| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Madam How and Lady Why by Charles Kingsley: brutes; which is at once the mother of sound science, and a pledge
of immortality in a world more wondrous even than this. But
wonder at the right thing, not at the wrong; at the real miracles
and prodigies, not at the sham. Wonder not at the world of man.
Waste not your admiration, interest, hope on it, its pretty toys,
gay fashions, fine clothes, tawdry luxuries, silly amusements.
Wonder at the works of God. You will not, perhaps, take my advice
yet. The world of man looks so pretty, that you will needs have
your peep at it, and stare into its shop windows; and if you can,
go to a few of its stage plays, and dance at a few of its balls.
Ah--well--After a wild dream comes an uneasy wakening; and after
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Marvelous Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum: might smash them both against this wall, Jack ventured to cry "Whoa!" as
loud as he could.
So suddenly did the horse obey that had it not been for his post Jack would
have been pitched off head foremost, and his beautiful face ruined.
"That was a fast ride, dear father!" he exclaimed; and then, hearing no
reply, he turned around and discovered for the first time that Tip was not
there.
This apparent desertion puzzled the Pumpkinhead, and made him uneasy. And
while he was wondering what had become of the boy, and what he ought to do
next under such trying circumstances, the gateway in the green wall opened
and a man came out.
 The Marvelous Land of Oz |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Divine Comedy (translated by H.F. Cary) by Dante Alighieri: "He seems," said they, "no insubstantial frame:"
Then to obtain what certainty they might,
Stretch'd towards me, careful not to overpass
The burning pale. "O thou, who followest
The others, haply not more slow than they,
But mov'd by rev'rence, answer me, who burn
In thirst and fire: nor I alone, but these
All for thine answer do more thirst, than doth
Indian or Aethiop for the cooling stream.
Tell us, how is it that thou mak'st thyself
A wall against the sun, as thou not yet
 The Divine Comedy (translated by H.F. Cary) |