| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Reason Discourse by Rene Descartes: who profess to know things of which they are ignorant.
For these reasons, as soon as my age permitted me to pass from under the
control of my instructors, I entirely abandoned the study of letters, and
resolved no longer to seek any other science than the knowledge of myself,
or of the great book of the world. I spent the remainder of my youth in
traveling, in visiting courts and armies, in holding intercourse with men
of different dispositions and ranks, in collecting varied experience, in
proving myself in the different situations into which fortune threw me,
and, above all, in making such reflection on the matter of my experience
as to secure my improvement. For it occurred to me that I should find
much more truth in the reasonings of each individual with reference to the
Reason Discourse |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Oakdale Affair by Edgar Rice Burroughs: any time for tramps? An' where might he be trampin',
sonny, without his maw?"
The youth flushed. "Oh say!" he cried; "you needn't
kid me just because I'm new at it. You all had to start
sometime. I've always longed for the free life of a tramp;
and if you'll let me go along with you for a little while,
and teach me, I'll not bother you; and I'll do whatever
you say."
The elderly person frowned. "Beat it, kid!" he com-
manded. "We ain't runnin' no day nursery. These you
see here is all the real thing. Maybe we asks fer a hand-
The Oakdale Affair |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Tales of Unrest by Joseph Conrad: a wave on a sloping beach. The chief is pensive. And above the
spreading whisper of lowered voices only a little rattle of weapons
would be heard, a single louder word distinct and alone, or the grave
ring of a big brass tray.
III
For two years at short intervals we visited him. We came to like him,
to trust him, almost to admire him. He was plotting and preparing a
war with patience, with foresight--with a fidelity to his purpose
and with a steadfastness of which I would have thought him racially
incapable. He seemed fearless of the future, and in his plans
displayed a sagacity that was only limited by his profound ignorance
Tales of Unrest |
