| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf: What was she dreaming about, Mrs Ramsay wondered, seeing her engrossed,
as she stood there, with some thought of her own, so that she had to
repeat the message twice--ask Mildred if Andrew, Miss Doyle, and Mr
Rayley have come back?--The words seemed to be dropped into a well,
where, if the waters were clear, they were also so extraordinarily
distorting that, even as they descended, one saw them twisting about to
make Heaven knows what pattern on the floor of the child's mind. What
message would Cam give the cook? Mrs Ramsay wondered. And indeed it
was only by waiting patiently, and hearing that there was an old woman in
the kitchen with very red cheeks, drinking soup out of a basin, that
Mrs Ramsay at last prompted that parrot-like instinct which had picked up
To the Lighthouse |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Lady Susan by Jane Austen: I take London in my way to that insupportable spot, a country village;
for I am really going to Churchhill. Forgive me, my dear friend, it is my
last resource. Were there another place in England open to me I would
prefer it. Charles Vernon is my aversion; and I am afraid of his wife. At
Churchhill, however, I must remain till I have something better in view. My
young lady accompanies me to town, where I shall deposit her under the care
of Miss Summers, in Wigmore street, till she becomes a little more
reasonable. She will made good connections there, as the girls are all
of the best families. The price is immense, and much beyond what I can ever
attempt to pay.
Adieu, I will send you a line as soon as I arrive in town.
Lady Susan |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce: Because
Obeying his belly he struck at the laws.
His belly?
Oh, well, he was starving, my boy --
A state in which, doubtless, there's little of joy.
No bite had he eaten for days, and his cry
Was "Bread!" ever "Bread!"
What's the matter with pie?
With little to wear, he had nothing to sell;
To beg was unlawful -- improper as well.
Why didn't he work?
The Devil's Dictionary |
