| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James: that I wish, without disputing about words, to study first, so as
to get at its typical differentia.
This sort of happiness in the absolute and everlasting is what we
find nowhere but in religion. It is parted off from all mere
animal happiness, all mere enjoyment of the present, by that
element of solemnity of which I have already made so much
account. Solemnity is a hard thing to define abstractly, but
certain of its marks are patent enough. A solemn state of mind is
never crude or simple--it seems to contain a certain measure of
its own opposite in solution. A solemn joy preserves a sort of
bitter in its sweetness; a solemn sorrow is one to which we
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Mansion by Henry van Dyke: But you?--mother, you are simply magnificent! You are
father's masterpiece." The young man leaned over to kiss her,
and went up to the Riding Club for his afternoon canter in the
Park.
So it came to pass, early in December, that Mrs. Weightman and
her two daughters sailed for Europe, on their serious pleasure
trip,
even as it had been written in the book of Providence; and John
Weightman,
who had made the entry, was left to pass the rest of the winter
with
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas: "My faith," said Aramis, "we are all alike. One would think we
had tipped the wink."
"What could I do?" said Porthos. "This horse made my visitors
ashamed of theirs, and I don't like to humiliate people."
"Then your duchess is still at the waters?" asked D'Artagnan.
"Still," replied Porthos. "And, my faith, the governor of the
province--one of the gentlemen I expected today--seemed to have
such a wish for him, that I gave him to him."
"Gave him?" cried D'Artagnan.
"My God, yes, GAVE, that is the word," said Porthos; "for the
animal was worth at least a hundred and fifty louis, and the
The Three Musketeers |
