| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Timaeus by Plato: The ancient physical philosophers have been charged by Dr. Whewell and
others with wasting their fine intelligences in wrong methods of enquiry;
and their progress in moral and political philosophy has been sometimes
contrasted with their supposed failure in physical investigations. 'They
had plenty of ideas,' says Dr. Whewell, 'and plenty of facts; but their
ideas did not accurately represent the facts with which they were
acquainted.' This is a very crude and misleading way of describing ancient
science. It is the mistake of an uneducated person--uneducated, that is,
in the higher sense of the word--who imagines every one else to be like
himself and explains every other age by his own. No doubt the ancients
often fell into strange and fanciful errors: the time had not yet arrived
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Ebb-Tide by Stevenson & Osbourne: no reply; only Herrick's shoulders heaved, so that the table was
shaken. 'Take some more of this. Here, drink this. I order you
to. Don't start crying when you're out of the wood.'
'I'm not crying,' said Herrick, raising his face and showing his
dry eyes. 'It's worse than crying. It's the horror of that grave
that we've escaped from.'
'Come now, you tackle your soup; that'll fix you,' said Davis
kindly. 'I told you you were all broken up. You couldn't have
stood out another week.'
'That's the dreadful part of it!' cried Herrick. 'Another week
and I'd have murdered someone for a dollar! God! and I know
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from A Legend of Montrose by Walter Scott: Chief whose following is in the field. You know every pass and
glen in the Highlands, as well as the manners and customs of
every tribe. Go therefore to Hay, on the right wing; he has
instructions, and expects you. You will find him with
Glenmorrison's men; be his guide, his interpreter, and his
colleague."
Allan M'Aulay bent on the Marquis a dark and penetrating glance,
as if to ascertain whether this sudden mission was not conferred
for some latent and unexplained purpose. But Montrose, skilful
in searching the motives of others, was an equal adept in
concealing his own. He considered it as of the last consequence,
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