| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Tao Teh King by Lao-tze: flowing (stream);--it becomes the centre to which tend (all the small
states) under heaven.
2. (To illustrate from) the case of all females:--the female always
overcomes the male by her stillness. Stillness may be considered (a
sort of) abasement.
3. Thus it is that a great state, by condescending to small states,
gains them for itself; and that small states, by abasing themselves to
a great state, win it over to them. In the one case the abasement
leads to gaining adherents, in the other case to procuring favour.
4. The great state only wishes to unite men together and nourish them;
a small state only wishes to be received by, and to serve, the other.
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Shadow Line by Joseph Conrad: back two paces and vanished from my sight.
At once an uneasiness possessed me, as if some
support had been withdrawn. I moved forward,
too, outside the circle of light, into the darkness
that stood in front of me like a wall. In one stride
I penetrated it. Such must have been the dark-
ness before creation. It had closed behind me. I
knew I was invisible to the man at the helm.
Neither could I see anything. He was alone, I was
alone, every man was alone where he stood. And
every form was gone, too, spar, sail, fittings, rails;
The Shadow Line |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Albert Savarus by Honore de Balzac: way for the "dandy" and the "lion." The /lion/ is not the parent of
the /lionne/. The /lionne/ is due to the famous song by Alfred de
Musset:
Avez vou vu dans Barcelone
. . . . . .
C'est ma maitresse et ma lionne.
There has been a fusion--or, if you prefer it, a confusion--of the two
words and the leading ideas. When an absurdity can amuse Paris, which
devours as many masterpieces as absurdities, the provinces can hardly
be deprived of them. So, as soon as the /lion/ paraded Paris with his
mane, his beard and moustaches, his waistcoats and his eyeglass,
Albert Savarus |
