| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Aesop's Fables by Aesop: out to them: "Now, break," and each stick was easily broken. "You
see my meaning," said their father.
Union gives strength.
The Lion, the Fox, and the Beasts
The Lion once gave out that he was sick unto death and
summoned the animals to come and hear his last Will and Testament.
So the Goat came to the Lion's cave, and stopped there listening
for a long time. Then a Sheep went in, and before she came out a
Calf came up to receive the last wishes of the Lord of the Beasts.
But soon the Lion seemed to recover, and came to the mouth of his
cave, and saw the Fox, who had been waiting outside for some time.
Aesop's Fables |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Soul of the Far East by Percival Lowell: divergence exists not simply in certain lines of thought, but in all
those characteristics by which man is parted from the brutes.
In reasoning power, in artistic sensibility, in delicacy of perception,
it is the same story. If this were simply the impression at first
sight, no deductions could be drawn from it, for an impression of
racial similarity invariably marks the first stage of acquaintance
of one people by another. Even in outward appearance it is so.
We find it at first impossible to tell the Japanese apart; they find it
equally impossible to differentiate us. But the present resemblance
is not a matter of first impressions. The fact is patent historically.
The men whom Japan reveres are much less removed from the common
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Message by Honore de Balzac: burning tears falling on your hands, you would know what
gratitude is, when it follows so closely upon the benefit. Her
eyes shone with a feverish glitter, a faint ray of happiness
gleamed out of her terrible suffering, as she grasped my hands in
hers, and said, in a choking voice:
"Ah! you love! May you be happy always. May you never lose her
whom you love."
She broke off, and fled away with her treasure.
Next morning, this night-scene among my dreams seemed like a
dream; to make sure of the piteous truth, I was obliged to look
fruitlessly under my pillow for the packet of letters. There is
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