| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James: Please observe, however, that I am not yet pretending finally to
JUDGE any of these attitudes. I am only describing their
variety. The securest way to the rapturous sorts of happiness of
which the twice-born make report has as an historic matter of
fact been through a more radical pessimism than anything that we
have yet considered. We have seen how the lustre and enchantment
may be rubbed off from the goods of nature. But there is a pitch
of unhappiness so great that the goods of nature may be entirely
forgotten, and all sentiment of their existence vanish from the
mental field. For this extremity of pessimism to be reached,
something more is needed than observation of life and reflection
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin: have risen within the recent period. A multitude of facts in the
structure of the Cordillera, on this view receive a simple
explanation.
The rivers which flow in these valleys ought rather to be
called mountain-torrents. Their inclination is very great,
and their water the colour of mud. The roar which the
Maypu made, as it rushed over the great rounded fragments,
was like that of the sea. Amidst the din of rushing waters,
the noise from the stones, as they rattled one over another,
was most distinctly audible even from a distance. This rattling
noise, night and day, may be heard along the whole
The Voyage of the Beagle |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Lair of the White Worm by Bram Stoker: Then he rose and went slowly away.
Adam Salton, from his hiding-place, saw and wondered. In a few
minutes he moved from his place and went home to Lesser Hill, fully
determined that seven o'clock would find him in some hidden place
behind Diana's Grove.
At a little before seven Adam stole softly out of the house and took
the back-way to the rear of Diana's Grove. The place seemed silent
and deserted, so he took the opportunity of concealing himself near
the spot whence he had seen Oolanga trying to investigate whatever
was concealed behind the iron door. He waited, perfectly still, and
at last saw a gleam of white passing soundlessly through the
Lair of the White Worm |
