| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin: When the isolated position of these small islands in the
midst of a vast ocean -- their great distance from any land
excepting that of coral formation, attested by the value
which the inhabitants, who are such bold navigators, attach
to a stone of any kind, [7] -- and the slowness of the currents
of the open sea, are all considered, the occurrence of pebbles
thus transported does appear wonderful. Stones may often
be thus carried; and if the island on which they are stranded
is constructed of any other substance besides coral, they
would scarcely attract attention, and their origin at least
would never be guessed. Moreover, this agency may long
The Voyage of the Beagle |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Critias by Plato: dealings with one another. They were not to take up arms against one
another, and were to come to the rescue if any of their brethren were
attacked. They were to deliberate in common about war, and the king was
not to have the power of life and death over his kinsmen, unless he had the
assent of the majority.
For many generations, as tradition tells, the people of Atlantis were
obedient to the laws and to the gods, and practised gentleness and wisdom
in their intercourse with one another. They knew that they could only have
the true use of riches by not caring about them. But gradually the divine
portion of their souls became diluted with too much of the mortal
admixture, and they began to degenerate, though to the outward eye they
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Reason Discourse by Rene Descartes: before. And, because the blood which thus enters into the heart passes
through these two pouches called auricles, it thence happens that their
motion is the contrary of that of the heart, and that when it expands they
contract. But lest those who are ignorant of the force of mathematical
demonstrations and who are not accustomed to distinguish true reasons from
mere verisimilitudes, should venture. without examination, to deny what
has been said, I wish it to be considered that the motion which I have now
explained follows as necessarily from the very arrangement of the parts,
which may be observed in the heart by the eye alone, and from the heat
which may be felt with the fingers, and from the nature of the blood as
learned from experience, as does the motion of a clock from the power, the
Reason Discourse |
