| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from New Arabian Nights by Robert Louis Stevenson: from my mind, and lay down to sleep with composure.
How long I may have slept it is impossible for me to guess; but I
was awakened at last by a sudden, blinding flash of light into my
face. It woke me like a blow. In an instant I was upon my knees.
But the light had gone as suddenly as it came. The darkness was
intense. And, as it was blowing great guns from the sea and
pouring with rain, the noises of the storm effectually concealed
all others.
It was, I dare say, half a minute before I regained my self-
possession. But for two circumstances, I should have thought I had
been awakened by some new and vivid form of nightmare. First, the
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Hellenica by Xenophon: their own territory. On these terms the oaths were taken.
Thereupon the Phliasians, in obedience to the compact, at once retired
from Thyamia; but the Argives, who had taken the oath of peace on
precisely the same terms, finding that they were unable to procure the
continuance of the Phliasian exiles in the Trikaranon as a point held
within the limits of Argos,[7] took over and garrisoned the place,
asserting now that this land was theirs--land which only a little
while before they were ravaging as hostile territory. Further, they
refused to submit the case to arbitration in answer to the challenge
of the Phliasians.
[7] Or, "as a post held by them within the territory of the state."
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Seraphita by Honore de Balzac: I must quench it or it will consume me. I have found a prey at last,
and it shall be mine!"
"The conquest will be difficult," said the pastor, "because this girl
is--"
"Is what?" cried Wilfrid.
"Mad," said the old man.
"I will not dispute her madness, but neither must you dispute her
wonderful powers. Dear Monsieur Becker, she has often confounded me
with her learning. Has she travelled?"
"From her house to the fiord, no further."
"Never left this place!" exclaimed Wilfrid. "Then she must have read
Seraphita |
