| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from God The Invisible King by H. G. Wells: he makes us live immortally and more abundantly. I have compared
him to the sensation of a dear, strong friend who comes and stands
quietly beside one, shoulder to shoulder.
The finding of God is the beginning of service. It is not an escape
from life and action; it is the release of life and action from the
prison of the mortal self. Not to realise that, is the heresy of
Quietism, of many mystics. Commonly such people are people of some
wealth, able to command services for all their everyday needs. They
make religion a method of indolence. They turn their backs on the
toil and stresses of existence and give themselves up to a delicious
reverie in which they flirt with the divinity. They will recount
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Virginian by Owen Wister: "It's all plain to me," Ogden pursued. "The men were morose. This
foreman was in the minority. He cajoled them into a bout of tall
stories, and told the tallest himself. And when they found they
had swallowed it whole--well, it would certainly take the starch
out of me," he concluded. "I couldn't be a serious mutineer after
that."
Dr. MacBride now sounded his strongest bass. "Pardon me. I cannot
accept such a view, sir. There is a levity abroad in our land
which I must deplore. No matter how leniently you may try to put
it, in the end we have the spectacle of a struggle between men
where lying decides the survival of the fittest. Better, far
The Virginian |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The King of the Golden River by John Ruskin: the valley itself. They all descended on the other side of the
mountains and wound away through broad plains and by populous
cities. But the clouds were drawn so constantly to the snowy hills,
and rested so softly in the circular hollow, that in time of drought
and heat, when all the country round was burned up, there was still
rain in the little valley; and its crops were so heavy, and its hay
so high, and its apples so red, and its grapes so blue, and its wine
so rich, and its honey so sweet, that it was a marvel to everyone
who beheld it and was commonly called the Treasure Valley.
The whole of this little valley belonged to three brothers,
called Schwartz, Hans, and Gluck. Schwartz and Hans, the two elder
|
