| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Twenty Years After by Alexandre Dumas: he added, turning to Porthos "here's a gentleman who's of
the same opinion as myself."
Porthos, who had not spoken one word, answered merely by a
word and a gesture.
He said "yes" and he put his hand on his sword.
Aramis started back and drew his. D'Artagnan bent forward,
ready either to attack or to stand on his defense.
Athos at that moment extended his hand with the air of
supreme command which characterized him alone, drew out his
sword and the scabbard at the same time, broke the blade in
the sheath on his knee and threw the pieces to his right.
Twenty Years After |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from A Heap O' Livin' by Edgar A. Guest: The tramp of soldiers on the street
Have all the selfsame mission.
Life here is nothing more or less
Than just a quest for happiness.
Some seek it on the mountain top,
And some within a mine;
The widow in her notion shop
Expects its sun to shine.
The tramp that seeks new roads to fare,
Is one with king and millionaire
In this that each is groping
A Heap O' Livin' |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Theaetetus by Plato: that they are very nearly connected. But in endeavouring to trace the
nature of the connexion we are baffled and disappointed. In our knowledge
of them the gulf remains the same: no microscope has ever seen into
thought; no reflection on ourselves has supplied the missing link between
mind and matter...These are the conditions of this very inexact science,
and we shall only know less of it by pretending to know more, or by
assigning to it a form or style to which it has not yet attained and is not
really entitled.
Experience shows that any system, however baseless and ineffectual, in our
own or in any other age, may be accepted and continue to be studied, if it
seeks to satisfy some unanswered question or is based upon some ancient
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