| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Shadow out of Time by H. P. Lovecraft: and at times I believed I was indeed going mad. Was there a special
type of delusion afflicting those who had suffered lapses of memory?
Conceivably, the efforts of the subconscious mind to fill up a
perplexing blank with pseudo-memories might give rise to strange
imaginative vagaries.
This indeed - though an alternative folklore
theory finally seemed to me more plausible - was the belief of
many of the alienists who helped me in my search for parallel
cases, and who shared my puzzlement at the exact resemblances
sometimes discovered.
They did not call the condition true insanity,
Shadow out of Time |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Professor by Charlotte Bronte: considerate, yielding even, to a certain point, with dispositions
so irrationally perverse; but, having reached that culminating
point of indulgence, you must fix your foot, plant it, root it in
rock--become immutable as the towers of Ste. Gudule; for a step
--but half a step farther, and you would plunge headlong into the
gulf of imbecility; there lodged, you would speedily receive
proofs of Flemish gratitude and magnanimity in showers of Brabant
saliva and handfuls of Low Country mud. You might smooth to the
utmost the path of learning, remove every pebble from the track;
but then you must finally insist with decision on the pupil
taking your arm and allowing himself to be led quietly along the
The Professor |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Lone Star Ranger by Zane Grey: coal, beautiful to look into; a slender, straight nose that had
something nervous and delicate about it which made Duane think
of a thoroughbred; and a mouth by no means small, but perfectly
curved; and hair like jet--all these features proclaimed her
beauty to Duane. Duane believed her a descendant of one of the
old French families of eastern Texas. He was sure of it when
she looked at him, drawn by his rather persistent gaze. There
were pride, fire, and passion in her eyes. Duane felt himself
blushing in confusion. His stare at her had been rude, perhaps,
but unconscious. How many years had passed since he had seen a
girl like her! Thereafter he kept his eyes upon his plate, yet
The Lone Star Ranger |
