| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Mirror of the Sea by Joseph Conrad: heroic spirit. The change in the character of the ships is too
great and too radical. It is good and proper to study the acts of
great men with thoughtful reverence, but already the precise
intention of Lord Nelson's famous memorandum seems to lie under
that veil which Time throws over the clearest conceptions of every
great art. It must not be forgotten that this was the first time
when Nelson, commanding in chief, had his opponents under way - the
first time and the last. Had he lived, had there been other fleets
left to oppose him, we would, perhaps, have learned something more
of his greatness as a sea officer. Nothing could have been added
to his greatness as a leader. All that can be affirmed is, that on
The Mirror of the Sea |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Myths and Myth-Makers by John Fiske: who vomits forth flames at him and roars like the thunder in
the storm-cloud. After a short combat, his hideous body falls
at the feet of the invincible hero, who erects on the spot an
altar to Jupiter Inventor, in commemoration of the recovery of
his cattle. Ancient Rome teemed with reminiscences of this
event, which Livy regarded as first in the long series of the
exploits of his countrymen. The place where Hercules pastured
his oxen was known long after as the Forum Boarium; near it
the Porta Trigemina preserved the recollection of the
monster's triple head; and in the time of Diodorus Siculus
sight-seers were shown the cavern of Cacus on the slope of the
Myths and Myth-Makers |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from De Profundis by Oscar Wilde: Now I have realised that it is in me, I see quite clearly what I
ought to do; in fact, must do. And when I use such a phrase as
that, I need not say that I am not alluding to any external
sanction or command. I admit none. I am far more of an
individualist than I ever was. Nothing seems to me of the smallest
value except what one gets out of oneself. My nature is seeking a
fresh mode of self-realisation. That is all I am concerned with.
And the first thing that I have got to do is to free myself from
any possible bitterness of feeling against the world.
I am completely penniless, and absolutely homeless. Yet there are
worse things in the world than that. I am quite candid when I say
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