The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Barlaam and Ioasaph by St. John of Damascus: many miseries: but when at last the appointed day of death is
come, of all these things he carrieth away nothing but the
useless burial cloths. By the second friend is signified our
wife and children and the remnant of kinsfolk and acquaintance,
to whom we are passionately attached, and from whom with
difficulty we tear ourselves away, neglecting our very soul and
body for the love of them. But no help did man ever derive from
these in the hour of death, save only that they will accompany
and follow him to the sepulchre, and then straightway turning
them homeward again they are occupied with their own cares and
matters, and bury his memory in oblivion as they have buried his
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Court Life in China by Isaac Taylor Headland: Princess had been a paralytic for years and was far better out of
her misery.
The Princess frequently sent her cart for me during these days.
Once when I was going through the court where there were vast
quantities of things to be burned for the spirit, all made of
paper, I noticed some that were so natural that I was unable to
distinguish between them and the real things. Especially was this
true of the furniture and flowers like that which had been in her
apartments. There were great ebony chairs with fantastically
marked marble seats, cabinets, and all the furniture necessary
for her use. Among these things I noticed on the table a pack of
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson: The gods and sacred bells,
And the load-humming, twisted shells!
The level of the parlour floor
Was honest, homely, Scottish shore;
But when we climbed upon a chair,
Behold the gorgeous East was there!
Be this a fable; and behold
Me in the parlour as of old,
And Minnie just above me set
In the quaint Indian cabinet!
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 A Child's Garden of Verses |