| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Lesson of the Master by Henry James: "As if I read you because I read 'everything'!"
"Oh I don't mean for saying that," said Paul Overt. "I liked him
from the moment he began to be kind to me. Then he promised me
this privilege."
"It isn't for you he means it - it's for me. If you flatter
yourself that he thinks of anything in life but me you'll find
you're mistaken. He introduces every one. He thinks me
insatiable."
"You speak just like him," laughed our youth.
"Ah but sometimes I want to" - and the girl coloured. "I don't
read everything - I read very little. But I HAVE read you."
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Statesman by Plato: there was a danger of universal ruin. Then the Creator, seeing the world
in great straits, and fearing that chaos and infinity would come again, in
his tender care again placed himself at the helm and restored order, and
made the world immortal and imperishable. Once more the cycle of life and
generation was reversed; the infants grew into young men, and the young men
became greyheaded; no longer did the animals spring out of the earth; as
the whole world was now lord of its own progress, so the parts were to be
self-created and self-nourished. At first the case of men was very
helpless and pitiable; for they were alone among the wild beasts, and had
to carry on the struggle for existence without arts or knowledge, and had
no food, and did not know how to get any. That was the time when
Statesman |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau by Honore de Balzac: me forward into prominence. I belong to the government; it is my duty
to study its mind, and further its intentions by developing them. The
Duc de Richelieu has just put an end to the occupation of France by
the foreign armies. According to Monsieur de la Billardiere, the
functionaries who represent the city of Paris should make it their
duty, each in his own sphere of influence, to celebrate the liberation
of our territory. Let us show a true patriotism which shall put these
liberals, these damned intriguers, to the blush; hein? Do you think I
don't love my country? I wish to show the liberals, my enemies, that
to love the king is to love France."
"Do you think you have got any enemies, my poor Birotteau?"
Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau |
