| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Walden by Henry David Thoreau: luxurious than we have, which yet all would admit that man could not
afford to pay for. Shall we always study to obtain more of these
things, and not sometimes to be content with less? Shall the
respectable citizen thus gravely teach, by precept and example, the
necessity of the young man's providing a certain number of
superfluous glow-shoes, and umbrellas, and empty guest chambers for
empty guests, before he dies? Why should not our furniture be as
simple as the Arab's or the Indian's? When I think of the
benefactors of the race, whom we have apotheosized as messengers
from heaven, bearers of divine gifts to man, I do not see in my mind
any retinue at their heels, any carload of fashionable furniture.
Walden |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy: under the shakos, faces with broad cheekbones, sunken cheeks, and
listless tired expressions, and feet that moved through the sticky mud
that covered the planks of the bridge. Sometimes through the
monotonous waves of men, like a fleck of white foam on the waves of
the Enns, an officer, in a cloak and with a type of face different
from that of the men, squeezed his way along; sometimes like a chip of
wood whirling in the river, an hussar on foot, an orderly, or a
townsman was carried through the waves of infantry; and sometimes like
a log floating down the river, an officers' or company's baggage
wagon, piled high, leather covered, and hemmed in on all sides,
moved across the bridge.
War and Peace |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Koran: their sins, and they had none to guard them against God.
That is for that their apostles did come to them with manifest
signs, and they misbelieved, and God caught them up; verily, He is
mighty, keen to punish!
And we did send Moses with our signs, and with obvious authority,
unto Pharaoh and Haman and Qarun. They said, 'A lying sorcerer!' and
when they came to them with truth from us, they said, 'Kill the sons
of those who believe with him, and let their women live!' but the
stratagem of the misbelievers is only in error!
And Pharaoh said, 'Let me kill Moses; and then let him call upon his
Lord! verily, I fear that he will change your religion, or that he
The Koran |
