal 1889-1915
Certain of these poems first appeared in Poetry, Blast, Others, The
Little Review, and Art and Letters.
CONTENTS
Gerontion
Burbank with a Baedeker: Bleistein with a Cigar
Sweeney Erect
A Cooking Egg
Le Directeur
Mélange adultère de tout
Lune de Miel
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